MT - Using BIM as a PM Tool: 1.3- Research Question and Objectives

On the previous sections we have seen that the implementation of BIM is not homogeneous in all countries. We have also noted that despite the increase in literature related to BIM in recent years (Table 1.2 and Figure 1.3) PM scholars have ignored BIM as a tool to be considered in PM research.

Considering the increased complexity of construction projects mentioned on the first section of this chapter, any tools that help optimize the design and construction process should be analyzed if they help practitioners cope with this increased project complexity. On the other hand, PM scholars have for too long ignored the study of BIM (Table 1.2), despite its potential benefits that we will alter see, despite the increased interest by other field’s scholars (Figure 1.3) and by construction professionals in general (Figure 1.4)

The intention of this research is to study BIM from the PM point of view, and to do this, this paper tries to answer the question: “Is BIM a Project Management Tool? How can BIM help Project Managers succeed in delivering complex construction projects”? The author’s intention is to proof based on existing literature and empirical evidence that the answer to the first question is affirmative and that the answer to the second one includes a wide range of ways in which BIM can be a helpful PM Tool.


Parallel and as a consequence to this search for answers, several research objectives are defined:
1. To identify in which aspects is BIM implementation showing more benefits for the delivery of construction projects
2. To compare the benefits of BIM with the role of the Project Manager
3. To define which role should the Project Manager assume within the BIM framework.

The intention of the author is in no way to produce a promotional pamphlet for a specific BIM platform, nor is it to ignore the challenges and shortcomings of BIM platforms. For this reason, another research objective is defined as:
4. To analyze the existing challenges for BIM implementation and estimate future developments that might mitigate these challenges.


Figure 1.4 Google Search Trends for CAD vs. BIM (Google Trends, 2010)


The research methods to answer the research question and objectives will be described in the Methodology chapter of this paper. A key aspect that lead to the definition of the research methodology is the in depth analysis of relevant literature. The following chapter will deal with this topic, since despite the lack of references from the International Journal of Project Management there are plenty of scholars from other related research fields that have analysed the role of BIM (Table 1.2).

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List of Free BIM Object Libraries

Where can you get BIM Content online? Here.
Català - Castellano - Deutsch
I do not use very often online BIM libraries, but they can be very useful to avoid having to model all parts of your families/objects. I think that if you really want to have families/objects that serve your specific BIM Process, you will have to either create these families/objects by yourself, or adapt those that you download from an online library, so there is not too much or too few information/detail in them. Either way, having a list of available Free BIM Object Libraries is useful, so here come the ones I have found that have (or seem to have) at least around 1000 Free BIM Objects:

NAME ORGANIZED BY # OBJECTS* Last Checked REGISTRATION
BIM OBJECT Manufacturer 2229 2013111414 Nov 2013 Not needed
ARCAT Masterformat 95 / 12 8852 2013111414 Nov 2013 Not needed
NATIONAL BIM LIBRARY Object Type / Manufacturer 5000+ 2013111414 Nov 2013 Needed
SMART BIM LIBRARY Object Type / Manufacturer 10000+ 2013111414 Nov 2013 Not Needed
REVIT CITY Masterformat 04 / Manufacturer 14549 2013111414 Nov 2013 Needed
AUTODESK SEEK Object Type / Manufacturer 65000 2013111414 Nov 2013 Not Needed
BIM STOP Object Type / Manufacturer Unknown 2013111414 Nov 2013 Needed
BIMETICA Manufacturer 1161 2013111414 Nov 2013 Needed
FAMILIT Object Type 8181 2013111414 Nov 2013 Not Needed
SWEETS NETWORK Manufacturer Unknown 2013111414 Nov 2013 Needed
ARCHICAD TALK OBJECT DEPO Object Type Unknown 2013111414 Nov 2013 Needed
BIM COMPONENTS Object Type Unknown 2013111414 Nov 2013 Needed

*Aproximate number of Free BIM Objects on the date stated in the column "REVISED"


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Transfer Revit Schedules from Project to Project

Easy guide to copy Revit Schedule Views from one Project to another
Català - Castellano - Deutsch
If you need to copy a Schedule (or a Sheet) form one project to another you can do it. You simply need to click on the "Insert" Tab, then select "Insert from File", and there select "Insert VIews From File".

You will then be prompted to Browse for the File you want to copy from, and once you select it, you will be able to see all the views on that file that can be copied to your open Project. That's it.

Just consider that this can not be done if you are on a Schedule View, you have to do it from a Plan, Elevation, 3D view, etc.

Solution found here.


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Revit IFC Exporter Update

New version of the IFC Exporter Available.
Català - Castellano - Deutsch
Just got the email from autodesk mentioning the new update for the Revit IFC exporters. Here it comes:

Revit 2013:

IFC Exporter 2013 (v2.15.1)

IFC Export Alternate UI for Revit 2013 (v1.13)

2014:

IFC Exporter 2014 (v3.7.1):

IFC Export Alternate UI for Revit 2014 (v2.5):


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Revit Add-In: Creating Topography the Standard way or from Lines in Revit

Awesome Plugin from Harry Mattison (Boost your BIM) to create Topography from Lines in Revit.
Català - Castellano - Deutsch
In Revit with out of the box functionality you can create topo surfaces by picking points and specifying their elevations or by importing 3D data (the topo lines in a cad file) or a points file.

This means you can actually not create a topo surface from lines that you have drawn in Revit.

This is no longer so, thanks to Boost your BIM's Add-in. With it, you can simply click on the Add-ins Tab, select Topo-From Lines, Select the lines and click Finish.

Bingo, topo created from lines in Revit.

The Add-in is available here for Free

You can say thanks to Harry on his blog post about it.

Great Job!


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MT - Using BIM as a PM Tool: 1.2- Problem Definition

BIM is argued to be “a catalyst for change, poised to reduce industry's fragmentation, improve its efficiency/effectiveness and lower the high costs of inadequate interoperability” (Succar, 2009: p. 357). Studies show that there has been an important growth on the use of BIM software in the recent years (AIA, 2009; McGraw-Hill, 2008 and McGraw-Hill, 2010).

In the USA, as of 2008 and according to AIA (2009), 34% of registered AIA members have purchased a BIM software package, percentage that doubles the numbers of 3 years before (Ibid). It is important to remember the definition of BIM used on the previous section comprises not only tools but also the adoption of new processes, so the data expressing “use of BIM” has to be analyzed with caution for it is not clear if it refers only to the use of BIM software or to the holistic approach to BIM that this dissertation is interested in.

Regardless of this difficulty analysing the data, the penetration rates (McGraw-Hill, 2010a) show the relevance that the technology is gaining in some countries. But not all countries embrace it at the same pace. As it can be seen on Figure 1.2, North America is ahead of Europe on BIM adoption rates.


Figure 1.2 BIM Adoption Rates in North America and Europe
After McGraw-Hill, 2010a)

On the other hand, and despite the great increase in Journal Articles about BIM in recent years (Figure 1.3), Project Management Literature has tended to ignore the topic of BIM. Only Bansal (2011) and Benjoaran (2009) mention this concept in the International Journal of Project Management. The only mention found on the Project Management Institute literature –the Project Management Journal and PMI organised Conferences- is a conference paper by Lee (2008) that briefly mentions the possible beneficial outcomes of using BIM from the Project Manager point of view.
BIM is becoming a relevant topic of research in recent years (Figure 1.3) but none of this increase in interest on the topic has arrived to PM specialised literature (Table 1.2). Research is thus needed on the role of BIM as a Project Management [PM] tool. Most of the potential benefits of BIM mentioned on the previous section of this chapter are key aspects of the role of a Project Manager (PMI, 2004), for this reason PM literature should no longer ignore this topic and join other scholars on analyzing the potential benefits of implementing BIM in construction projects.


Figure 1.3 Evolution of the Number of Journal Articles Mentioning BIM


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Revit: Don't Use Parts if You Want to Use Groups. Don't Use Groups if You Want to Use Parts

Exactly what the post title says. Tried it in many projects, always with problems.
Català - Castellano - Deutsch
I've been trying once again to use parts and groups together and I have been having problems as usual, not much improvement from previous releases (I am using Revit 2014). As stupid as it might seem, Revit really struggles if you break walls into parts and then group the walls in a Group that you need to repeat / rotate / mirror. The resulting parts on the copied groups behave independently from one instance of the group to the other, making it really not efficient to work with them because a lot of rework in each instance might be needed (I am working on a 30 story building, with 25 equal floors, so imagine how nice it would be if Revit could handle this properly).

I tried many different options, parts constrained, unconstrained,etc. No way Groups work efficiently as they should (as AutoCAD blocks). So my solution to solve this has been to use Groups only on relatively small elements were I don't use the create parts feature, and for the other elements (like the repeating typical floor plan) I use a linked file. I don't like it and it is also not very efficient when you have to edit it (Unload -> Open -> Save -> Reload) but it does allow me to repeat the floor where I have edited all walls using the Create Parts feature.

For more infor on what to do and what not to do with Groups check this post at AllaboutCAD.


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BCF Add-Ins for Revit

If you need to use the BIM Collaboration Format and you are using Revit this Add-Ins might be what you are looking for.
Català - Castellano - Deutsch
I wrote recently about the BIM Collaboration Format [BFC]. It is (probably) the soon to be Standard to communicate Issues in BIM Models. If you are using Revit and want to be able to work with BCF, you'll need some Add-in to do it. I found 3 of them and tested 2. Here they are:

Number #01: Matteo Cominetti's BCF PLUGIN FOR REVIT (currently at Version 2.2.2)
Easy to use, Free and With a lot of easy to use Options.
The best one of the two I tried.
You can download it here: http://matteocominetti.com/d/BCFPlugin2.2.2.exe
Check more info at Matteo's website or watch the video below:

Number #02: KUBUS' BCF MANAGER for Revit (there is also an ArchiCAD Version)
Now on free trial until Nov 30th. Apparently at a cost from December 1st.
Less options than Matteo's Plugin, but still easy to use.
Download the Windows x64 version here: http://www.kubusinfo.nl/downloads/BCF_Manager_Revit_x64_r2.msi
Download the Windows x86 version here: http://www.kubusinfo.nl/downloads/BCF_Manager_Revit_x86_r2.msi
You can also use this if you are an ArchiCAD user:
ArchiCAD windows version download here: http://www.kubusinfo.nl/downloads/BCF_Manager_AC17_r2.msi
ArchiCAD MAC version download here: http://www.kubusinfo.nl/downloads/BCF_Manager_AC17_r2.dmg
More info at the KUBUS website.

Number #03: AUTODESK'S MODEL REVIEW Add-in
I haven't tried this one, according to its description is more than just a BCF Add-in, but a full Model Checker:
"Check the accuracy and consistency of a Project or Family against standards set by your firm, your clients, or industry best practices. Correct inconsistencies with a single click or with instructions provided when manual fixes are required".
It is only available if you are a Subscription Customer. More info here too

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Revit: Copying an Element Multiple Times

Copy an Object Multiple Times in Revit
Català - Castellano - Deutsch
If you've come to Revit from AutoCAD, you probably noticed that the copy command behaves slightly different by default. While in AutoCAD if you use the copy command you can copy an object multiple times without calling the command again, in Revit, by default, it doesn't work the same way. It probably happened to you for a while as it did to me, that you kept copying an object and typing CO again to copy it another time. That is what it seems you have to do in Revit, so you might get a bit frustrated. Well, it doesn't have to be like this.

If you want to copy an object multiple times, select the object, type CO (the Revit keyboard shortcut for Copy) and before copying the object go to the ribbon and check "Multiple". It is that simple, once you've checked this, Revit will behave like AutoCAD and will let you copy an object multiple times.


Very simple. Now I am wondering how much time I did loose long time ago when I didn't know about this...

UPDATE 01: You can also copy objects multiple times (or just one) by using the MOVE commamnd and holding the Ctrl Key while you move it, this will actually copy instead of moving the object.


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Revit: Control the Number of BackUp Files that Revit Saves.

It is quite annoyint and space consuming to have up to 20 backup files in your folder. Luckily, this can be changed quite easy.
Català - Castellano
If you are tyred of having 20 backup files in your folder and don't want to manually delete them every once in a while,do the following:

Click the Revit Icon on the upper left corner of the screen and select Save As.

In the Save As dialog, click Options.

In the File Save Options dialog, for Maximum backups, specify the number of backup files to save.

Click OK.

Click Save.


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Splitting Up Revit Models

What criteria would you use to decide if you are going to split or not your Revit Models? And if you decide you are going to do it, how are you going to do it?

Català - Castellano - Deutsch
I just have started working on the biggest Revit project I have worked to date, and as the BIM Manager of the project I had to make certain decisions concerning the protocol to follow in terms of model splitting up. So far, all the projects I worked on where relatively small, so this decision was not so relevant (we basically decided to split models by discipline: Arch - Str - MEP) and it worked good enough. This new project is way too big to work only with this discipline based division, so I wondered what "the experts" would think is the best to go for such a project (and what criteria to follow on future projects).
The project I am working on is a residential complex with a total of around 158.000 m2, and it has 7 residential towers and a common basement, plus some other minor buildings. After looking deep into blogs, forums and linkedin groups, I found this advice by BIM Manager Brendan Smith that I found was exactly what I needed.

In his post, Brendan describes several Revit model divisions according to the project type and size. In my case, I will work with something similar to his last option: "4. On a Large to extremely large job with two or three buildings". I will not follow literally these divisions (to me the divisions between Architecture and Interiors makes no sense and following something more similar to the Uniformat division might be more logic too) but it is a good start point conceptually for the divisions. My actual chosen division system will follow this criteria (see that the abbreviations are based on Spanish, so you could use something similar with English abbreviations):

Architecture
PROJECTCODE-T01-ARQ-ENV-R01.rvt (Contains all Architectural elements of the façade of residential tower 01)
PROJECTCODE-T02-ARQ-ENV-R01.rvt (Contains all Architectural elements of the façade of residential tower 02)
...
PROJECTCODE-T01-ARQ-INT-R01.rvt (Contains all Architectural elements of the interior of residential tower 01)
PROJECTCODE-T02-ARQ-INT-R01.rvt (Contains all Architectural elements of the interior of residential tower 02)
...
Structure
PROJECTCODE-T01-EST-CIM-R01.rvt (Contains all Structural Foundations for residential tower 01)
PROJECTCODE-T02-EST-CIM-R01.rvt (Contains all Structural Foundations for residential tower 02)
...
PROJECTCODE-T01-EST-ESP-R01.rvt (Contains the Floor Structure for residential tower 01)
PROJECTCODE-T02-EST-ESP-R01.rvt (Contains the Floor Structure for residential tower 02)
...
MEP
PROJECTCODE-T01-INS-SAN-R01.rvt (Contains waste/grey and rain water piping for tower 01)
PROJECTCODE-T02-INS-SAN-R01.rvt (Contains waste/grey and rain water piping for tower 02)
...
PROJECTCODE-T01-INS-CLI-R01.rvt (Contains AC for tower 01)
PROJECTCODE-T02-INS-CLI-R01.rvt (Contains AC for tower 02)
...
PROJECTCODE-T01-INS-CPR-R01.rvt (Contains Ventilation / fire escape pressurization for tower 01)
PROJECTCODE-T02-INS-CPR-R01.rvt (Contains Ventilation / fire escape pressurization for tower 02)
...
PROJECTCODE-T01-INS-CPR-R01.rvt (Contains Ventilation / fire escape pressurization for tower 01)
PROJECTCODE-T02-INS-CPR-R01.rvt (Contains Ventilation / fire escape pressurization for tower 02)
...
PROJECTCODE-T01-INS-GAS-R01.rvt (Contains Gas Piping for tower 01)
PROJECTCODE-T02-INS-GAS-R01.rvt (Contains Gas Piping for tower 02)
...
PROJECTCODE-T01-INS-ELE-R01.rvt (Contains Electrical Systems for tower 01)
PROJECTCODE-T02-INS-ELE-R01.rvt (Contains Electrical Systems for tower 02)
...
PROJECTCODE-T01-INS-HID-R01.rvt (Contains Water Supply and Distribution for tower 01)
PROJECTCODE-T02-INS-HID-R01.rvt (Contains Water Supply and Distribution for tower 02)

For now, this is our starting point. Thanks to Brendan Smith for the inspiration. After the project is over, i'll share the changes i make to this apporach if there are any.





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MT - Using BIM as a PM Tool: 1.1- Background

The author of this Master Thesis has always been interested in the implementation of ICT in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction [AEC] Industry. During the last decade, the major shift in ICT for the AEC industry has been the proliferation of Building Information Modelling [BIM] in industrial and academic circles as the “new CAD paradigm” (Succar, 2009).

BIM is currently the most common denomination for a new way of approaching the design, construction and maintenance of Buildings. Different authors and commercial firms have chosen to name this new approach in different ways (Table 1.1) but they all refer to the same concept that will be referred always on this dissertation as BIM.

There is not a single definition of what BIM is. Some scholars define it as “a set of interacting policies, processes and technologies generating a methodology to manage the essential building design and project data in digital format throughout the building's life-cycle” (Succar, 2009: p. 357). Other scholars prefer to define it using papers by commercial BIM vendors. Aouad et al. (2006) used the following definition: “building information model (BIM) is a computer model database of building design information, which may also contain information about the building’s construction, management, operations and maintenance” (Graphisoft 2003, cited in Aouad et al., 2006: p. 5). Other software vendors have also stated their own definitions of BIM such as “create and operate on digital databases for collaboration, manage change [...] and capture and preserve information for reuse by additional industry-specific applications” (Autodesk, 2002 : p. 2). For the purpose of this dissertation the author would like to use his own definition of BIM that encompasses the most common accepted views on the topic.

Building Information Modelling [BIM] is the most commonly used term to describe a set of parametric CAD tools and processes for the creation and maintenance of an integrated collaborative database of multi-dimensional information regarding the design, construction and/or operations of a building, with the purpose of improving collaboration between stakeholders, reducing the time needed for documentation of the project and producing more predictable project outcomes.

Table 1.1 Widely used terms related to BIM
(after Succar, 2009 : p. 359)

Although it is sometimes understood that BIM is only the software platform and that all the inter-organizational integrated processes should receive other names (like Integrated Design, Integrated Project Delivery, etc), when referring to BIM in this dissertation, the reader should always understand that BIM refers to the previous definition of tools and processes and never to just the software tools that allow the geometrical modelling and the input of information. It is the understanding of the author, that this holistic definition embraces all the potential of BIM and offers a better understanding of all its scope.

Defining the term though, is not the purpose of this dissertation. As we will see in the following section, despite the potential benefits that we can infer from the previous definition, the implementation of BIM and the perception of its benefits is not equal everywhere (AIA, 2009; McGraw-Hill, 2008 and McGraw-Hill, 2010). This disparity between potential benefits and acceptance is the starting point for our problem definition.

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