Macro-BIM adoption: Conceptual structures

Building Information Modelling (BIM) concepts and workflows continue to proliferate within organisations, through project teams, and across the whole construction industry. However, both BIM implementation and BIM diffusion are yet to be reliably assessed at market scale. Insufficient research has been conducted to date towards identifying the conceptual structures that would explain and encourage large-scale BIM adoption. This paper introduces a number of macro-adoption models, matrices and charts (Fig. 1). These models can be used to systematically assess BIM adoption across markets, and inform the structured development of country-specific BIM adoption policies. This research is published in two complementary papers combining conceptual structures with data collected from experts across a number of countries. The first paper “Macro-BIM adoption: conceptual structures” delimits the terms used, reviews applicable diffusion models, and clarifies the research methodology. It then introduces five new conceptual constructs for assessing macro-BIM adoption and informing the development of market-scale BIM diffusion policies. The second paper “Macro-BIM adoption: comparative market analysis” employs these concepts and tools to evaluate BIM adoption and analyse BIM diffusion policies across a number of countries. Using online questionnaires and structured interviews, it applies the models, refines the conceptual tools and develops additional assessment metrics. The two papers are complementary and primarily intended to assist policy makers and domain researchers to analyse, develop and improve BIM diffusion policies

A Proposed Approach To Comparing the BIM Maturity of Countries

BIM concepts and tools have now proliferated across the construction industry. This is evidenced by the comparative results of BIM adoption rates reported through a number of industry surveys. However these surveys typically cover a small number of industry stakeholders; are intended to establish adoption rates by organizations rather than markets; and are unsupported by theoretical frameworks to guide data collection and analysis. Based on a published theoretical framework, this paper proposes three metrics to augment survey data and help establish the overall BIM maturity of countries. These metrics apply to noteworthy BIM publications (NBP)s and assess their BIM knowledge content (BKC). NBPs are publically-available industry documents intended to facilitate BIM adoption; while BKCs are specialized labels (e.g. report, manual, and contract) used to describe NBP contents. The three metrics - NBP availability, NBP content distribution, and NBP relevance - are applied in assessing the knowledge deliverables of three countries - United States, United Kingdom and Australia - chosen for their similar construction culture and active BIM scene. The paper then discusses how these complementary metrics can inform policy development and identify market-wide knowledge gaps

National guidelines for digital modelling : case studies

These National Guidelines and Case Studies for Digital Modelling are the outcomes from one of a number of Building Information Modelling (BIM)-related projects undertaken by the CRC for Construction Innovation. Since the CRC opened its doors in 2001, the industry has seen a rapid increase in interest in BIM, and widening adoption. These guidelines and case studies are thus very timely, as the industry moves to model-based working and starts to share models in a new context called integrated practice. Governments, both federal and state, and in New Zealand are starting to outline the role they might take, so that in contrast to the adoption of 2D CAD in the early 90s, we ensure that a national, industry-wide benefit results from this new paradigm of working. Section 1 of the guidelines give us an overview of BIM: how it affects our current mode of working, what we need to do to move to fully collaborative model-based facility development. The role of open standards such as IFC is described as a mechanism to support new processes, and make the extensive design and construction information available to asset operators and managers. Digital collaboration modes, types of models, levels of detail, object properties and model management complete this section. It will be relevant for owners, managers and project leaders as well as direct users of BIM. Section 2 provides recommendations and guides for key areas of model creation and development, and the move to simulation and performance measurement. These are the more practical parts of the guidelines developed for design professionals, BIM managers, technical staff and ‘in the field’ workers. The guidelines are supported by six case studies including a summary of lessons learnt about implementing BIM in Australian building projects. A key aspect of these publications is the identification of a number of important industry actions: the need for BIMcompatible product information and a national context for classifying product data; the need for an industry agreement and setting process-for-process definition; and finally, the need to ensure a national standard for sharing data between all of the participants in the facility-development process

Bim as an enabler for digital transformation

Organisations all over the world are increasingly becoming digitally enabled, including infrastructure providers and are looking to use this new found a digital way of working to transform the organisation into a more lean, efficient and productive organisation. Digital transformation is not exclusively about digital technology but the fact that technology, which is digital, will enable the organisation to create greater informed decisions around there current and future challenges, objectives and strategy. While many organisations are currently going through a digital transformation process, there are challenges in demonstrating the value of such a transformation process to the broader organisation. This is partly due to the fact that for digital transformation to be successful it must encompass all of the organisation, including traditional business processes and functions that are not prone to change. Furthermore, it can be witnessed that digital transformation is not purely a technical solution but is also an organisational cultural change, one that allows for an agile approach to working and one that acknowledges failure in a positive perspective. A framework is proposed in this paper that utilises the BIM information management processes and adopts them into a digital transformation process. The framework aims to not look at BIM within individual lifecycle stages, but the full adoption of BIM between all the lifecycles stages. Furthermore, it will support the full organisational adoption of BIM within all organisational functions such as risk management, customer reengagement, fiscal management, resource management, ETC. finally, the framework will enable the culture to change requirements by providing a collaborative and transparent environment to digital transformation

BIM competencies for delivering waste-efficient building projects in a circular economy

Competency measures are increasingly becoming effective ways for construction organizations to measure their ability to deliver waste-efficient projects. Despite the ongoing efforts in achieving the goals of the circular economy through BIM adoption, there is still a paucity of studies on building information modeling (BIM) competencies for delivering waste-efficient building projects. This paper, therefore, aims to identify and investigate critical BIM competencies for delivering waste-efficient building projects in a circular economy. The study adopts a pluralistic approach, using a combination of the review of extant literature, focus group discussions and questionnaire survey. Analysis of the focus group discussion along with the result of the literature review revealed forty-three preliminary BIM competencies, which were subjected to rigorous statistical analyses. Four broad categories of BIM competencies for delivering waste-efficient building projects emerged from the analyses. These are project management-related, construction-related, procurement-related, and design-related BIM competencies. Construction firms could use the BIM competencies identified in this study to enhance the delivery of waste-efficient building projects as well as assess their BIM competency requirements at an individual and organizational level

Building information modelling: conceptual constructs and performance improvement tools

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)This study delivers an extendable knowledge structure upon which to build a host of BIM performance improvement initiatives and tools. As a set of complementary papers and appendices, the study presents a rich, unified yet multi-layered environment of conceptual constructs and practicable tools; supported by a common framework, a domain ontology and simplified visual representations. Individually, each paper introduces a new framework part or solidifies a previous one. Collectively, the papers form a cohesive knowledge engine that generates assessment systems, learning modules and performance improvement tools

An integrated approach to BIM competency assessment, acquisition and application.

Professional, organisational and educational institutions have started to adopt BIM software tools and adapt their existing delivery systems to satisfy evolving market requirements. To enable individuals within these organisations to develop their BIM abilities, it is important to identify the BIM competencies that need to be learned, applied on the job, and measured for the purposes of performance improvement. Expanding upon previous research, this paper focuses on individual BIM competencies, the building blocks of organisational capability. The paper first introduces several taxonomies and conceptual models to clarify how individual competencies may be filtered, classified, and aggregated into a seed competency inventory. Competency items are then fed into a specialised knowledge engine to generate flexible assessment tools, learning modules and process workflows. Finally, the paper discusses the many benefits this competency-based approach brings to industry and academia, and explores future conceptual and tool development efforts to enable industry-wide BIM performance assessment and improvement

Model uses: Foundations for a modular requirements clarification language

Building Information Modelling (BIM) tools and workflows can increase design productivity, reduce construction waste, and improve connectivity of facility operations. To achieve such benefits, model-based deliverables (e.g. model-based cost estimation, construction planning, or asset tracking) first need to be clearly specified by owners/clients and, second, be delivered by supply chain players according to these specifications. While there are many guides, protocols, and standards for defining information content within models, there is little guidance for specifying the uses to be derived from this modelled information. To bridge the gap between what is expected from BIM, and what will actually be delivered, there is a need for a clear and modular ‘requirements clarification’ language. Based on published research – including a framework, conceptual ontology, and competency model – as well as on-going practical applications, this paper introduces the Model Uses concept, comprising a Model Uses Taxonomy and a Model Uses List. Model Uses are the intended, planned, or expected project deliverables resulting from generating, collaborating, or linking models to external databases. This paper explores the conceptual foundations of Model Uses and then provides practical examples – an implementation task list and an assessment module - of how this modular language assists in identifying BIM project requirements and facilitating project delivery

Measuring BIM performance: five metrics

The term Building Information Modelling (BIM) refers to an expansive knowledge domain within the design, construction and operation (DCO) industry. The voluminous possibilities attributed to BIM represent an array of challenges that can be met through a systematic research and delivery framework spawning a set of performance assessment and improvement metrics. This article identifies five complementary components specifically developed to enable such assessment: (i) BIM capability stages representing transformational milestones along the implementation continuum; (ii) BIM maturity levels representing the quality, predictability and variability within BIM stages; (iii) BIM competencies representing incremental progressions towards and improvements within BIM stages; (iv) Organizational Scales representing the diversity of markets, disciplines and company sizes; and (v) Granularity Levels enabling highly targeted yet flexible performance analyses ranging from informal self-assessment to high-detail, formal organizational audits. This article explores these complementary components and positions them as a systematic method to understand BIM performance and to enable its assessment and improvement. A flowchart of the contents of this article is provided

A proposed framework to investigate building information modelling through knowledge elicitation and visual models

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an expansive knowledge domain within the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. To allow a systematic investigation of the domain, research is needed to define BIM knowledge components, connect its divergent fields and delineate its expanding boundaries. This paper introduces a research framework for identifying BIM concepts and a methodology for capturing and representing BIM interactions. It also proposes visual models to elicit expert knowledge and identifies further research requirements