This one has been on my radar for a few weeks but I just haven’t got around to posting about it. Penn State University, well known in BIM circles for producing comprehensive documentation, have updated their BIM Planning Guide for Facility Owners. Version 2.0 was published in June and is available from the Penn State website after providing your contact details.
If the name doesn’t give it away this guide is intended to educate clients about the benefits of BIM in the Operation and FM spaces. It provides guidance to help businesses plan and implement processes to maximise the benefits from BIM. The guide details six key elements:
Procedure
Throughout all stages of this Guide, there are six core “BIM Planning Elements” that must be considered. The BIM Planning Elements are as follows:
1. STRATEGY
Defines the BIM goals and objectives; assesses change readiness; and considers management and resource support.
2. BIM USES
Identifies the methods in which BIM will be implemented for generating, processing, communicating, executing, and managing information about the owner’s facilities.
3. PROCESS
Describes the means to accomplish the BIM Uses by documenting the current methods, designing new processes leveraging BIM, and developing transition plans
4. INFORMATION
Documents the information needs of the organization, including the model element breakdown, level of development, and facility data.
5. INFRASTRUCTURE
Determines the technology infrastructure to support BIM including computer software, hardware, networks, and physical workspaces.
6. PERSONNEL
Establishes the roles, responsibilities, education, and training of the active participants in the BIM processes established.
For further information about this guide visit the Owners page on the Penn State website.
While it is a detailed document, it isn’t a one stop solution, and prepare yourself for a long read! This is an area where we are lacking clear guidance in Australia, and at ALL of the BIM events that I have attended over recent years it is clearly apparent that client education is the key to the successful implementation of BIM. After all, clients are in the unique position to demand that certain technology is used for delivery of their projects.
Those of us on the design and even the delivery side of construction have long been aware of the benefits of BIM (especially for ourselves!), but trying to demonstrate savings to the client with limited cold hard facts is a more difficult thing to do. It’s easy to get side tracked when looking at who benefits from the savings, but needless to say if clients had a basic awareness of BIM and were receiving clear guidance on what to ask for, then BIM would become more broadly accepted. If the client drives the decision to use BIM then everyone else falls into line…
At the moment there are far too many missed opportunities! Mind you it’s even worse when it goes the other way and clients appoint uneducated consultants as BIM managers, who produce BIM Execution Plans that are completely irrational (Full BIM please!) and simply don’t add value for anyone involved in the process, including the client.
Hopefully work being done by buildingSMART in conjunction with the industry, along with projects under way by several other professional groups, will fill in some of the missing gaps?
betterRevit is striving for better client awareness!
