How can you use building information modeling to get stakeholder feedback?

1 What is stakeholder feedback?

Stakeholder feedback is any input, opinion, or suggestion that you receive from the people who are involved in or affected by your project. Stakeholders can include clients, owners, contractors, engineers, architects, suppliers, regulators, end-users, and the public. Stakeholder feedback can help you understand their needs, expectations, preferences, and concerns, and use them to inform your design and decision-making processes.

2 How can you use BIM to get stakeholder feedback?

BIM can help you get stakeholder feedback in various ways, depending on the stage and scope of your project. For instance, during the early stages of your project, you can use BIM to create and share 3D models, renderings, and animations of your design concepts and ask stakeholders for their opinions and preferences. You can also use BIM to conduct surveys, polls, or focus groups to collect and analyze data. As your project progresses, you can use BIM to communicate and coordinate with stakeholders, update them on the progress and changes, create 4D and 5D models to show the time and cost aspects of your project, and ask for feedback on the schedule and budget. In the post-construction stage of your project, BIM can be used to monitor performance, create 6D and 7D models to show sustainability and maintenance aspects of your project, as well as ask for feedback on the environmental and social impacts.

3 What are the benefits of getting stakeholder feedback with BIM?

Getting stakeholder feedback with BIM can bring many benefits to your project, such as improving design quality and accuracy by incorporating feedback into design iterations, enhancing collaboration and communication with stakeholders, increasing engagement and satisfaction, reducing risks and costs by resolving potential issues before they escalate, and boosting project performance by aligning goals with stakeholder expectations.

4 What are the challenges of getting stakeholder feedback with BIM?

Getting stakeholder feedback with BIM can also pose some challenges to your project, such as managing the complexity and diversity of stakeholder feedback, which may vary in quality, quantity, relevance, and consistency. You must also consider balancing the trade-offs and compromises between stakeholder feedback and project constraints, such as time, cost, scope, and quality. Furthermore, there are technical and cultural barriers of using BIM that must be addressed such as the lack of interoperability, standardization, training, and trust among different stakeholders and software tools. Lastly, it is important to protect the privacy and security of stakeholder feedback, which may contain sensitive or confidential information about your project or your stakeholders.

5 How can you overcome the challenges of getting stakeholder feedback with BIM?

To effectively manage stakeholder feedback with BIM, you should establish clear objectives and criteria for feedback, select compatible BIM tools and methods, provide adequate training and support to stakeholders on how to use BIM and give feedback, analyze and prioritize stakeholder feedback, document and share it, and acknowledge and reward their contributions. This will help ensure that stakeholders are engaged in the process of getting feedback and that their feedback is integrated into the project decision-making process.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?