BIM standardization unlocks the full potential of digital design

Digital transformation is affecting all industries and influencing the way construction projects are delivered worldwide. Indeed, adopting a data-driven culture in facility design and construction can be hugely beneficial to optimize processes and avoid past mistakes. 

The Building Information Modelling (BIM) process, for example, works as a shared digital representation of a facility structure and its characteristics. This helps to facilitate design, construction and operation processes.[1]

However, fragmentation is a problem across digital tools, and BIM is no exception. When information from different data structures in the software does not work together (poor interoperability) it is no longer efficient and slows down adoption. Industry-wide standardization, therefore, can solve this issue.

Why standardizes BIM?

The full potential of BIM is totally realized when it is implemented on a large scale. Everyone along the value chain must get involved, as it’s the interlinking effect that benefits even the first movers. To do this, first, there are a few things to consider and get under control:

·        BIM implementation within a company means training teams to understand the software and upgrading IT infrastructures. Smaller companies might find upfront investments discouraging.

·        When it comes to technological strategies and tools, it is very important to have standards in place. Interoperability ensures that stakeholders and project teams can share information and collaborate.

·        Educating/informing project owners on the benefits of BIM. Understanding what project owners can gain from implementing BIM is key to the adoption and development of the technology.

·        Since data is created, generated, and shared collaboratively in BIM, issues regarding data ownership and liability must be taken into consideration.

With these considerations in mind, it is possible to move forward and create a common framework for project management – the core of BIM. Although each construction project is unique, the processes and lessons learned from one project can apply to the next. Establishing standards means construction collaboration and project management can continuously improve from project to project.

To establish this common framework or set of standards, the following steps can be useful:

1.   Collect, consolidate, and analyse project data. From previous projects, identify what is crucial for future decision making. It is also important to continuously collect and monitor the captured feedback to understand which processes to focus on.

2.   Identify best practices and standardize them. Evaluate the performance of individual projects and develop a checklist and portfolio of best-practice processes that apply to a myriad of projects.

3.   Standardize software systems, communication tools and interfaces that will automate or digitize standardized processes.

Standardize measurements, processes, classifications and cost definitions for compatibility and comparability among different projects.

Standardizing: the gateway to digitalization

Standardizing BIM can also be a gateway for digitalization. After identifying, standardizing and applying best practices, you can then focus on which digital technologies, strategies and processes can be used to execute a full-scale digitalization plan that will allow collection and analysis of vast amounts of data.

Having the ability to collect and analyse big data opens new opportunities along the value chain, from early design and planning to the end of a project’s life cycle. Data pools created from construction projects, and even from the operations phase of existing buildings, will generate new valuable insights.

However, for this to work, suppliers of digital tech and tools also have to cater and customize relevant products to the construction sector, and contractors have to revise construction processes, strategies and operations to make them compatible with BIM.

Creating digital design “health check” dashboards

Although seemingly challenging, any construction business can adopt a data-driven culture at any stage of their business life and expect maximum advantage in the market.

To illustrate an example of BIM and digitalization in action, digital dashboards are a useful way to visualize how a project is progressing. Like an app on your phone that collects and consolidates data about your physical health, project digital design dashboards collect data from multiple sources and present it in an easy to understand format.

Taking inspiration from cloud applications such as Strava (fitness tracker) and Peakon for (employee engagement and performance tracking), NNE has created their own digital design health tracker.[2] [3]

In this dashboard, each square represents project data pulled from a certain source. If something needs fixing, the square will turn red; if it needs attention, it will turn yellow; and if it is going well, the square will turn green.

The dashboard is an easy and cheap way to implement BIM into reviews and will hopefully shift industries away from paper-based review practices. Overall, by using lead measures, NNE’s dashboard helps to:

·        Identify design issues

·        Signal pitfalls and warnings

·        Assess project status to decide what needs improvement

·        Predict the success of digital deliverables with scores

·        Provide an objective, data-driven perspective and a level playing field for everyone on and off the construction site, especially when it comes to dispute resolution.

To learn more about digital design health dashboards at NNE, please contact me on [email protected]

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