After laying the solid groundwork for the BIM Convention in our previous article, we will now delve deeper into crafting a comprehensive and efficient convention.
This article will focus on four essential pillars of the BIM Convention: required information, rights management, change management, and training and awareness.
Each of these aspects is crucial to ensure that your BIM Convention operates seamlessly, protects the rights of all stakeholders, evolves according to project needs, and is properly understood and implemented by all involved teams.
When these aspects are mastered, your BIM Convention becomes a powerful tool for information management, rights protection, and promoting effective collaboration. So, get ready to explore these key topics and take control of your BIM Convention to ensure the success of your project.
Required Information
BIM Data Specifications
It’s essential to specify the types of BIM data required for the project. This may include:
- Geometry : The dimensions and shape of construction elements.
- Costs : Budget estimates, material costs, labor costs, etc.
- Schedules : Construction schedules, task timelines, key dates.
- Material information : Specifications of materials used in construction.
- Performance data : Material strength, durability, energy efficiency, etc.
- Maintenance and operation : Information on maintenance, preventive maintenance, lifecycle costs.
For each type of BIM data, detailed exploration of specific information to include is necessary. For example, concerning geometry, this might involve length, width, height, shape, and spatial coordinates. Regarding costs, specifying unit costs, quantities, total expenses, etc. This precision ensures that BIM models are comprehensive and relevant to the project’s needs.
Attributes and Properties
BIM objects are associated with attributes and properties that define their specific characteristics. For instance, a beam might have attributes like length, width, depth, material, compression strength, etc. These attributes enrich BIM objects with information.
Attributes and properties play a crucial role in the accuracy and consistency of BIM models. They enable a detailed definition of objects and facilitate data management throughout the project. For example, by using material attributes, it’s possible to automatically calculate required material quantities, aiding cost estimation.
It’s recommended to standardize how attributes and properties are defined to ensure consistency across the project. This means all stakeholders use the same naming conventions and measurement units, preventing errors and incompatibilities.
By specifying required BIM data types and detailing attributes and properties of BIM objects, a BIM Convention ensures that all stakeholders work with consistent and comprehensive information. This contributes to precise models, efficient data management, and informed decision-making throughout the project.
Rights Management
Intellectual Property
Managing the intellectual property of BIM models and data is crucial. It’s essential to specify who owns the intellectual property rights to the created models, generated data, and shared information. This can vary based on contracts and agreements among stakeholders, and it’s important to account for this.
It’s necessary to specify how BIM models and data can be shared and used. This may include restrictions on redistribution, modification, or reuse of models by other parties. Additionally, it’s important to specify usage rights for the operation and maintenance phase of the building.
Data Access
For each stakeholder involved in the project, it’s essential to clearly define permissions for accessing BIM data. This includes architects, engineers, contractors, owners, and other actors. Access permissions should specify which stakeholders can access what data, for what purposes, and under what conditions.
Protecting BIM data from unauthorized disclosure is a significant concern. It’s necessary to define security mechanisms to ensure sensitive data isn’t disclosed to unauthorized third parties. This may include measures like data encryption, password access, monitoring access activities, etc.
It’s important to specify the responsibilities of each stakeholder regarding BIM data protection. This can include requirements such as staff training on data security practices, reporting security incidents, and implementing appropriate security policies.
Rights management within a BIM Convention is essential to protect intellectual property, ensure data security, and define clear rules for access and usage of information. Proper rights management fosters trust among stakeholders and helps avoid potential disputes related to intellectual property and data confidentiality.
Change Management
Change Management Process
A clear change management process is essential to ensure that all changes to the BIM Convention are managed in an orderly and compliant manner. This process includes several steps:
- Submission of Changes : Specify who can submit changes to the convention and how they should be presented (e.g., in written proposal form).
- Evaluation of Changes : Define how changes will be assessed to determine their relevance and impact on the BIM project. This might involve technical, budgetary, and temporal evaluations.
- Approval of Changes : Specify who has the authority to approve or reject changes. This could be the project manager, project management committee, or other designated parties.
- Communication of Changes : Indicate how approved changes will be communicated to all relevant stakeholders and how they will be integrated into the BIM Convention.
It’s important to establish a transparent and accountable process for change management. This ensures all stakeholders are informed of changes and that decisions are made fairly and documented.
Documentation of Revisions
The importance of documenting all revisions made to the BIM Convention cannot be underestimated. Every change, whether minor or major, should be recorded. This helps keep track of the convention’s evolution and understand why certain changes were made.
The convention should include a revision history that lists all modifications made over time. Each entry should contain information about the date of the modification, the nature of the modification, the reason for the modification, and the stakeholders involved.
Documenting revisions makes the BIM convention auditable. This means any stakeholder can review the revision history to understand how the convention has evolved and why specific changes were made. This enhances transparency and accountability.
By implementing a well-defined change management process and documenting all revisions, the BIM Convention stays updated, consistent, and aligned with project needs. This helps avoid misunderstandings, errors, and conflicts related to convention changes while preserving the record of decision-making evolution over time.
Training and Awareness
BIM Training
Training is essential to ensure that all stakeholders understand the BIM Convention and how it should be implemented. It ensures that everyone is familiar with the procedures, standards, protocols, rights, and responsibilities defined in the convention.
To achieve this, different methods can be considered based on project needs and stakeholders’ preferences. This may include online training sessions, practical workshops, classroom training, or written training materials. In its article, Batiactu presents some key solutions for BIM training.
It’s important to tailor training based on the specific roles and needs of each stakeholder. Architects, engineers, contractors, owners, and other actors may have different training requirements.
Awareness of the BIM Convention
It’s crucial to raise awareness among all stakeholders about the importance of the BIM Convention and its implementation. Awareness strategies may include awareness meetings, regular communication, case studies, and testimonials.
It’s important to actively involve everyone in the awareness process. This can include Q&A sessions, working groups to discuss the convention, and feedback sessions to improve its implementation.
Awareness shouldn’t be a one-time event. Instead, it should be continuous throughout the project to ensure all stakeholders remain engaged and understand the importance of the convention. This contributes to ensuring that the convention is used correctly and that the benefits of BIM are fully realized throughout the project.
Conclusion
To conclude on crafting an effective BIM Convention, we can affirm that it relies on four essential pillars: required information, rights management, change management, and training/awareness.
Together, these elements make the BIM Convention a powerful tool for information management, rights protection, and successful collaboration throughout the project.
If you have any questions regarding the BIM convention, feel free to get in touch with one of our experts at BIM&CO!
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