MT - Using BIM as a PM Tool: 2.2.2 The BIM Potential

When people work together on a project, communicating specific characteristics of the project amongst the different parties involved requires documentation of these characteristics (Lee, 2008). Traditionally, this documentation was done on a paper or document basis (BSI, 2010). BIM takes the traditional paper-based tools of construction projects, puts them on a virtual environment and allows a level of efficiency, communication and collaboration that exceeds those of traditional construction processes (Lee, 2008).

Moreover “the coordination of complex project systems is perhaps the most popular application of BIM at this time. It is an ideal process to develop collaboration techniques and a commitment protocol among the team members.” (Grilo and Jardim-Goncalves, 2010 : p. 524).

BIM can be of great use on all stages of the project life-cycle. It has many dimensions: it can be used by the owner to understand project needs; by the design team to analyze, design and develop the project; by the contractor to manage the construction of the project and by the facility manager [FM] during operation and decommissioning phases (Grilo and Jardim-Goncalves, 2010).


Aouad et al. (2006) defined this multidimensional capacity of BIM as nD modelling, for it allows adding an almost infinite number of dimensions to the Building Model. This “n” dimensions can be seen in Figure 2.2 that shows what BSI (2010) understands as a complete BIM.

Project Management has a wide scope of services or dimensions; most of them, like managing Quality, Time, Risks, Procurement and Integrations (PMI, 2004) are dimensions that can be integrated into a BIM, as seen in Figure 2.2.. Although most BIM projects do not yet use BIM for all dimensions (BSI, 2010), it is on this nD understanding of BIM that the author is interested, for it is the approach that makes BIM a relevant tool for Project Managers.

As we have seen, very few PM scholars have studied BIM from the PM point of view. Other than on scientific Journals, an article from Allison (2010) is maybe the one that addresses the BIM potential as a PM Tool more directly. Allison describes “10 reasons why project manager should champion 5D BIM” (Table 2.1). 5D BIM is traditionally understood as BIM that includes, besides the 3D model, Scheduling information (the 4th D) and information for estimating the project from the model (the 5th D). Although the article is from an employee of a BIM software vendor, and the potential of BIM for PM might be slightly exaggerated, the list of advantages for PM practitioners is worth considering. These advantages are compiled in Table 2.1, and should be seen as potential ways in which BIM can benefit Project Managers.


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MT - Using BIM as a PM Tool: 2.2.1 The BIM Background

“Traditional representation methods used by architects and engineers for hundreds of years, such as scale drawings, renderings, and three dimensional scale models, contain only a small part of the information needed to interpret and assess the quality of the design” (Khemlani et al., 1998).

The first Computer Aided Design [CAD] application was invented in 1963 by Ivan Sutherland (Broquetas, 2010a). Widespread adoption of this new technology in the AEC industry did not happen in a few years, it took decades, and when it happened the Adoption of CAD software in AEC firms was progressive, and it is nowadays widely spread in virtually all architectural firms (Broquetas, 2010b). Some resisted the adoption of the CAD systems, and others have argued that CAD poses some challenges to creative design (Lawson, 2002). Nevertheless, in 2009, the result of a study and poll amongst AEC industry leaders, showed CAD as the greatest advance in construction history (Architect’s Journal, 2009).

Despite the relevance taken by CAD in the AEC industry, Khemnlani et al. (1998) argued that CAD simply imported the traditional representation methods used for hundreds of years by architects and engineers into the computer environment, and with that, the informational deficiencies that these methods imply were incorporated into the new way of designing and documenting projects. They foresaw the need for a more intelligent way of documenting projects that “will embody some of the knowledge added to the interpretation of drawings by the human observers” (Khemnlani et al., 1998 : p. 50).


While the AEC industry was slowly adopting CAD, the product development and manufacturing industry [PDM] adopted it much faster and the use in this industry rapidly evolved into a modelling process (Lee, 2008). This modelling approach raised the need for the PDM industry to develop practices of better integration of multidisciplinary teams. Due to this need, “since 1984 the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has been working on the development of a comprehensive standard for the electronic exchange of product data between computer-based product life-cycle systems” (Pratt, 2001 : p. 102). This standard is named STandard for the Exchange of Product model data [STEP] and is included in the ISO 10303: Automation systems and integration, Product data representation and exchange (Ibid.) and its goal is to “develop common representations of complex products for communicating information between CAD and other design applications” (Eastman and Siabiris, 1995 : p. 284)

In the AEC Industry, the idea of integrated product models for buildings, or Building Product Models [BPM] has been around for many years with one of its pioneers being Charles Eastman (Eastman and Siabiris, 1995; Eastman, 1999) who has used the term since the late 70s of the 20th century. The integrated approach was for the first time named Building Information Modelling [BIM] by Autodesk employee Phil Bernstein (Wikipedia, 2010) although many argue that the term is essentially the same as BPM (Yessios, 2004), so Eastman should be given the “father of BIM” title.
The concept of BIM is thus not so new, but thanks to the computational speed and memory available today (Yessios, 2004) and the strong push from software vendors (Holzer, 2007) the interest in BIM has raised very importantly in recent years both in scholarly circles (Figure 1.3) as well as in the general public (Figure 1.4).

BIM is, as it will be seen in the following section, a set of tools and processes with the potential to change the AEC Industry in the same way the modelling approach changed the manufacturing sector. Both technological requirements and commercial interests are also aligned to allow widespread implementation of BIM. With this alignment of factors, the author of this dissertation sees no better time to analyze its potential benefits for the AEC Industry.


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MT - Using BIM as a PM Tool: 2.2 – The role of BIM in improving the delivery of construction projects

Relevant literature about BIM will be critically reviewed in this section to assess its potential use as cooperation, integration and coordination set of tools and methods for complex projects with inter-organizational associations.

Despite the numerous potential barriers reported to the inter-organizational use of BIM (Fox and Hietanen, 2007), the relevance of BIM for the AEC industry can be better understood having an overview at the background of this technology. We will analyze the literature on the background of BIM and later we will review the potential benefits of this technology.


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Revit Families: Brazilian "Tubulao" Family

A particular type of foundation used in Brazil. Let me share it with all of you.
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MT - Using BIM as a PM Tool: 2.1 – Project Complexity and Inter-Organizational Collaboration

Master Thesis. Sub-Chapter 2.1 Project Complexity and Inter-Organizational Collaboration
Català - Castellano - Deutsch
A project is “a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result” (PMI, 2004: p. 5). Defining what a Complex Project is may not be that easy, but some attempts have been made. Simon (1982, cited in Williams 2002) defines a complex system as “one made up of a large number of parts that interact in a non-simple way”. Morris and Hough (1987, cited in Williams, 2002) analyzing complex projects state that they “demand an exceptional level of management, and that the application of conventional systems developed for ordinary projects have been found to be inappropriate for complex projects”.

Construction Projects tend to be more and more complex (Chan et al., 2004 and Williams, 2002). This is due to an increase in the use of CE (Williams 1999) and the increase of number of stakeholders and PM tools and methods used (Bosch-Rekveldt et al. 2010).

Baccarini (1996) mentioned organizational complexity as a key defining element of complex projects. On the other hand, Williams (1999) defined project complexity as characterised by two dimensions, with two sub-dimensions each (Figure 2.1).

Complex Projects require inter-organizational associations (Maurer, 2010). To ensure success in inter-organizational project ventures, trust between the different project partners is acknowledged as a key success factor (Maurer, 2010 and Kadefors, 2004). Because of the nature of work in these inter-organizational ventures there is “highly recognized need for better integration, cooperation, and coordination of construction project teams” (Cicmil & Marshall 2005, cited in Maunula, 2008).


Figure 2.1 Dimensions of Project Complexity (after Williams, 1999: p.271)

Inter-organizational information systems [IOIS] are one possible way to cope with the integration, cooperation, and coordination challenges faced in construction (Maunula, 2008). IOIS are sometimes referred to as Web-based Project Management Systems [WPMS] (Forcada et al., 2007; Nitithamyong and Skibniewski, 2004), Web-Collaborative Extranets [WCEs] or Document Management Systems [DMS] (Ajam et al. 2010). This research will use the term IOIS for it seems more generic and able to encompass all these different nomenclatures while highlighting the multi party collaborative nature of their use.

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