Use the CONCATENATE Function to create sentences from several Cells in Excel
Show me more...
AutoCAD: Layout Preview Thumbnails
Preview all the layouts in AutoCAD for easier use.Català - Castellano - Deutsch
. In AutoCAD files with many Layout Tabs it can become quite tedious to navigate through them if one does not have a very clear coding of the layout tab names. To solve this, AutoCAD, since v.2009 has a command called QVLAYOUT that allows you to preview all the layouts with a line of thumbnails at the bottom of the screen so you can visually select to which one you want to jump to. You can even change the size of the thumbnails with the usual CTRL+Mousewheel. See below.
You can also quick access this fucntion with the QVL shortcut.
Show me more...
How to extract the IFC Files contained on a Tekla TBP Package
Tekla TBP Package extracting is easy using this workflowCatalà - Castellano - Deutsch
I recently received a BIM model for review (It was mainly intended for the Structural consultant to validate what the Metal Structure subcontractor was going to fabricate) and wanted to access the individual IFC files. My idea, because we were having some discussions about the total cost and extra KG of steel that a project change meant, was to import the IFC files into Revit and be able to create a schedule to obtain the total weight of the metal structure. The problem was I could not open the TBP file in revit. Of course someone had figured it out first so I followed these steps and it worked perfectly.
So the trick is to install a program that can open the TBP file and extract its contents. IN this case, using 7-zip, works perfectly. You install the program, then open the TBP file. Inside the 7-zip interface you can browse the folder structure until you find the IFC files and extract them. Worked perfect!.
Show me more...
MT - Using BIM as a PM Tool: 4.3. – Secondary Data Summary
An exhaustive research was done to find the 35 case studies that served us as a basis to analyze the influence of BIM in real life construction projects.
The sample of projects was not homogeneous, with half of the case studies being projects build in United States (Table 4.4). This is probably due to the higher penetration rates of BIM in USA compared to Europe (Figure 1.2) and a higher number of scholars and professional bodies publishing articles about the subject on the west side of the Atlantic ocean. Regardless of this, 35 case studies are an important sample, and the results and finding obtained are relevant to analyze the role of BIM as a PM Tool.
Table 4.4 Case Study Count per Country
|
||
Country
|
Number of Case Study Projects
|
Percentage
|
USA
|
18
|
51,43%
|
UK
|
8
|
22,86%
|
France
|
2
|
5,71%
|
Canada
|
2
|
5,71%
|
Israel
|
2
|
5,71%
|
Germany
|
1
|
2,86%
|
China
|
1
|
2,86%
|
Middle East
|
1
|
2,86%
|
Total
|
35
|
100%
|
As it has been mentioned before, this part of the research was aimed to find in which ways BIM can help delivering construction projects based on the KPIs defined on table 3.1. The results show that Cost, Time, Communication, Coordination and Quality are the KPIs more positively affected by the implementation of BIM.
The same results show that the challenges and negative effects of BIM implementation are relatively few, and most of them are focused on software or hardware issues. We suggest that these problems and challenges could be solved with a wider implementation of BIM in all firms involved in the project, with better training for all employees involved and with stakeholders getting used to working in a new way. Further studies might be needed once BIM has more penetration in the industry to analyze if these challenges are actually easy to overcome.
Lastly, the a priori list of 10 reasons for PM to be BIM proficient (Allison, 2010) are here briefly compared with the results and findings of the case study research (Table 4.5) to analyze if what BIM lobbyist are saying about the potentials of BIM is actually being found in real life projects.
Table 4.5 Benefits of BIM for PM in the case studies
|
||
A priori benefit (after Allison, 2010)
|
Benefits in case study literature?
|
Example
|
Organize the project schedule
and budget
|
Yes
|
project management
team used 4D models to discover several conflicts in the schedule which were
not discovered in the CPM-based Gantt chart (Haymaker and Fischer, 2001)
|
Work well with the Design Team
|
Yes
|
The design team was
also able to share some information to help facilitate coordination. (
McGraw-Hill, 2010a)
|
Hiring and controlling the
Subcontractors
|
Yes
|
Subcontractors were
more knowledgeable about the project as they have been involved sooner and
are resolving issues in the design and detailing stage that would typically
come up in the field. (Khanzode et al. , 2008)
|
RFIs and Change Orders
|
Yes
|
37% reduction in
coordination RFIs and a 32% reduction in coordination change orders
(McGraw-Hill, 2009)
|
Optimize the Owner’s
experience and satisfaction
|
Yes
|
savings of $9M and 6
months to the owner due to the use of the BIM / VDC tools and a collaborative
project delivery approach (Khanzode et al., 2008)
|
Project closeout
|
No
|
The later phases of a
project, such as closeout or operations and maintenance, are not seen as
valuable opportunities for BIM by any users, including owners. (McGraw-Hill,
2009)
|
Profit margin
|
Yes
|
Engineers see BIM
saving time and money. For them the analysis is simple: less problems equals
more profit (…) profitability increased as a result of using BIM.
(McGraw-Hill, 2009)
|
Progressive Owners are
mandating BIM on their projects:
|
Yes
|
Half of owners (48%)
say that BIM’s impact on the overall project outcome is a high benefit (...)
increasingly, contractors are mandating BIM from key trades and owners are
demanding it from entire teams. (McGraw-Hill, 2009)
|
PM Firm Growth
|
Yes
|
Leveraging BIM
capability to win new business was reported as the top internal business
benefit (McGraw-Hill, 2009)
|
The comparison shows that the a priori benefits of using BIM for Project Managers are actually being found in real life case studies. Only the benefits related to project closeout are not being yet perceived by users or owners. BIM benefits are thus not just theoretical and moreover, they are perceived by many stakeholders. Project Managers who are not pushing for BIM use in their projects should be aware of these benefits having real positive effects, and consider in which projects they could consider the potential implementation of BIM.
All the insights that we obtained from this secondary data gathering and analysis will be compared on chapter 6 with the information collected from primary sources. The results from these primary sources will be described and analyzed in the following chapter.
Show me more...
MT - Using BIM as a PM Tool: 4.2.9 – Software Issues
As mentioned previously, the Procurement KPI on table 3.1 was replaced by the Software Issues KPIon Table 4.1 and Table 4.2. This doesn’t mean that BIM cannot help on procurement or present certain challenges related to this KPI, but since the projects showed no reference to it and many to software issues, this replacement was thought to show more valuable information.
Table 4.3 Software Issues due to BIM implementation (see
Annex IV)
|
||
Project
|
Software Issue
|
Source
|
Walt Disney Concert Hall
|
Inconsistencies and lack of data on
the 3D model
|
Haymaker and Fischer, 2001
|
Eagle Ridge
|
Technical difficulties
were encountered that made it necessary to make ‘manual’ adjustments to the
drawings produced automatically
|
Kaner et al., 2008
|
Expeditionary Hospital
|
Information Transfer Bottlenecks
|
Manning and Messner, 2008
|
Lack of Parametric Content
|
||
Unfamiliarity of BIM’s breadth of ability and
associated experience of application in programming
|
||
Precast Shelter
|
modelling issues that
arose from ignorance of the right modelling practices
|
Kaner et al., 2008
|
Cascadia Center
|
not all the data could be
interchanged
|
McGraw-Hill, 2010b
|
US Food
and Drug Administration Headquarters
|
large projects pushed the limit of the software
|
McGraw-Hill, 2010b
|
20% of the projects presented software issues. This is a relatively high number, although analyzing the type of software issues (Table 4.3) one can see that these issues could be easily solved with more training of the personnel and better development of interoperability standards and practices as well as having all stakeholders using BIM in the projects.
Show me more...
MT - Using BIM as a PM Tool: 4.2.8 – BIM influence on Organization
Several case studies were collected from existing literature to analyze in which areas the application of BIM had improved aspects of the projects studied. The organization improvement KPI is the only one that showed equal number of positive and negative mentions, as well as equal number of projects. The negative effects were based on the project team not knowing how to better organize the team to take advantage of BIM (CMG Medical Office Building – Khanzode et al., 2008) or the frustrations for not all the stakeholders embracing fully the integrated approach (Cascadia Center – McGraw-Hill, 2010b). On the other hand, positive effects included “improved team building” at the Walt Disney Concert Hall project (Haymaker and Fischer, 2001) or “added capabilities that architects at the firm did not previously have” at the Maximilianeum Expansion (McGraw-Hill, 2010a). These effects on Organization seem to have a positive effect that surpasses easily the negative effects mentioned on the previous paragraph.
Show me more...
MT - Using BIM as a PM Tool: 4.2.7 – BIM influence on Scope
The use of BIM helped clarify project Scope to some or all stakeholders involved in at least 3 of the case studies.Most of the benefits were seen coming from the 3D visualization capacity of implementing BIM. This is probably one of the reasons this was not mentioned more often, since traditional 3D modelling tools not using BIM processes already help on scope clarification. It is relevant though to note that no negative effects were mentioned in any of the projects.
Show me more...
MT - Using BIM as a PM Tool: 4.2.6 – BIM influence on Risk
The amount of positive mentions of the implementation of BIM on negative risk reduction or control reached 8, with 17.14% of the projects having more positive mentions than negative ones (Table 4.2). Some construction companies saw “BIM as a way to drive the risk out of its bid” (Texas A&M Health Science Center – McGraw-Hill, 2009) and for others BIM reduced risk by allowing “better informed decisions” (US Food and Drug Administration Headquarters – McGraw-Hill, 2010b).
The negative risk perception on BIM came from the need of “upfront investment for the modelling of the project to win the bid” (Texas A&M Health Science Center – McGraw-Hill, 2009) that could have not been recovered should the company have lost the bid or the need to clarify certain “model ownership issues for liability reasons” (Research 2 – McGraw-Hill, 2009). These negative perceptions could be eliminated or reduced if BIM became mainstream in AEC projects.
Show me more...
MT - Using BIM as a PM Tool: 4.2.5 – BIM influence on Quality
Table 4.2 shows Quality as another KPI were only positive effects were perceived. On 12 projects (34.29%) there were 13 mentions of benefits on Quality from implementing BIM. The type of benefits came from design and documentation quality aspects like “more accurate design” (Audubon Center – McGraw-Hill, 2010b) or “higher-quality [...] deliverables” (Sutter Health Medical Center – McGraw-Hill, 2009).
Another very important effect of BIM implementation was that it allowed or helped sustainable design and construction like in the “improved Daylighting analysis” of the SF Public Utilities Commission (McGraw-Hill, 2010b); the “greener building” and cost savings “in many of the green elements” in the Shanghai Tower (McGraw-Hill, 2010b) or the “more sustainable construction process” at the Palomar Medical Center (McGraw-Hill, 2010b).
Show me more...
What do people care (search) about?
Did you ever wonder what people care about? Google let's you have a peak.Català - Castellano - Deutsch
Just discovered that google has a page where, albeit censored by some content, you can see what people are actually searching live. It is actually pretty cool and hypnotic. See for yourselves.
Got the tip from here
Show me more...
MT - Using BIM as a PM Tool: 4.2.4 – BIM influence on Coordination
Coordination (or Integration) Improvement was mentioned 14 times. 12 of the projects had more positive than negative mentions on Coordination due to the implementation of BIM. These positive effects were typically due to the use of clash detection only possible by the use of BIM or due to eliminated coordination sessions thanks to the automatic coordination and improved workflow that the BIM Model allowed. Some of the positive effects on coordination might come from the application if integrated design strategies used in the case studies, such as Integrated Project Delivery [IPD]. According to some of the case studies (Palomar Medical Center –McGraw-Hill, 2010b) “BIM facilitated the integrated design approach“, so the benefits of the Integrated Design approach can ultimately be seen as a consequence of BIM implementation.
There were some challenges and negative effects due to the use of BIM. They were mentioned 7 times, although only on 3 of the projects there were more negative than positive effects of BIM on coordination. Sometimes the “lack of understanding of interoperability limitations and abilities” (Expeditionary Hospital – Manning and Messner, 2008) posed problems. When the project was too big, software issues caused by the program not being able to handle so much information forced the creations of multiple models “to be able to work on the project” (US Food and Drug Administration Headquarters – McGraw-Hill, 2010b). The last point is a software issue, but because of the problems of coordination that it cause was considered as a negative effect on this KPI.
Show me more...
MT - Using BIM as a PM Tool: 4.2.3 – BIM influence on Communication
The effects of BIM on communication found in all of the 35 case studies were always positive. Communication improvements were mentioned 15 times in 13 of the 35 case studies (37.14% of the projects). Some of benefits on communication were “information exchange saving up to 50% of effort” (Palace Exchange – BSI, 2010); “information is a lot easier to find compared to traditional 2D drawings” (CMG Medical Office Building – Khanzode et al., 2008) ; or “better communicate changes with the owner” (Esean Children’s Hospital – McGraw-Hill, 2010a).No negative effects or challenges affecting Communication were mentioned. This shows that this KPI is probably the one in which BIM is having an easier implementation, no stakeholders are mentioning any negative effects on it.
Show me more...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)