This is the
second in a two-part series of blogs, where I have been sharing some of the
common non-compliances, I have identified during the Lloyds Register Gap
Analysis process, which is the first step towards BIM Level 2 and ISO19650
Accreditation. In part one, I highlighted three common findings, and during
this blog I will identify another three. As before, I will highlight my common findings
and explain why it might be important to you and your organisation. Each
finding will follow with a few tips
which although maybe obvious, are often forgotten.
No.4: No scope
of BIM services
This finding was
initially a surprising one for me, but it has been found to be a very common
one. When I ask an organisation, ”Do you have a clearly defined scope of
services relating to BIM? many organisations may reply with, “we generate our
designs using BIM authoring systems like Autodesk Revit”. However, if you ask;
Do you provide information management services? Would you help a Client write
their Employers Information Requirements (EIR’s)? Would you provide a Common
Data Environment? The answers are less confident and often unknown.
Ensuring you
have defined your scope of services relating to BIM is a very important consideration
and often a strategic business decision. There may be many elements of BIM that
would be considered standard practice, but equally there may be some services
that may require additional effort and therefore incur extra costs, or services
that would be sub-contracted or wouldn’t be offered by your own organisation.
Understanding these constraints may support initial client conversations, cost
planning and fee structure, as well as de-risking delivery.
Tip: Developing
a spreadsheet that considers the services provided at each project stage is an
efficient way of mapping out a company’s standard service offer, services that
would incur extra fee, and services that would not be provided. Often customers
I have worked with have expanded these spreadsheets to include standards and
specifications worked to at each project stage and the technologies used to
provide a quick and easily understood guide.
No.5: No Supply
Chain Competency Assessments
There are many
references within BIM standards and specifications relating to the assessment
of the BIM competency and capacity of suppliers, and this requirement applies
to the entire supply chain. You need to be confident your suppliers can deliver
to the Employers Information Requirements and your own project or contractual
requirements. A lack of assessment is likely to introduce significant project
and business risk and can often result in a BIM enabled project containing
suppliers delivering in 2D CAD and ignoring BIM completely, this is to the
detriment of the rest of the project team. It is very difficult to work
collaboratively and implement clash detection if one of the designers insists on
working in 2D CAD, for example.
There are several
competency assessment forms available in the public domain, but the main and
consistent recommendation is to assess your suppliers in three core areas:
1) Their BIM understanding
2) Individuals experience and qualifications
3) IT systems
So, if you
employ or sub-contract BIM related work activities to a third-party
organisation, you should apply due diligence and assess their BIM capability.
Tip: You can
assess your supply chain at any point, you don’t have to wait for a new
project. I would recommend that understanding your own supply chain partners
capabilities will enable you to establish their BIM maturity, influence your
own BIM strategy and assist in future conversations and support.
No 6. No formal
process for design co-ordination, clash identification and method to resolve
It is the
responsibility of designers to check and co-ordinate their designs with other
disciplines prior to issuing information to a project Common Data Environment
(CDE). However, when asked what the formal process is or if it is documented,
this is often undefined.
Clash detection
is simply a technology supported process to assist design co-ordination. There
is nothing wrong in my opinion to apply this initially using visual inspections
within a design authoring system such as Autodesk’s Revit, and then on more
complex schemes introducing Autodesk’s Glue or Navisworks to provide improved
visibility and control. Whatever the workflow is, employee’s need to be
provided with instruction and guidance and this is often in the form of company
standards, methods and procedures. One of the main Non-conformances found
during a Gap Analysis is a lack of instruction to staff; which organisations can
make the quickest and most effective business improvement.
Tip: Think about
that person starting their first job within our industry. If you are not at
their side, how will they know what to do. Providing clear standards, methods
and procedures and making them readily available will provide that required
guidance when needed and breed confidence for any new employee.
I hope you found
these blogs useful, and they gave you a few things to consider on your BIM
journey. But if you don’t want to do it alone, we can assist you with a Gap
analysis, BIM training and consultancy.
Find
out more about our BIM Consultancy services here:
Understand what is involved in our Gap
Analysis process here:
And explore our regularly scheduled BIM training
course here:
As well as BIM Training, we also offer a
variety of other training courses. Find out more here:
No comments:
Post a Comment