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however, you’ll quickly realize that you’re only as good as your weakest link and every job has a different approach. in a phone conversation with craig Dubler, the project manager for Penn State’s BiM Project execution Planning guide, he said: “BiM is only as good as the...least technical person. you bring them up or everybody else gets to that level.” one person who doesn’t follow or understand the procedures, shows up late to meetings, doesn’t upload models on time, or doesn’t maintain the coordination schedule will cause the whole process to stumble and affect the morale of the team.
the expectations have to be universally understood and communicated. Do not assume that everyone understands your expectations. communicate the expectations for every use of BiM and define them in the execution plan.
each use of BiM requires different roles and responsibilities. let’s continue to use the energy analysis example. the information exchange plan may have shown that the third-party energy consultant oversees the process from SD to DD, but what does that mean? it hasn’t been defined, has it? is the consultant the right person to lead the effort? Maybe the consultant should just run the energy model analysis and the mechanical engineer should lead the effort. you’ll want to discuss with your team past experience, lessons learned, and best practices. remember, you’re all in the boat and you’re only as good as your weakest link, so it’s in your best interest to get everything on the table up front.
how you organize the expectations of the team is up to you. it can be a chart, narrative, or a graphic, similar to the information exchange plan. the sidebar “energy analysis” shows an example.
Energy Analysis
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every use of BiM will require a description of roles and responsibilities, because the expectations will be different. For instance, the third-party energy consultant will not be involved in model-based scheduling, so these maps are not universal. also, if you think back to robynne thaxton Parkinson’s quote about “less is more,” you may realize that some of these expectations are in the governing contract, BiM addendum, or information exchange plan, so these expectations may just say, “refer to in the BiM addendum.” that is a leaner approach and i find that it’s a good way to make sure people are reading the other documents. the actual “engineer” is not always the person modeling or exporting the model, which is why it says “attend all weekly meetings with lead modeler.” Many times the lead modeler isn’t involved in the contract negotiations, so by putting “refer to ” it will flush out if the engineer has shared the addendum with the lead modeler. Ultimately, you want to make sure everyone understands the plan and expectations, because you will have expectation bias on your project, guaranteed.
Organization
the last piece of the execution plan is organization. organizing BiM is similar to organizing a toolbelt. every tool has a place so you can work quickly and efficiently.
⦁ Attend all weekly meetings (Friday, 8:00 a.m.).
⦁ Communicate with Arch, ME, EE, and information manager throughout the week.
⦁ Assist the Arch, ME, and EE on exporting GBXML files as needed.
⦁ Download files from FTP and run the energy model analysis every Thursday after 1:00 p.m. using <software> and print results for the Friday meeting.
⦁ Direct team on changes required to achieve the owner energy goals.
Architect
⦁ Run initial conceptual energy model during schematic design to optimize daylighting, orientation, and heat gain of the building.
Arch, ME, and EE
⦁ Model systems per the LOD matrix.
⦁ Export and upload GBXML files to the Energy Analysis folder on the FTP every Thursday before 12:59 p.m.
⦁ Attend all weekly meetings with lead modeler.
⦁ Communicate with third‐party consultant and information manager throughout the week.
⦁ Document the design changes made throughout the week to summarize them in the weekly meeting in order to analyze cost impacts.
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experienced craftspeople often get to a point where they no longer look at their belt to get what they need. the desired goal for organizing the model and files being used on a project should be intuitive. the team shouldn’t have to waste time searching for the tools (files) they need.
Model Origin
the organization of BiM starts at the origin. the e202, e203, and consensusDocs reference what the roles of the BiM information manager are. the top of the list in all documents is that the BiM/information manager defines the origin of the model. if BiM is going to be used collaboratively, the models must align. the origin is project specific, so it shouldn’t be in the contract or the addendum—it has to be in the execution plan. the coordinates in BiM work on axes, so X = north/
South, y = east/West, and Z = elevation, so defining this in the execution plan is as simple as stating, “the model origin for this project is X,y,Z.” however, some teams prefer world coordinates based on state planes, and some teams prefer defining an arbitrary 0,0,0 to the model. this should be discussed in the initial goals, uses, and objectives discussion, because if you’re planning on leveraging the model throughout design, construction, and maintenance, the model has to have relation to world coordinates.
Model Storage
the second role of the BiM information manager, based on the aia documents and consensusDocs, is to organize and store the files on a BiM project. a number of file management software programs, FtPs, and cloud-based solutions are available. as with most software options, choosing one can be a bit overwhelming. although some integrated firms may have the luxury of consistency, most owners have unique file management programs that may require you to use different systems. the key here, as with any BiM decision, is to develop a solid process and let technology enhance it.
Don’t let technology drive your process, because it will constantly change.
regardless of whether you’re using your own model storage or the owner’s, be sure to define the solution and explain how the team gets access to the files in the execution plan. the majority of the time, team members are invited to the FtP or management software and then they’re required to do some setup on their end to get access. this setup process, whether it’s creating a username and password, should be spelled out in the organization section of the execution plan.
Folder Structure
the folder structure needs to be based on the uses. For instance, what file would the third-party consultant for energy analysis be most interested in? Based on the information exchange plan and the expectation narrative, the consultant is only interested in the gBXMl files, so it makes sense to create a specific folder,
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ee can upload the gBXMl files to that folder so that the consultant knows exactly where to find all the files he or she needs. the folder structure might look like this:
01 Model-Based Coordination 02 Model-Based Scheduling 03 Model-Based Estimating
04 Model-Based Facilities Management 05 Model-Based Analysis
A Daylighting B CFD
C Energy
BLD-ARCH-ALL.gbXML BLD-MECH- ALL.gbXML BLD-ELEC- ALL.gbXML
avoid too many individual arch, Me, and ee folders or root “dump” folders to store the rvt, DWg, iFc, and other files because searching different places and sorting through the various file types could prove time-consuming to a team member.
not only is this inefficient, but it opens up security concerns. Most storage solutions allow you to assign different levels of accessibility rights to the users (download permission, download/upload permission, download/upload/delete permission). third- party consultants shouldn’t have access to modify or delete the revit models. they should only have access to modify or delete content they are responsible for.
every use should be analyzed the exact same way so your toolbelt can be organized efficiently. Don’t mix your screws, nuts, and nails. once you have organized the folders for the job, take a screenshot and insert it into your execution plan so that everyone is familiar with the folder structure for the project. you may also want to briefly describe the content that should be stored in each folder.
Note:
Once you have developed an organized toolbelt (folder structure), save it as a template for use on another job so you don’t have to start from scratch every time.File Naming
the last part of organization is naming the files that go in the folders. Don’t overthink this. the filenaming should be simple and identify three main things: the project, the author, and the zone. Most storage solutions have the ability to automatically version or archive files. this means that you can upload a file with the same name and it won’t overwrite the previous one—it will just create a newer version and archive
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the old. this has made the BiM process much more efficient. Models are constantly changing throughout the design, so it’s important for the team to have access to the latest files. if files have inconsistent names or people start adding dates to the end of the names, the folders become a cluttered mess of files and someone, without fail, will be working off an old file. if you have a consistent name and the storage solution automatically versions, your folder structure will be simplified and the risk of loss eliminated. See the sidebar “Filenaming convention” for an example. it discusses a basic example of a naming convention that covers the essentials of what should be in the filename. Filenames could get much more complex, but be careful about how many characters you use. you want to make them simple to understand, so having a name like 76543.087-Hospital-BLD-E-EL-02-Z1 (Project Number 76543
.087 - Hospital Building "E" - electrical content - Level 02 - Zone 01) would be a bit of overkill. Keep it simple.