Cadalyst - November 2007 - (Page 48)

aecinsight Figure 2. Vico Software Constructor, Estimator, and 5D Presenter exemplify builder-focused tools for BIM automation. Here, earned values are plotted against time and a visualization of the building under construction. (Image courtesy of Q&D Construction and Swinerton Builders) and (too often) litigation have been completed. Building owners would like to achieve these results by reliably predicting them in advance. In that regard, I see the endgame of BIM automation as what the folks at Stanford University’s Center for Integrated Facility Engineering (CIFE) call virtual design and construction (VDC). If — and when — full VDC is achieved, building owners and operators will derive the lion’s share of benefit. Much of that will come through the synchronization of data and design representations. However, synchronization is as much a function of process change, such as design-build and building commissioning, as it is a function of software. Nevertheless, owner-oriented BIM automation tools are emerging, such as Solibri’s Model Checker (figure 3), which already is in use at the world’s largest owner/operator of buildings, the U.S. General Services Administration. Figure 3. Project owners’ concern for program requirements and regulatory compliance is served by tools such as Solibri Model Checker. Analyses of (top) wheelchair accessibility and (bottom) path of egress illustrate this process. (Images courtesy of Statsbygg, Norway, and the city of Helsinki, Finland) What’s In It for You? Faced with these divergent views and proliferating tools, readers may well ask, “Is BIM just the buzzword du jour? Even if BIM is for real, is it worth the trouble? What’s in it for me? When is the big payoff from BIM going to happen?” The short answers are: Although software vendors have reduced BIM to overhyped marketing jargon, the underlying process transformation of AEC/O is for real, and it will have lasting consequences. Keeping pace with and adapting to those consequences will incur costs — in organizational change as well as money — but rather than avoid those costs as nothing but trouble, AEC/O businesses should view this transformation as a smart way to stay out of trouble. 48 November 2007 | cadalyst | www.cadalyst.com Each category of AEC/O player will experience different benefits, but maximizing the what’s-in-it-for-me factor will depend on a clear understanding of what’s in it for everyone else. The long cycle of process change now labeled BIM has reached an inflection point: Instead of large investments (of time and dollars) for seemingly small returns, the industry is about to cross into a zone of increasing returns, where each incremental investment will yield ever-larger payoffs. Acknowledgment I’d like to thank the Construction Project Controls newsletter and the Ph.D. program in the College of Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology, where my current definition of BIM was first published. c Industry analyst and consultant Jerry Laiserin helps AEC/O businesses — and the technology providers who serve them — build smarter through the integration of technology strategy and business process. E-mail him at jerry@laiserin.com. http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - November 2007

Cadalyst - November 2007 Contents Editor's window Cad Central Conceptual Inspiration for Less Than $200 From Any Angle - Publish and Share Your 3D Designs NX 5, Part 1 - CAD/CAM/CAE Software Newforma Project Center Fourth Edition - Software for Project Information Management CAD Manager's Survey 2007 Sharing and Collaborating with Your Team To BIMfinity and Beyond! Solutions for Sending Large Digital Files Cad Cartoon Issue Indexes Cad Fidential

Cadalyst - November 2007

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