Building Information Modeling (BIM) revolutionizes construction and facility management by creating detailed digital models. Ensuring the quality and completeness of these models is vital for effective project delivery and operations. Here, we highlight key research and case studies on BIM quality assessment, addressing challenges and best practices.
The goal of this research is to support project teams in assessing the quality and completeness of digital deliverables throughout the project lifecycle.
Relevant Papers
Information Quality Assessment for Facility Management
- Framework Introduction: Presents a framework for assessing BIM information quality tailored to Facility Management (FM) needs.
- Significance: Highlights the importance of high-quality BIMs to avoid costly rework during the facility operations phase.
- Research Basis: Developed from studies involving two large owner organizations and multiple BIM projects, focusing on FM information needs.
- Key Dimensions: Identifies five critical IQ dimensions: completeness, value accuracy, consistency, well-formedness, and understandability.
- Implementation: Demonstrates the framework’s feasibility through real case studies, offering practical IQ assessment tests for project handover.
Investigating Owner Requirements for BIM-Enabled Design Review
Adoption Barriers: Challenges in adopting BIM for design review include lack of proper hardware/software, training, and resistance to change from established practices.
- Efficiency Issues: Current design review processes are inefficient due to limited time and extensive documentation, often leading to missed issues that escalate costs later in projects.
- Information Content: Approximately 26% of design review comments were related to inefficiencies in the way information is conveyed, indicating a need for better communication methods.
- Review Comment Types: Design review comments can be categorized into general comments, queries, suggestions, observations, and requirements, each with distinct purposes.
- Structural Issues: A significant portion of comments were related to structural and content issues, reflecting gaps in meeting owner requirements.
Developing a BIM Model for FM from Handover Documentation; A Case Study
- Handover Documentation Quality: The poor quality and disorganization of handover documents, including inconsistent formats, illegible scans, and mixed information, significantly delayed the BIM model development for FM.
- Information Retrieval Challenges: Sorting and extracting relevant information from a massive amount of unstructured documentation was time-consuming and required significant manual effort.
- Terminology and Unit Inconsistencies: The use of various terminologies and units across different documents and suppliers led to confusion and inefficiencies in integrating the data into the BIM model.
- File Organization Issues: Inadequate file naming conventions and mixed content within single files made it difficult to locate and retrieve specific information, further complicating the BIM model population process.
Need for Standardization: The study highlights the necessity for standardized guidelines for handover documentation, including naming conventions, standardized terminologies, and formats to ensure efficient use of BIM for FM purposes.
Ensuring the quality and completeness of BIM deliverables is crucial for successful project execution and facility management. This collection of research and case studies has underscored the challenges of current practices and the need for better organization, clear standards, and effective communication.
Implementing these insights and best practices can lead to more efficient design reviews, streamlined handovers, and improved overall project performance. By focusing on continuous improvement and standardization, project teams can fully leverage BIM’s potential throughout the project lifecycle.