5 Reasons Why You Need A BIM Execution Plan
1) DEFINE THE WHY – WE MUST INCLUDE “WHY BIM” IN THE BIM EXECUTION PLAN
Your BIM Execution Plan (BEP) should include the who, what, when, and how…
…but most importantly your BIM Execution Plan must also include the WHY!
Yes one of the most important reasons “why” you need a BIM Execution Plan is to define why you are using BIM in the first place.
Answer some of these questions:
WHY are you building a model?
WHY are certain model elements required at specific times throughout the project?
WHY do you need teams to follow explicit workflows or processes or deliver in a particular file format?
Without answering these critical questions (in your BIM Execution Plan) you might not achieve team buy-in and as a result your project could miss the true benefits of BIM.
2) DEFINE YOUR BIM GOALS – ROI ANYONE? LET’S SET BIM Cost AND TIME Saving GOALS!
If we can plan BIM in the most efficient way we have the potential for huge time and cost savings.
According to the UK Government the benefits of BIM (gained through the recommended use of a good online BIM Execution Planning workflow) can save projects up to 50% in design, 33% in construction and 20% in operations.
These potential savings are well worth it – let’s add some BIM goals to the BIM Execution Plan for everyone to aim for.
3) DEFINE YOUR MOST CRITICAL BIM USES – IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS
In order to achieve huge time and cost savings many professionals adopt a BIM Execution Plan to specify the optimum BIM Uses for the project.
BIM Uses can range from marketing to model analysis and from quantity takeoff to operations and maintenance.
Here are a few of the top BIM Uses:
Be careful – some are very attractive and “newfangled” but might not contribute towards your agreed BIM Goals – make sure you select and add the right ones to your BIM Execution Plan!
4) DEFINE AND AGREE ON THE LEVEL OF BIM REQUIRED – how much BIM is enough, how much BIM is too much?
In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the selected BIM Uses it is critical to define exactly how much BIM is required and when the BIM deliverables are needed.
This is an important, often overlooked and sometimes mandated (rather than collaborative) part of the BIM Execution Plan.
In the image below the BIM Level Of Development (LOD) on the left could be more appropriate for a specific BIM Use compared to the LOD on the right – it all depends on why the model is required:
The LOD specification for the model must include things like which elements are required, how much detail is required, how accurate/reliable/developed they need to be – and also how much information is required.
Do you need LOD 100, 200, 300, 350, 400 or LOD 500? ..or even LOD 600? 😉
These BIM levels need to be defined clearly enough in the BIM Execution Plan so that the project team can agree on useful deliverables at the right points throughout the project.
5) DEFINE THE PROCESSES REQUIRED TO ACHIEVE DESIRED RESULTS – NOW LET’S MAKE SURE WE KNOW HOW TO GET THERE!
Once the BIM levels have been defined we need to describe the standards and processes teams must follow to achieve the desired results.
For this our industry has many BIM standards, BIM guidelines, BIM best practices, BIM templates, BIM spreadsheets, BIM… everything!
The challenge is putting all of this together in a simple way for the whole team to understand.
These five reasons mean it’s important to create your BIM Execution Plan early in the project.
However… even with a great BIM Execution Plan created early – if you don’t get team buy in your BIM Execution Plan will gather cobwebs and be worthless.
We believe in an approach that uses an online BIM Execution Planning workflow and free BIM Execution Plan Templates to create collaborative BIM Execution Plans that will never collect cobwebs.
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BIM Execution Plan
Visual LOD Matrix
BIM Management
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