Posted on April 5, 2018
Amanda Comunale was recently featured in Consulting-Specifying Engineer discussing Five Considerations when Coordinating BIM Projects. Within the article, she reviews how proper estimates, content quality, technology and continual training and education improve the overall BIM project process. The article concludes with the importance of project management and the BIM project manager. Though noted as the final consideration, the impact that BIM has on the people involved in the project is substantial. Let’s dive into this a bit deeper and examine how project management changes with BIM.
A BIM Project Manager must communicate quickly and effectively
The goal of a BIM project is to utilize workflows and technologies to allow for a more efficient project, from conception through construction. The role of a project manager is the cornerstone of this process. They are the hub of information, and the link between their teams, and the larger collective project. The success of a BIM project, therefore, relies on the project managers’ ability to access, interpret and disseminate information quickly and effectively. This information has to be up to date and readily available at all times, while also being easy to access and share. In a traditional project, one not leveraging BIM, if you want to collect, interpret and disseminate information in time to make a difference on the project, hire more people. It’s not that the information doesn’t exist, there isn’t an efficient way to access it. Fortunately for today’s project managers, BIM enabling technologies such as BIM 360 and Revizto have been developed to do just that. Through the use of these cloud-based programs, teams can collaborate on a single, shared project model, communicating with live issue tracking and chat functionalities. Models are accessed real-time via computers and mobile devices. The risk of working off of outdated or incomplete models is eliminated. Project managers do their work from any location and keep the lines of communication open at all stages of a project.
A BIM Project Manager must be hands-on
Information management and communication are essential for a BIM project to be executed successfully, but what is equally as important is the adoption of BIM workflows. Project managers must ensure that their teams understand, carry out, and value BIM workflows. At times, project teams must adopt new software platforms, learning to work in programs that are foreign to them. These instances require the project manager to be hands-on with their teams and ensure everyone is working toward a common goal. A manager is only as successful as their weakest team member, and this is abundantly clear when working on a project with BIM requirements. These workflows cannot be pushed down on teams, but must instead be properly communicated and managed to be carried out successfully.
A BIM Project Manager must collaborate
Effective project management is imperative for a BIM project to be carried out successfully. Project managers must step outside of their traditional roles and take on new challenges to properly manage their teams and collaborate with other trades. Yet once these BIM workflows are instituted, the project manager can see substantial gains in productivity. Immediate access to information with BIM enabling technology and upfront BIM coordination and collaboration, promote efficiency gains that can be seen across all projects. In her article, Amanda Comunale notes that the power of BIM is in more than just a clash-free model. The power is in the information sharing and project efficiency gains that reduce the cost and risk on a project. These benefits are only possible with successful project management, promoting communication, collaboration, and coordination.
Check out our blog post to read about our transition to Revit.
