Behavior and Performance of BIM Users in a Collaborative Work Environment

Abstract

Collaborative work in Building Information Modeling (BIM) projects is frequently understood as the interaction of modelers in an asynchronous way through modification requests or via e-mail/telephone. However, alternative work methodologies based on creating a common and synchronous environment allow solving issues instantaneously during the design process. This study aimed to analyze the behavior and performance of BIM users with different specialties who were subjected to an experimental exercise in a collaborative environment. For this purpose, a process was devised to collect, sort, and select the data from the log files generated by the BIM software. A timeline of the experiment was populated with data on the intensity and types of commands used by each specialist, which allowed determining behavioral patterns, preferred commands, indicators of their experience, further training needs, and possible strategies for improving the team’s performance. In the experiment, the mechanical designer’s performance was 49% and the rest approximately 64%, with respect to that of the architect. An average rate of 1.66 necessary or auxiliary commands for each contributory command was detected. The average performance was 200–400 commands per hour, which intensified by the end of the experiment. Further training needs were detected for the plumbing designer to reduce the use of backwards commands. Conversely, the electrical designer showed a positive evolution regarding this aspect during the experiment. The analysis methods here described become useful for the aforementioned purposes. Nevertheless, combinations with methods from existing research might improve the outcomes and therefore the specificity of recommendations.

Keystone players in collaborative building information modeling — form of contribution in Japanese large-scale projects

“…In particular, from the perspective of productivity, methods for contextual prediction of design work productivity (Pan and Zhang, 2020b) and methods for exploring typologies of design work have been proposed (Pan and Zhang, 2020a;Gao et al, 2021). Forcael et al have published an attempt to measure the contributions of cross-disciplinary BIM users from BIM logs (Forcael et al, 2020).…”

Development of Communication Protocols between BIM Elements and 3D Concrete Printing

“…This technology allows creating a virtual model with more data and with more precise, and necessary geometries to support the construction, providing functions needed to model the life cycle of the project. With this methodology, it is possible to obtain better quality projects at lower cost and in less time [13], supported by software and tools that help designers to better perform in their specialized fields [14]. Some software packages have modules that can build a 3D model of structures and facilities.…”

Assessing the Duration of the Lead Appointed Party Coordination Tasks and Evaluating the Appropriate Team Composition on BIM Projects

“…Lin and Yang designed a system for BIM cooperation, as well as for building construction projects [32]. Gegana and Agirachman conducted a similar analysis on the stadium project [33], while behavior and performance of BIM users in a collaborative work environment were processed in [34]. The impact of BIM implementation on the quality, expected duration, and cost of BIM projects among small businesses was analyzed in [35,36], perspective on BIM utilization in budgeting and lifecycle related costs are presented in [37][38][39][40].…”