BIM Strategy - Comments Please

[Barryfisher]

Hi Guys

I work for a large International Consultancy and have been given the job of BIM Leader for our offices all over the world.

I am a Revit/Cad manager and have been using Revit for 6 years now and in the industry for 27 years.

I have created a BIM Implementation Strategy that i have to table to the board of CEO's on Monday. If any BIM Champions have 10 minutes to view what i have produced and give me any positive comments it would be much appreciated.

I have removed my company name from the document for obvious reasons.

In advance many thanks Barry Fisher

[Anonymous]

I cannot speak directly to some of the specifics that you've laid out, but here are some random thoughts I had as I was reading your outline:

• One thing I found difficult at the beginning in trying to get everyone in the office up to speed on things was how quickly new Revit versions came out. Especially for how many people you need to share information with, your process will take a very long time and will undoubtedly cross over during the release of a new version.
• One obstacle I've come across when trying to implement standards was that in Revit it seems like you can accomplish a task 5 different ways. Not everyone is always in agreement with the established standard and the discussions that ensue to determine what the best methods are and standards can be very time consuming.
• Similar to the previous note, I've found that standards are great, but it seems like in every project something comes up that requires standards to be broken. After a while you start to lose focus of when you can break standard so you start to question what exactly ARE the standards.
• Another challenge are client requests, standards and requirements. To some extent clients drive how the project and Revit models are created and utilized. Unfortunately, this is never the same between clients.

Those are my thoughts, good luck to you

George

[gregamhale]

A little late for you Monday presentation, but hopefully it went well.

2 years is honestly an aggressive goal for an international company.  Take into account the time for training, staff changes, project cycles, learning curve, software developments, different client requiirements, etc.  and it can easily slow things down.  I've seen many midsize firms (50-150 employees) take 2-3 years to get 50-60% of staff up to speed on a particular BIM software while many actually land on 15-20%.  Change is not easy and it is not quick.  

I think you need to define what success means.  When you state that you want to be "fully functional" it leaves it open to a broad interpretation.  You'll want to make the goal measurable such "25% of staff in each disciplinary department are proficient with the software and standard skills as defined in the company software competency matrix."  

Also, I notice that you mention testing out file sharing services.  You're not likely to get very far with Autodesk 360.  Some options to research are Revit Server, CSG BIM Cloud, Advance2000, and Panzura.  Try to get a solution in place as soon as possible.  You don't want this to be a roadblock to adoption.  One missed opportunity can cause you a great deal of time in your BIM adoption.

Best of luck.