BIM Managers

[AJA14]

Hi. Does someone have any experience on how to organize the BIM team in a 300 to 400 scale consultancy. The company has architectural, structural, mechanical and superivision departments and a small interior department.

Should every department have it's own BIM Manager/coordinater or should there be only one BIM Manager and Coordinators or Leads, ...

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

[rosskirby]

That depends on how many people are in each discipline.  If it's fairly evenly distributed, then 1 BIM Manager per discipline (Arch, Structural, MEP) and one chief BIM Manager would probably be good.

Of course, there are hundreds of minor details that could affect that distribution (role, requirement, knowledgebase of staff, types of projects, cross-disciplinary work, etc.), so without knowing more, it's hard to say.

[AJA14]

Hi,

Thanks for the information. However, this is the case of a transition from CAD to BIM where everything is still in the early stages. There are around 5 to 10 (Between draftsmen and Engineers) who have above 5 years of experience. The rest (around 30) are still in the 1st 6 month training and trying stages. There are still no standards and templates. All the other employees are still blind when it comes to Revit. 

The plan is to start with a pilot project and document BIM standards with all the relevant information regarding to software, hardware, training, standards, templates, staffing, roles, etc... 

So if there are any ideas that would be helpful, you are greatly appreciated.

Regards,

[David_W_Koch]

A lot will depend on the size of your pilot project team and how you are working in Revit. 

Will each discipline have its own separate model, which will then be linked into the other discipline's models for reference?  Or will there be a single model in which all disciplines work?

Will each discipline have more than one team member actively working in the model?

Assuming separate models for each discipline, and multiple team members in the model for each discipline, then each discipline should probably have one person designated as being responsible for their discipline's model (whether or not you give them a fancy title).  For a pilot project, this would ideally be someone with both Revit experience and experience in that discipline, so that when decisions on how things should be done have to be made, they can be made taking into consideration both the way Revit would like it to be done and the end result the firm expects.  Often there is not one individual who has both types of experience, in which case you may need to have two people - one who knows Revit and one who knows the discipline and the expected results.  If the pilot project is not terribly large, and you have one individual with a good deal of Revit saavy, that person might be able to be the "project model manager", provided she or he has guidance from at least one person in each discipline who knows the discipline and the expected results.  It may also be helpful for a "project model manager" to have a lead person in each discipline who has some Revit experience and who can help the project model manager implement the standards/create families/etc. for that discipline, as I suspect that one person may have a hard time doing that for all disciplines on a pilot project, in a timely fashion (unless the project is really small).

What you do not want, particularly on a pilot project when office standards have not yet been set, is multiple individuals doing things as each sees fit, as that can result in something of a muddled mess and will likely not result in any clear standards to be used on future projects.