Design and construction have always operated across a chasm. Even when construction teams are heavily involved in precon and constructability reviews, there’s a gap between what happens to project design data and how it is used on the construction site.
We often refer to this gap as “throwing information over the wall.” While designers work in Revit and other design tools, when it comes time to execute in the field, all that data has to be printed or transferred in an non-parametric format to a document management system. When it is sent back to design for changes, it has to be thrown back across the wall again.
All that is about to change. Revit, the industry’s leading BIM software, now offers the ability for users to collaborate and co-author models (or perform “Revit worksharing” — as Revit users know it) in the cloud via the next generation BIM 360 platform with the launch of BIM 360 Design.
Here are nine reasons to be really excited about design joining the BIM 360 platform.
One: Gain Efficiency
All design and construction data can now be managed on a single platform, creating a single source of truth for all teams on the project. This eliminates the need to download files and upload them into another platform, or to dedicate admin time to porting data. It also reduces opportunities for errors in transmission and resulting rework.
Two: Increase Accessibility to Design & Construction Data
When all design and construction data is managed on the same platform, you can set permissions and customize viewing privileges to ensure the right people have access to the right information in the right format at the right time. If that means that everyone on every team needs to have access to all the latest information on your project, you can set it up that way. But we know teams need better access controls to efficiently manage their work. With granular permissions, teams can improve real-time sharing and coordination of data for the best outcomes.
Three: Streamline Approval Process
When up-to-date models are available to construction teams on the job site, they can view issues and RFIs in context of model views, instead of uploading static pdfs or 2D sheets that may be outdated. This improves workflows, speeds communication, and reduces opportunities for errors.
Four: Improve Collaboration Among Disparate Teams
In the past, design and construction teams have operated in separate worlds, throwing information back and forth to each other. With design data now available in a construction management platform, disparate teams on the site and in the office can work in a common data platform, improving collaboration and communication.
Five: Get Greater Insights
With design data integrated into construction management, everyone on the job, whatever their role, can access the data or leverage it via project management solutions to understand what’s going on with the project, even if they don’t have or use the authoring tools. You can view the latest, approved version of the aggregated project model right in your browser, with visualization features that understand your workflows and the BIM process. This means everyone on the project can relate what they’re doing to the bigger picture, providing greater insights.
Six: Improve Security
Your data’s security is critical in an age where breaches are commonplace. When you integrate design data with construction management in a platform that is SOC 2 certified, you reduce the risk of breaches and gain better control over who has access to what, and how much they can download or change.
Seven: Bring BIM Data Further Downstream
With all design and construction data integrated into a single platform, BIM data easily flows further downstream. From design all the way to hand-off, the data stays in the same environment, is up to date, and easily accessible to the right team members throughout the process. The ultimate aim being to improve the creation, sharing and issuing of information underpins better project delivery.
Eight: Be More Cost Efficient
Bad or outdated information causes countless rework and delays. When design and construction teams share data in the same location, they save time and money, and maximize ROI on cloud infrastructure and data management.
Nine: Improve Scalability
The recovery of the construction sector is nearly complete since the economic downturn of 2008. As billings and cloud revenue start to rise again, firms look for ways to build resiliency and save on long term and operational costs.
Switching to cloud software makes growth easier and more efficient, by eliminating the need to purchase new software. Integrating design collaboration with construction management enables scaling by allowing you to standardize processes and propagate those processes across the organization as you onboard new teams and expand into new geographies.
With design on a construction data and management platform, you can leverage all of these benefits. BIM 360 Design’s features include unlimited storage, issue management, managed or “controlled worksharing” with granular permissions, and deliverable coordination.
Users can leverage new, robust workflows that help teams control and manage how BIM model data is referenced, developed, and exchanged throughout the lifecycle of the project. At the time of handover, construction teams access reviewed, approved design data in the same central project repository that supports subsequent workflows in the project lifecycle.
Leading global design and engineering firm AECOM is centralizing access to project data, incentivizing efficiency, and better managing lifecycle coordination. This helps them understand client needs and deliver higher quality, more innovative projects with every turn. As participants in the BIM 360 Design Beta Program, their feedback helped inform and shape many product improvements that are currently live.
“AECOM’s Building and Places team deployed Autodesk’s BIM 360 in the design and engineering of a major healthcare project, saving millions of dollars because of advanced collaboration well before ground was even broken,” says Russ Dalton, Americas Director of Building Information Modeling at AECOM. “The use of BIM allows on-going, real-time collaboration for digital design coordination reviews – saving many hours of time for all stakeholders, keeping teams focused on critical design challenges, and setting up contractors and owners for success. Autodesk’s BIM 360 is a game-changer for AECOM and the industry.
We’re excited about the launch of BIM 360 Design, but we’re not done yet. In the future, you’ll see the BIM 360 platform being gradually improved for better security and resiliency, while connecting design to pre-construction and construction in a more purposeful, intuitive manner.
Watch this video to learn how a common platform can help
increase project accuracy and minimize frictions:
Remove silos and fragmented point solutions. Connect your teams in the BIM 360 platform for better design collaboration and project delivery.
The post 9 Reasons You Want to Integrate Design and Construction Data appeared first on Convergence.
