Education Teacher

Archive for December, 2011

Keys to a Successful BIM Implementation: News from the Frontline – Who Needs Training?!

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

by Dave Webster, BIM/CAD Specialist for the AECOO Industry

Now I want to take a moment to talk to you all about the importance of training. I am going to take my consulting hat off for a moment and simply talk to you as a fellow architect. For many generations, our industry has not understood the value of properly training our staff because we are too concerned about the “Bottom Line”. “We simply don’t have the time or the money to train our staff and incur all the downtime”. OK…let’s think about this a bit. I think we can all agree that our investment into software is one of our biggest expenses in the process of design and documentation. Why would we not consider taking the time to learn how to absolutely maximize the software to its fullest potential! This has a larger effect on your bottom line!

Look at it this way…a good colleague of mine introduced a great analogy on this for me…picture this…you come home one day and find a formula 1 car sitting in your driveway!

How cool is that!! Your neighbors are all staring at you now! You take a long stroll around this machine to admire its power and then wiggle your way into the cockpit, struggle to figure out the seatbelts and grab the keys. Hopefully at some point, someone hands you a helmet as well! You might even put this baby into first gear and take it slowly around the block. But some of us, (myself included), won’t even figure out how to get it out of the driveway! “What’s the motto here Dave? Where in the world are you going here?”…you ask. Simply this; you have been given a very powerful vehicle for design and documentation and it might be fairly easy for you to get it started and use some of the fundamental tools…but we have not even talked about getting into a race yet! You can’t! You can’t enter a formula one race without the proper training in driving this vehicle let alone some practice before you get on the road with the rest of the pros!

I can’t encourage you enough to take the time to hire a trusted partner to train your staff in Revit and give your team ample practice laps before you put them on that high profile project that has design complexity and a pretty demanding project schedule. When we all dove into AutoCAD, it was pretty much dumped on our laps and we figured out what we needed to know on our own. This was possible because it was built on our familiar standards of drafting and we could understand the correlation of the two processes. Revit is not about drafting; it is about information modeling. It is not a process we are used to. It is not simply 3D CAD. We need to understand the theory and intent of information modeling in order to get the most out of our software investment and leverage the power of BIM. Don’t make the mistake of reducing Revit to simply another drafting and visualization tool!

The software applications we use for building information modeling require a much more thorough understanding and proficiency in the tools; I hope the analogy helped you understand this. Now that I have hopefully convinced you to consider training; here are a few tips for you…

  • First: identify a typical and simple Pilot Project as the first project for Revit.
  • Target your training 2 weeks before the project. Figure about 30 hours for fundamentals training.
  • Be sure the pilot project has a reasonable schedule.
  • Find an Authorized Training Center (ATC) for hands-on, instructor led classes.
  • Find an ATC who can customize the content, delivery and location of your training to best meet your schedule and business needs.
  • Look for process teachers not software instructors. Seek out industry experts who can truly help you get competitive.
  • Look for trainers who can apply the tools and training to your active projects and continue to support you on billable projects.
  • Be sure that your partner in training can also provide ongoing support through advanced technology connections.
  • Did I mention we do all of this here at MasterGraphics?…
  • Remember: the shorter your path to proficiency; the less frustration and sooner arrival at profit.
  • Bottom Line: Take the time to train!

So…who needs training? If you ask me…Everyone! Simply to get started on the right foot and then ongoing training to evolve, stay ahead of your competition and maximize your services and improve your profitability! Only then will you be ready for the races!

Happy New Year to you all!

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Keys to a Successful BIM Implementation: News from the Frontline - Considerations before the Transition

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

by Dave Webster, BIM/CAD Specialist for the AECOO Industry

Based on our past two discussions we’ve had, I hope by now you can see clearly that transitioning to BIM is far more than another software upgrade. The transition to BIM needs to be a business decision made by all major stakeholders of a firm; from COO to CAD operator. There are many factors to consider when determining how BIM fits your business plan or how your business plan needs to change to accommodate a building information modeling process.

So many times I have seen firms that have been wowed by a Revit Demo and get a spark of inspiration to get out there and “get some BIM”! Revit is not simply a new CAD replacement tool; it takes careful planning. I had the privilege of working with a firm that purchased and rolled out Revit without an implementation plan. After several years into the venture they realized something was fundamentally wrong and they were losing money on projects. The steps to recovery involved meeting with the firm’s directors, interviewing each of the users for Revit skills, CAD skills and attitude towards change. We studied their present process and gathered information regarding their optimal process. We took a dive into the CAD standards to help them see beyond these trusted methods in order to begin to consider possibilities with BIM. We then helped to establish a game plan specifically for this firm at this point I time for the optimal BIM adoption. It involved custom training, consulting and ongoing guidance to the team. Eventually, even their most resistant CAD user became a Revit champion!

A proper implementation plan looks something like this…

Situation Analysis – fully consider your present process and situation; both pros and cons.

Implementation Strategy – Align your business goals, project schedules and staff allotment.

Process Assessment – Identify what you would like to accomplish with a new process.

Implementation Plan – with the help of someone who has been through this…document your plan with established milestones and goals.

Software Deployment – Be sure to consider present state of hardware and potential hardware upgrade needs. Use these upgrades as incentive points for staff!

Training Delivery – Training is a must for a successful BIM adoption. Again, with the help of a trusted advisor, establish the best means of training delivery so as to provide a cohesive training delivery while minimizing disruption to your project schedules.

Maintenance – the tools for BIM are under constant change. Be sure to partner with someone to keep you posted on all the best tools that would be beneficial to your particular process

So in summary…be sure to consider the three main components for a successful BIM adoption; people, process and technology. A Revit implementation should provide a clean slate from which to revitalize your present CAD standards and process; be sure to find a trusted advisor who can help you understand the potential and make the best educated decisions on how best to move forward. Oh…and be sure to leverage the users who are excited and will embrace this change; train and support them first; the rest will eventually follow…or fall by the wayside!

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