This tool has been designed for construction industry practitioners who want to know more about BIM and how it can deliver value to their projects and business. This includes Clients and Owners, Designers (Architects and Engineers), Contractors, Sub-contractors, Fabricators, Surveyors, Asset Managers and Suppliers.

This tool is completely free and open access.

No, for now the tool can be used without registering at all. We are considering the opportunity to create accounts so you can save your selections and summaries. Future development may also include providing accounts to monitor progress  towards achieving the benefits you have chosen. Our team is seeking funds to complete this stage so industry can have a free open-access benchmarking tool that is interoperable with any BIM and asset management system. Please contact SBEnrc if you have ideas here: enquiries@sbenrc.com.au.

At this stage, this data is not used for anything other than provide us with insight about how the tool is being used in our effort to improve your experience. No personal data is saved.

The tool has been developed to be used for any project phase. However, we recommend it to be used at the earliest phase possible so you can maximise the return on your investment in BIM. Depending on the benefits you want to achieve you may need to impose different requirements for project delivery. For example, if your aim is to improve cost accounting at earlier phases you will probably need to require a greater level of detail early on.

This tool has been made so it can be used by people with any level of skill, ranging from “I don’t know what BIM is” to “I’ve used BIM and I want to know what else I can do with it”.

You can always just click on the previous step and make a new selection. The next steps will update based on your new selections.

You will receive a checklist showing the selections you have made, information to get you started on the next steps and the opportunity to create a full pdf report that includes the definitions of all the selections you made.

The dictionaries provide you with an extensive list of benefits, tools and metrics that you can use to develop your own BIM value realisation strategy. By making different selections you can see how different benefits require different tools and metrics and this information can help you start the BIM journey. The tool is based on the book Delivering Value with BIM – A Whole-of-life Approach which gives you an eight step guide (this tool takes you through the first four) to align the benefits that you want to achieve and make sense for all stakeholders. This is normally done in a workshop environment. The book provides more information about practical implementation issues such as what documents need to be used and how to carry out the process as well as information about BIM performance metrics, insight tips from implementers and case studies.

The BIM and Dictionaries section in the tool provide you with some introductory information, and the Useful Links in the home page can get you started on your quest for more information. The book Delivering Value with BIM – A Whole-of-life Approach provides a comprehensive information about BIM, its use, benefits and metrics based on hundreds of academic and industry publications. This book will be available in March 2016.

SBEnrc has the mission of producing world-class research based on a collaborative and strategic approach. SBEnrc and its predecessor the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Construction Innovation have been carrying out cutting-edge research about BIM and how to maximise its benefits for over a decade. This research includes both technical and strategic aspects of BIM implementation. Technical aspects include BIM guidelines, case studies and tools. Strategic aspects include procurement and contracts, skills development and national strategies. SBEnrc has also endeavoured to leverage its international network to produce research that is relevant not only to Australia but to the global community as well. For more information about SBEnrc and their BIM projects go to: www.sbenrc.com.au

NATSPEC is a not-for-profit organisation aiming to improve the construction quality and productivity of the built environment through leadership of information. This organisation has been delivering information to the Australian industry for over 40 years, including a number of comprehensive construction specification systems which have been endorsed by both government and professional bodies. In more recent years, NATSPEC has positioned itself as a provider of information that aims to help implement BIM in the construction industry. This effort has also been largely based on a close collaboration model with other organisations such as the SBEnrc, the Australasian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC) and the Australian Construction Industry Forum (ACIF). For more information about NATSPEC and their BIM projects go to: http://bim.natspec.org/

You can email your questions to the NATSPEC team and they’ll do their best to answer them. Their email address is bim@natspec.com.au.