Research Article

Methodology for Building Information Modeling (BIM) Implementation in Structural Engineering Companies (SECs)

Table 6

Recommendations for BIM Protocol.

ItemDescription

ResponsibilitiesCommitments, staff in charge, implementation, supervision, and compliance responsibilities are identified, established, and assigned.
Project development and workflowAll the phases of a project, input documents, and the deliverables of each (background, calculation report, models, documented) must be indicated. Workflows between internal and external professionals are detailed.
General terms, definitions, and characteristicsGeneral aspects of the deliverables must be made explicit according to the criteria of the company in particular. Define: formats, bullets, updates and revisions, scales and work units, dimensions and sizing, among other characteristics.
Basic modeling elementsBasic aspects of modeling should be pointed out regarding how certain actions should be developed in these BIM platforms. Detailed design references, program commands used, characteristics of parametric elements, types of annotation, among others, are indicated.
Contents of plansThe final plans, which will be produced in coordination with the BIM model, must comply with the traditional specifications of the SEC, so their content and characteristics do not vary from those specified in the company’s Traditional Design and Drafting Practices Manual.
Definitions and considerations for BIMThe team must be contextualized in the new work methodology, according to the following aspects: single work model (a cloud-based file in which several elements are simultaneously combined), model transcendence (where any modeling must be useful “upstream” during later stages), LOD and LOI (levels of detail and information in the models), IFC and interoperability, importance of fluid communication, BIM computational tools, interconnected work “in the cloud,” among others.
BIM modeling strategies and recommendationsClarify recommendations such as: general structuring of the modeling (partitioning the model into levels and specialties, in order to improve workability), generation of phases (organizing different temporal states of the project, e.g., demolition, construction), construction considerations (replicating the modeling as it is built in reality), considerations for material take off, model coordination, order in the project environment, subdivision by system colors, among others.