How to Create a Successful BIM Execution Plan

Building information modeling has successfully changed the way construction projects are approached in the modern environment. Traditional workflows have been turned into dynamic and data-driven processes, bringing in a large number of benefits in the process. However, implementing the BIM methodology in an existing environment can be far more challenging than one might expect.

A document called a “BIM execution plan” is the heart of any successful implementation of BIM. As its name suggests, this plan offers detailed guidance on how different aspects of BIM workflows can be implemented in an existing construction environment.

Our goal in this article is to outline all the key elements of both creating and implementing a successful BEP to gain advantages in the form of optimized resource use, improved coordination, reduced errors, and many others. The proper understanding of the development and execution of a BEP can be the difference between a problematic project and an extremely successful one. This makes BEP processes vital to meeting industry standards and driving project success in every phase of project realization.

What is a BIM execution plan? Why is it important?

Definition of a BIM execution plan

A BIM execution plan is a complex document that is used to outline the process of implementing building information modeling throughout the entire lifecycle of a construction project. A BEP should define the BIM goals of the project while establishing the technological infrastructure for implementation and specifying information exchange processes

The most noteworthy distinguishable feature of a BEP from the traditional approach to construction documentation is the fact that the former was designed to work with the data management and digital collaboration aspects of modern construction projects from the start, making them much more efficient and productive.

Primary goals of BIM execution plans

One big overarching goal that all BEPs have is the establishment of a detailed project execution framework. It tries to create a standardized approach to model creation and maintenance processes, enforcing consistency in processes for all stakeholders and disciplines.

Typical elements of BIM execution plans are protocols for data exchange between team members, quality control procedures for model development, and specific requirements for levels of development for each phase of the project separately.

Noteworthy advantages of BIM execution plans

The goals of a BEP outline its purpose, while its advantages are the manifestation of the tangible project benefits that the implementation can bring. Some of the most valuable benefits of implementing a competent BIM execution plan are:

• Improved accountability and transparency for all projects by using detailed documentation processes for all decisions and actions, simplifying progress tracking and issue resolution.
• Better coordination with fewer conflicts thanks to centralized information management and clash detection, leading to a lower total number of change orders and RFIs down the line.
• Drastic improvements in scheduling and resource allocation, with 4D modeling capabilities making it significantly easier to visualize and optimize even the most complex construction sequences.
• Streamlined decision-making processes with the help of defined workflows and responsibility matrices that assist with reducing project delays and speeding up approvals.
• The ability to perform cost analysis in real-time as design evolves also dramatically improves the accuracy of estimation and cost control for the entire project, and so does the automated quantity takeoff capability.

Common challenges for BEPs

Despite the abundance of advantages BEPs provide to construction projects, there are also several challenges that must be monitored over time, including:

• The abundance of technical issues brought in by either software interoperability or varying BIM expertise levels among team members.
• Difficulties with integration when it comes to subcontractors that use different BIM standards or capabilities.
• Resistance to change from some team members that are more comfortable with traditional construction methods, necessitating change management strategies, additional training, etc.
• Pressure to keep data standards at a specific level while also making the BEP flexible enough to be able to accept unforeseen circumstances or other project changes down the line.
• Problematic process of identifying appropriate levels of detail for each phase of the project without spending a lot of resources on modeling work.

A proper understanding of the fundamentals of BEPs presents a comfortable baseline for being able to create one yourself, making it cater to your project’s goals and needs. Our next goal is to explore this process on a step-by-step basis to address its potential challenges and maximize the benefits.

Creating an effective BIM execution plan

Main steps of creating a competent BEP

The creation of any BIM execution plan should always begin with a thorough assessment of stakeholder capabilities and project requirements. It is the first phase of the plan, and it revolves around gathering input from different project participants, such as facility managers, engineers, contractors, architects, etc. We delineate five primary steps that are important for the proper implementation of a BEP. These are:

• Project assessment and planning

This information is required in order to understand the specific needs and limitations of each user group, but the correct assessment is possible only when it is complex and multifaceted, covering team experience levels, the resources available, project-specific challenges, and the technical aspects of BIM implementation.

• Scope definition and goal setting

As soon as the assessment process is complete, it is time to establish both the scope and the primary objectives of the BIM implementation process. The important part here is to find out which BIM use cases are the most advantageous for the project, whether this is cost estimation, scheduling, facility management, 3D coordination, etc. In order to ensure that all objectives can easily be tracked and evaluated, it is recommended to use the SMART approach to their creation (described as specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound).

• Infrastructure development

The establishment of technical infrastructure is another important part of the process, covering both software platforms for specific technical use cases and collaborative tools. Making sure that all team members have access to the necessary technology is also part of this step, and the same can be said for the proper configuration of any and all hardware or software.

• Workflow and procedure creation

Different kinds of detailed procedures and workflows have to be created for tasks such as coordination, model development, information exchange, and more. The combination of these processes can serve as the groundwork for any future day-to-day BIM operations.

• Onboarding and team training

The last step is to make sure that all team members are aware of the BEP’s requirements and can execute them with a high level of competency. In a way, this step is preparation for the upcoming work that aims to ensure that the teams are ready for the implementation of the BEP while eliminating any significant gaps in knowledge.

Key elements of a BEP

Every effective BEP must have a number of elements and topics that are crucial and extremely important in any context.

The section about project information should serve as the foundation of the BEP, creating a certain context for all project participants and establishing a framework of actions. Setting clear expectations in terms of deliverables is also a significant part of this section, providing a comprehensive overview of the BIM objectives/requirements of the project, which is especially valuable for new team members.

The technical requirements part exists to make sure that all team members have compatible systems and tools to facilitate effective collaboration. This section can establish critical protocols for preserving and protecting information about the project during its lifecycle while preventing all kinds of major technical issues around insufficient hardware capabilities, incompatible software, etc.

The process management section provides a detailed framework on most day-to-day construction operations around BIM, working on establishing consistent information exchange and model development pipelines. These efforts are extremely important to ensure the proper documentation of all changes in the project, as well as to maintain general model integrity. A clear set of procedures in the field of process management helps reduce the risk of errors and conflicts while preventing confusion in communication.

The collaborative framework, on the other hand, is self-explanatory for the most part. It outlines how different team members should work together across organizations and disciplines, establishing clear lines of both communication and authority in the process. The goal of this framework is to make sure that information can flow with high efficiency and proper decision-making. It is a necessary part for any project due to its ability to prevent communication breakdowns and maintain project momentum in any situation.

Last but not least, standards and guidelines are an important part of a BIM execution plan. They ensure consistency and integrability for all project deliverables. This particular section must offer specific technical directions to help facilitate efficient collaboration and maintain consistent model quality. Standardization also makes it dramatically easier to track and audit model development processes at any stage of a project’s lifecycle.

BIM templates for effective BEP development

It is hard to argue with the fact that every construction project is unique. However, such complex work can still be streamlined to a certain degree using standardized templates that are based on either industry best practices or previous success stories, with plenty of customization to accommodate any project requirements in the current context.

Each template should include both standard and customizable sections, with the former including the basic building blocks of a plan: technical specifications, process workflows, and general project information. It is also important to keep all of the lessons learned from previous projects in mind when creating such a template, including both successful strategies and common issues.

The most noteworthy features in this context are responsibility matrices, quality control checklists, pre-defined LOD progression tables, and more. Providing guidance on proper documentation for any project-specific requirements and exceptions can also be a part of a BEP template.

Competent BEP templates should have examples for formatting and language in different project scales or types, improving overall efficiency and enhancing readability in the process. Each section should have a clear and detailed explanation of how to customize it, with standardization being the primary source of improved efficiency.

Now that we have a clear understanding of how a successful BIM execution plan is created, we can move on to the important topic of defining the responsibility for implementing different aspects of the BEP. We examine the different roles and responsibilities of team members in the context of successful BIM implementation.

Roles and responsibilities in a BIM project

Role definition in a BIM project team

A successful BIM project requires a set of clear roles and responsibilities, starting with the BIM manager, a position whose primary goal is handling any and all activities related to BIM. It is a senior-level position that is responsible not only for overseeing the development of the BEP but also for ensuring compliance, establishing modeling standards, and more. Most BIM managers also work closely with project leadership figures to ensure proper alignment and understanding between stakeholder requirements, project objectives, and BIM implementation goals.

There are also multiple supporting roles in this field, such as BIM coordinators and discipline leads, both of which oversee the implementation of BIM in their very narrow fields of expertise. They operate as proverbial bridges between the specific needs of their own disciplines and the overarching technical requirements of BIM, aiming to maintain the modeling standards of the project while meeting the practical requirements of every phase of the project. Identifying and resolving cross-discipline coordination issues is also one of their primary tasks.

Responsibilities in BIM projects

All of the roles in BIM teams carry their own responsibilities which contribute to the success of the project. The overall BIM strategy is the responsibility of the BIM manager, with quality control processes, technology selection, and standard development. They are responsible for coordinating with external stakeholders, ensuring that BIM deliverables meet the project requirements, and managing the implementation of BIM execution plans.

BIM coordinators, on the other hand, are much more focused on the day-to-day aspects of model management tasks, such as technical support, model federation, or clash detection processes. They also work closely with both construction and design teams to verify proper model development according to all project standards, making sure that the information can run smoothly between disciplines.

Project engineers and architects are also included in this process, maintaining discipline-specific models and making sure that the construction requirements and design intent are both accurately reflected in the BIM model.

Successful collaboration between stakeholders and team members in BIM environments

Efficient collaboration in a BIM project relies on a structured communication framework, backed up by a number of clear information exchange protocols. Regular BIM coordination meetings act as a middle ground that gathers representatives from all disciplines in the same “room” to review project progress, resolve conflicts, and so on. These meetings follow standardized agendas, with the results of clash detection, model updates, upcoming coordination meetings, and more.

In addition to formal meetings, clear communication channels and decision-making hierarchies also contribute significantly to the success of collaborative efforts. The creation of collaborative protocols that define an abundance of specific questions with decisions, issues, and model changes is also a great idea. This can help in establishing standards for model sharing and version control in order to allow for efficient work by any team member without losing total model integrity.

Now that clear roles and responsibilities are established, we can move on to how BIM implementation affects project execution as a whole, including via the BEP’s influence on it.

Effect of BIM on project execution

Primary impact of BIM execution plans on project workflow

Implementing a properly structured BEP can fundamentally change all project workflows using standardization for model development and information exchange. The combination of detailed process maps and accurate handover points helps the BEP ensure that all team members have a clear understanding of their responsibilities. Moreover, all team members should also see how their own work impacts activities and processes downstream, improving collaboration and reducing the number of delays in project delivery.

Important milestones in any BIM execution plan

A BEP can also be used to establish major milestone requirements that align with the overall timeline of the project, with key deliverables and data drops at predetermined stages of the project. This way, the implementation of BIM can maintain pace with the overall construction project while meeting all the requirements of its stakeholders.

Project execution and successful BIM management

Efficient BIM management with the help of the introduction of a BEP can create a functional environment that works great in terms of the coordination of efforts between disciplines. This effort maintains its model quality standards, and guidelines about QA and information validation can help teams with resolving many different issues early in the design process. This can dramatically reduce the number of expensive changes that must be done during on-site construction, ensuring that the overall project’s requirements are met with the final deliverables.

As project teams improve their proficiency in the execution of BIM plans, establishing and following industry best practices becomes practically mandatory to enhance project outcomes even further. As such, the following section explores strategies and standards that can maximize the effectiveness of any BIM execution plan.

Best practices for BIM execution plans

Noteworthy tips on effective BIM execution

Successful BIM execution plans always stand on a foundation of practical implementation strategies that work to address challenges in either the organization or the technical field. At its most efficient, a BEP can maintain a delicate balance between complexity and flexibility, making it possible to adapt to ever-changing project requirements while remaining sophisticated enough to be a central guiding piece of the entire process.

Clear revision protocols and change management procedures are both necessary for the BEP to be able to evolve with the project without losing its goal and structure. Clarity and accessibility are also massive advantages for a BEP, improving end users’ understanding of the subject matter regardless of their BIM experience. Regular reviews and updates to the BEP should also make it more relevant and up-to-date as time goes on, making it a valuable reference point throughout the entire project lifecycle.

Effective collaboration strategies for successful BIM projects

Creating a culture of collaboration can be difficult, considering how technical solutions are only a part of the process. Well-thought-out approaches to communication management and team integration are also necessary, outlining specific collaboration strategies like clear escalation procedures, regular coordination meetings, structured review processes, and so on.

A BEP must also address how teams interact in different phases of project realization in terms of data exchange, version control, and model sharing.  Defining specific requirements, establishing naming conventions for more efficient file management, and forming clear model update handling processes are just a few examples of how such interactions can be improved upon.

Quality assurance and continuous updates in BIM environments

Robust quality assurance frameworks act as the backbone of efficient BIM implementation, with detailed validation protocols, checking procedures, and quality control checkpoints at key phases of project realization. The BEP should outline specific criteria for the quality, integrity, and standards of the model, as well as procedures for ensuring compliance with regular audits and reviews.

Quality management processes should also be integrated into day-to-day workflows rather than being treated as separate activities. The use of automated checking tools, regular model health checks, and detailed logs of QC activities can all be used as a means of integrating quality management into other workflows, along with defined procedures to document and address any deviation from the established set of standards.

Standards and compliance requirements that affect BEP

Every BEP must be aligned with both regulatory requirements and industry standards that apply to the target industry, addressing project-specific compliance needs where possible. These standards can range between client-specific requirements to national BIM standards or even international requirements for the construction industry, such as ISO 19650.

All team members should have a clear understanding of their responsibilities and obligations in the field of compliance, and it is the primary job of the BIM execution plan to cover this topic in enough detail.

These best practices can work as a solid foundation for project success. However, the vague nature of construction projects in general can make success measurement somewhat difficult in certain cases. A structured approach to performance monitoring is necessary here, which is why success measurement is our next topic of interest.

Measuring the success of a BIM execution plan

Key performance indicators for BIM projects

Effective success measurement efforts in the context of BIM necessitate comprehensive key performance indicators that are also aligned with the project objectives. Potential metrics should cover both the quality and quantity of the use of BIM, with prominent examples being timeline adherence, RFI reduction rates, clash detection efficiency, model quality scores, and more.

These KPIs should be clearly defined as early as possible to act as baseline measures and target values of the project, reflecting stakeholder expectations and project goals in a single place. Technical metrics are also not the only way to measure the success of BIM implementation, considering how much of an impact it can have on team performance and project delivery. In this context, the reduction of design conflicts and the effectiveness of coordination meetings are the most notable examples of such metrics.

As mentioned before, regular monitoring of multiple project KPIs offers a great help to project teams when it comes to adjusting their BIM strategies in real time and looking for areas for improvement in the future.

Evaluation of effectiveness of BEP

As for the evaluation of BEP effectiveness specifically, it mostly relies on complex performance assessment, examining how well the BEP facilitates collaboration, supports project workflows, and contributes to project objectives. The performance of a BEP against predefined success criteria can be evaluated using regular assessment intervals, with clear procedures for noting down discoveries and changing existing plans accordingly.

This evaluation should involve input from all key stakeholders to provide a comprehensive and nuanced overview not only from end users but also from BIM coordinators, project managers, and more. The comprehensive nature of this feedback will allow for the easier identification of both the strengths and weaknesses of the current implementation of the BEP, offering priceless insights for future improvement.

Factors such as improvements in workflow efficiency, user adoption rates, and impact on project delivery timelines can also be used to assess the efficiency of a BEP. With all that in mind, we can proceed to the conclusion of this article.

Lessons learned from execution of a BIM project

The successful implementation of a BIM execution plan is an iterative process that relies heavily on adaptation and continuous learning. The careful documentation of both successes and issues can help a company build up an invaluable knowledge base that can serve it well in future implementations of BIM. The importance of clear communication protocols, early stakeholder engagement, and a flexible but structured approach are only a few examples of the insights that BEPs often highlight.

The most successful BEPs are those that manage to find a balance between practical adaptability and rigorous standards, investing time in proper planning and team alignment during early phases of the project. The most noteworthy advantages of this approach include improvements in project efficiency, team coordination, model quality, and more. Organizations that maintain detailed BIM implementation records will also be positioned much better to refine their tools and create more efficient strategies in the future.

The evolution of BIM as a technology and methodology continues to change the way companies approach the execution of construction projects. At the same time, most of the fundamental principles of BIM remain the same:from well-defined processes and clear communication channels to commitment to continuous improvement. Following the best practices and guidelines from this article should make it easier to develop and implement BIM execution plans to both meet current project needs and establish a foundation for success in the future.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average completion time for developing a BIM execution plan?

Most BIM execution plans take between two and four weeks to complete, depending on stakeholder involvement and project complexity. This timeline includes everything from initial drafting to final refinements at the end of the process. Additionally, some smaller projects or organizations can streamline the process using templates and other measures that allow the completion of the BEP in one or two weeks. It should also be noted that rushing the BEP development process is never recommended due to the high probability of gaps being discovered later on.

Are there any common pitfalls that are worth avoiding when it comes to the creation and implementation of a BEP?

The most common causes of the failure of a BEP are overly rigid requirements, a lack of executive support, and insufficient team training, along with poor documentation of transitions of model ownership, inadequate specifications for hardware or software, and a lack of defined approval workflows for model changes.

What is the difference between pre-contract and post-contract BEPs?

Pre-contract BEPs are developed during tenders to demonstrate capabilities and approaches to construction, with significant focus on high-level capabilities and strategies.

Post-contract BEPs are detailed implementation plans with specific project requirements, detailed workflows, and defined team members, building upon the pre-contract version with more operational detail.