Results of the AECbytes Survey on "Top Criteria for BIM Solutions

The detailed results of the survey “Top Criteria for BIM Solutions” that AECbytes conducted earlier this summer on behalf of a leading BIM vendor are now available. The objective of the survey was to identify the most important requirements that AEC professionals would like BIM solutions to fulfill. It has been close to four years since the BIM phenomenon started to gain momentum, and we are at the point where it has reached a certain level of maturity. The AECbytes survey was developed to be a "status check" of sorts on BIM—to better understand what everyday users from AEC firms of various sizes and demographics, with different levels of experience and expertise in BIM, are looking for from their BIM solutions. The survey invitation was sent to nearly 5,500 registered subscribers of AECbytes and the excellent response rate of 12% indicated that users were eager to provide their feedback as well, so that BIM solutions could be further developed to better serve their needs.

As you will see, the results of this survey indicate that at the present time, the need for drawing production is still paramount, making this the top ranking criterion for BIM solutions across all categories of firms and respondents. Other highly rated criteria include enhanced modeling capabilities with smart objects, the ready availability of object libraries so that effort is not wasted in re-creating standard building components, support for distributed work processes, and the ability to work efficiently on large projects. The quality of the Help and supporting documentation earned a surprisingly high rating, which should come as a wake-up call to those vendors who spend far too little time on providing good learning resources to accompany their solutions. Aspects such as analysis, performance simulations, and interoperability rated a little lower on the importance scale, indicating that while these aspects are also significant benefits of BIM, they are not burning issues right now. Also, the importance of generating renderings and animations seems to have diminished considerably, indicating that the AEC industry is moving beyond the need to create jazzy presentations for clients and is focusing more on higher-value aspects of BIM such as efficiency and quality.

Also on the agenda for this month is a report from the ZweigWhite BIM Fundamentals seminar for structural engineers, which provided an excellent opportunity to understand the BIM phenomenon from a structural engineering point of view. The Tips and Tricks section this month features two tutorials: one on expanding Dynamic Range in Photoshop, and the second on creating an annotation symbol for exit access with the arrow correctly oriented in Revit.

Thank you!

Lachmi Khemlani

Editorials > October 2007