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Change management with building information modeling : a case study

University of British Columbia

Successful management of design changes is critical for the efficient delivery of construction projects. Building Information Models (BIM) and the use of parametric modeling provide significant benefits in coordinating changes across different views in a model. However, coordinating changes across several discipline-specific models is significantly more challenging to manage. In this thesis, I present a case study that used observation-based empirical research methods to investigate current practices and the requirements of practitioners in conducting change management during the design and construction of a building project. The case study examines change management in the context of a multi-disciplinary collaborative BIM environment during the design and construction of a fast-track project. I documented the design changes, analyzed the change management processes and evaluated existing BIM tools in support of this process. Using examples from the case study, I identified the characteristics of design changes required for tracking the history of changes and understanding the consequences of changes. I developed an ontology of changes based on the identified characteristics and patterns in the observed changes. The ontology characterizes design changes based on changed component attributes (the geometry, position, and specification), dependencies between components (analytical and spatial), level of changes (conceptual, primary and secondary), timing of changes (design, procurement or construction stages) and time and cost impacts of changes. Based on the developed ontology, I further categorized numerous examples of changes encountered throughout the design and construction of the building in a taxonomy of changes. I then proposed a computational approach for tracking the consequence of changes in an information model. This research provides a common understanding of design change characteristics for practitioners who develop or utilize BIM tools for managing changes. The results of this study provide some possible directions for future developments in change management systems, particularly in reference to a BIM-based delivery process. Additional research is needed to implement and test these characteristics in a decision support system, and to analyze different types of changes across different types of projects.

Text

2012-04-20

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/42130

Civil Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/