Book Description

BIM is changing, and rapidly so. While it remained predominantly the domain of technology specialists in architecture and engineering firms in the early twenty-first century, it is now steadily gaining relevance for a broad range of stakeholders in the design, construction, manufacture, and operation of built assets. Hand in hand with the dissemination of BIM comes the dissemination of knowledge associated to its application and the diversification of tasks associated to its management. BIM Managers are becoming far more relevant than simply acting as implementers of technology. They are in fact change agents and if they do their job well, it ties in closely with the core business pursued by their organizations. Beyond that, BIM Managers are becoming key innovators who help to transform the construction industry and associated professions globally.

This Handbook was conceived to offer concise guidance and support to those trying to embrace the many facets
of BIM Management. The chapters herein were originally published online as six eParts, each one related to all
others, but at the same time sufficiently distinct to act as independent contributions to a whole. The sequential
release as eParts has led to discrete, easily digestible sections on highly profiled topics, allowing for latest
trends and developments about BIM to be included. In book form, the structure has the advantage that contents
are very focused. The reader can go to individual chapters on a needs-to basis for information and advice.

The BIM Manager: Focus on the Person behind the Title

This publication adds to the existing body of work about BIM by taking a specific stance, namely the view of the BIM Manager. The BIM Manager’s Handbook not only offers insights into contemporary research and trends associated to BIM, it is also highly reflective about the opportunities and challenges related to work undertaken by BIM Managers in contemporary practice. Over 50 leading architecture, engineering, and construction experts from the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia have lent their voice in telling their stories and providing their feedback to this publication. Their view is that the job title of “BIM Manager” cannot easily be identified via a uniform set of tasks. Instead, BIM Manager roles vary greatly across sectors and companies. Clearly falling under the emerging field of Design Technology, BIM Manager tasks stretch across a great number of responsibilities associated to the planning, design, delivery, and operation of built assets.

Channeled into six cohesive chapters, The BIM Manager’s Handbook offers a key reference for those currently engaged with BIM—as well as those who are considering applying BIM on future projects. The chapters put equal emphasis on practical application as well as strategic planning and overarching principles associated to implementing BIM. One other factor that sets The BIM Manager’s Handbook apart from related publications is the fluent cross-over of technical, social, policy, as well as business-related aspects of BIM. The role of the BIM Manager is in constant flux. BIM Managers stem from all walks of life: technology gurus, 3D modeling specialists, construction experts, drafting guns, coordination experts … the list goes on. In current practice, most of these self-proclaimed BIM Managers have somehow grown into the role with only a very small percentage having undergone specific BIM Management training.

Given the ever-expanding context of BIM, one might struggle to find a clear definition of what BIM Managers actually do. Yet, despite the multiple directions in which to respond to this question, the answer is simple: BIM Managers are here to manage. They manage process, they manage change, they manage technology, they manage people, they manage policies and in doing so, they manage an important part of their organization’s business.

Paradoxically, as representatives of a newly emerging profession (if one can speak of one) BIM Managers are rarely skilled in management. More often than not, they are tasked to perform a narrow set of practical tasks that respond to day-to-day affordances of practice. If in the past it was sufficient for BIM Managers to know their tools, workflows, and workarounds (combined with decent people skills), the property, construction, and design industries start to expect more: With the increasing understanding that BIM is not merely a technical