improvements in project management, reduction of costs and faster and more efficient project delivery. Other improvements from C4R and BIM360 are discussed below:
1. They provide a holistic view of the project by multiple stakeholders – Cloud-based collaboration tools provide all project stakeholders with a holistic view of the project instead of an isolated view of one particular element by individual team members. This bird’ s eye view of the project enables team members to collaborate and communicate to help to deliver coordinated models.
2. They provide real-time, two-way communication – The C4R tool has an integrated‘ Communicator’ which allows real-time communication, access to information on projects uploaded to the cloud and collaboration with project members on active projects.
3. They provide seamless collaboration – Collaboration tools help to connect project teams and provide centralised access to BIM project data, therefore keeping all members informed about project updates. By using C4R, architects, consultants and project managers can upload their Revit to the cloud and link their projects using BIM 360 Team, allowing access to project team members to view, make changes and communicate using the integrated Communicator.
4. They facilitate efficient coordination and interference analysis – Collaboration tools, in combination with clash-detection programs, facilitate efficient coordination and clash detection to help reduce costs that may be otherwise incurred for re-work. By using C4R in combination with BIM 360 Field and BIM 360 Glue, synchronised coordination of changes, real-time feedback and updates of project information ensure coordinated models are clashfree and construction ready. This reduces the time spent and cost incurred on resolving coordination conflicts on site.
5. They reduce costs and increase project management efficiency – There are features in both collaboration tools which facilitate the measurement of efficiency and productivity of teams. By increasing project transparency and coordination, they help to reduce errors, deliver projects faster and decrease costs otherwise incurred due to re-work.
6. They provide access to the best-suited resources and facilitate remote project management – they enable teams to work remotely and collaboratively using cloud-based, collaboration and work sharing tools. With remote access and project management, there is the opportunity to procure the best-suited resources and capitalise on cross-border team procurement to facilitate on time project delivery within budgetary requirements. Remote project management also translates to lower expenditure on IT infrastructure.
Cloud-based, collaboration and work sharing tools such as C4R and BIM 360 provide AEC companies with a sophisticated solution to address project management challenges by facilitating cross-border collaboration, seamless coordination and open, two-way communication between project stakeholders. They also enable cross border resource and team procurement with little added effort, sometimes making substantial fee savings in the process.
As AEC firms are considering the adoption of new technology to facilitate effective project management, reductions in cost, increased efficiency and faster project delivery of AEC projects, cloud-based, work sharing and collaboration tools could be the best possible solution available to AEC firms that need to respond to the increasing requirement for faster BIM-based project delivery within budgets.