Tuesday, September 25, 2012
1st Annual Central States Revit Workshop
I recently (Sept. 21st and 22nd) attended the first annual Central States Revit Workshop in Omaha, Nebraska. This event was coordinated and hosted by the Revit Users Group of Omaha (RUGON), and is an inspiration as to the type and quality of event that a well organized and motivated users group can organize and deliver. Carla Edwards, of Leo A. Daley was the driving force behind the organization of this event, and she and her committee did an amazing job in bringing an AU or RTC quality event to their region. Carla was inspired by the RTC event she attended in Huntington Beach, California in 2011, and saw a need and desire to bring that level of a learning event to the Revit users in her area. Complete with top-notch presenters such as Paul Aubin, Steve Stafford, Joe Eichenseer, Zach Kron, Shawn Zirbes, William Spier, Jason Gardner and others, along side the amazing RUGON committee sharing their wisdom presenting classes; I left this workshop with lots of incredible ideas, techniques and tools to bring back and introduce in my firm. The workshop was sponsored by great companies and organizations such as Imaginit Technologies, CADLearning, SDS/2, ARC, Trelligence and the awesomeness that is Lonnie and Bill from BIM9. My hat is off to the wonderful people of the RUGON committee and their sponsors who dedicated their time an effort to put on such a great event. Keep an eye out for this event next year, because nowhere else can you find that quality of a training event for such an affordable price ($250). There was also some initial discussion as to broaden this event out to more of a true "Central States" Workshop, by rotating the responsibility of the workshop to different host cities and user groups in the midwest for coming years. I believe that this should be a goal for the STLRUG to shoot for as we re-launch. Hopefully we can work out some more details on this as I continue to collaborate with other successful users groups such as RUGON and KCRUG. See the RUGON website for more details and links from Central States Revit Workshop.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
New AIA Digital Practice Documents open for public comment
The AIA has released a draft guide and copy of the new Digital Practice Documents that have been developed by the AIA to address the ever growing impact of digital data and BIM in the AEC industry. The documents are open for public comment until September 24th, 2012. After the comment period the AIA will review suggestions and incorporate any changes, if appropriate, into the final versions of these documents.
The three new documents consist of:
Draft Guide and Commentary
Draft Documents Only
After reviewing these documents I believe this is a huge step taken by the AIA in an effort to help the design professionals educate and identify the owners needs and requirements for the use of Digital Data and BIM on their projects. These documents will not only facilitate the discussions but also define the requirements and protocols to accomplish the tasks required to provide better, more coordinated projects to the owner. These documents, when leveraged correctly, can also serve to protect the design professional and its use of BIM technology, from being used in a manner inconsistent of its intended use. These documents, while not designed to take the place of a Project Execution Plan (PxP), mirror a lot of the data that is included in a well developed PxP, and are included as part of the agreements between all of the stakeholders of the project. I believe these documents together with a well developed PxP are great vehicles to achieve a successful BIM project where owner expectations are identified and all project stakeholders are aware of the requirements and expectations for the use of BIM and digital data on a project.
The three new documents consist of:
- E203-2012, Building Information Modeling and Digital Data Exhibit - This document is the anchor for the new digital practice documents, and is designed to replace the older E201-2007 and E202-2008 documents. The major change that this document provides is that all of the details of how and when digital data and BIM will be used on a project do not have to be defined when the agreement is executed. This information is reserved to be developed in the other two new documents.(G201-2012 and G202-2012) The E203-2012 would simply define, contractually, the scope of how digital data and BIM will be used on the project and what the authorized uses of this data will be, and then requires the project team to follow the protocols developed in the G201 and G202 documents.
The E203-2012
is intended to be a flow-down/flow-through document, which means that if the
owner and architect negotiate and attach an E203-2012 to a typical AIA
B101-2007 “Standard Form Agreement between Owner and Architect”, than the
architect would be required to incorporate the same E203-2012 into each of the
agreements with its consultants. Similarly, the owner would be required to
incorporate the same E203-2012 into its agreement with the contractor, who
would also be required to attach the E203-2012 into its subcontractor
agreements. This is very important to be able to legally enforce the
provisions provided for in the E203-2012 as well as the protocols established
in G201-2012 and G202-2012.
- G201-2012, Project Digital Data Protocol Form - This document defines the scope and authorized uses of digital data on a project, including any Electronic Document Management System, storage and archiving requirements and transmission methods. The document defines the format, transmission method and authorized use of data ranging from Project Agreements to Closeout documents, and everything in between.
- G202-2012, Building Information Modeling Protocol Form - This document is meant to define the requirements, participants, authorized uses, standards and model management and collaboration processes and procedures with regards to Building Information Modeling on a project. This form includes a matrix that defines the LOD requirements of each model element at a certain phase or project milestone, and can be customized to fit the needs of the project. The form also defines a Model Element Author (MEA) for all model elements in the project. The MEA is the party responsible for modeling and coordinating that particular model element. The MEA can be defined as a firm, or an individual within a firm to develop points of contact with regards to those elements. The form also identifies any standards (Omniclass, Uniformat, NBIMS) that must be followed with regards to the model, as well as the accepted software platforms and versions required to be used on the project. The form allows for the definition of other requirements with regard to the model including model origin point, model exchange procedures, naming conventions, clash detection and resolution procedures, and any model security requirements.
Draft Guide and Commentary
Draft Documents Only
After reviewing these documents I believe this is a huge step taken by the AIA in an effort to help the design professionals educate and identify the owners needs and requirements for the use of Digital Data and BIM on their projects. These documents will not only facilitate the discussions but also define the requirements and protocols to accomplish the tasks required to provide better, more coordinated projects to the owner. These documents, when leveraged correctly, can also serve to protect the design professional and its use of BIM technology, from being used in a manner inconsistent of its intended use. These documents, while not designed to take the place of a Project Execution Plan (PxP), mirror a lot of the data that is included in a well developed PxP, and are included as part of the agreements between all of the stakeholders of the project. I believe these documents together with a well developed PxP are great vehicles to achieve a successful BIM project where owner expectations are identified and all project stakeholders are aware of the requirements and expectations for the use of BIM and digital data on a project.
Thursday, August 09, 2012
St. Louis Revit Users Group Relaunch!
Hello St. Louis Area Revit Users!! The STLRUG is working on a relaunch! Formerly known as the Gateway Autodesk Users Group ran by Brian Myers and Melanie Perry, the group is being reformed as strictly a Revit Users group focusing on the suite of Autodesk Revit products including Revit Architecture, Revit MEP and Revit Structure. We are currently in the planning stages, but are hoping to have a relaunch meeting planned within the next few months. This Blog will be the homepage for the group so become a member so you can keep up to date with the developments as we head towards a relaunch. We have also started a new LinkedIn group called St. Louis Revit Users Group to have discussions and allow comments and suggestions on topics you would like to discuss and ideas that you may have to make this group successful. The goal is to be a group ran by Revit Users FOR Revit Users, so your suggestions and ideas are important. Please forward a link to this Blog and the LinkedIn group to all of your St. Louis area Revit colleagues so we can develop a group of people committed to learning and sharing their knowledge with others in an open forum. I will keep you posted on our progress as we move towards the relaunch!!! See ya soon!!!
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