Week 5 - Data Interchange

I thought the assigned chapter was very significant because it covered what I believe to be the single most important hurdle preventing BIM from being widely adopted. I found it hard to follow much of the language concerning the software development and programming but was able to glean enough information to get a better appreciation of whats needed for different modeling programs to be capable of interoperability. I definitely agree with the writer’s view that the future of IFC and proprietary solutions to interoperability will influenced heavily by the users of this technology.

I found a very interesting document about interoperability called Cost Analysis of Inadequate Interoperability in the U.S. Capital Facilities Industry. The bottom line from this document is their estimate that inadequate interoperability costs the U.S. capital facilities industry $15.8 billion per year, two-thirds of which are carried by facility owners and operators. The document highlights the highly fragmented nature of the industry as well as the high number of small companies that cannot or will not adopt advanced information technology. To determine the financial implications of inadequate interoperability, the author compared scenarios of traditional building practices with hypothetical scenarios with seamless data transfer and sharing, breaking down the financial impact each scenario would have on every stakeholder throughout a building’s life-cycle. The document went into a very detailed discussion about how interoperability works or should work, similar to what  was covered in the assigned reading. The author did a very good job explaining why these cost estimates should drive building stakeholders to push for standards to eliminate interoperability issues.

I also came across a second document that focused on the financial issues related to interoperability issues titled Value Proposition of Interoperability of BIM and Collaborative Working Environments. The authors of this article also made an assessment of the actual and potential financial benefits of solving interoperability issues in the AEC industry. They looked beyond just the incompatibility of the physical model and focused how there is no integration of ERP systems to track marketplace transactions. The authors also discussed a great deal about the links and interactions between modeling programs and other software used in project management such as spreadsheets/databases for cost tracking, charts for planning and text documents containing product information. This means that information from many different software tools needs to be translatable into a file format that can be transferred between programs seamlessly. Rather than having a single program that handles all aspects of the project, the authors see more value in standardizing how multiple programs interact, creating a market with diverse software and vendors coexisting to enhance efficiency.