Identification of common data environment functions during construction phase of BIM-based projects

Abstract

The utilization of building information modeling (BIM) has been rapidly increasing in the last decade as it stimulates project constructability, quality, efficiency, and success. A well-structured and organized information system is the major requirement to ensure adequate collection, management and dissemination of documentation and the central BIM-model for the whole project team. This consistent source of information, called as the common data environment (CDE), carries an important role to achieve a centralized information system in the BIM-based construction projects. Despite the general perception, common data environments (CDEs) should not be considered only as a digital storage and sharing space. A CDE system, set up at the beginning of the project according to the international standards, can support the successful project management by providing instant insights related to the project performance and eliminating non-value adding activities (e.g., rework, defect). Although the CDE is an ultimate necessity for a data-driven construction project management, the literature remains quite incapable of revealing the functions of the CDE system. The aim of this study is to identify and categorize the CDE functions used in the construction phase of BIM-based projects. In the first step, possible CDE functions were derived from a literature review and online sources. In the second step, semi-structured focused interviews were conducted with five subject matter experts who use the CDE system efficiently in the international BIM-based construction projects. This methodology allows to link aspects of different perspectives and achieve meaningful and reliable outputs. The results will provide valuable information about the CDE functions in the BIM-based construction projects to practitioners and researchers. Further, this research can create awareness about the CDEs and encourage the use of CDEs in the BIM projects.