Building Information Modeling (BIM)

There are many questionnaire surveys are carrying out related to BIM, by the under graduate students who are studying the quantity surveying, building economics, construction management… etc. These questionnaire surveys I used to received from ‘LinkedIn’, but I do not have any idea about BIM. I have got an article about BIM, which is prepared by RICS. The same I shared here and I hope this will be a useful document to all.

Before, there are some sentences about RICS.

Royal Institute of Charted Surveyors (RICS)
RICS is the world's leading qualification when it comes to professional standards in land, property and construction.

In a world where more and more people, governments, banks and commercial organizations demand greater certainty of professional standards and ethics, attaining RICS status is the recognized mark of property professionalism.

Over 100,000 property professionals working in the major established and emerging economies of the world have already recognized the importance of securing RICS status by becoming members.

RICS is an independent professional body originally established in the UK by Royal Charter. Since 1868, RICS has been committed to setting and upholding the highest standards of excellence and integrity - providing impartial, authoritative advice on key issues affecting businesses and society. RICS is a regulator of both its individual members and firms enabling it to maintain the highest standards and providing the basis for unparalleled client confidence in the sector.

Source: RICS Middle East and North Africa (Press Release 2014)

Building Information Modeling (BIM)

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is both a new technology and a new way of working. BIM is a term that has been around for a while in manufacturing and engineering industries, and is now beginning to make an impact in the construction sector. At a strategic level, BIM offers the capacity to address many of the industries failings including waste reduction, value creation and improved productivity.

The process of implementing BIM moves away from using conventional word-processing and CAD into the increased use of common standards and product orientated representations. BIM changes the emphasis by making the model the primary tool for documentation, from which an increasing number of documents, or more accurately “reports”, such as plans, schedules and bills of quantities may be derived.

BIM involves much more than simply implementing new software. It is a different way of thinking. This requires a move away from the traditional workflow, with all parties (including architects, surveyors and contractors) sharing, and effectively working on, a common information pool. This is a substantial shift from the more traditional convention where parties often work on separate information pools using several different (and usually incompatible) software packages. In essence, BIM involves building a digital prototype of the model and simulating it in a digital world.

Essentially, BIM combines technology with new working practices to improve the quality of the delivered product and also improve the reliability, timeliness and consistency of the process. It is equally applicable to asset and facilities management as it is to construction. In its purest form, BIM provides a common single and coordinated source of structured information to support all parties involved in the delivery process, whether that be to design, construct, and/or operate. Because all parties involved with a BIM project have access to the same data, the information loss associated with handing a project over from design team to construction team and to building owner/operator is kept to a minimum.

A BIM model contains representations of the actual parts and pieces being used to construct a building along with geometry, spatial relationships, geographic information, quantities and properties of building components (for example manufacturers’ details). BIM can be used to demonstrate the entire building lifecycle from construction through to facility operation.

Often (mistakenly) referred to as 3D, 4D or nD, BIM should not be confused with the number of dimensions used to represent a building. At its simplest level, BIM provides a common environment for all information defining a building, facility or asset, together with its common parts and activities.

This includes building shape, design and construction time, costs, physical performance, logistics and more. More importantly, the information relates to the intended objects (components) and processes, rather than relating to the appearance and presentation of documents and drawings. More traditional 2D or 3D drawings may well be outputs of BIM, however, instead of generating in the conventional way ie. as individual drawings, could all be produced directly from the model as a “view” of the required information. BIM changes the traditional process by making the model the primary tool for the whole project team. This ensures that all the designers, contractors and sub contractors maintain their common basis for design, and that the detailed relationships between systems can be explored and fully detailed. Working with BIM will require new skills and these will have to be learned from practice.

BIM is not a panacea – it remains just as possible to produce a poor model, in terms of its functionality, its constructability or its value, as it is to produce poor drawings, schedules or any other, more traditional, form of information. Also, in the absence of any pro-active collaborative management effort, models may end up being prepared to suit the originator as opposed to being structured and presented with all parties to the design and construction team in mind. Ensuring that there is an agreed structure and exchange protocol in place to suit all parties will improve certainty, confidence and consistency. By moving to a shared information model environment, project failures and cost overruns become less likely. BIM certainly means having a better understanding and control of costs and schedules as well as being able to ensure that the right information is available at the right time to reduce requests for information, manage change and limit (or even eliminate) unforeseen costs, delays and claims.

Clients are often in the best position to lead the introduction of BIM. Understanding the value of building information and its impact on the clients own business is leading many clients to require BIM to specify the standards and methods to be used in its adoption. Clients can also provide clear requirements for facilities management information to be handed over at project completion more easily with BIM. Some international clients are even now going so far as to penalise lack of information (or the lack of its provision at established points in the construction process).

More recent experience indicates a trend in large clients and government agencies across the globe to mandate the use of BIM, not only for delivery of the building, but also as a tool to manage operationally. BIM is equally applicable to support FM and asset management as it is to design and construction. Indeed, the output of the design model may well replace the need for traditional O&M manuals. Being able to interrogate an intelligent model, as opposed to searching through outdated manuals, perhaps linked to interactive guidance on the repair and/or maintenance process has obvious advantages.

However, the largest single barrier to exploiting BIM is the lack of awareness. Clients are frequently unaware that they can have a major influence on the deliverables from a project.

BIM has the potential to impact every aspect of the Surveying Profession. It has applications for those involved with Property, FM, Building Surveying, Civil as well as traditional building construction, and should be seen as an opportunity to deliver new service streams and to extend our professional reach into new areas spanning the complete asset life cycle. BIM is not going to go away, and so we must, therefore, learn to adapt and embrace or risk the threat of losing ground to others.

I will share one more article about BIM (BIM is key to future of QS profession).

Manage Political Problems as Issues

This article copied from some other website.
The larger your project gets, the more you will find that the issues you encounter are political in nature. "Politics" is all about interacting with people and influencing them to get things done. This can be a good thing, a bad thing, or a neutral thing, depending on the tactics people use. Let’s consider some examples of how utilizing political skills might be good, but can also be bad.

You are able to move your ideas forward in the organization and get people to act on them (good), by currying favor, suppressing other opposing ideas and taking credit for the ideas of your staff (bad).

You have an ability to reach consensus on complex matters with a number of different stakeholders (good), by working behind the scenes with people in power, making deals and destroying people who don’t get on board (bad).

You receive funding for projects that are important to you and to your organization (good), by misrepresenting the costs and benefits, and by going around the existing funding processes (bad).

The point of the examples is to show that influencing people and getting things done in a company is a good thing and “office politics” can have good connotations or bad. 

Dealing with office politics is not a standard project management process. However, once the politics start to impact the project adversely, the situation should be identified as an issue, since it is a problem whose resolution is outside the control of the project team. You can’t utilize a checklist to resolve political issues. Political problems are people-related and situational. What works for one person in one situation may not work for another person in the same situation because people, and their reactions, are different. Identifying the problem as an issue will bring visibility to the situation and hopefully get the proper people involved in the resolution. Keep three things in mind to manage a political issue.

Try to recognize situations and events where politics are most likely to be involved. This could include decision points, competition for budget and resources, and setting project direction and priorities.

Deal with people openly and honestly. When you provide an opinion or recommendation, express the pros and cons to provide a balanced view to other parties. Make sure you distinguish the facts from your opinions so the other parties know the difference. 

If you feel uncomfortable with what you are asked to do, get your sponsor or your functional manager involved. They tend to have more political savvy and positional authority, and they should be able to provide advice and cover for you.

If you feel good about what you are doing, how you are influencing and how you are getting things done, then you are probably handling office politics the right way. If you feel guilty about how you are treating people and if you have second thoughts about the methods you are using to get things done, you are probably practicing the dark side of office politics.

Terms of the Week-Business Dictionary (Part II)

Cost control
The process or activity on controlling costs associated with an activity, process, or company. Cost control typically includes

(1) Investigative procedures to detect variance of actual costs from budgeted costs

(2) Diagnostic procedures to ascertain the cause(s) of variance

&
(3) Corrective procedures to effect realignment between actual and budgeted costs.

Marginal cost

The increase or decrease in the total cost of a production run for making one additional unit of an item. It is computed in situations where the breakeven point has been reached: the fixed costs have already been absorbed by the already produced items and only the direct (variable) costs have to be accounted for. Marginal costs are variable costs consisting of labor and material costs, plus an estimated portion of fixed costs (such as administration overheads and selling expenses). In companies where average costs are fairly constant, marginal cost is usually equal to average cost. However, in industries that require heavy capital investment (automobile plants, airlines, mines) and have high average costs, it is comparatively very low. The concept of marginal cost is critically important in resource allocation because, for optimum results, management must concentrate its resources where the excess of marginal revenue over the marginal cost is maximum. Also called choice cost, differential cost or incremental cost.

Net price

A final price after deducting all discounts and rebates.

Vision statement

An aspirational description of what an organization would like to achieve or accomplish in the mid-term or long-term future. It is intended to serves as a clear guide for choosing current and future courses of action.

Opportunity cost

A benefit, profit, or value of something that must be given up to acquire or achieve something else. Since every resource (land, money, time, etc.) can be put to alternative uses, every action, choice, or decision has an associated opportunity cost. Opportunity costs are fundamental costs in economics, and are used in computing cost benefit analysis of a project. Such costs, however, are not recorded in the account books but are recognized in decision making by computing the cash outlays and their resulting profit or loss.

Austerity budget

A budget that is imposed on a country by its government with the purpose of reducing the national deficit by way of cutting down on consumer spending.

Earmark

The act of setting something aside for a specific use or purpose in the future. For example, goods may be earmarked prior to being exported in the future. Most commonly used to refer to funds that have been set aside in order to pay for a specific project.

Masters of Business Administration (MBA)

An advanced college degree, earned by those who successfully graduate from their college or university's MBA program. As with other advanced degrees, traditionally a student will have already received a Bachelors degree in some area of study, before working towards his or her MBA. A typical MBA program deals with multiple aspects of business, including finance and management skills. Also called Masters in Business Administration or Master of Business Administration.

Yankee bond

Dollar denominated bond sold in the US by a foreign bank, corporation, or government utility. It the US equivalent of Eurobond.

Tax holiday

A temporary period, during which time the government removes certain taxes (usually sales tax) on certain items, in order to encourage the consumption or purchase of these items. The most common application of this is a tax-free weekend, which most states hold shortly before school begins in the fall, during which time sales tax is removed on clothing, school supplies, and/or other similar items. Not all areas engage in tax holidays; it is up to the government of that area.

How to Read a Financial Statement

A company’s financial statement is used to show a company’s performance over a certain period of time, generally every fiscal quarter. The financial statement really consists of three different statements: balance sheets, cash flow statements and income statements.

 By being able to read a financial statement, you can determine where a company has made or lost money, where the money went and how the company stands financially. The financial statement gives shareholders an accounting of how their investment is performing.

Components of a Financial Statement

Balance Sheets

Represent the assets, liabilities and the net worth or shareholder equity of the company. Assets make up all the property the company owns, including bank accounts, real estate, machinery etc. An asset can also be intangible such as a trademark or patent.

Liabilities consist of the money the company owes others. This can include leases on real estate, loans, accounts payable to suppliers of material, tax liabilities or obligations to deliver product. Liabilities also include employee payrolls and money borrowed from banks.

Shareholder equity represents the company’s net worth if it were liquidated and what each shareholder would receive after paying the creditors of the company.

Cash Flow Statements

Reports on the inflow and outflow of the company’s money. The cash flow statement is divided into financing activities, operating activities and investment activities. In combination, these three parts show the change in capital position the company had over a period of time.

Income Statements

Show how much revenue the company took in over a specified time period and how much money was spent to get that revenue. The income statement shows the company’s net earnings or losses on the bottom line and begins with all the cash the company took in at the top, and goes through all the expenses it took to make that money with the net figure on the bottom.

Knowing how to read a financial statement gives an investor or analyst a clear picture of the financial position of a business. Nevertheless, past performance does not generally guarantee future results; keep this in mind before investing in any company.

5 tips for managing scope changes

When you start a project, you think you know exactly what you need to deliver, but then along comes a change. It can be hard to say no to a senior manager, and often the changes suggested are great improvements that you should really incorporate into the project.

So how do you manage the impact on the project scope, the team, the budget and the schedule? That's a lot of things to consider for one change! Here are 5 tips for successfully managing changes to scope on your project.

Tip 1: Record all the changes
First, regardless of where the change comes from, it should be recorded somewhere. Use software (or else use excel) to make this job easier as it helps you prepare a consolidated list of all submitted changes and what happens to them afterwards.

Tip 2: Assess changes
Assess all the changes that have been submitted. Some will be great ideas and some won't be! Work out what impact they will have on the project and the benefits, and then you can put forward your considered recommendation to the project sponsor about whether to incorporate them into the project or not. The sponsor will make the final decision, but will be looking to you for that recommendation to approve or reject the change.

Tip 3: Prioritize changes
Assuming the change is approved, you will have to work out what sort of priority it needs. Is it something that you should drop everything for and work on now? Or can it wait a bit longer? Your team can help with this, and you'll also get a view from your project sponsor. Prioritizing is really useful if you have a number of changes as it will help you plan the work in the right order.

Tip 4: Review your plan accordingly
It is rare that you can incorporate a change without changing anything else on the project. Changes will have an impact on the project budget, schedule, resource plan and even the risks and issues log. Go through your entire project and work out what needs to be updated as a result.

Remember to share all the changes with your project team so they are also aware of anything different that they have to do now.

Tip 5: Don't agree to everything!
Don't say yes to anyone who suggests a change until it has been properly analyzed! Otherwise you could promise to deliver something that turns out to be really difficult or not something the sponsor will agree to. And you don't have to agree with your sponsor either. While they have the final say, if you don't agree with a change you can record this in the issues log but you will have to incorporate the change into the project.