The bim execution plan effects on the bim software usability

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a result of the search and demand for efficiency in the building sector with the result of the development provided by software technologies. In the BIM method, the design, construction, management and demolition or renovation phases of the building are managed as a process with a digital model or model group. In conjunction with its technical definition, BIM, is the process of creating and using all kinds of coordinated and related information of a project throughout the life cycle of a project, using 3D, parametric and object-based models. BIM is not a program or a product, it is an approach. The system, which can be used effectively in all main processes of the project, ensures the best result for end users by increasing the quality and speed of information exchange between employer, designer, consultant, contractor, subcontractor and suppliers. The system acts as a multifunctional management and information sharing tool that can be continuously improved, incorporating all the information related to the construction of the building, far beyond a visual model with three dimensional digital modeling. The main source of the advantages of the BIM method is the data entered into the infinite parameters assigned to the project components. However, the knowledge of the needs to create the necessity of potential data that can be entered into the components should be determined before the modeling is started to prevent loss of time and work power. For this reason, the most critical point of the BIM approach is to form BIM Execution Plans, which determine how this model will be implemented. The BIM Execution Plan is the whole set of information and decisions regarding the definition, scope, specific risks, objectives, modeling rules, resources, technological infrastructure requirements, stakeholders, and teams of the project to be produced by the BIM approach. The decisions in the BIM Execution Plan are directly affecting the benefits of BIM tools and models. With the widespread use of BIM, authorities such as governments, universities, standard institutes, professional chambers are working to develop the method. The standards and protocols established in the direction of these studies are used by the stakeholders of the Architecture, Industry and Construction sector to plan the project processes. Examples of the BIM Execution Plan prepared by the authorities of the construction sector include differences in content. The BIM Execution Plans, which were examined in the study, are considered in terms of their contents. The content categories required for comparison and evaluation of the plans with each other are categorized as project reference information, project goals and BIM objectives, BIM process design, delivery strategies and contracts, BIM scope definitions, organizational roles and responsibilities, communication procedures, technology infrastructure needs and model quality control procedures. Examples of BIM Execution Plan prepared and published by the authorities of the building sector such as universities, institutes, and governments have been investigated in order to find the BIM Execution Plans to be examined through the availability of the data under these categories. In this research, examined plans are prepared by universities such as MIT, Harvard University, Princeton University, and Penn State University; by government-based organizations such as The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Singapore the Ministry of National Development (Singapore BCA), New Zealand the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (NZ BAC), by committees such as the Architectural, Engineering and Construction Committee (AEC UK), the Construction Project Information Committee (CPIc). The contents of the 9 plan examples of these organizations were compared according to the categories of data storage determined in the first step. In order to search the relationship between BIM Execution Plan and BIM software usability, usability term is explained. Usability has been defined in terms of parameters to be used during measurement on BIM software. The parameters, such as learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors and satisfaction, which are known as Jacob Nielsen's usability components, are used to measure the software usability of the case. After the BIM Execution Plan reviews in the second chapter of the thesis and the usability research studies in the third chapter, a case study was analized in the fourth chapter. According to the content categories of the BIM Execution Plan obtained from the second chapter, the content of the BIM Exection Plan content of the case is reviewed. After that, the answers of the software users who engaged in the production process of the case (a large-scale mixed-use project) to the questions produced according to the usability parameters obtained from the third chapter are reviewed. When the case's BIM Execution Plan contents is examined in terms of categories, it is seen that project reference information, project goals and BIM objectives, organizational roles and responsibilities, model quality control procedures are included; BIM process design, delivery strategies and contracts, BIM scope definitions are not included; communication procedures, technology infrastructure needs are partially included. It has been determined that the BIM software (Revit 2014) used in the case is found usable by users in a consensus. When we look at this result proportionally (negative between -1 and -0.33, unstable between -0.33 and +0.33, positive between +0.33 and +1), the usability is close to unstable but positive with +0.41. When the factors affecting the resultant to unstable situation are examined, the negative effects from the usability parameters are (with ascending order) satisfaction (0.71), efficiency (0.51), memorability (0.45), learnability (0.32) and errors (0.07). In the case of errors, which are the factors that most decrease the usability, when the problems mentioned in the free answers taken from the users are taken into consideration, it is determined that the troubles are directly related to the deficiencies of the BIM Execuiton Plan contents. Since there is no correlation between memorability-learnability and the determined BIM Execution Plan contents, the content recommendation about the training topic has been developed for these parameters. As a result, it has been seen that the factors that cause deficiencies in the BIM Execution Plan are the factors that decrease BIM software usability. In order to keep the benefits of BIM software at the highest level, the BIM Execution Plan document needs to include content categories that the building sector authorities find in a common idea.