Funders: Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung (BBSR) im Rahmen der Forschungsinitiative Zukunft Bau

Project term: 03/2021 – 02/2023

With the progressive implementation of the BIM method in the German and international construction and real estate industry, standardised structures and specifications - both on a formal and on a content level - are necessary to ensure a clean and transparent description and communication of services within BIM projects. Such services are usually described by the client via BIM use cases within a client information request (AIA), whereby differences can be observed depending on the respective client and its experience with regard to the BIM method. To counteract this, some institutions have started to describe their own best practice process in the form of BIM use cases and make them publicly available in order to be able to exert direct influence on future developments and position themselves as first movers.

The Institute for the Management of Digital Processes in the Construction and Real Estate Industry at the University of Wuppertal has compiled more than 300 published BIM use cases within the DACH region, whereby the editors can be assigned to different stakeholder roles within BIM projects. Building on an analysis of the research results, it was found that there is no uniform understanding of BIM use cases, neither about structure, content and focus, nor about scope or elements to be described: A simple use of the recorded BIM use cases in BIM projects is inhibited in this respect, as different understandings of BIM use cases and associated contents and requirements of project partners can collide here.

The research project "Entwicklung einer standardisierten Struktur für BIM-Anwendungsfälle" serves to develop a uniform understanding of BIM use cases by defining a uniform structure for BIM use cases in order to remedy the aforementioned issue. Structures for BIM use cases are developed both at the level of the individual unit (BIM use case) in the form of a uniform internal structure and at the system level in order to enable a selection of project-relevant BIM use cases on the basis of classification properties. In the course of the top-down approach, macro- to micro-level is used, whereby mutual dependencies are taken into account and incorporated bidirectionally. Furthermore, requirements and other factors from solution approaches based on BIM use cases, such as information delivery manuals (IDMs) or model view definitions (MVDs), as well as other, non-technical application scenarios, are integrated on the basis of reverse engineering. By integrating the above-mentioned analysis results and different partners from practice, a certain applicability and practicality is ensured.