In a traditional project structure where the engineers are hired as consultants the architect manages the information that flows to each engineer and if properly done brings the proper engineering consultants on board as the BIM model progresses, rather than having everyone working in the BIM at the beginning. This assures that the BIM reaches a proper level of development before downstream engineering disciplines engage in modeling and prevents model revision due to a BIM that is in flux.

A natural progression would be  (Civil - Building Structural) > (Mechanical -HVAC & Plbg) > (Electrical / Tech)

In an A/E firm this can be difficult to manage as the  downstream engineering disciplines can inadvertently be pulled forward in the process and be modeling while the Civil and Building Structural are still in flux.  This will result in the MEP BIM having to be revised repeatedly as they try to respond to the site and  structural elements which will be in flux.  Clashes will increase and the MEP BIM construct process will be less efficient / less profitable as a  result...................................................................................................................................................c. kilgore

We've identified 3 primary areas of focus in the Transition to Revit.

Revit Template Optimization
Revit Library (Organization, Content Creation, & Project Harvesting)
Revit Staff Training

It was determined that the templates represented the best return on efficiency given that every forth coming project could benefit from template optimization.  A single well structured template could be leverage by every project and staff member working on that project and significantly reduce the need to correct each project due to the use of an incomplete template.

Our engineering departments have a greater need for content and thus the secondary focus for their department was related to populating the Revit Library.  The architectural department also saw a need to focus on project harvesting on two recently completed very large projects.  As such the Revit Library became the next focus for improvement.

Staff training was  reluctantly relegated to level 3 of importance.  Partially due to the ability of production staff to operate at an acceptable level of efficiency for the interim period while the first two areas of focus were addressed.  With the presence of several high level Revit users in both the Architectural and Engineering departments, an on call Revit Support team was available to provide spot training and address technical hurdles that might otherwise be covered in a staff training session.  This eased the staff training priority being in third position .............c.kilgore

Harvesting in Revit is just the act of going back through a completed project and saving families, details, materials, annotations, legends, schedules, etc that were created for that specific project and driving those elements into the Revit Library and Templates.  Harvesting expands your library content, reduces time to recreate these elements and optimizes your templates for increased efficiency on future projects.

At GLHN I was approached by one of the Revit Techs on how he could help in the Revit optimization process.  This gentlemen has a depth of knowledge of previous projects and content location that is invaluable.  As such I suggested he create a spreadsheet that indentified the subject content and its location on the server. 

I didn't want to drive this content directly into the new Revit library we were creating without vetting it for appropriate attributes.  Specifically we want to:

> make sure it had the proper shared parameters so the new schedules could read its data and populate the
   schedule appropriately.
> categorize it based on the Masterformat spec number which drives the structure of our Library so we could 
   properly locate it within the Revit Library for future retrieval.
> review it for additional informational content.

This filtering and alignment of content going into the Revit Library is an essential quality control process that must continually occur.
                                                                                                                                                    c. kilgore

We recently completed the construction document prep phase for two very large projects at GLHN and it seemed like a golden opportunity to do a project debrief with the production teams. With GLHN being an A/E firm we have a unique situation where we can focus on the bridging aspects between A  & E as it relates to Revit.

After meeting with each discipline's production / design teams it became clear that there were key areas that needed improvement. These areas included Project Management, Communication, Revit Training, Revit Template Development and Revit Idiosyncrasies.  The Idiosyncrasies being like a software rock in the river you have to
learn to swim around.

All typical growing pains for a firm in the process of converting to Revit, but what really impressed me is that with all the adversities of two multi-million dollar projects having their schedules inexplicably align to the same due date, design shifts and refinements that continued right through CD’s and the struggle of moving to an unfamiliar production platform, both teams still managed to deliver the projects on schedule without sacrificing quality. 
A trial by fire no one would wish to undergo but one that speaks to the integrity, dedication and perseverance of the GLHN team.

I’m reminded of the birth of a Samurai Sword whose smith’s led a religious from of life; accompanying each step of the work with prayer and ritual, bringing the steel through a trial by fire & hand to create one of the finest and strongest blades of its time.

The debrief confirmed that our Revit Optimization Work Plan is on track & target to resolving many of our production concerns and ultimately will capture substantial efficiency gains.  The Architectural side of the Work Plan
is complete and in the hands of my MEP counterpart at GLHN, Tony, for finalization.  I’ve also begun work on a Revit Training Matrix to help us organize and target our training efforts.  Looking to finish the Architectural part this weekend and hand it off to Tony on Monday.
                                                                                                                                                   c. kilgore