Alignment Framework Between Building Inf PDF

MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY LONDON
SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
THESIS
ALIGNMENT FRAMEWORK BETWEEN BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING

PROCESSES AND THE PMBOK® GUIDE CONSTRUCTION EXTENSION PROCESSES IN
CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
By
Saad Al-Jabri
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the
Requirements for the degree of
Master of Science
May 2017
Approved by
Dr Noha Saleeb
Alignment Framework between BIM and PMBOK® Processes 1
Abstract
A concern that project managers share is that despite the management protocols,
processes, and tools contained in the Project Management Body of Knowledge® (PMBOK®),
considerable resources are still spent every year correcting and adding to non-standard data
needed by any or all stakeholders, team members, designers, and project owners. As well,
facility and project history must be maintained A number of new tools and standards around
Building Information Modelling (BIM), common data environments (CDE) and Integrated
Project Delivery (IPD) were just beginning to see wider use and acceptance in the Project
Management community as the Fifth Edition PMBOK® was issued, thus guidance on these
topics was not necessarily included explicitly. This study queried the project management
community for input and probed thoughts around various external BIM guidance to develop a
preliminary process to integrate Information Management (IM) tools into each of the
Knowledge areas and propose to develop an Information Management Framework into the
PMBOK® and its Construction Extension (CE) as a new Knowledge Area, or KA.
An online survey, paper questionnaire, and formatted interview sheet were prepared
with focused questions and deployed to assess the degree of insight around several broad PM
topics concerning Information Management (IM) and IM formatting compatibility. As well,
respondents were asked to share any information they cared to, about what guidance or
procedures they used, anecdotes on what worked well or didn’t work in practice, thoughts on
BIM, CDE, and their exposure to any or all. In addition, respondents’ familiarity with existing
guidance details in the PMBOK® and CE were probed and used to gauge what future work
might be required to reach the end goal of adding robust support and guidance for BIM, IM,
and CDE.
Data suggested the respondents felt that more IM guidance was needed and could be
added to the PMBOK® and CE that a separate KA addressing process, procedure, tools, and
collaborative procedures could be included and raised the possibility of modifying and updating
information in existing KAs to integrate IM more explicitly. All suggested IM needed to be
robustly managed from facility cradle-to-grave. Some indicated support for more inclusion of
process for explicit collaboration support. As well, perceived lacks in the PMBOK® and CE
with respect to Communications and records-keeping were highlighted, along with the
recognition of digital tools, workspaces, and procedures as primary project criteria to keep in
mind as contracts are initiated, negotiated, and executed. Finally, respondents offered anecdotes
illustrating experiences on previous projects, speaking to familiarity with or to limited to the
routine use of BIM, Common Data Environments (CDE), and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
management. Some respondents suggested that inclusion of real-world examples of the process
might be particularly useful, as well.
The study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing enough information to

build a skeleton outline of best practices in digital data management, which may be used to
construct a digital data management knowledge area for inclusion in the PMBOK® and its
construction extension, and build a foundation for collection of examples, case studies, and
process around the larger area of Information Management.
Table of Contents
Abstract ....................................................................................................... 1
List of Figures ............................................................................................. 5
List of Tables .............................................................................................. 7
Chapter 1 Introduction to the Research ............................................. 8

1.1 Rationale ........................................................................................ 11
1.2 The main research question ........................................................... 14
1.2.1 Quick Summary ................................................................................... 14
1.2.2 Contribution(s) to knowledge .............................................................. 15
1.3 Benefits and beneficiaries .............................................................. 15
1.4 Proposed methods .......................................................................... 16
Chapter 2 Literature Review ........................................................... 17
2.1 Theoretical Background ................................................................. 17
2.2 Candidates for Incorporation into PMBOK® Guide ..................... 19
2.2.1 PAS 1192-2:2013 (BSI 2013) .............................................................. 19
2.2.2 Building Information Model (BIM) Protocol CIC/BIM pro
(Construction Industry Council, 2013) ................................................ 24
2.2.3 BS 1192:2007 (BSI 2007).................................................................... 25
2.2.4 BS 1192-4:2014 ................................................................................... 26
2.2.5 Employer’s Information Requirements (EIR) Guidance ..................... 27
2.2.6 AEC (UK) BIM Technology Protocol (Core of the BIM) ................... 28
2.2.7 Building Information Modelling Execution Planning Guide ............... 29
2.2.8 Using BIM as a Project Management Tool:......................................... 29
2.2.9 Building Information Model (BIM) Standards Manual by DASNY ... 30
2.2.10 The VA BIM Guide ............................................................................. 30
2.3 Summary: list of procedures and guideline candidates.................. 31
Chapter 3 Research Methods ........................................................... 32
3.1 Research Question Restatement ..................................................... 32
3.2 Research Strategy........................................................................... 32
3.2.1 Justification of Method ........................................................................ 33
3.2.2 Choosing a Sample Size....................................................................... 33
3.2.3 Designing the questionnaire and Forum Questions ............................. 35
3.3 Next Steps: Project Description and Data Collection .................... 36

Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Project Description......................................... 37
4.1 Business Drivers and Significance................................................. 37
4.2 Benefits and Costs.......................................................................... 37
4.3 Implementation Method ................................................................. 38
4.3.1 Timeline ............................................................................................... 38
4.3.2 The Survey Questions .......................................................................... 38
4.4 Focus Group ................................................................................... 44
Chapter 5 Data Analysis .................................................................. 46
5.1 Survey Responses .......................................................................... 47
5.1.1 PMBOK®/Construction Extension Surveys ........................................ 51
5.1.2 Guidance Integration into the PMBOK® Guide/Construction Extension
............................................................................................................. 53
5.1.3 PMBOK®/Construction Extension Open-ended Questions ................ 53
5.1.4 Focus Group Interview: MOHAP ........................................................ 53
Chapter 6 Survey Results ................................................................ 56

6.1 Discussion structure ....................................................................... 56
6.2 AllCounted dot Com Survey.......................................................... 57
6.3 Research Focus Group ................................................................... 71
6.4 Data Summary ............................................................................... 75
Chapter 7 Conclusion and Future Work .......................................... 76
7.1 Proposed Information Management Knowledge Area (KA) ......... 78
7.2 Future Work ................................................................................... 79
References................................................................................................. 82
Online Survey Questions ............................................. 90
RESEARCH INTERVIEW FORM ............................. 97
Raw Responses to Group Interview Survey .............. 101
AllCounted dot com Survey Data .............................. 102
a. Raw and Collated Online Survey Data ............................................. 103
b. Focus Group Interviews, organised by question number .................. 117
DATA APPENDICES ............................................... 133

............................................................................................ 134
a. Appendix E2.pdf................................................................................ 134
b. Focus Group Instructions: App_E3_Krueger-Focus.pdf .................. 134
c. Group Interviews PDF....................................................................... 134

List of Figures
Figure 1 - The information delivery cycle ............................................................................... 21
Figure 2 - The relationships between the contract and the associated documents ................... 23
Figure 3 Document and data Management repository (BSI 2007) ............................
Figure 4 Are you or have you been a project Manager? ............................................
Figure 5 Licensed or Certified? What kind? ..............................................................
Figure 6 Years in Project Management?....................................................................
Figure 7 Type of projects worked on? .......................................................................
Figure 8 Question 7 responses: Should more ‘best practices’ IM guidance be
added to the PMBOK®? ......................................................................................................
Figure 9 What kinds of electronic workspaces have you used (multiple selections
possible)
Figure 10 Communications flow issues (question 11)............................................. 64
Figure 11 Quality of communication flow (question 12) ........................................ 65
Figure 12 Might it be useful to add a separate Information Management KA to the
PMBOK® and/or its construction extension? (Question 13)........................................... 65
Figure 13 Table, question 16, regarding alternative guidances specific to
information management process. As indicated at the top of the figure, only 11 of 21
respondents filled out this table. ...................................................................................... 67
Figure 14 Question 24: Do you find adequate guidance in the PMBOK and C.E.
regarding intellectual property rights? ............................................................................. 69
Figure 15 Years managing projects ......................................................................... 71
Figure 16 years managing projects .......................................................................... 71
Figure 17 Certifications? ......................................................................................... 72
Figure 18 Certifications? ......................................................................................... 72
Figure 19 Types of projects worked on .................................................................. 73
Figure 20 Types of projects worked on ................................................................... 73

Figure 21 What Electronic workspaces have you used or are familiar with? .......... 75
List of Tables
Table 1 Minimum Sample Size by Confidence Level ....................................................... 34
Table 2 Non-PMBOK® Documents which contain Information Management or BIM
Guidance .......................................................................................................................... 41
Table 3 Calculated margin of error for a given sample size. ............................................. 47

Chapter 1 Introduction to the Research
The UK government promulgated the “Construction Strategy” cost-saving measure in
May 2011, with recent updates published March 2015. The target goal was to reduce waste and
losses in construction projects and to improve management and costs associated with public
projects (Cabinet Office, 2016). Budgetary concerns and increased need for trackable organised
reporting, as well as the need to minimise waste and costs under an on-going LEAN initiative,
led to the development of construction guidelines and protocols to address these concerns and
to establish collaborative relationships with the construction industry. The guidelines have
stated a purpose which seeks “… to improve the delivery, efficiency and performance of
economic and social infrastructure projects in public, private and regulated sectors”. The
construction strategy has goals ‘…for smarter procurement, fairer payment, improving digital
skills, reducing carbon emissions, and increasing client capability.
Project management as a concept may go back as far as the building of the Great Wall
of China (Brewer, 2012) but developed into a discipline in the 20th century. Project
management, as a discipline, still has a great many areas, which can be researched and
improved: one of these is data management and information sharing. Throughout a project life
cycle, significant amounts of data and information are collected, analysed, transformed, and
then distributed in various formats to project team members and other stakeholders. Project
data, collected because of various Executing Processes (EP), are shared within the project team,
analysed in context and aggregated, then transformed to become project information during
different Controlling Processes (CP). The information may then be communicated verbally or
stored and reported or distributed in various formats. (PMBOK® Guide 2013). Project data are
continuously collected and analysed during the dynamic context of the project execution.
However, problems can arise during that phase. For example, the terms ‘data’ and ‘information’
are often used interchangeably, and the indiscriminate use of these terms can lead to confusion
and misunderstandings by the various project stakeholders. (PMBOK® Guide, 2013).

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) guide represents, to many,
the standard for contemporary project management practice. For example, its publisher, Project
Management Institute (PMI), has been endorsed by the American National Standards Institute
(ANSI) as a primary standards developer. However, the PMBOK® is not yet accepted
universally. It is sometimes criticised for being too ‘linear’ in approach for applying a ‘one size
fits all’ or mechanistic approach to project management that sometimes fails because it does
not take enough account of the human element (Brewer 2012, Cervone 2014). Still, the
PMBOK® provides a good support framework for sound practice, because it is process-based.
It is the ‘go-to’ document for developing an understanding of key concepts, understanding what
goes into proper management of the project body of knowledge, as well as the ethics and
standards the project manager should – and must – meet. Critical amongst these pieces are the
concepts of collaboration and trust.
Collaboration between the participants in construction projects is essential for the
efficient delivery of facilities. In ongoing efforts to maintain better tracking of costs and benefits
of the finished project or facility, organisations are working more and more in new collaborative
environments, based in significant degree on digital tools. Projects now come with diverse
stakeholders who must be kept informed: tools and process to manage the collaborative
environment allows the project management team to achieve higher standards of quality and
greater re-use and retention of existing knowledge and experience. A major feature of the
collaborative environment is the ability to communicate, re-use and share data efficiently
without loss, contradiction or misinterpretation. (BS 1192:2007). As well, the ability to manage
information in the collaborative environment can have the side benefit of reducing waste of
resources, time, and materials.
The PMBOK® Guide defines a project as “a temporary endeavour undertaken to create
a unique product, service, or result”, which further implies that the project has a well-defined
beginning and end (2013). This ‘endeavour’ can be an enhancement, a construction or
renovation of a facility, a service or capability for a service, a document, a projection or trend

analysis, or improvements, for example. A concern that project managers share, despite the
management protocols, processes, and tools in the PMBOK, is that each year considerable
resources are spent on making corrections to non-standard data. They must ensure that all data
are included in the central database, that new personnel are trained in approved data creation
techniques, that the efforts of the designer, the subcontractor teams, and management team are
coordinated, and that problem-solving related to data reproduction are addressed either via
standardisation of formats or standard conversion protocols. (BS 1192:2007).
Building Information Modelling (BIM), in contrast, is a process, which generates and
manages the digital representations of physical and functional characteristics of physical
buildings, infrastructure, etc. The PAS 1192-2:2013 states that a “BIM generates information
models and their associated information that are used throughout the lifecycle of
building/infrastructure facilities or assets” (BSI 2013). In other words, this process can manage
tasks like making corrections to non-standard data, ensuring that all data are included in the
central database, that the inputs from the designer, the subcontractor teams, and management
teams are coordinated without costly mistakes and revision. This is accomplished via a virtual
model of the project, which can be modified, cost estimated, and visualised with respect to
construction, by all teams concerned, including owners and other non-construction or
engineering stakeholders (BSI 2013).
BIM is accomplished using computer software and architecture to manage files
containing a wealth of information about a project, which can be used to support planning, as
well as construction and decision-making associated with the project. Thus, BIM focuses more
on design and execution, whereas PMBOK® is more of a global standard for managing the
project. In BIM, the focus is on information management also: the design is treated as a
combination of objects where the project can evolve and change as it progresses, and is
available to pass information from the designer, to the contractor, to the owner and back again,
as the project is executed and changes are made. For example, at the inception of the project,
BIM workspace contains project records, can visualise the facility at any phase from concept
through project completion tracking mods, and organise and track input from all parties
involved, as well. Once the construction phase is completed, the function of the BIM may
evolve from project-focused to records-focused – these phases are maintained in separate
workspaces but are heavily cross-referenced due to built-in features of the software. Once
documents/keys/operating manuals have been handed over, the BIM may transition into an
O&M-focused mode. It can maintain a variety of records over the facility lifetime beyond the
project phase, such as Environmental, Safety, Security, and Health (ESSH) records, repairs,
repurposing, etc. (Gelder, 2013). BIM services the whole facility life cycle while project
management services the asset lifecycle during the construction until completion. At this point
where the project manager’s involvement ceases or becomes minimal, BIM can potentially
bridge the gaps in the PMBOK® process, and hopes were high that it might. However, per the
“Government Construction Strategy Report” of 2016, procedures are not yet in place
everywhere for employing BIM. As well, process standards involving computer management
do not yet exist in recognised final form.
1.1 Rationale
Research investigation identifies that there is no inclusion of standards or processes for
dealing with or facilitating project information integration in the current iteration of the
PMBOK® guide (2013) or its Construction Extension (2007). Why does it matter what the
PMBOK® Guide or the Construction Extension say? Recall that the PMBOK, Project
Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is described as ‘the standard for contemporary
project management practice’. In its introduction, the PMBOK® states that it “… identifies that
subset of the project management body of knowledge that is generally recognized as good
practice. “Generally recognized” means the knowledge and practices described apply to most
projects most of the time, and there is a consensus about their value and usefulness” (2013).
The Construction Extension to the PMBOK® Guide contains Knowledge Areas specific to
construction projects, for each of the PMBOK® Guide Knowledge Areas, as well as guidance
on project resources, health, safety, security, and environmental management, and financial
management and claims management in construction (2016). The PMBOK® Guide and
Construction Extension say this regarding information integration:
 project data may be shared within the project team, and with other stakeholders,
 collected data may be communicated verbally or stored and distributed in various

formats.
Both do acknowledge that during the active phase of project execution, the terms data
and information are used interchangeably, which can often lead to confusion and
misunderstanding between various project stakeholders. The PMBOK® Guide attempts to
address this by defining and explaining three preferred terms for data, information, and reports
(PMBOK® Guide, 2013):
 Work performance data: raw observations and measurements made during
project work activities.
 Work performance information: performance data collected from various
controlling processes contextually analysed and relationally integrated across
areas.
 Work performance reports: physical or electronic work performance information
compiled in project documents.
Malik (2016) pointed out that the PMBOK® Guide contains a Knowledge Area dealing
with Information Management titled, ‘Communication Management (section 10.2)’. It states
that “Project Communications Management includes the processes that are required to ensure
timely and appropriate planning, collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval,
management, control, monitoring, and the ultimate disposition of project information." It
provides a process flow for accomplishing the flow but suggests no tools for doing so, leaving
another gap in communications, which is dependent upon the diligence of the project manager
as well as each of the team members and stakeholders.

A second attempt to provide guidance on communications by PMI resulted in a new
Executing process for managing knowledge being added in the PMBOK® Guide 6th Edition.
Probably as Malik said, communication management in PMBOK® is gaining more focus than
the other Knowledge Areas. This is appropriate, as it is identified by almost everyone as an area
where project information management can fail (Cervone 2014, Carvalho 2008, and Brewer
2012). For example, Brewer addresses communication lapses in the context of trust issues
between the project manager, the project team, and stakeholders (2012). Cervone attempts to
assess where, and to what extent the fault lies, and concludes that communications management
while critical to project success, is seldom practised, in part, because of assumptions and
misunderstandings about who needs to know what, or how much background information a
given individual may already have (2014). In this study, more focus will be directed towards
Information Management Frameworks and their integration into existing guidance, such as the
PMBOK® Guide and Construction Extension. The researcher intends to show how integrating
BIM processes and standards can benefit the PMBOK® Guide construction extension.
This is a desirable area of study because
 the PMBOK® Guide Construction Extension does not yet focus on using new
technologies, such as Building Information Management (BIM) in projects,
 the current PMBOK® Guide Construction Extension, Second Edition offers
practically no guidance on how to manage information and data (2007).
 A Third edition has become available recently, and while it claims to address
concerns with data management more directly, the guidance is more focused on the
process flow, rather than specifics.
Many BIM standards and procedures have been introduced in the construction field by
governments such as The Building Information Modelling (BIM) Task Group a UK
Government-funded group, Dubai Municipality, AEC and consultant organisations such as

ARUP, developers’ companies such as Autodesk, Bentley and other BIM experts all working
together to develop tools and process. It is worth studying them more closely and investigating
what aspects may be added to the PMBOK® Guide Construction Extension.
1.2 The main research question
 What BIM and other information management processes and procedures can be added
to the Construction Extension to the PMBOK® Guide to increase its value in the field,
and how would they impact the current guide’s methods and techniques?
o How can the Construction Extension to the PMBOK® Guide benefit from BIM
standards in managing information?
 What are the main information processes discussed in current literature?
 What BIM Standards and Procedures exist?
o How do these compare with information processes in PMBOK?
o How do BIM information exchange procedures and terminology differ from
those in PMBOK®?
o How does BIM ensure interoperability and data standards?
1.2.1 Quick Summary
The researcher has reviewed different research/literature on information management,
PMBOK® processes, and BIM, to define where the gap lies between information and data
management within the project management framework provided by the PMBOK® Guide and
the Construction Extension. In general, there has been a little evaluation of the gaps or attempts
to bridge them using more rigorous Information Management, from the Project Management
point of view. Previous studies and research have focused on different issues than the
researcher’s proposed research area as follows:
 The PMBOK® Guide explains project information terminology only and divides it into
three categories: Work performance data, Work performance information, and Work
performance reports without providing detail or more specific guidance (PMI, 2013).
 Lawson et al. (2010) stated that “BIM requires the implementation and execution of a
new model of project management.”
 More recent literature (Brewer 2012, Alp 2014, and Belsky 2016) attempts to define
and implement BIM in new ways, but offer no concerted effort to integrate it more fully
into the PMBOK® and the Construction Extension Knowledge Areas.
o There are no indications of any specific process and methodology for
integrating BIM into PMBOK® processes; only general information is
available.
 Alin (2013) focused on Australian sample case studies and whether the high level of
information content offered by BIM and the potential for sharing that information
among contracting parties means that the information asymmetry can be alleviated
using BIM.
 Retana (2016) discussed the history of information management, specifically how
information has moved from paper-based transactions to the new digital forms. He
described information flow from one source to another within the project team and its
effect on construction project members. Next, Retana outlined the different project
phases and how information is treated within each. Finally, he addresses the role of
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in the management of
construction information.
1.2.2 Contribution(s) to knowledge
This study’s results will result in a proposal for adding an Information Management
Framework in the Construction Extension to the PMBOK® Guide as a new Knowledge Area,
or KA, from the finding in BIM standards. Thus, a preliminary process, which integrates BIM
into each of the Knowledge areas, will be proposed.
1.3 Benefits and beneficiaries
There are no specific processes, procedures or recommendations on how to integrate
BIM into the Construction Extension KAs or into the PMBOK® Guide KAs. On the other hand,
several BIM standards and references offer Project Managers guidance on Information
Management during the Execution of the project. However, it can be difficult for project
managers who do not already have experience with BIM to benefit from them. This researcher
proposes an information management framework for BIM structured to allow project managers
to utilise these procedures even if they do not have experience in BIM. Those who might benefit
are:
 Projects managers
 PMI and its community
 BIM consultancy firms
 Project team contributors
1.4 Proposed methods
The researcher will use empirical research (Cotterell, 2014) to develop evidence to
support or refute a hypothesis:
“Should consider adding a Data and Information Management knowledge
area into its Construction Extension to the PMBOK® Guide?”
To answer this, The researcher will use Qualitative Content Analysis Methodology to
probe the hypothesis, then use findings to suggest where and how the proposed Data and
Information Management KA can fit into the Construction Extension. The researcher may use
a secondary methodology, such as interviews and a focus group to probe working project
managers’ opinions of this study’s findings and determine whether they agree that the proposed
KA should be added to the Construction Extension to the PMBOK® Guide.”

Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Theoretical Background
Before addressing theory and previous research on the communication of information
and data, it might be appropriate to address the origins of the Project Management Body of
Knowledge Guide and its Construction Extension (PMI 2013, PMI 2007). Both are published
and updated by the Project Management Institute, a non-profit corporation formed in 1969.
Project management as a concept probably dates back thousands of years, but no formal
teachings were available for the professional until the twentieth century. One need only
consider the planning, communication, coordination, and execution that must have gone into
assuring the durability of structures like Great Wall of China, the pyramids of Egypt and the
Americas, or the Moai on Rapa Nui, to understand that project management planning is an old
science that has been little formalised until recent times. In the 1960s, the discipline began to
be used widely in the aerospace, construction, and defence industries and is when formal
processes and procedures began to develop. In 1969, five individuals: Ned Engman (McDonnel
Douglas Automation), James Snyder and Susan Gallagher (SmithKline & French Laboratories),
Eric Jenett (Brown & Root) and J Gordon Davis (Georgia Institute of Technology) formed the
Project Management Institute (PMI) at the Georgia Institute of Technology as a nonprofit
organisation. They incorporated it in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that same year (PMI
2016). Some years later, PMI described its major objectives:
 to foster recognition of the need for professionalism in project management;
 to provide a forum for the free exchange of project management problems,
solutions and applications;
 to coordinate industrial and academic research efforts;
 to develop common terminology and techniques to improve communication
between various groups involved in project management,
 to provide interfaces between users and hardware/software suppliers, and

 to provide project management instruction and career development guidelines.
As the institute grew, it gathered information from professionals in the field on
practices, procedures, and approaches, and began to promote standardisation of them. Because
of their efforts, PMI put together and published the first PMBOK ® Guide in 1996. The
PMBOK® guide is available in several translations and can be purchased at their website,
www.pmi.org. The Guide is also available in the US as American National Standard Institute
(ANSI) document BSR/PMI 99-001-2013. ANSI, while not directly involved in the
development of the PMBOK® and the Construction Extension performs several functions that
have contributed to the PMBOK® being recognised as the de facto standard for project
management. It:
 accredits standards that developed by representatives of other standards
organisations, government agencies, consumer groups, companies, and others
 ensures the characteristics and performance of products based on those
standards are consistent
 ensures that people use the same definitions and terms across the discipline,
and
 ensures that products are vetted the same way, against the same verified
standards.
The PMI chose to produce guidelines that work for most projects, as series of processes
organised into thirteen Knowledge Areas, including one (Section 10) called Project
Communications Management. The Project Communications Management section has been
subdivided further into Communications Management subsections 10.1-10.3: “Plan
Communications Management”, “Manage Communications”, and “Control Communications”
(planning communications management, executing the plan, and verifying the plan worked).
All three depend on the information needs of stakeholders and each member of the team, as
well as how, and in what format, that information is presented (raw data, calculated quantities,
reports, advisories, summaries, etc.). Unfortunately, this is the area where most projects suffer
problems. Guidance exists which attempts to address communications gaps and mistakes;
however, one must consult several documents in order to bridge the gaps. It might be useful to
examine some of these and suggest how they might be integrated with the PMBOK® Guide.
Not all information on a project will be originated, exchanged or managed in each BIM
format. Just as there are diverse team members and stakeholders involved in complex and/or
large construction projects, data and information generated, processed and disseminated to team
members will also be diverse. This information will be managed in a consistent and structured
way throughout the project lifecycle in order to ensure efficient and accurate information
exchange. Even where a BIM tools and procedures are being used, problems can arise due to
lack of interoperability and lack of precision in definitions (Belsky, 2015). Belsky states: there
are “significant difficulties remain in exchanging information between Building Information
Modelling (BIM) tools.” To probe the differences between BIM tool communications, native
format and storage schemes, would require another research project, and will not be addressed
here.
2.2 Candidates for Incorporation into PMBOK® Guide
The processes incorporated into the PMBOK® Guide do not specifically include
sections dealing with data management and dissemination that are explicit or detailed. There
are several guidance or contract documents that do provide support and guidance specifically
for Building Information Models, as well as how to incorporate that capability into a contract
(BSI 2013, CIC/BSI 2013, BSI 2007). These will be discussed briefly.
2.2.1 PAS 1192-2:2013 (BSI 2013)
“Process and Specification for Information Management for the Capital/Delivery
Phase of Construction Projects using Building Information Modelling (BIM)”
The Publically Available Specification (PAS) 1192-2:2013, published by the British
Standards Institution, provides specific guidance for information management associated with
projects delivered using BIM (BSI, 2013). The guidance contained in PAS 1192-2:2013
developed out of the need to meet mandates set out in the Construction Strategy of 2011
(Cabinet, 2011). The stated goals were to reduce the costs of public sector assets by 20% or so
by 2016, and to set a strategic objective “to achieve maturity Level 2 building information
modeling (BIM) on all public sector asset procurement, with equal applicability to private
sector building, infrastructure, refurbishment and new-build projects” (BSI 2013). The hope
was that imposing the mandate might improve information consistency across the lifetime of a
project, but this has not yet been realised.
The PAS, in fact, only addresses information exchanges specific to BIM, however, it
is possible that it attempts to address the lack of interoperability between BIM tools by stating,
“… all project information, whether in BIM environments or in conventional data formats
should be shared using a single collaborative data environment (CDE).” It is assumed that, for
this study, non-BIM information exchanges between a principal supplier and employer and
within the supply chain will be managed using other, similar information management
standards, decided on in advance, by all stakeholders.
The PAS 1192-2:2013 is organised into sections:

Introduction 6 Information delivery – Procurement
1 Scope 7 Information delivery – Post contract-
award
2 Normative References 8 Information delivery – Mobilisation
3 Terms and definitions 9 Information delivery – Production
4 Overview of documents referenced 10 Information Delivery – Asset
from this specification information model (AIM) maintenance
5 Information delivery – Assessment Annexes
and need
Bibliography
Points to be considered as follows: PAS 1192-2 provides specific guidance for the
information management requirements associated with projects delivered using BIM. Figure 1
shows the information delivery cycle for new projects and for projects that are part of a larger
portfolio, or for projects working on existing buildings and structures. Sections in BLUE outline
the general process to follow for identifying a project need, procuring and awarding a contract,
mobilising a supplier, then generating production information and asset information relevant to
the need. This cycle could be included in the Project Management Plan in the PMBOK® Guide
to demonstrate how the information may be gathered, shared, monitored, and controlled, side
by side with the other Project Management Processes. It integrates and consolidates all the
subsidiary plans and baselines from the planning processes in a simple schematic. The PAS
1192-2:2013 document has an underlying driver, which focuses specifically on data
management, reports, and documents on project delivery, which is known as the Project
Information Model (PIM).
Figure 1 - The information delivery cycle

It is possible that the PIM integrated into the Project Information System (PMIS) or the
Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEF) portions of the PMBOK® Guide, which are discussed
in sections three and four.

The PAS 1182-2:2013 introduces a new term: Building Information Modelling
Execution Plan (BEP). It is not exactly a new concept, but it is new in that it is being added to
the formal project management guidelines for BIM: some companies have been including a
BEP in contracts in the last couple of years in order to protect against lawsuits around
miscommunicated information or mishandled models, poor conceptual drawings or mistakes in
plan execution, for example (Alp, 2014). The BEP sets out how communications will be
handled. It is prepared by the suppliers and the stakeholders, to explain how the information
modelling aspects of a project will be conducted. Contractors in the industry are currently
experiencing some uncertainty about how BIM works, and adding this to guidance documents
could drive its universal adoption. There are few guidelines, case law, or guidelines guiding
adoption of BIM for information management (Alp, 2014), and guidance contained in PAS
1192-2:2013 could serve as a starting point to integrate the concept into the Procurement
Statement of Work section in the PMBOK® and expanded to include other information within
the project plan. For example, statements of work may include, but are not limited to:
Specifications,
Quantity desired,
Quality levels,
Performance data,
Period of performance,
Work location,
Building Information Modelling Execution Plan (BEP), and
Other requirements.
The concept of the BEP is listed as one of the steps in the statement of work and relies
on the project participants and stakeholders to ensure that what is laid out there in meets
everyone’s needs before work commences.
One advantage of the PAS is that it may be used with all contract forms. The PMBOK®
Guide may be less clear than the PAS in showing the relationships between the contract and
associated documents, whereas the PAS includes figures, such as figure 2, below, which
demonstrate it clearly. Figure 2 or a similar flow chart or diagram might be used in the Plan
Procurement Management section to illustrate this relationship more clearly. Here, input from
the community which uses both the PMBOK® and the BIM would be critical to determining
the diagram’s utility, as well as where, exactly, it might best fit within the PMBOK® guidance.
Figure 2 - The relationships between the contract and the associated

documents
Currently, the client is obliged to appoint an information manager (sometimes called
the BIM manager) at all project stages, specifically to manage information in through the BIM
system. It is that manager’s responsibility and task to ensure that the proper information is
communicated at a level and in as much detail as is required by each stakeholder along the way.
This is not, at present, something that the project manager takes responsibility for: s/he may not
have the right skill set or experience with the system being used. We suggest that if the project
is small, the project manager could, in theory, handle this responsibility in tandem with the
other project duties as outlined in the PMBOK® with training. This could be promoted within
the PMBOK®, section 1.7 (PMI 2013).
2.2.2 Building Information Model (BIM) Protocol CIC/BIM pro (Construction
Industry Council, 2013)
The CIC/BIM Pro document, titled “Building Information Model (BIM) Protocol, is
another document which discusses a UK protocol for projects using BIM. It identifies the
Building Information Model (BIM) objects to be produced by project team members and puts
into place specific obligations, liabilities and associated limitations on the use of the
Information Model. It states that it was designed expressly for inclusion in direct contracts, may
be used to facility information flow without infringing on intellectual property IP rights, is
binding on all team members, and at the same time, is meant to ensure intellectual property
rights are maintained and well-defined as the project changes towards completion. The
document sets out general categories, with detailed descriptions of what rights and
responsibilities should be assigned amongst the team, which impact Intellectual Property Rights
IPR, who is responsible for what part of document management and ensuring integrity, as well
as how the document binds responsible individuals.
This language could be modified, linked, and incorporated into the PMBOK® Guide
procurement management knowledge area (KA) (2013) as well as the claim management in the
Construction Extension to the PMBOK® Guide (2007). The outlined protocol adopts many of
the core principles used in the preparation of the consultant appointment contract and schedules
of service (which can also be linked to the time management KA). The language could provide
a good deal of clarification on tasks and responsibility related to information management,
which may benefit all project team members and stakeholders by removing ambiguity. Project
teams perform better and can maintain better cross-team and team-stakeholder communications
when there are clear responsibility and definition for communication, as well as for the action
and deliverables (scope management). To consider specific sections to incorporate into the
PMBOK® GUIDE, by a section of the BIM protocol (CIC/BIM 2013):
3.2 Incorporation into contracts,
3.3 Permitted Purposes, and
3.4 Treatment of Intellectual Property
All those could be added to the contract.
Appendix 1: Levels of Detail and the Model Production and Deliver Table
Appendix 2: Information Requirements
2.2.3 BS 1192:2007 (BSI 2007)
The Collaborative production of architectural, engineering and construction
information – UK Code of Practice standard applies to all construction project documentation.
The principles are guiding information sharing, and common modelling may be equally applied
to building and civil projects. The set of project documents and each document within it are
viewed as a hierarchy of named ‘containers’. The BS 1192:2007 makes recommendations on
naming conventions: suggesting structured names to convey information (meta-data) about the
containers, which is required for effective information management and exchange. This
standard establishes the methodology for managing the production, distribution and quality of
construction information, including that generated by CAD systems, using a disciplined process
for collaboration and a specified naming policy: specifically, it recommends a common data
environment, then provides guidance on how it should operate.
The document contains a diagram suggesting the structure and architecture of the CDE.
It is reproduced here as figure 3, below. It features a Work in Progress (WiP) area. A Share
Point, an area for management of published documentation and information, and an archive.
Data are validated at each step to ensure continuity, suitability for residence if moved from the
WiP into the Share or incorporated in Documentation area. These functions could be integrated
into the PMBOK® as well, under the communications guidance in section 10. Both may require
reorganisation as part of the integration.
Figure 3 Document and data Management repository (BSI 2007)
2.2.4 BS 1192-4:2014
This document is titled: “Collaborative Production of Information”. BS 1192‑ 4:2014
defines the UK usage of COBie, an internationally agreed-upon information exchange schema
for exchanging facility information between the employer and the supply chain. COBie
(Construction Operations Building information exchange) provides guidance on a common
structure for exchange of information about new and existing Facilities, including both
buildings and infrastructure. COBie holds information about the spatial locations and the
equipment and components that make up the Facility. As COBie is strictly a guidance and not
a specification or procedure, its direct incorporation into the Construction Extension to the
PMBOK® Guide could be recommended. Further research on current practice, gained through
interview or questioners could be done to find out where it might fit.
2.2.5 Employer’s Information Requirements (EIR) Guidance
The EIR is a UK document guide designed to be included in the tender documents for
the procurement process (BITG 2016). The EIR is a key document with regards providing
guidance and procedures for communicating information as well as establishing information
management requirements. This guide has a lot of managing process related to PMBOK ®
Guide, informally, such as:
 Roles and responsibilities
 Planning the work
 Coordination process
 Collaboration process
 Health and safety management (Construction Extension)
 Systems performance
 Compliance plan
 Delivery strategy for Asset Information
The EIR may be integrated into the Contract Change Control System (PMBOK®
Guide) and the Records Management System (PMBOK® Guide). The EIR section on
Management is further divided into several sections dealing with:
 Standards: This could be added to 5.2 Collect Requirements process under scope
management in the PMBOK® Guide to be BIM standards requirements.
 Roles and Responsibilities: this section could be added to the tools and techniques of
9.1.2 Plan Human Resource Management

 Planning the work and data segregation: this could be added to 5.2 Collect
Requirements process under scope management in the PMBOK® Guide.
 Security: Neither the PMBOK® Guide nor the construction extensions include security
requirements for data because they do not deal explicitly with information
management. Security should be added to the PMBOK® and its Construction
Extension. Where and how this could be done may be determined by probing current
industry practice via a focus group, questionnaires, or forum questions and interviews.
 Health and Safety/Construction Design Management: This could be added to 13.1.3
Safety Management Plan to the construction extension to the PMBOK® Guide as a
subsidiary.
 Compliance Plan: This section includes: information on Quality assurance/control
procedures, associated software, and level of assurance. Those documents could be
included in the 8.1.3.1 Quality Management Plan in the PMBOK® Guide.
2.2.6 AEC (UK) BIM Technology Protocol (Core of the BIM)
The AEC (UK) Initiative was formed to improve the process of design information
production, management and exchange. One objective of the AEC BIM technology protocol is
to define best practices that ensure delivery of high-quality information and uniform
information exchange across an entire project. The section on Implementation Planning
could be incorporated into the PMBOK®. It is divided into subtopics including:
Roles and Responsibilities: Strategic, Management, and Production. The research will
focus on the second point management because it is the project-focused role. It brings up topics
such as Ownership of the Project BIM Execution Plan, the need to perform regular audits of
the project information, representation of the team at interdisciplinary model coordination
meetings, and management and quality control of the content creation and dissemination
process. These things may be integrated into the PMBOK® Guide, with input from the working
community to determine where and how to integrate them.

2.2.7 Building Information Modelling Execution Planning Guide
This USA guide explains what information may be included in a BIM Project
Execution Plan. This information can include:
1. Plan Overview Information
2. Project Information
3. Key Project Contacts
4. Project Goals / BIM Objectives
5. Organisational Roles and Staffing
6. BIM Process Design
7. BIM Information Exchanges
8. Collaboration Procedures
9. Model Quality Control Procedures
10. Model Structure
11. Project Deliverables
12. Delivery Strategy / Contracts
Some of these task-oriented project steps are available in the PMBOK® Guide; others
are not. Perhaps information contained in the Building Information Modelling Execution
Planning Guide could be added to the PMBOK® Guide construction extension.
2.2.8 Using BIM as a Project Management Tool:
“How can BIM improve the delivery of Complex Construction Projects?”
Broquetas (2010) suggests finding new ways information handling by moving from the
document paradigm to the Project Integrated Database paradigm. The information analysed
suggested that BIM might be the tool that promotes better integration of teams and information.
All the above references provide Project managers guidance on managing information
by utilising BIM. It can be difficult for project managers who do not have experience with BIM
to benefit from these processes. The researcher aims to come up with a formulation of necessary
actions around information management from BIM in a way that allows project managers to
utilise these procedures even if they do not have experience in BIM.
2.2.9 Building Information Model (BIM) Standards Manual by DASNY
The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY), Building Information
Model (BIM) Standards Manual, describes the processes, procedures, and requirements that
should be followed for the preparation and submission of BIM on all projects. The DASNY
BIM Standards Manual guidelines were formulated to ensure Design Professionals produce,
release, and receive data in a consistent format, for multiple building types and customers. It
includes strong, specific compliance measures. Similar language could integrate into the quality
Audits section as part of the process. The DASNY BIM Standards Manual also includes BIM
Project Workflow guidance; its language and concepts might also be added to the Construction
Extension as a new Knowledge Area (KA) called Information Management.
2.2.10 The VA BIM Guide
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Construction & Facilities
Management (CFM) provides design, major construction, and lease project management
guidance, as well as design and construction standards, environmental, and historic preservation
services and expertise to the Department of Veterans Affairs. It may also offer language and
concepts, which might be incorporated into the Construction extension, with input from
professionals performing project management. It would need to be reviewed carefully against
the PMBOK® Construction Extension to develop similarity comparisons. In a brief
examination, one key point that the VA BIM Guide makes is that a BIM Management Plan
(BMP) should be developed as a master information/data management plan, which can be used
to assign roles and responsibilities for model creation and data integration activities at project
initiation. Its processes are designed to ensure team members, and VA project management
agrees on how, when, why, to what level, and for which project outcomes BIM will be used.
This level of detail fits neatly into a new Information Management KA proposed to be added
the Construction Extension of the PMBOK® Guide. This is an additional idea to be explored
amongst working project managers through a focus group format, as well as interviews and
forum questions.
BIM Roles and Responsibilities, as defined in the VA guidance, could be added to the
Roles and Responsibilities under the Human Resource Management Plan. However, more
investigation is needed. Guidance and suggested procedures to manage “Files, Security,
Waivers”, “Project Folder Structures”, “Data Security”, and ”Waivers” could potentially be
integrated into the PMIS as part of the Enterprise Environmental Factors.
2.3 Summary: list of procedures and guideline candidates
Numerous guidance documents, outside of the PMBOK® and its Construction
Extension, and have been discussed briefly. These various guidance manuals and may be used
to serve as templates and provide structure for a proposed Information Management Knowledge
Area (KA) and/or incorporation in existing KAs, according to expressed opinion. These have
been used as guidance in preparing questions for a questionnaire and survey for this study. The
research method, strategy, and project description, including how the external guidance
documents informed the question pool, will be discussed in the next chapter.
Chapter 3 Research Methods
3.1 Research Question Restatement
What BIM and other Information Management processes and procedures can be added
to the Construction Extension to the PMBOK® Guide and the PMBOK® Guide, to increase its
value in the field? How would the added processes and procedures affect the guide’s current
methods and techniques? To assess both how BIM is being used in practice as well as how
strongly working project managers feel about formalizing best practices around Information
Management in both the PMBOK® guide and its Construction Extension, the target audience
will be surveyed and asked to share their thoughts on what can be integrated from existing
guidance documents which are NOT currently part of the body of knowledge.
3.2 Research Strategy
This study is deductive. The author has done some preliminary surveying of working
professionals (as previously mentioned) to determine the knowledge gap in the PMBOK ® and
its Construction Extension, around using BIM and other Information Management processes in
their work (as described in section 3.1). He gained some a bit of insight into the direction the
research might take next, as well as a small sample of current thinking on the research question.
The sample is very small but can offer guidance on the direction the questions might take.
The approach to gather data to explore the research question will be to (1) conduct
interviews using prepared questionnaires. (2) Survey individuals were chosen from the first
survey to probe some details within the working project management community (expanded
questionnaire), and (3) lead or moderate a discussion in an online forum or web forum. The
target audience will be practising project managers from a wide variety of areas across the
private, government, academic, and military sectors (if consenting).

3.2.1 Justification of Method
This study will use questionnaires, and discussions within a forum setting or focus
group for the following reasons: this work proposes to add to the ‘best practices body of
knowledge, consolidating and collecting in the two most widely used and most reliable sources
of process and procedure available to project managers. The PMBOK ® Guide and the
Construction Extension to the PMBOK® Guide. Persons are working in the field either are now
using the BIM in their work, starting to use it, or exploring it. As stated previously in section
1.1, none of the knowledge areas (KAs) in the PMBOK® or its Construction Extension
explicitly addresses Information Management now. Project managers with experience in the
field can provide guidance and on how they might like to see information management sections
placed, and offer their input into the sections which the researcher believes may be included, as
well on how to integrate it. Working project managers may have a better feel for where this
information might best be applied, especially for the Construction Extension. This is how the
PMBOK® best practices were originally determined, collected, and organised (PMI 2016,
Wikipedia 2016a).
3.2.2 Choosing a Sample Size
The project management demographic may be targeted in some ways: via existing
online forums like ProjectManagement.com or LinkedIn, using a survey software tool, package
or website to distribute the survey to professionals in the field, or by reaching out to professional
organisations to coordinate with the Membership Committee to request membership
participation. As well, the author will attempt first to determine what a statistically significant
population for the survey may be. Information that is needed is:
 An estimate of how many practising project managers or project managers-in-training
Possible sources:
o Professional societies such as the Association of Project Managers,
o the Project Management Institute (exposure to a global audience),

o Recruiters’ blogs, such as “How to Manage a Camel” blog (Thorpe, 2009). The
principal, John Thorpe compiled data in 2009 and has a census project to count
working project managers, which live right now.
o National Careers Service Website.
 -A good idea of what confidence interval will be used (±2, ±4, ±5 are all good
examples)
 The confidence level the researcher wishes to use (95% for example)
The PMI has determined that of the 800,060 professionals holding PMI certifications
as of 30 November 2016, 745,081 are PMP certified. It is possible to estimate a good survey
size using the following expression, based on standard normal distribution statistics (Gaussian
distribution; SurveyMonkey 2017, AllCounted 2017):
Equation 1
𝑁 ∗ 𝑧 2 ∗ (𝑝) ∗ (1 − 𝑝)
𝑆=
𝑐 2 𝑁 + 𝑧 2 ∗ (𝑝) ∗ (1 − 𝑝)
Where z = number of standard deviations or standard normal deviation at the chosen confidence
interval, p is the fraction or likelihood of gaining a response (0.5 on a scale from 0 to 1), N is
the sample population (800,000 worldwide), and c is the confidence level or margin of error.
Table 1, below, contains a list of sample sizes for various confidence levels.
Table 1 Minimum Sample Size by Confidence Level

C 95% 90% 85% 80%
z = 1.96 z = 1.65 z = 1.44 z = 1.28
± 0.05 384 272 207 164
± 0.10 96 68 52 41
± 0.15 43 30 23 18
± 0.20 24 17 13 10
± 0.25 15 11 8 7
For a large sample pool, c2N >> z2 * p * (1 – p), so the expression can be approximated:
Equation 2
𝑧 2 ∗ (𝑝) ∗ (1 − 𝑝)
𝑆≈
𝑐2
It is necessary to have a valid audience to question, so that the responses may have
meaning and provide support to the recommendations based upon it. For this study, the initial
sample size estimate of 384 was based on a confidence interval of 95% with a margin of error
of ± 5%.
 this study will need a robust method to evaluate responses and weight them, based
on statistics.
o There are several survey websites which can be accessed for free and will
statistically analyse responses as well. These may include a calculator
page, such as those found at Survey Monkey or Creative Research Systems
websites. The calculator at Survey Monkey was used to design the study.
o For this study, the researcher may also use Excel Statistics macros to
evaluate the data: the Student’s T-test may be appropriate for this target
audience, depending on sample size and distribution of demographic
information. This will be the first statistical method of choice. If changes
are made in statistical analysis, they will be noted in the Data Analysis.
3.2.3 Designing the questionnaire and Forum Questions
The author has posted a test question or two on an online project management forum
(projectmanagement.com), to test response time and quality, and develop a feel for current
thinking on whether an Information Management KA might be developed, collected, and added
to the PMBOK®. While the number of responses was low, the degree of engagement of
respondents was quite high, suggesting that this is a valid way to deliver targeted questions for
a response (Al Jabri, 2016). In Chapter 2, the research collected material from the BIM or other
procedural guides (named below) and made suggestions as to where they could be included. As
well, some explanation of what each might add was added. These suggestions will be
formulated into the first basic questions, along with points raised in the probe question
submitted to the forum on projectmanagement.com (Al Jabri, 2016). As well, questions probing
their favoured work practices and procedures for information management, observations on
what works well, what needs improvement, and what the level of engagement may be, will be
added.
3.3 Next Steps: Project Description and Data Collection
The next chapter will contain the draft questionnaires and proposed forum questions,
with sorted and categorised responses. Some respondents will be tracked; as well repeat
respondents will be monitored for inclusion in the forum or focus group discussions.
Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Project Description
4.1 Business Drivers and Significance
It has been shown that, in practice, good, consistent information management can
reduce construction costs, prevent communications errors, catch potentially catastrophic design
errors in the planning or modifications state, as well as provide a cradle-to-grave history of a
facility from concept through its useful life, until final disposition. Drivers include management
of all inputs, ability to incorporate, track, and include suggestions, modifications, project
changes, costs, forensic evaluation, as well as all record-keeping of issues that might arise,
tracking of health, safety, and environmental impacts, improvements, renovations, and new
construction associated with the facility. The significance of this task lies in its contribution to
the body of good practices Body of Knowledge. The PMBOK® is acknowledged by much of
the project management community as the source of good practices and processes for project
management.
The field of project management is young, dynamic, and experiencing rapid growth.
As well, the responsibilities the project manager takes on are becoming more complex. The
project manager may not have had the specialised skills required to develop the BIM from the
beginning: addition of an Information Management KA to the PMBOK ® Guide, as well as
procedures to the Construction Extension, can provide guidance the project manager can use to
support information management from the beginning. It could be used to combine Project and
BIM management functions as it matures.
4.2 Benefits and Costs
Benefits of conducting the project using questionnaires and surveys accrue from the
input of working project managers. The field is changing rapidly – adaptability and
standardisation are required to contain costs and minimise error, and in place by mutual consent.
The best way to ensure this is to obtain input and support from the working community.
Information gathered for this study will be the most recent and accurate input available. Costs
are minimal to develop this information: preparation of questions for use in questionnaires and
forums involves time costs for the researcher as well as the community.
4.3 Implementation Method
The researcher proposes to reach out to professional project manager organisations,
such as the Project Management Institute membership, as wel7l as project management forum
sites such as Project Management Central and Project Management Dot Com. A few test
questions were posted and responded to on the Project Management Dot Com
(projectmanagement.com). Response and participation in offering input were satisfactory. As
well, information which might not have been generally available in the PM community was
offered regarding possible improvements to come in the sixth edition of the PMBOK ® that
could have benefited from this KA development study. The first question posted in a forum by
the researcher was used as a test to gauge responses for number and types of answers, as well
as probe a small group of respondents for their thoughts (Malik, 2016). It received 12
independent responses. These responses have been evaluated to determine if the discussion
stayed on-topic (yes). The question: “Do you thing [sic] that PMI should add a new knowledge
set called: Information Management in the new PMBOK®?”, posted on the Project Management
Central Forum.
4.3.1 Timeline
Expected time to complete the study was estimated at approximately four to six weeks.
A rough statistical calculation (Chapter 3) suggested that a minimum statistically significant
number of responses is about 384. Any number of responses gathered over the 384 minimum
will serve to strengthen the statistical significance of the data gathered.
4.3.2 The Survey Questions
Draft questions presented below, use informal language to address each survey
participant. Questions which seem appropriate for use in a forum environment as well are
marked as such in the list. These open-ended questions were also present in the survey, either
as written or reformatted as multiple choice or Likert-type responses. These are presented in
this section, in no particular order, whilst the prepared (and answered) surveys will be discussed
in Chapters 5 and 6, and the survey itself, in final form, is included in Appendix A. The
questions in the survey are focused and grouped to first to gather demographic information on
the respondents, second, to find out what their understanding of Information Management and
key practices related to it are and what they know of BIM and electronic data management,
then, finally, probe their experiences around Project Information Management - what they
understand about its strengths, weaknesses, and purpose gather examples. The first group of
questions probed the respondents’ understanding of BIM and usage. Some questions were
reworded and asked twice, in both closed-ended questions at the beginning of the survey and
in open-ended format at the end, after various other guidance documents were mentioned, to
allow the respondent to freely share thoughts again, late in the survey. Some demographic data
was requested first, to determine if there is some bias related to a number of years of experience
or types of projects managed. The researcher did not seek gender or age information, as it is
not relevant to the information being gathered and probed.
Selected multiple-choice responses were qualified with an “explain” optional text box
where the responder could elaborate. Surveys and questionnaires have been posted on
“AllCounted” survey website. Survey responses are collected, collated, and analysed
statistically. Outputs include pie charts, bar graphs, trends, and lists of comments or information
on outliers. More in-depth analytical tools are available if needed; however, for this study, the
free analysis was adequate to characterise responses. Survey links went out by EMAIL,
containing an access code to maintain target population integrity and prevent one respondent
taking the survey multiple times. The survey was tested and modified before going ‘life’.
4.3.2.1 Question List
The question grouping is generic and focuses on probing the respondent’s
understanding around BIM or Information Management, whether the respondent has used some
of the formal tools (or is even aware of them), and what s/he considers to be ‘best practice’.
These may include questions like those listed below:
1. How do you manage data, information, and reporting between yourself and your
stakeholders on a project?
2. What do you consider ‘best practices’ in managing project information?
3. Do you use any electronic workspaces to share, categorise, organise, and archive
project information passed between your client, your project team and yourself?
a. How well do they work together?
4. Do you use Building Information Management (BIM) or work with a BIM manager
on your projects? Please share your thoughts.
5. Would it be helpful to you if the PMBOK®® and the Construction Extension (CE)
contained an Information Management KA in addition to the Communications
Management KA?
6. Do you consider developing a proposed Information Management KA for inclusion
in the PMBOK® Guide and Construction Extension a reasonable step in developing
and expanding best project management practices?
The next group of survey questions was taken in part from the questions listed below,
and partly from material in Chapter 2 on external guidance documents which contain process
which may serve as proposed additions to the PMBOK® Guide and the Construction Extension.
These provided the guidance and detail for questions addressing these other guidance
documents and the respondents’ knowledge of them. A test question was posted on the Project
Management Central Forum in September 2016 (Al Jabri, 2016) and has been asked again in
this more detailed grouping. It was: “Should the project management community actively work
to include more Information Management procedures and other process guidance into PMI’s
body of knowledge documents?” (Al Jabri, 2016). More generic questions on what ‘best
practices’ work best for the respondent, as well as a variant of the table below, with explanatory
text and ability to select multiple checkboxes, was included. The list of additional candidate
questions includes:
1. What specific BIM and other information management processes and procedures
do you think should integrate with the Construction Extension to the PMBOK®
Guide? A list of suggestions is included below. Please indicate which ones you
have used as well as which you would like to see included, and where (existing KA
or a new “Information Management” KA). You may check for ‘yes’. The last
column comment space is optional.
Table 2 Non-PMBOK® Documents which contain Information

Management or BIM Guidance
Familiar Use? Incorporate in Where? Comments (opt.)
with? PMBOK® Const.
Guide? Ext.?
PAS 1192-2:2013
Building Information
Model (BIM) Protocol,
CIC/BIM pro
BS 1192:2007
BS 1192-4:2014
AEC (UK) BIM
Technology Protocol
BIM Execution Planning
Guide
DASNY Building
Information Model
(BIM) Standards Manual
The VA BIM Guide
PAS 1192-2:2013 (BSI 2013) – specifies requirements for achieving building information
modelling (BIM) Level 2
Building Information Model (BIM) Protocol, CIC/BIM pro (Construction Industry Council,
2013) – identifies BIMs that must be produced by members of the Project Team and specifies
obligations, liabilities and associated limitations on the use of the models
BS 1192:2007 (BSI 2007) – guidance on the methodology for managing the production, distribution
and quality of construction information, including that generated by CAD systems
BS 1192-4:2014 – COBie guidance document: expectations for the exchange of information
throughout the lifecycle of a Facility
Employer’s Information Requirements (EIR) Guidance
AEC (UK) BIM Technology Protocol (Core of the BIM) – guidance on paying explicit attention
to design data management, display and quality
Building Information Modelling Execution Planning Guide - provides a structured procedure,

for creating and implementing a BIM Project Execution Plan (BEP)
Building Information Model (BIM) Standards Manual by DASNY – guidelines for ensuring
consistency in data and information generated from that data
The VA BIM Guide – guidance on using BIM to deliver maximum lifecycle building performance.
In the event, it becomes necessary to physically administer the questionnaire in a
physical forum or focus group; a modified paper questionnaire has been prepared with the same
core questions as the survey with focused follow-ups where appropriate, from questions listed
in this section. Results, statistics, and figures produced from the survey results will be
presented, in the next section.
The next group of questions in the survey focuses on obtaining the respondent’s
opinion of the perceived completeness or degree of lack of Information Management within the
Communications Management KA in the fifth edition of the PMBOK ® Guide. As well, the
respondents were asked about practical problems or successes they may have had on projects,
as well as what each respondent considered his or her best practices around Information
Management. Again, forum questions will be labelled as such, are designed primarily to gather
consensus on what working managers consider important, as well as answer questions the
researcher feels are critical. Questions were tested online, then reworked into the final format,
included in Appendix A.
1. Should the community actively work to include more Information
Management procedures and process into PMI’s body of knowledge
documents?
2. Responses to the first query on the project management forum indicated that
some people feel that PMBOK® was fine as it is and that relying on the
Communication Management KA provided enough support for project
managers to guide formal Information Management incorporation in project

procedures using BIM. Do you agree or disagree? Why? Please share your
thoughts.
3. In defining employer information requirements (EIR) per guidance in PAS
1192-2:2013. It is implied that one of the core functions of the EIR is to make
sure the project stakeholders gather and supply the information needed to
satisfy the client’s requirements for the solicitation of a contract proposal and
BIM Execution Plan (BEP) contract.
a. How do you organise information to fulfil that requirement?
b. Do you feel that more explicit guidance (process) needs to be added
explicitly to the PMBOK®?
c. Do you support the addition of this information, as well as procedures
for doing so be integrated into the construction extension as well?
4. Have you experienced communications and/or formatting issues between
stakeholder software and other project stakeholder software on a project? How
was this addressed?
5. Do you support actively supporting and incorporating the buildingSMART
(formerly known as International Alliance for Interoperability) efforts to
impose a standard, neutral non-proprietary data format (Industry Foundation
Classes) as a specification for standardising Information Management?
6. Do you use a BIM solution which supports (Industry Foundation Classes)
IFCs?
a. Do you know whether this support is robust or minimal?
b. Do you have a feel for what BIM solutions your clients favour?
c. Which ones do you favour? Why?
7. The buildingSMART consortium provides standards under the openBIM
name. Are you familiar with them?

a. What do you think about the movement to standardise Information
Management process and procedures in the same manner that best
practices for project management have been?
b. What do you see as the benefits of doing so?
8. How can the Construction Extension to the PMBOK® Guide benefit from
integrating BIM standards in information management?
9. Are you aware of vendor commitment to BIM standards integration in project
management solutions from companies like Autodesk?
10. How do these compare with information processes in PMBOK®?
11. Do BIM information exchange procedures and terminology differ from those
in PMBOK®?
Versions of the questions listed as samples, previously, were assembled into a three-
page long survey of thirty-two questions, built up and deployed on AllCounted dot com. The
researcher tested and edited the material for clarity, flow, and mechanics, then brought the
survey ‘live’. Questions were also distributed on paper in several ways to a target audience – a
focus group - to supplement the online responses. For the online survey, a group EMAIL was
sent, containing a request and web link to the online survey site, asking recipients to forward
the survey links and invitation to anyone they knew who might be interested, also. More surveys
were distributed, by posting to online forums and LinkedIn. The target audience has been
previously defined as the global PM community
4.4 Focus Group
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines ‘focus group’ as “a small group of people
whose response to something (such as a new product or a politician's image) is studied a small
group of people whose response to something (such as a new product or a politician's image) is
studied to determine the response that can be expected from a larger population” (2017). In
research, it provides a qualitative measure of where people’s thinking on a topic or subject lies,
wherein the group has time to think about the topic and discuss it with others in a safe space
that may help put them at ease, cause them to find, and express additional insight.
If insufficient online survey responses are obtained, the researcher will assemble a
focus group to obtain additional answers to the survey questions. The Likert-type closed end
questions will be converted to open-end questions to encourage the group to respond. The
prototype of the focus group survey is attached here, in Appendix C. Focus group forums will
be composed of a small group of people in each case. The researcher will be seeking input from
a minimum of three, but no more than five groups of 10-20 members. This is larger than the
recommended focus group size (Krueger, 2002), but the researcher can justify this because the
encounter will be conducted, beginning with a presentation and interview, followed by
requesting participants fill out the modified questionnaire. A number of construction and
engineering firms will be contacted in order to find participants, in order to address concerns
about a non-random sample (Krueger, 2002). The document sets out procedures and guidance
on how to set up and is attached here in Appendix D.

Chapter 5 Data Analysis
The scope of work for this study is to determine how to best develop an Information
Management Knowledge Area for integration into the PMBOK® and its Construction
Extension, based on Building Information Model Standards. As previously stated, the
researcher sought from the global project management community, input on common ‘best
practices’ around data, information, and reports of what the project management community is
using today. The working community provided the data used to gauge how Information
Management is practiced in their daily work, as well as what guidance and procedures they are
using; in addition, they shared both what is working as well as what they’d like to see improved
in the process of managing the project information for a facility.
The analysis of the responses presents a snapshot of Information Management current
practice, some information of what additional support and guidance they might find useful, and
some discussion of the respondents favoured methods and practices if any. The researcher
desired to obtain, at a minimum, 384 responses as calculated in Chapter 3, but the final tally of
responses was twenty-one (21) from the online survey, and 12 from the focus group.
Because the online survey return rate was low, the physical questionnaire was deployed
as well (Appendix B). In this version of the questionnaire, some closed-end questions were
converted to open-ended ones, to encourage free expression of opinions. An attempt was made
to set up an online forum or round-robin to work through the forum questions. Not enough
people to meet the statistical criterion were all available at the same time. The forum questions
were made available as a survey and deployed within a focus group. Those responses were
evaluated in combination with the online survey responses, and separately as well, because of
some contrasts in responses when compared to the online survey engine which suggests an
institutional bias towards procedures internal to the firm which employed the focus group.
Open-ended question responses have been collected and similar responses grouped
together for statistical evaluation. By ‘similar’, the researcher considered questions which said
the same thing (or could be interpreted as saying the same thing), but, perhaps, not in the same
words, as the same response. This involved some interpretation, aided by a dictionary and
thesaurus, and manual evaluation in Excel by the researcher. Responses provided insight, also,
into the main information processes that were considered most useful by the project managers
who responded. The responses shaped the form of the proposed Information Management KA
and drove the study towards a consensus on how the proposed KA could be integrated into the
PMBOK® Guide and its Construction Extension. How the details of the information gathered
will be discussed below.
5.1 Survey Responses
Survey responses were analysed for each question in real time, as they were answered,
at AllCounted dot com, using their proprietary algorithms. The researcher spot-checked
analysed and added to the overall statistics if required (AllCounted, 2017). As stated previously,
on average, the number of respondents totalled twenty-one (21) for the online survey responses
and 12 more from the focus group and forum. This did not meet the original estimate of desired
responses to support a minimum of a 95% confidence level in the data, so several additional
calculations were made, to determine a reasonable confidence interval and statistical error. The
governing equation for those calculations is included, below. To calculate confidence intervals
on the actual number of responses obtained after the study completed, the following equation,
based on standard normal distribution, was be applied (SurveyMonkey 2017, AllCounted
2017):
𝑁−𝑆
𝑐 = √( ) ∗ 𝑧 2 ∗ (𝑝) ∗ (1 − 𝑝)
𝑁𝑆
Table 3 contains those calculations of ‘c’ values for the focus group questions (12), the
online survey questions (21), and the combined dataset (33), for confidence intervals from 80%
to 95%:
Table 3 Calculated margin of error for a given sample size.

S 95% 90% 85% 80%

12 28 24 21 19
21 21 18 16 14
33 17 14 13 11
Where z = number of standard deviations or standard normal deviation at the chosen confidence
interval, p is the fraction or likelihood of gaining a response (0.5 on a scale from 0 to 1), N is
the sample population (800,000 worldwide), and c is the confidence level or margin of error.
If the 21 online responses are considered separately, they conform to an 85% confidence level
with a margin of error of 16%. When all responses are included, they conform to a 90%
confidence level at 14% margin of error. The results have utility as an indication of trends for
the sample size. The physical questionnaire, given in an interview format to a focus group
yielded other significant data which was evaluated, combined with the online survey data and
separately, to conclude the overall analysis.
As an example of how responses shaped the categories of answers, consider the first
survey. Question 5 in the survey and question 4 in the questionnaire represents the first non-
demographic question in the survey. It asks, “How do you, as a Project Manager, define
Information Management?” Responses for the question fell easily into categories. To illustrate
this, all 21 answers from the online survey and 12 responses from the focus group are listed,
below, as written, unless otherwise noted.
Online Responses 1-7 Online Responses 8-14 Online Responses 15-21

For me the Information management Sharing structured
is to have accurate information information
available at the time when it is
required. For example in design
management, I need to know the
information about utilities, right of
ways, access needs, environmental
issues, inter-governmental
a collaborative environment agreements and so on during
that contains project data for different stages of design process.
the whole project lifecycle, Similarly for construction
and managed by certain management, information about
stakeholders with a pre-setup availability of material, equipment
accessibility to it. and other resources must be timely.
generating, collecting, processing, The capture, storage,

analyzing, storing, communicating safeguarding, management ,
All documants that related to and ultimate disposition of project collaboration and reporting
all project aspects such as the data of project related
project contract, project information. This includes
charter, scope, master plane, planning and execution of
resk plan, schedule time, QT, handover of information to
drawing, change orders .. etc the employer.
information management is key The generation. processing,
element for the success of project storage, communication,
especially during design stages flow governance and
when different components are ultimate disposition of all
being designed like, project data
structure/arch/MEP/ID/SYSTEM
than proper integration is not
possible if appropriate information
system is not in place, also
communication with different
stakeholders on timely manner is
essential, the information
management system in a net shell
can be defined as what, when and
who will produce the
information/communication and
format is well defined to produce
the information. the information
management system is also play
vital role in execution/monitoring
All information and and control especially producing
documents related to the reports on earned values and status
project includes charter, and as well in close out to collect
contract, drawing, plans, and distribute the necessary
change orders, etc documents.
Application of management It is the definition of info The group of procedures to
techniques to collect requirements, info collection, info ensure the flow of
information, communicate analysis, info modelling and info information for all the
and process it to enable communication. concerned stakeholders
managers to make quicker
and better decisions.
Application of management It is very important tools the process of creating an
techniques to collect information management
information, communicate it plan that documents how
within and outside the the project information will
organization, and process it to be defined, validated and
enable managers to make controlled.
quicker and better decisions.
Collecting predefined data It's the system that simplify the The way for collecting
during execution of the communication and the distribution information to get the most
project then processing such of all information to those who need you can get
data according to predefined it on time.
rules in order to generate
predefined reports and
outputs used in decision
making while executing the
project.
a collaborative environment proper Collecting, analyzing & the way you control, store,
that contains project data for distribution of data through and share information flow
the whole project lifecycle, stakeholder over all project phases in your project
and managed by certain
stakeholders with a pre-setup

accessibility to it.
As something vital to achieve For me the Information management Sharing structured
greater efficiency and quality is to have accurate information information
in the construction of available at the time when it is
enterprises, in order to required. For example in design
achieve the goals and management, I need to know the
estimated profits (translated information about utilities, right of
from Portuguese) ways, access needs, environmental
issues, inter-governmental
agreements and so on during
different stages of design process.
Similarly for construction
management, information about
availability of material, equipment
and other resources must be timely.
Focus Group Responses 1 - 5 Focus Group Responses 6 - 10

It's meaning How to control and handle the Information management may be described as
information about the project such as the achival of information, document, historical
comunication and saving documents and recordes, and the ultimate disposition to all
contract. stakeholders. Also includes the when, the who,
the whow information will be transferred.
It is the Life project because the project consider It is the way you best organize the information
handling of data or information you have to keep to better use in the project.
& save it to lead the project to successful end.
The information management is the most Saving time and cost.
important issue in project management, to
manage the data, time, cost and stakeholders.
Documentation, formatting, and preservation of Information should be shared between all the
information. Recall the information when concerned parties/individuals in a timely and
needed. effective manner
the mangement that includes the process to Information manager containing but not limited
ensure that the project includes all the work to:
required and only the work required to complete 1 - recived all info. without any wastage from
the project successfully. stakeholders
2 - Recording it throug a list, sheet forms ... to
protect it from forgotten
3 - validating the info. and to make sure it
comply with the project (contrains, goals,
organsisation policies ...)
These were grouped into seven groups, initially, based on what keywords were
mentioned and often repeated in the responses, such as ‘data flow’, ‘data organisation’,
‘lifetime’, or ’time’, for example. The phrases considered as ‘commonly used’ were constrained
by limiting them to those contained in the formal description of information management, as
described in the literature. Most respondents recognised that data flow and communication were
important, that Information Management (IM) was needed to keep all stakeholders, team
members, and the project on-track, and that IM included managing drawings, plans, contracts,
communications, and modifications. Others saw IM in terms of efficiency, collaborative
projects, or simply, as a tool. Some respondents also mentioned electronic and paper
communications, drawings, plans, updates. Alternatively, may employ a records assistant to
organise and track information (own opinion).
Statistics to determine variance, standard deviations and other functions and plots
prepared using Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet statistical functions and graphics or calculated
automatically, online, as surveys were completed. The distribution of answers for the question
will be used to gain insight into current thinking in the working PM community.
The first question posted in a forum by the researcher was used as a test to gauge
responses for number and types of answers, as well as probe a small group of respondents for
their thoughts (Malik, 2016). It received 12 independent responses. These responses were
evaluated to determine if the discussion stayed on-topic (yes). The question: “Do you thing [sic]
that PMI should add a new knowledge set called: Information Management in the new
PMBOK®?”, Posted on Project Management Central Forum, “ProjectManagement Dot Com”.
Responses from this small group of professionals seemed to indicate a conformity of procedures
within it (12 responses, Al Jabri, 2016). This information was not lumped into the results of
assessment; rather, the question was recycled into one of the surveys so that a more
representative, statistically sound number of responses could be obtained. Results will be
presented, below.
5.1.1 PMBOK®/Construction Extension Surveys
This survey was presented as a preliminary probe of the Project Management
community to sample current thinking on Facilities Project Management (PM) tools and
guideline usage, as well to gather input on how well working project managers think
information management guidance 'best practices' are addressed in the PMBOK® and its
Construction Extension. The survey has thirty-two questions, four of which are background
questions. The rest are mostly multiple choice with an occasional option to comment in a text
box. More surveys were submitted with all questions answered than were not; if a question was
skipped it was usually a short answer, and in some cases, based on responses found later in the
same survey, the respondent often indicated that s/he was not familiar enough with the question
subject for the questions skipped. A deliberate decision was made not to collect a lot of
demographic data. In every case, the goal was to obtain as unbiased a response as possible, by
accepting the diversity of project manager types without probing too deeply into additional
disciplinary details in the target population surveyed.
The next few questions after the first four were designed to determine how the
respondent thinks of information management: whether an integral part of their practices or a
milestone to be hit, without truly leveraging its ability to facilitate project costs and risk
management. By question 6, questions began to turn to procedure and practice, as well as
introduce questions regarding knowledge and use of BIM.
In conclusion, the twenty-one online responses obtained, plus the additional focus
group questionnaire results (twelve total) suggested that BIM is not yet used routinely and
widely, but that PMs are aware and beginning to think about and address Information
Management (IM) and digital formats and tools, as they go about their work. Results regarding
whether this should be addressed more directly in the PMBOK® and the construction extension
were interesting (questions 6 and 13 in the written questionnaire, and questions 7, 8, 13, and
15, online survey). Those who answered online (21 responses) tended to support adding a new
KA and adding digital information management guidance dispersed throughout the PMBOK®
and construction extension, whereas, for the paper questionnaires and forum responses (12
responses), respondents appeared to be less supportive, or supportive with much more limited,
concrete suggestions on where and how this could be accomplished. Recall, some of the
questions were rather and generic, made so deliberately so that the respondent’s understanding
of the question guided the answer. These and the other responses will be discussed in more
detail in the next chapter.
5.1.2 Guidance Integration into the PMBOK® Guide/Construction Extension
Some of the questions were focused on examining respondent knowledge of guidance
documents other than the PMBOK® and the Construction Extension, to determine any
familiarity, and opinion of guidance provided if any. Earlier in this document (Chapter 2), the
researcher presented guidance documents which dealt with Information Management (IM) and
BIM usage and contracting and included links in the table within the survey, so that the
respondent could refresh themselves, or find out what a specific document contained. With some
explanation of each document and what it contains. In each case, the goal was to probe for
confirmation or contradiction from the PM community regarding whether the researcher’s
suggestions on whether to include, where to and include and what to include from these
documents.
5.1.3 PMBOK®/Construction Extension Open-ended Questions
There were seven open-ended questions posed at the end of the survey, which approach
some of the same questions and topics covered previously in closed-ended format. This was
designed to encourage the respondents to share opinions or anecdotes on their experiences after
presenting the external guidance documents and guiding them, hopefully, to review contents.
As well, it might be possible to determine if a respondent’s opinion was modified, or changed
between the beginning and the end of the survey. This worked out well some anecdotes were
gathered that provided more insight. The goal was to try to start a series of online discussions,
as well, to gather consensus then compare focus group responses against those from the online
surveys.
5.1.4 Focus Group Interview: MOHAP
The researcher conducted a group interview to obtain the paper responses. The
respondents work for a contracting company called “Modern Horizon Advanced Projects
(MOHAP)”. The focus group was limited to this firm, because, of all the firms contacted, they
were the only ones willing to talk with the researcher face to face. Several others indicated that
personnel at the firm would fill out the online survey, but all failed to do so except one set of
responses was collected from a respondent who was employed by Saudi Makeen Co. In total,
the questionnaire was submitted to consisted of 15 participants: all engineers from different
disciplines. Information on the different disciplines represented was not gathered, as it was not
felt to be relevant to the responses; rather, inquiries regarding project management experience,
as well as kind of projects each had managed, was obtained. The researcher introduced himself,
outlined the purpose of the study, gave a small introduction about and description of BIM and
possible advantages, and then distributed the questionnaire forms to the participants. Two of
the fifteen participants withdrew from filling out the questionnaire because they felt that they
did not have enough experience in project management standards to answer the questions.
One of the fifteen participants missed the first page of the survey, so that survey was
not included in the analysis. Thus, the final count of surveys gathered from the focus group
interview was twelve. The data were transcribed (in one case from Arabic), converted to digital
format, collated, and evaluated. The researcher noted that some of the participants might not
have understood the first question properly; they replied ‘Other’ with additional comment,
mentioning having attended a PMP workshop, but not indicating whether they had been
licensed/ PMP workshop attendance does not confer either a certification or a license. That said,
responses from the group interview provide a different point of view in that institutional
preferences, rather than personal ones seemed to dominate the answers. In other words,
responses seemed less random when compared with those obtained from the online survey:
these contrasts and features will be discussed in detail in the next chapter. As mentioned
previously, one participant answered in Arabic, so the researcher translated his answers to
English (designated in red colour - Appendix C). Participants who did not choose any option
for question one were eliminated as not certified or licensed. Wherever possible, quantitative
or Likert-type responses were entered into a spreadsheet for further evaluation such as plotting
and statistical evaluation. Statistics were assumed to follow a standard normal distribution, as
before (Gaussian), both separated and in combination with those obtained from the online
survey
Chapter 6 Survey Results
To sample the opinions of the working community on the amount of guidance around
the use of Digital Information Management tools such as BIM, and Project Information
Management (IM) in general, an online survey questionnaire and paper-based questionnaire
were prepared and submitted for respondents to fill out. In total, thirty-three responses were
obtained. The researcher recalculated answer statistical significance based on the small sample
size, and determined that the minimum number of total responses which could be considered
as representing the 90% confidence level for a sample size of thirty-three, is thirty, for twenty-
one responses (online survey) is 85%, for a sample size of twenty-one responses, and 85% for
the group interview responses, all with a margin of error of ±15% Those questions which the
researcher considers being critical to gauging community opinion were answered by all
respondents, and allow some conclusions to be drawn. The working community provided the
data used to gauge how Information Management is practised in their daily work, as well as
what guidance and procedures they are using. As the researcher hoped, they were quite willing
to share both what was working for them, as well as specifics on what improvements and
additions they would like to see incorporated, if they agreed that more guidance was needed.
6.1 Discussion structure
There are some interesting differences between responses gathered on AllCounted dot
com and those from the questions obtained on paper, so the two sets of data will be discussed
separately. One set of answers in the online survey were submitted in Portuguese; the researcher
could obtain translations to incorporate that data into the results, they were quite helpful. Data
from the AllCounted dot com surveys is included in collated form, in Appendix D. Data from
the online surveys, in both raw and collated form are attached in Appendix E.
6.2 AllCounted dot Com Survey
The online survey, consisting of thirty-two questions over three pages, required about
30 minutes to complete. Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7 illustrate the demographic information for the
online survey.
Figure 4 Are you or have you been a project Manager?

Figure 5 Licensed or Certified? What kind?
Figure 6 Years in Project Management?

Figure 7 Type of projects worked on?
The demographic data generated online shows a wide spread of data: slightly over 80%
of the respondents (17) have project management experience as presented in figure 4, and most
have some type of certification or training (Figure 5). As well, the range of experience is well
distributed, with only one respondent having three years or less experience managing projects.
This suggests that responses to the questions would be obtained from respondents who have
worked as a PM long enough to have used a variety of tools, have been involved with variety
of projects, have encountered several different tools, and would have a good idea of what
processes and procedures that work for them, as well as strong thoughts about process and
procedures that they might like to see expanded or improved. The fourth question, regarding
the kinds of projects each respondent had/has worked on, permitted selection of multiple
answers by the respondents, and again, there is a wide range of project experiences represented.
Most respondents have direct construction experience, as well as other types of project
experiences.
Figure 8 Question 7 responses: Should more ‘best practices’

IM guidance be added to the PMBOK®?
The next set of questions, five through ten (5 – 10), were concerned with Information
and Data Management: with what the respondent understands that it is, with what tools and
techniques the respondents have used or know about, as well as what protocols and procedures
they may have used, and any information the respondents cared to share on how well they may
have worked in practice. The respondents all appeared to have agreed on key process and
practice that they felt constituted sound information management, or rather, how, in practice, a
project manager should proceed to manage communications, data, drawings, stakeholder
communications, etc. using his/her best practices with digital tools, BIM (if the respondent was
familiar with it, and collaborative work spaces. The data indicate that the respondents, no matter
the number of years of experience in project management, mentioned the same things as being
characteristic of ‘sound information management’. Many had some experience with or were
beginning to use digital tools like BIM and 3D CAD systems (most of which support Industry
Foundation Classes or IFC in BIM).
Figures 7 and 8, above, summarise the responses to questions 7 and 9, which ask the
respondent’s opinion on the need to add more guidance on information management, digital
tools, and workspaces, such as BIM, common data environments, and others, to the PMBOK®
and its construction extension. Questions 5, 6, 8, and 10 probed specifics and asked for a
detailed opinion, using open-ended questions.
In figure 8 (question 9), respondents indicated how many and which electronic
workspaces they may have used if any. Results seem to suggest nearly two-thirds of the
respondents are familiar with both BIM solutions and using Cloud services for information
management and communications. It is not known if these were third-party solutions or not.
However, a good number of respondents were familiar with MS SharePoint and common data
Figure 9 What kinds of electronic workspaces have you used

(multiple selections possible)
environment workspaces, as well as 3D CAD. Associated with these responses, questions 5, 6,
8, and 10 provided more detail and insights. For example, with question 5: it appears that all
respondents have the same or very similar understanding of the meaning of information
management (paraphrasing): Information Management may be described as the archival of
information, documents, historical records, drawings, and the ultimate disposition of
information, drawings, calculations, documentation, etc., related to the construction and facility
lifetime, to all stakeholders. It also includes when, who, how, and why information will be
transferred.
In a few cases, the respondent discussed IM in terms of facility life-cycle management,
where IM begins at project conception and continues throughout the life of the facility. Most
respondents also indicated an understanding of IM which includes managing all information
and communications, including drawings, project notes, change orders, renovations, etc., which
also implies an understanding of the need for cradle to grave management. Nearly a third of the
responses also emphasised the cost and time efficiencies which IM makes possible. Question 6
followed this up by asking respondents to explain what procedure the respondent might use to
handle IM in practice on projects. The responses spanned a broad spectrum: in some cases,
respondents listed tools, others shared their favoured procedures for team-building, developing
mutual trust with the stakeholders, and steps toward building an IM protocol tailored to their
project and client. There were only fourteen responses gathered online for this question, and of
these, just four respondents mentioned formalising protocols, process, and procedures in
writing explicitly or implicitly. Those who did not mention formalising, appeared to expect that
their IM solution (almost always electronic in each case), would cover all contingencies,
making their management duties easier, more efficient, and uniform. Questions 7 and 8
essentially asked the same question: the first offering a Likert-type scale of responses, and the
second requesting free expression from the respondent of his or her opinion and input. The
responses to question 7 indicated that about ninety percent of the respondents, nineteen of
twenty-one, thought that more guidance on information management and digital tools could be
added to both the PMBOK® and the Construction Extension (CE) as a new Knowledge Area
(KA), and incorporated in the other KAs as appropriate to support an IM KA. In question 8, the
responses contained both criticisms of the PMBOK and CE documents as well as suggestions
on where more guidance may be needed.
Those who felt more explicit IM guidance was needed, made a number of points
regarding what each perceived as lacks or weaknesses in the PMBOK documents. Several
pointed out the lack of any guidance for digital tools and workspaces, the lack of concrete, real
examples of the different process, and templates addressing new procedures. As well, one
respondent noted that the concept of ensuring systems interoperability had not been discussed
or included in the PMBOK® or the CE, and suggested those were sorely needed. Respondents
also suggested that more detailed guidance could promote and sustain a collaborative
environment between team and stakeholders, and in a few cases, advocated for adding examples
and templates to illustrate basic workflows and procedures. Others advocated for updates to
both documents which would include concrete, real-world examples of completed projects or
life-cycle monitoring, process and protocol templates, suggestions assistance with for digital
tools, and how-tos for IM and BIM. All but two of the respondents were at least familiar with
BIM: most were using it or testing it for deployment as a protocol in project management. Two
respondents did not feel an additional KA was needed but also suggested that existing
information in the Communications KA could be expanded and updated to include the latest
tools and field-tested protocols. This study concentrated on the fifth edition documents. One
respondent mentioned the latest update (sixth edition) as lacking robust best practices guidance
in electronic tools, information management process and protocols. In short, the majority of
online survey respondents felt the PMBOK and Construction Extension could be updated to
incorporate more information management guidance, noting that BIM, 3D CAD solutions,
Cloud server workspaces, and common data environment technology is growing more
sophisticated and commonplace as a protocol for efficient, thorough project management.
The next set of questions, eleven through fourteen, finishing the first page, concerned
communications amongst the PM, team, and stakeholders. Figures 10, 11, and 12 present the
responses to questions eleven, twelve, and thirteen (next page), which asked how well the
respondent feels communications generally go during a project, and, if issues have arisen at any
time, where s/he thinks they could have originated; in other words, what sticking points to
smooth communications and robust information management has the respondent experienced,
which impeded the flow of communications flow and information sharing. Question 13 asked
if the respondent would be supportive of an Information Management (IM) Knowledge Area
(KA)
Added to the best practices, that is independent of or is incorporated in addition to the
Communications KA in the PMBOK® and/or its Construction Extension. About 85% of
respondents agreed it could be useful to add an IM KA to the PMBOK® and its Construction
Extension, in addition to the Communications KA.
Figure 10 Communications flow issues (question 11)

Figure 11 Quality of communication flow (question 12)
Figure 12 Might it be useful to add a separate Information Management KA to the PMBOK®

and/or its construction extension? (Question 13)
The last questions in the survey ask about each respondent’s best practices:
responses included using ISO standards, shared digital workspaces, using BIM, selecting one
shared workspace or BIM solution and sticking to it, and having historical examples available
to use as templates for new/young PMs. Suggestions were offered about settling beforehand
what data distribution formats will be used, advice to integrate communications, drawings,
work plans, and contract items to ensure interoperability, and suggestions on when to take those
actions (in the beginning or during contract preparation, for example). As well, a few
respondents suggested reliance on documents like COBie for BIM guidance, BCF (project
management solution consultants), performing due diligence to ensure that there are no
interoperability issues between communications software, BIM, common data space, and data
management tools before the project begins, for example.
Page two of the survey contains a set of questions that asked the respondents about
what specific elements they feel could be incorporated into the PMI PMBOK® and the
Construction Extension, where, and about alternative guidance documents which might contain
similar information or information not currently included in the PMI documents. Two of the
questions were optional, depending upon the answer to a previous question. In 11 responses,
those who responded suggested adding detailed IM templates and examples to the
Communications KA or separately suggested developing basic protocols or ‘how-tos’ which
could be flexible enough to customise to fit a specific project, emphasising data and information
management aspects, or inclusion of BIM guidance from documents like COBie. One
respondent had offered a critique of the PMBOK’s ability to address complex projects,
especially with respect to management of digital information, project drawings,
communications, data, and reports, and offered suggestions on how to update the entire
document to provide more support, by incorporating more explicit guidance around the digital
tools and interoperability considerations.
Question 16 addressed alternative guidance in a table where the guidance was listed
(with a web link). Questions were asked regarding respondent familiarity with it, probing their
understanding of what specifics of project information management were addressed in each.
Finally, each respondent was asked to evaluate whether the alternative guidance might be used
to add to the PMBOK® and its Construction Extension. It is attached below, as Figure 13.
None of the respondents had been well-familiarized with all of the guidance documents
listed in question 16, but links were made available on each line so that they could look to the
documents up and give them enough of a review to answer the question. It appears that all did
that. Because of their lack of familiarity, they could not provide any additional insight on their
usefulness in practice, as requested in question 17.
Figure 13 Table, question 16, regarding alternative guidance’s specific to

information management process. As indicated at the top of the
figure, only 11 of 21 respondents filled out this table.
Questions 18 through posed a series of questions on information management and
standardisation processes associated with digital tools such as 3D CAD and Building
Information Models (BIM). What the researcher was attempting to learn, was whether the
respondents had ever encountered IM digital tool incompatibilities, how they attempted to
address them, if encountered, and whether they had heard of, or supported efforts to ensure
compatibilities between different project management software packages, now, and into the
future, which is thought to be essential to ensure cradle-to-grave, or lifetime facilities
management. The researcher also was seeking to determine whether any respondent wished to
see compatibility included as a ‘best practices’ for incorporation into the PMBOK® and
Construction Extension. Question 18 seemed to cause some confusion – it is not quite clear
how to interpret responses, other than the mention of the U.S. National CAD Standard. The
standard constitutes an attempt to impose a compatibility requirement for 3D CAD and BIM
solutions, such as those advocated by some BIM solution manufacturers and the scientific
community. Thus, it might better be omitted from the discussion.
In question 19, the survey asked directly if the respondent believes that adequate
guidance on the use of digital tools is contained in the current PMBOK® and Construction
Extension guidances. Ten of the surveys recorded no answer; however, of the eleven answers
given, seven responded, ‘no’. One of the seven ‘no’ answers was given because the respondent
assumed the PMBOK® was only relevant for construction projects. Therefore, while s/he
believed the guidance was not adequate, s/he also did not believe it SHOULD provide it. Of the
remaining responses, one subject responded, “I do not know”, one responded ‘yes’, and the
other two considered its guidance ‘fair’ or ‘relative’. A few additional insights were asked for,
and offered, in question 20. Of the eleven responses obtained, the emphasis was placed on
standardisation as essential to cost and time savings, and the need to increase the sense of
importance around IM and BIM usage as being critical to the smooth, cost-effective
management of projects in the future.

Questions 21 – 23 addressed Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in project management.
There have been some concerns around IPR, especially where shared data spaces are used. The
researcher hoped to find out how respondents dealt with IPR, in the context of seeking guidance
from the PMBOK® and the C.E. Responses were consistent in stating, in various ways, that
they allowed their legal department to deal with it, and, if IPR were expected to become an
issue, some attempted to address it in the contract. One respondent gave an example of a project
in which the firm used BIM for the first time and experienced a great deal of fighting over who
owned what IP. Responses suggest that there may be a critical need to improve and add to IPR
guidance in both documents. This is supported by responses to question 24, which, asks if the
PMBOK® and C.E. contain sufficient support and guidance on how to approach IPR
management. Responses to question 24 are shown in figure 14, below. All responses indicate
that there are, at the very least, gaps in the guidance provided, and most responses suggest
adding IPR support to both PMI documents. One more IPR question, 25, asks if anyone is
familiar with or has experience with IPR management in relation to BIM. Few responses were
returned, and answers did not provide any specific insight. One could only conclude that, with
BIM still not quite being a standard PM tool, that the lack of long-term experience with it,
expressed earlier by respondents, prevented respondents from relating experiences.
Figure 14 Question 24: Do you find adequate guidance in the PMBOK and
C.E. regarding intellectual property rights?
COBie is a UK standard that provides a significant amount of detailed guidance on
BIM and 3D CAD solutions for information management, as well as standardisation, and
contains information not yet added to the PMBOK® and Construction Extension (CE).
Respondents were not familiar enough with it to provide enough responses to draw any
conclusions. The last group of questions, numbers 26-31, were open-ended questions designed
to revisit briefly, topics from earlier in the survey. This was performed, in part, to determine if
some opinions had changed or if the respondent had more to say, before closing the survey. The
key feature of those last questions is that the respondent was now free to say whatever s/he
wished. Question 26 was a yes-no question inquiring if the respondent had personally found
enough support for their PM activities in the PMI PMBOK® and CE. Most the responses were
affirmative, at 54.55%. The negative respondents suggested adding the BIM standards to the
guidances and polling the PM community in the construction arena who might be able to
contribute insights as people become more familiar and comfortable with using BIM for IM in
projects. Question 27 asked again about how PMI volunteers could go about formulating
updates including more digital tool guidance, but few responses were received. Most felt they
had no insight to offer. One last question about communications focused on interoperability
during project execution elicited responses which suggested the response group might like to
see more focus and progress on interoperability between the software tools and various
electronic workspace solutions. One respondent who had used COBie indicated it had helped
him/her a lot. Five offered insights into their personal favoured best practices as examples and
suggested that most of the five would support ensuring more interoperability in future. One
response could be used to infer that another issue to address might be to ensure that while
process and procedure is changing towards more use of digital tools, it might be well if efforts
were made to educate both owners and stakeholders more on shared workspace advantages to
avoid situations where a client holds on to paper and hard-copy communication processes when
the rest of the team is using digital tools, management, and shared workspaces.
6.3 Research Focus Group
The focus group interviews were obtained from personnel employed by MOHAP
(Modern Horizon Advanced Projects). As discussed in Chapter 5, of the 15 people who
participated, a total of 12 surveys were collected which were considered suitable for further
analysis. Plots of the demographic data are included below, as figures 15-20.
Figure 15 Years managing projects
Figure 16 years managing projects

Figure 17 Certifications?
Figure 18 Certifications?
Figure 19 Types of projects worked on
Figure 20 Types of projects worked on
The respondents constituted a diverse group with respect to experience, which was
similar to the group of respondents for the online survey. The responses regarding the
understanding of what Information Management (IM) is are quite similar to the group which
responded to the online survey. Points mentioned regarding what IM means to the respondents
included mention of a good understanding of the requirements around maintaining historical
records on the project and facility, as well as managing costs, information dissemination,
schedules, changes, and completions. Other points were raised around document control, and
use of the ISO tools, which appeared to be quite useful to the respondents. When asked if they
felt there could be a need to add IM guidance to the PMBOK and Construction Extension, 75%
of responses were affirmative. Those who disagreed felt there was more than enough
information in the two guidance’s to carry out the firm’s projects.
Figure 21 maps the responses regarding the electronic workspaces the respondents had
familiarity with or had used. A significant number of responses fell into the ‘other’ category.
Written notes on the responses indicate other tools used included the ISO standards, Oracle,
and Autodesk company solutions, such as Revit. There were no responses indicating
familiarity or use of BIM solutions. Respondents were not familiar with BIM solutions, when
asked directly, and could not offer opinions on usage, as a result. Nearly all respondents
indicated having experienced communications issues on projects, and did not feel that there
was an urgent need to add more IM guidance to the PMBOK and C. E. Further analysis of the
responses suggest that the firm had developed internal procedures, communications, and
protocols to handle communications and IM management conflicts, that they felt were working,
and had no need to look to the PMBOK® and Construction Extension to figure things out. The
respondents expressed a preference in allowing others to deal with intellectual property rights
(IPR) but did acknowledge some issues around ownership could potentially be problems. One
respondent mentioned an external organisation, which provided suitable guidance on IPR when
needed. Some respondents indicated some issues with IPR, nonetheless, in practice, but
described them as minor. One respondent pointed out that there was a great deal of contention
at his firm the first time BIM was used, because of issues between the client and project team
about who owned what communications, which was address, going forward, in the contract
phase.
“Only that it is a challenge, as before you have one owner of IF of their
deliverables now we have a model that consist of many parts from several
companies who contributed. Ownership and responsibility become less clear.”

“If not stated in the contract, later during project fights will arise”.
In general, respondents are fine with the amount of guidance already in the PMBOK®
and the C. E. and provided a list of favoured practices, including EMAIL, GIS, meetings
between the team, PM, and stakeholders to set down the ground rules., as well as GIS and
AutoCAD Revit.
Figure 21 What Electronic workspaces have you used or are familiar with?
6.4 Data Summary
Once tested, the surveys were prepared online and administered in person in a group
interview. The online survey responses were obtained randomly, whereas the group interview
was conducted with personnel from the same firm. Despite this, for most questions, they
appeared to be in good agreement. When it came to adding IM and IPR guidance to the PMBOK
and the C.E., the two groups diverged. This may have been because the group interview
respondents worked for a firm with preferred protocols and procedures – they preferred the
tools they were using, even though most also mentioned communications and compatibility
issues they had experienced between themselves and their clients.

Chapter 7 Conclusion and Future Work
Project Management (PM) is a rapidly growing and developing discipline which is
continually evolving as projects become more complex and new standards become available.
The increasing complexity of the work is made easier when the PM can take advantage of the
guidance and protocols provided in the Project Management Body and Knowledge (PMBOK®
and its Construction Extension (CE) to assist in developing plans, procedures, and protocols for
execution of the project. As well, in these more complex projects, the PM, ideally, could turn
to the ‘best practices’ documents to find guidance on managing all data, information, and
correspondence around the design, construction, turnover, and use of a facility.
Although the PMBOK® is considered the gold standard in guidance, this ‘Best
Practices” Guide is sometimes subject to criticism for preferring a ‘one size fits all’ approach
to process, of seeming too linear in its processes, for not being flexible enough for customising
or adaptation to the increasingly complex projects that PMs are executing, or for not offering
guidance or, according to some, not even addressing in an overt fashion how to integrate digital
tools, digital collaborative data workspaces, ensure and support interoperability of formatting,
drawings, communications, and plan documents, or leverage and implement the potential for
efficient and holistic project management represented by Building Information Modeling
(BIM) solutions. These protocols and processes, when incorporated, could ensure smooth
project flow, and maintain a well-organised, robust facility history from the cradle to the grave.
Thus, project management community opinions on critical issues around robust
Information Management, or IM, BIM, and updating the PMBOK and CE to reflect more
explicit guidance and process were sought, to determine if a push to include a new KA in the
Guide would be warranted. The study proposed to survey technical people performing project
management to identify gaps in best practices guidance on Information Management,
employing BIM, and shared electronic workspaces, in construction and facilities lifetime
management. This was accomplished by preparing a group of focused questions to use in an

online survey and a physical questionnaire format, to gather the thoughts of a number of
individuals with a varied range of experiences, from entry level (0-3 years’ experience) to
greater than 15 years with project management, and seeking a diverse range of project types for
various kinds of facilities.
Recapping, the research questions which this study sought to answer were:
 What BIM and other information management processes and procedures can be
added to the Construction Extension to the PMBOK® Guide to increase its value in the
field, and how would they impact the current guide’s methods and techniques?
o How can the Construction Extension to the PMBOK® Guide benefit from BIM
standards in managing information?
 What are the main information processes discussed in current literature?
 What BIM Standards and Procedures exist?
o How do these compare with information processes in PMBOK?
o How do BIM information exchange procedures and terminology differ from
those in PMBOK®?
o How does BIM ensure interoperability and data standards?
The anticipated contribution to knowledge is to ensure that the rapidly developing
methods and technologies around Digital Information Management (IM), Building Information
Modelling (BIM), Common Digital Environments (CDE), and the parallel actions required to
manage Facility cradle-to-grave documentation within those areas, are directly incorporated
into the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK®) and its Construction Extension
(CE). While communications are addressed in one of the PMBOK® in several knowledge areas
(KAs) at present, the mention of digital tools or provision of guidance and protocols is not part
of the guidance. No procedures, process, or protocols are explicitly outlined or explained.
Interoperability of digital tools is the subject of active discussion and development,
also, but is not addressed in the PMBOK® currently, either. In order to find out what the project
management community might be thinking on these topics, and to find out what kinds of
methods and best practices working project managers might be using currently, the researcher
deployed a survey and collected results to determine if the community agreed that more explicit
guidance and best practices should be added to the PMBOK®, if interoperability should be
stressed to minimise communication issues between the PM, project team, and the client and
stakeholders, as well as what best practices the communication has developed, itself to deal
with digital IM, BIM, CDE use, and maintenance of facility history in a thorough and consistent
manner.
The results of the study indicated that the sample populations appear to agree that more
IM guidance could be included in the PMBOK® and its CE. Respondents suggested the
inclusion of a separate KA addressing process, tools, interoperability, and collaborative
procedures, as well as the possibility of modifying and updating information in existing KAs
to tie in these topic areas, where appropriate from the earliest stages through the transfer and
lifetime modelling of the finished facility. All stressed mutual trust and team building as critical
to team success and implied that this concept, as well, is something they would be supportive
of seeing integrated throughout the guides. A few respondents indicated they wished to see
collaborative support process integrated a bit more explicitly in the PMBOK documents. A
substantial number of respondents highlighted the same group of perceived lacks in the
PMBOK® and CE with respect to Communications and records-keeping as well, in addition to
the recognition that use of digital tools, workspaces, and procedures are becoming integral to a
project, even before the contracts are signed, and a project team identified. Respondents offered
anecdotes illustrating experiences on previous projects, suggesting that most were familiar with
BIM, Common Data Environments (CDE), and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), if not
experienced, and suggest that inclusion of real-world examples of the process might be
particularly useful, as well.
7.1 Proposed Information Management Knowledge Area (KA)
Based on the responses, a draft Knowledge Area (KA) should be prepared as a proposed
Information Management (IM) KA for inclusion into the PMBOK® guidance. Portions of the
existing external documents, as outlined in the literature review section, 2.2 will be used to
formulate the section. For additions to the PMBOK®, the first section on IM, using Building
Information Modelling (BIM) and other digital tools, could be predicated on the document
described in section 2.2.1, the “Process and Specification for Information Management for the
Capital/Delivery Phase of Construction Projects using Building Information Modelling
(BIM)”, (PAS) 1192-2:2013. Recall, this document contains guidance on handling information
exchanges specific to BIM. Using resources provided by the buildingSmart Alliance, this can
be modified to codify guarantees to ensure digital tool interoperability and compatibility in
project communications. That means, that no matter what solutions the team, the stakeholders,
contractors, and subcontractors use, communications, drawings, models, data analysis, etc. will
be compatible with whatever digital information management, electronic workspaces, and other
data tools, choose to use.
Section 2.2.2 contains a description of the “Building Information Model (BIM)
Protocol CIC/BIM pro (Construction Industry Council, 2013)”, is specific to construction and
management of facilities, and suitable for the contracting phase. Specific to the U. K., protocols
contained in it could be directly incorporated into the Construction Extension.
COBie, Construction Operations Building information exchange, is guidance
contained in the “Collaborative Production of Information”. BS 1192‑ 4:2014 (section 2.2.4),
and impacts the construction process. This document, as well as the document described in
section 2.2.7, describing the Building Information Modelling Execution Planning Guide could
be used to develop the skeleton of the KA to be added to the construction extension. As stated,
the proposed KAs will be outlined and described in Appendix G
7.2 Future Work
Several potential areas of future work are suggested, based on the survey results. In the
approximately forty-five daylong survey period, about 33 total responses were gathered. While
results were encouraging and supportive of the researcher’s assessment of the need for the
suggested changes and additions to the PMBOK® and CE, the gathering of the estimated
statistically sound number of responses, and accompanying evaluation of those responses
would be useful. Some investigation of various options to distribute the survey and interviews
into wider audience were made. The Project Management Institute (PMI), the publisher of the
PMBOK® and its CE, and largest agency supporting project management professional
licencing indicated that an individual could, potentially, post surveys through PMI’s Survey
Links Program, as described below and at the URL: http://www.pmi.org/learning/academic-
research/surveys.aspx. One might, as well, as a member of a group of volunteers, apply for a
PMI grant specifically for this purpose in future work. Information detailing this possibility was
not available before this study was implemented and nearly complete, thus precluding the
researcher from locating a local chapter member of PMI that might be able to identify active
members who could have served as a research sponsor for this project; this route to access to
PMI membership was received a bit more than two weeks before the end of the survey period.
Other professional organisations in various engineering disciplines and architecture, offer
similar access to membership research and could be pursued.
However, for future studies, access to PMI’s research community support and
membership pool, which numbers close to one million people worldwide, would be a useful
group to gather input from, on a set of questions like the ones posed in this survey. This might
be accomplished over a longer period, with the data analysed, and organised into draft
protocols, KA, and updated sections, for submission. As well, more focused evaluation of some
of the non-PMBOK® guidance, such as those included in Chapter 2 of this work [e.i., COBie,
PAS 1192-2:2013, BS 1192:2007, or The VA BIM Guide], as well as consortiums such the
BuildingSmart Initiative which is developing the some of the base infrastructure being used by
BIM and 3D industrial providers to ensure interoperability, to build in the knowledge as it is
formalised (Belsky, 2016). As well, collaborative research opportunities to gather more
information to formulate a proposed IM KA could be found by contacting BuildingSmart and
locating Project Managers involved in smart facility projects.

As stated previously, the Sixth Edition of the PMBOK® will release at the end of 2017,
and according to comments made by some of the survey respondents, may not contain much
more support for protocols, process, and procedure around IM, BIM, CDE, and IPR than is
available in the Fifth Edition. This is something that will need to be verified in future work as
the release is not anticipated before the end of 2017. Thus, the proposed work is still very much
a project that a significant portion of the project management professional community would
support and welcome.

References
Alin, P., Maunula, A. O., Taylor, J. E. and Smeds, R. (2013), Aligning Misaligned Systemic
Innovations: Probing Inter‐ Firm Effects Development in Project Networks. Project
Management Journal, Vol. 44(1): pp. 77-93. Available online at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pmj.21316
(2017). AllCounted.com Survey Engine. Available online at https://www.allcounted.com
Alp, N. and Manning, C. (2014), Creating a plan for building information modeling, in
Proceedings of PICMET '14 Conference: Portland International Center for
Management of Engineering and Technology; Infrastructure and Service Integration,
27-31 July 2014, pp. 2732-2734. Available online at
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6921318/
Belsky, M., Sacks, R. and Brilakis, I. (2016), Semantic Enrichment for Building Information
Modelling. Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering Vol 31(4): pp. 261-
274. Available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mice.12128 or at
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/246879.
Brewer, G., and Strahorn, S (2012). Trust and the Project Management Body of Knowledge.
Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management Vol 19(3): pp. 286-305.
Available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09699981211219616
British Standards Institution (BSI) (2013), PAS 1192-2:2013: Specification for Information
Management for the Capital/Delivery Phase of Construction Projects using Building
Information Modelling. Published by BSI Limited 2013. Available online at
http://shop.bsigroup.com/forms/PASs/PAS-1192-2/
British Standards Institution (BSI) (2007), BS 1192:2007: Collaborative Production of
Architectural, Engineering and Construction Information – Code of Practice.

Published by BSI Limited 2007. Available online at
http://shop.bsigroup.com/forms/PASs/BS-1192-2007/
British Standards Institution (BSI) (2014a), PAS 1192-3:2014: Specification for Information
Management for the Operational Phase of Assets using Building Information
Modelling (BIM). by BSI Limited 2014. Available online at
http://shop.bsigroup.com/upload/Construction_downloads/PAS1192-
3%20final%20bookmarked.pdf
British Standards Institution (BSI) (2014), BS 1192-4:2014: Collaborative Production of
Information Part 4: Fulfilling Employer’s Information Exchange Requirements Using
COBie – Code of Practice. Published by BSI Ltd. 2014. Available online at
http://shop.bsigroup.com/forms/PASs/BS-1192-4-2014/
Broquetas, M. (2011), Using BIM as a Project Management Tool. Published by HFT Stuttgart
University of Applied Sciences 2011) Master’s Thesis. Available online at
https://www.hft-stuttgart.de/Studienbereiche/ArchitekturGestaltung/International-
Project-Management/Programme/MasterThesis/KF_Broquetas_Marti/
Building Information Modelling (BIM) Task Group (2016). Employer’s Information
Requirements, contained in Commerical Resources web page. Available online at
http://www.bimtaskgroup.org/bim-eirs/
Cabinet Office for Infrastructure and Projects Authority, and the Construction Sector Unit of
the U. K. Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) (2011), Government
Construction Strategy, Published by the Cabinet Office, May 2011. Available online
at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-construction-strategy
Cabinet Office for Infrastructure and Projects Authority (2016), Government Construction
Strategy, Published by the Cabinet Office, May 2016. Available online at

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-construction-strategy-
2016-2020
Carvalho, M. M. (2008), Communication issues in projects management, PICMET '08 - 2008
Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering & Technology,
Cape Town, 2008, pp. 1280-1284. doi: 10.1109/PICMET.2008.4599739. Available
online at
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4599739&isnumber=4599
598
Cervone, H. F. (2014) Effective communication for project success. OCLC Systems and
Services: International digital library perspectives Vol. 30(2):pp. 74-77. Available
online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/OCLC-02-2014-0014
Chen, Y., Dib, H. and Cox, R. F. (2014), A measurement model of building information
modelling maturity. Construction Innovation: Information, Process, Management,
Vol. 14(2): pp. 186-209. Available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/CI-11-2012-
0060
Chou, J. S. and Ngo, N. T. (2014). Identifying critical project management techniques and skills
for construction professionals to achieving project success, 2014 IEEE International
Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, Bandar Sunway
Ed., pp. 1204-1208. Available online at http://dx/doi/org/10.1109/IEEM.2014.7058829
Construction Industry Council (CIC)/British Standards Institution (BSI) (2013). Building
Information Model (BIM) Protocol: Standard Protocol for use in projects using
Building Information Models. Published by CIC/BIM Pro 2013 (1st Edition). Available
online at http://cic.org.uk/download.php?f=the-bim-protocol.pdf
Cottrell, S., (2014), Dissertations and Project Reports A Step by Step Guide. s.l.:Palgrave
Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire.

N.d. (2016), Designing Buildings Wiki: the construction industry knowledge base; published
by Designing Buildings Limited [Online]. Available at
https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Home
Ehsan, N., Waheed, K. Z., Asghar, U., Nawaz, M. T., Mirza, E. and Sarwar, S. Z. (2010),
Effects of project manager's competency on project success, 2010 IEEE International
Conference on Management of Innovation & Technology, Singapore, pp. 107-112.
DOI: 10.1109/ICMIT.2010.5492830. Available online at
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5492830&isnumber=5492
694
Gelder, J. (2013), Record and operational BIMs, Extended chapter, in BIM for the terrified a
guide for manufacturers, published by the Construction Products Association.
Available online at https://www.thenbs.com/knowledge/record-and-operational-bims
or original version at https://www.thenbs.com/knowledge/bim-for-the-terrified
Jung, Y., and Joo, M. (2011), Building information modelling (BIM) framework for practical
implementation. Automation in Construction, Vol. 20(2): pp. 126-133. Available
online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2010.09.010
Krueger, R. A. (2005). “Designing and Conducting Focus Group Interviews”, published on
the University of Minnesota website. Available online at
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241250641_Designing_and_Conducting_F
ocus_Group_Interviews
Lawson, M., Brgan, N., Caristia, J., Cavieses, I. and Secilmis, M. (2010) BIM Standardization.
Available at: https://issuu.com/mrl23njit/docs/bim_standardization_12.2010_final
(Accessed: 7 May 2016).
Liu, Y.-S., Li, H., Li, H., Pauwels, P., and Beetz, J. (2015). Recent Advances on Building
Information Modelling. The Scientific World Journal, Vol 2015: pp. 1-2. DOI:
10.1155/2015/786598. Available online at
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2015/786598/
“focus group” (2017). Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, retrieved on 17 May 2017,
from https://www.merriam-webster.com.
Malik, P. (2016, December 18). Do you thing that PMI should add a new knowledge set called:
Information Management in the new PMBOK? [Online forum comment] Message
posted to https://www.projectmanagement.com/discussion-topic/42544/Do-you-thing-
that-PMI-should-add-a-new-knowledge-set-called--Information-Management-in-the-
new-PMBOK-?sort=asc&pageNum=2
Morris, P. W. G. (2010), Research and the future of project management, International Journal
of Managing Projects in Business, Vol. 3(1): pp.139 - 146. Available online at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17538371011014080
Project Management Institute (2013), A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK® Guide)—Fifth Edition. Project Management Institute (PMI) Global
Standard, published by PMI, Pennsylvania. Available online at
http://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/foundational/pmbok.
Project Management Institute (2007) Construction Extension to the PMBOK® Guide Second
Edition. Published by PMI, Pennsylvania 2007: 196 pages. Available online at
http://marketplace.pmi.org/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?GMProduct=00101595601
Project Management Institute (2016) Construction Extension to the PMBOK® Guide Third
Edition. Published by PMI, Pennsylvania 2016: 216 pages. Available online at
http://marketplace.pmi.org/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?GMProduct=00101595601
Retana, R. (2016) Implementation Feasibility of a Digital Nervous System (DNS) for the
Construction Industry: For Efficient and Effective Information Management Across
the Project Lifecycle. Research gate. Available at:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304093010_Implementation_Feasibility_of
_a_Digital_Nervous_System_DNS_for_the_Construction_Industry_For_Efficient_an
d_Effective_Information_Management_Across_the_Project_Lifecycle (Accessed: 1
October 2016).
Rogers, J., Chong, H.-Y., and Preece, C. (2015). Adoption of Building Information Modelling
technology (BIM) Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management vol.
22(4): pp. 424-445. Available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-05-2014-
0067
Rooij, S. W. van (2009), Scaffolding project-based learning with the project management body
of knowledge (PMBOK ® ). Computers & Education, Vol 52(1): pp. 210-219.
Available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2008.07.012
(2017). “Sample Size Calculator”, SurveyMonkey Survey Platform. Available online at
https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/sample-size-calculator/
Turk, Žiga (2016), Ten questions concerning building information modelling. Building and
Environment, Vol 107: pp. 274-284. Available online at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2016.08.001
U. S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs (2016), Office of Construction & Facilities
Management, main webpage. Available online at http://www.cfm.va.gov/
Wikipedia Contributors (2016) Building information modeling, in Wikipedia, The Free
Encyclopedia. 2016, December 28Available online from
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Building_information_modeling&oldid=7
57021594
Wikipedia contributors (2016), 'Project Management Body of Knowledge', Wikipedia, The
Free Encyclopedia, Available online at

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Project_Management_Body_of_Knowled
ge&oldid=753638366
APPENDICES
Online Survey Questions
MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY LONDON
SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Research Survey
Alignment Framework between Building Information Modelling Processes and the
PMBOK® Guide Construction Extension Processes in Construction Projects
By
Saad Al Jabri
Estimated time to complete: 30 minutes
This research survey is designed to provide data to determine perceived gaps in
Information Management Guidance and process within the Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK®) Guide 5th Edition and its Construction Extension Guide. The
information gathered will be incorporated into the thesis Alignment Framework Between
Building Information Management Processes and the PMBOK® Construction Extension Guide
Processes in Construction Projects”, by Saad Al Jabri. The study will help identify perceptions
of any knowledge gaps around BIM and other Information Management processes, especially
digital solutions, within in the PMBOK® and its Construction Extension. The research seeks
to develop information to bridge perceived gaps by gathering additional best practices data as
well as familiarity with external guidance documents, which explicitly address Information
Management and opinion on whether they might also be incorporated.

PMBOK/Construction Extension Survey
1. Are you or have you been a project manager?
Yes No
{→ goes to ‘thank you very much, you do not qualify-type statement}
2. What project management licenses or certifications, if any, do you hold?
Not certified or CAPM PMP

licensed PgMP Other (please list)
PMI-ACP
3. How many years have you worked in project management (or managed projects)?
0-3 4-6 7-10 11-15 > 15
4. What kinds of projects do you specialise in (check all that apply)?
Construction Structural engineering Architecture

engineering Public facilities Private facilities
Commercial facilities Healthcare Facilities Military Facilities
Residential
Other (specify):
5. How do you, as a Project Manager, define Information management?
stakeholders? Comment on any process, procedure, or tool you employ.
7. Do you think there is a need to include more 'best practices' guidance on Information
Management in the PMBOK Guide and its Construction Extension?
Strongly agree Agree No opinion Disagree Strongly Disagree
8. Do you think there is a need for the Project Management Institute (PMI) to incorporate
additional guidance or a Knowledge Area on Information Management into the PMBOK®
and its Construction Extension? Please explain.
9. Have you considered using, or do you use any of these electronic workspaces? Check all that
apply.
Common data environment (CDE) 3D CAD

Digital workspace Relational Database Manager
Building Information Modelling Cloud services
MS SharePoint Other (list): _____________________
10. If you are aware of BIM, do you use it yourself or work with a BIM manager on your
projects? Please explain.
11. If you are using a different information management system (IMS), protocol, or solution than
your clients, contractors, or other stakeholders, how well do communications flow?
Poorly Don’t use an IMS

It can be complicated Adequately Well
Occasional incompatibility issues Very Well
12. Is there anything you would like to share, regarding reasons for your answer to the previous
question?
Poor written or oral communications Makes no difference

Culture differences Miscommunication of responsibilities
Reticent team members Failure to uphold responsibilities
Overlooked team members Lack of engagement
Gender bias Lack of accountability
Remote team/team members Poor or no set reporting schedule
Unrealistic expectations Critical information is forgotten or withheld
Schedule slippage Inequitable distribution of resources
Insufficient information sharing Something else
Information silos
13. How useful might it be to your work if an Information Management Knowledge Area (KA),
addressing digital tools like BIM, were incorporated into the PMBOK® and the Construction
Extension (CE), in addition to the existing Communications Management KA?
Very useful Not useful

Useful Not applicable
14. What are some of your best practices around Information Management?
This next set of questions probes project manager opinion of the perceived completeness within the
Communications Management Knowledge Area for Information Management and BIM use
15. What specific aspects of information management do you think might be elaborated on,
extended, or added to the PMBOK® and the Construction Extension? How might that be
accomplished?
16. A list of other guidance documents is included below. Please indicate which ones you are
familiar with and whether you think they could potentially fill a knowledge gap in the
PMBOK® and its Construction Extension.
Abbreviations:
AEC: Architecture, CIC: Construction Industry Council
Engineering, and DASNY: Dormitory Authority State of New York
Construction VA: Veteran’s Administration
BS: British Standard PAS: Publicly Available Standard
C. E.: Construction Extension
Document/ Familiar Sufficiently covered Incorporate into

Guidance with? PMBOK® C. E. PMBOK® C. E.
PAS 1192-2:2013
Building Information Model (BIM)

Protocol, CIC/BIM Pro
BS 1192:2007
BS 1192-4:2014
AEC (UK) BIM Technology

Protocol
BIM Execution Planning Guide
DASNY Building Information

Model (BIM) Standards Manual
The VA BIM Guide
PAS 1192-2:2013
Building Information Model (BIM)

Protocol, CIC/BIM Pro
17. For anything you selected above, on separate lines, please add any comments and preference for
placement within the PMBOK and C. E
18. Do you have any suggestions on other guidances or process from other sources, besides the ones
mentioned in the previous table, which could be used to fill gaps, improve or expand guidance in
the PMBOK® and Construction Extension? Please reply below and include the document title in
the box to the left of your comment.
Building Information Modelling and Information Management
This next section contains questions on information management and standardisation processes
associated with digital tools such as 3D CAD and Building Information Models (BIM).
19. Do you feel that the PMBOK® Guide and Construction Extension provides adequate guidance
and process on information management using digital tools? If not, please elaborate.
20. What benefits might accrue to the project management community from efforts to standardise the
Information Management process and procedures for digital tools, and do you feel it is something
that is supported or should be supported in the PMBOK® Guide and Construction Extension as
well?
21. Might you offer some insight into BIM approaches, guidance and process that could be
incorporated into a “Best Practices” Knowledge Area?
22. What do you know of, or how familiar are you with Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) impacts
related to BIM? Please explain.
23. Have you experienced any digital Intellectual property rights (IPR) issues in your work that you
can discuss?
24. What is your opinion on how the PMBOK® Guide and the Construction Extension support
management of intellectual property rights (IPR)?
There is sufficient guidance There is little guidance
There is some guidance There is no guidance
There are gaps in guidance Recommend adding Guidance
25. Are you familiar with and how would you use COBie guidance or similar processes in your work?
BS 1192-4:2014: COBie: Construction Operations Building information exchange at

http://shop.bsigroup.com/forms/PASs/BS-1192-4-2014/
Information Management in BS 1192:2007
In part I of this survey, question 9 listed a number of electronic workspaces that facilitate Information
Management: Common data environment (CDE), Digital workspace, Building Information Modelling,
MS SharePoint, 3D CAD, Relational Database Manager, Cloud Services, or something else you might
use.
26. Have you found sufficient process in the PMBOK® Guide and/or Construction Extension to
support Information Management activities?
Yes No
27. If 'no', how would you suggest it be addressed?
28. How should the Project Management Volunteers actively work to ensure inclusion of more
Information Management procedures and process into PMI’s body of knowledge documents?
29. As a project management professional, have you experienced communications and/or formatting
issues while sharing information between stakeholder software and another project software on a
project? How was this addressed?
30. In your project management work, have you identified specific processes and procedures to
manage data and information flow between your clients and the team that you would care to see
encoded as best practices? What are they?
31. Do you know about or are you willing to actively support the buildingSMART (formerly known
as International Alliance for Interoperability) efforts to establish neutral non-proprietary data
format Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) as a specification for Information Management in the
PMBOK® Guide and /or the Construction extension?
32. Do you have a feel for what kinds of information processes and procedures your clients favour?
Which ones do you favour? Please share your thoughts.
RESEARCH INTERVIEW FORM
Alignment Framework between Building Information Modelling Processes and the
PMBOK® Guide Construction Extension Processes in Construction Projects
By
Saad Al-Jabri
General Information
Name: Interview date:
Position: Company:
Part 1: PMBOK / Construction Extension
1. What project management licenses or certifications, if any, do you hold?
PMP PgMP PfMP CAPM PMI-PBA

PMI-ACP PMI-RMP PMI-SP Not certified or Other (please
licensed specify)
Other (please specify):
2. How many years have you worked in project management?
0-3 4-6 7-10 11-15 < 15

3. What kinds of projects do you specialise in?
Buildings Buildings Infrastructure Defence Oil & Gas /

Residential Commercial / Civils Petro Chemical
Institutional
Healthcare Public facilities Other (specify):
Facilities
4. How do you, as a Project Manager, define Information management?
stakeholders? Comment on any process, procedure or tool you employ.
6. Do you think there is a need to include more 'best practices' guidance on Information
Management in the PMBOK Guide and its Construction Extension?
Strongly Agree Agree No Opinion Disagree Strongly

Disagree
7. Do you think there is a need for the Project Management Institute (PMI) to
incorporate additional guidance or even a Knowledge Area on Information
Management into the new PMBOK® and its Construction Extension? Please explain.
8. Have you considered using, or do you use any of these electronic workspaces?
Common data environment Digital workspace Building Information

(CDE) Modelling (BIM)
MS SharePoint Relational Database Cloud services
Manager
3D CAD Other (specify):
9. If you are aware of BIM, do you use it yourself or work with a BIM manager on your
projects? Please explain.
10. If you are using a different Information Management system, protocol, or solution
than your clients, contractors, or other stakeholders, how well do communications
flow?
Poorly It can be Occasional Don't use Adequately Well Very

complicated incompatibility an IM Well
issues system
11. How useful might it be to your work if an Information Management Knowledge Area
(KA), addressing digital tools like BIM, were incorporated into the PMBOK® and the
Construction Extension (CE), in addition to the existing Communications Management
KA?
Very Useful Useful Makes no Not useful Not applicable

difference
12. What are some of your favoured best practices around Information Management?
13. What specific aspects of Information Management do you think might elaborated on,
extended, or added to the PMBOK® and the Construction Extension? How might that
be accomplished?
14. Do you feel that the PMBOK® Guide and Construction Extension provides adequate
guidance and process on Information Management using digital tools? If not, please
elaborate.
15. What benefits might accrue to the project management community from efforts to
standardise the Information Management process and procedures for digital tools,
and do you feel it is something that is supported or should be supported in the
PMBOK® Guide and Construction Extension as well?
16. Might you offer some insight into BIM approaches, guidance and process that could
be incorporated into a “Best Practices” Knowledge Area?
17. What do you know of, or how familiar are you with Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs)
impacts related to BIM? Please explain.
18. Have you experienced any digital Intellectual property rights (IPR) issues in your work
that you can discuss?
19. Have you found sufficient process in the PMBOK® Guide and/or Construction
Extension to support Information Management activities?
Yes No
If 'no', how would you suggest it be addressed?
PMBOK/Construction Extension Discussion Questions
20. How should the Project Management Volunteers actively work to ensure inclusion of
more Information Management procedures and process into PMI’s body of
knowledge documents?
21. As a project management professional, have you experienced communications

and/or formatting issues while sharing information between stakeholder software
and another project software on a project? How was this addressed?
22. In your project management work, have you identified specific processes and
procedures to manage data and information flow between your clients and the team
that you would care to see encoded as best practices? What are they?
23. Do you have a feel for what kinds of information processes and procedures your
clients favour? Which ones do you favour? Please share your thoughts.
Raw Responses to Group Interview Survey
Research group interview report
The researcher has conducted a group interview, for a contracting company called
“Modern Horizon Advanced Projects (MOHAP)”.
The group were 15 participants, all engineers but from a different discipline. The
researcher first introduces himself, and his study purpose then gave a small introduction about
BIM then distribute the research interview forms to the participants.
Two out of the fifteen participants withdraw because they felt that they do not have
enough experience to answer the questions.
One out of the fifteen participants missed the first page, so this participant will not be
counted.
The researcher fills that most of the participants did not understand the first question
properly, they reply under Other with the comments PMP workshop which is not a certification
neither a license.
One participant answered in the Arabic language, so the researcher translated his
answers to English (red colour).
Participants who do not choose any option in question one are considered not certified
or licensed.
AllCounted dot com Survey Data
FILE: Q01-32_Data1.pdf
a. Raw and Collated Online Survey Data
Focus Group Interview Question Responses: M_S
Question
4 It's meaning How to control and handle the information about the
project such as comunication and saving documents and contract.
5 by official document submital if it's required or by email for minor

thing (if I understand the question in proper way)
6 D: no need for more details and area for PMBOK
8 yes I heard about it from projacs consultant and I can say that is a
program show you the life cycle of project by showing it step by step
9 No
11 I think that what is available now is enough
15 No
Focus Group Interview Question Responses: A_E
Question
5 Arrange ideas and information with someone responsible for them,

but varies from person to person as required
6 SA
8 First time I hear about it
9 No
10 Depends on their input information according to the ability to learn.
11 I do not know
20 No
Focus Group Interview Question Responses: E_A
Question
4 It is the Life project because the project consider Hautlond of data or

information you have tokeep & save it to lead the project to successful end.
5 I must have document control in the project so he can keep all

information and data so when need it we can get
6 A
8 No, I just study PMP but I think it must be in all project because it is
perfect to control project
9 No because normaly we didn't use it in the region or area
10 Weekly meeting
18 No
19 Always I follow consultant form which is different from one project

to another
20 No
Focus Group Interview Question Responses: A_T
Question
4 The information management is the most important issue in project

management, to manage the data, time, cost and stakeholders.
5 To mange data, information and reporting between me and the

stakeholders, we must trust each other and every thing must be registered &
recorded, and the following is very important to keep stakeholders with
follow also.
6 (D) WHy: I think no need for this, because the knowledg areas it's
more than enough to manage all types of projects.
8 Its a great system which will save contractor, consultant & owner
from any loss and you can control all your departments (MEP-Civil-Arc-
procurment-QS-QA). It's very important.
9 Actually, I didn't use it before, but I heered about it.
10 Poorly, and we will fall in a lot of problems.
11 Project Modeling and Cordinating Mangement.
12 Brain Storming.
Focus Group Interview Question Responses: K_G/SMCo
Question
Documentation, formatting, and preservation of information. Recall

4
the information when needed.
According to the client needs, other colleagues. I use letters, emails,

5
social media such aus Whats up (not official).
5 We have process and procedures but are not written.
6 D: Because it is available in the PMIS
It is a model or system to manage and format information and called

8
in when we need it.
At present, the company is in developing procedures stage, and there

9
is no plan shortly to use BIM. Probably in the future.
Communication flow well in general and things are clear between

10
stakeholders.
11 it is hard tosay because I did not use it.
ISO systems because it does not force a certain solution on us and it

12
allo us to monitor and follow what we say we are doing
I think PMBOK include these aspects in a suitable manner. There are

13 many points and examples regarding dealing with information. I believe PMI
has covered the subject in a right way.
I do not think that using one standard is adequate. However, putting

14 general frameworks suitable for each community and regains is better,
because each country or place may have their different needs.
There are some well know organization are responsible for

registering property rights. All contract clearly specify that. An example for
15
these organisations is Tala Abu Gazala Establishment. They have an important
intellectual property rights system.
16 No.
Focus Group Interview Question Responses: K_G/SMCo
First, perform experiments on specific systems then perform statistic

17
surveys to know if users understand and accept them.
Yes, we faced some simple issues, some consultant forces us to use

18 systems with some minors default. That is why these systems need to be
developed.
Perform daiy reports to know the progress of each then combine

19
these reports in a weekly report.
We have developed several systems and benefited from ISO system

20
and FIDIC contracts too.
Focus Group Interview Question ResponsesL A_D
Question
5 1 - Time Schedule
5 2 - Budget
5 3 - Cost
6 A: To know more experiances in different types of projects
8 BIM should be commenly used in future to save money, time, and

maintence and oepration in future
9 NO
11 GIS
12 I used before GIS in storing data and then analyzes to used in a

different facility projects
18 Yes, when importing a different version of software, then by phone

call discussed to export in different version.
19 Yes, at the beganing of any projects, some rules are difine like, one
contact person (document controller), on project Email, and a strict passes of
any documents transmital
20 GIS, BIM, Revit

Focus Group Interview Question Responses: A_Z
Question
4 the mangement that includes the process to ensure that the project
includes all the work required and only the work required to complete the
project successfully.
5 by following the iso, and by reporting small and big details of the
project.
6 A: to fully control the project.
6 by controling the scope of work, the time, the cost, the qulaity, the
human resourse, and etc ...
8 BIM is how to involve the generation and mangement of digital

representation of physical and funcational.
9 By coordination with all the employ in charge and to be fully known

which version to use.
10 have to follow the clients or the client follow me.
12 Risk Management
18 No.
19 by follow the client report if he has it not
20 Time and cost

Focus Group Interview Question Responses: I_H
Question
4 Information management may be described as the achival of

information, document, historical recordes, and the ultimate disposition to
all stakeholders. Also includes the when, the who, the whow information will
be transferred.
5 In the planning phase of each project the communication

management plan will be developed before the project management plan is
developed. This communication plan will have all what is needed to manage
the communication methods and models.
6 N/A
7 Autocad 2D
8 Building information model. it facilitates building a complete model

of the project & eases construction & project success.
9 No, I never interacted with any BIM holder.
10 Poorly, I believe a lot of conflicts might happen.
11 It would be very useful to add some real life programs that would be
helpful & endulge your experiance like primavera.
12 Historical records.
13 I think more examples, real life examples must be added to each

broad topic to ease up understating & and to remember it easily.
17 By sharing their experience to others.
18 No.
20 In my field, I didn't face any kind of this procedures.

Focus Group Interview Question Responses: M_K
Question
4 It is the way you best organzie the information to better use in the
project.
5 By using or utilizing the "Expedition" like program
6 SA
8 Great tool to efficiently control every aspect of the project
9 No
10 Not at this point (In S.A)
16 No
Focus Group Interview Question Responses: M_A-K
Question
4 Saving time and cost.
5 Emails and site report.
6 A: Any modeling can be done will add value to the fild & to the
personal experince
8 its a way of putting information in a table that will lead to enhance

the know how of doing things- to everyone in the best & shortest way
9 No
10 Poorly
11 I don't know
13 I don't know
16 No.
17 I have no idea.
18 only throu emails. & I see that its good in a way or another to spread
the information.
19 I don't pass throw this before.
20 Throw Emails as of Q17 answered

Focus Group Interview Question Responses: M_R
Question
4 Information should be shared between all the concerned

parties/individuals in a timely and effective manner
5 Through official document submittals. we als employ oracle database

system to manage data & information.
6 A
7 Oracle
10 Adequate
14 it should be supported & worked towards. Benefits would include

office dessimation of information as well as timely flow of the same.
17 By actively recording & sharing their knowledge & experience.

Focus Group Interview Question Responses: M_S_Y
Question
4 Information manager containing but not limited to:
1 - recived all info. without any wastage from stakeholders
2 - Recording it throug a list, sheet forms ... to protect it from

forgotten
3 - validating the info. and to make sure it comply with the project
(contrains, goals, organsisation policies ...)
5 1 - meeting records
2 - of formal directions/letters
3 - signed sketches/drawing
4 - approacals on physical samples
5 - response from stakeholders on the sumitted excution forms like

(request for information, materials, submittas)
6 A: Should add some new knowledge area related to coordinations

between organzation disciplinies
increase the examples related to actualy excution projects & and
more detailed for stakeholders changes cross project life cycle
facilitate the process of chagese in scope
8 BIM is used to reach to the project deliverables in (less cost, more

benifit, more stakeholder satisification less time
9 No I hope that in near future
10 poorly and difficult
11 I propose to include a (K.A.)related to information management

softwear to coordinate with the old classic way
12 to involve all related staeholders in the informations by emails and

ensure that by calls or face to face verbally recived
Focus Group Interview Question Responses: M_S_Y
13 how to be sure that any conflict between the infos. will happen
the infos should be clear for all related team member
its easy to access to all need infos
14 the benefits: more accurate in excution, less time and cost waste.
15 Yes, I know that the (IPRs) may make some problems specially in big
projects, or when the owner need to use the BIM in another project without
approval/permission from BIM designer
16 No.
17 Survey, researches, symposiums, seminars specially practical

application on the actual field and transfer the results to PMI
18 Yes. I solved this issues by one or more of the following:

1 - insure that the information are validated
2 - to know from where this isseue come
3 - to be sure this issue will not appear again in the future
19 Yes. to make scan for all documents/informations

make log/register fro the formal information
I used the feature from Outlook that when I send an email to anyone
then automatifally I'll recieved a notification that the email is delivered and
read (if occurs)
20 I favour the minute of meeting between the related

clients/stakeholders/
for the client he favour the verally information/directions
b. Focus Group Interviews, organised by question number
Question 1 Responses
Q1
1 2 3 4 5 6
4- 7- 11-
0-3 6 10 15 >15 N/A
3 1 3 3 1 1
25% 8% 25% 25% 8% 8%
Q2
PM PgM PfM CAP PMI PMI PMI PMI No Othe
P P P M -PBA -ACP -RMP -SP Cert r
4 4 4
33
33% % 33%
Q3
Constru Struc Archite Comm Pu Pri Resid Healt Mil O Infrastru
ction engineering tural engineering cture ercial facilities blic facilities vate facilities ential hcare Facilities itary Facilities ther cture
9 8 11 1 3
67 8
75% % 92% % 25%
Number of different projects per respondent
1 2 3 4
3 2 4 3
25% 17% 33% 25%
Q7
Common data Digital MS Relational Cloud 3D
environment (CDE) workspace BIM SharePoint Database Manager services CAD Other
0 1 0 0 3 3 7 5
0.0% 8.3% 0.0% 0.0% 25.0% 25.0% 58.3% 41.7%
Number of different projects per respondent
1 2 3 4
7 2 1 1
58% 17% 8% 8%
Q6
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree NA Disagree Disagree
2 6 1 3 0
17% 50% 8% 25% 0%
1. It's meaning How to control and handle the information about the project such as comunication and saving documents and contract.
2. It is the Life project because the project consider handling of data or information you have to keep & save it to lead the project to successful
end.
3. The information management is the most important issue in project management, to manage the data, time, cost and stakeholders.
4. Documentation, formatting, and preservation of information. Recall the information when needed.
5. the mangement that includes the process to ensure that the project includes all the work required and only the work required to complete
the project successfully.
6. Information management may be described as the achival of information, document, historical recordes, and the ultimate disposition to all
stakeholders. Also includes the when, the who, the whow information will be transferred.
7. It is the way you best organize the information to better use in the project.
8. Saving time and cost.
9. Information should be shared between all the concerned parties/individuals in a timely and effective manner
10. Information manager containing but not limited to:
1 - recived all info. without any wastage from stakeholders
2 - Recording it throug a list, sheet forms ... to protect it from forgotten
3 - validating the info. and to make sure it comply with the project (contrains, goals, organsisation policies ...)
1. by official document submital if it's required or by email for minor thing (if I understand the question in proper way)
2. Arrange ideas and information with someone responsible for them, but varies from person to person as required
3. I must have document control in the project so he can keep all information and data so when need it we can get
4. To mange data, information and reporting between me and the stakeholders, we must trust each other and every thing must be registered
& recorded, and the following is very important to keep stakeholders with follow also.
5. According to the client needs, other colleagues. I use letters, emails, social media such aus Whats up (not official).
6. We have process and procedures but are not written.
1 - Time Schedule
2 - Budget
3 - Cost
7. by following the iso, and by reporting small and big details of the project.
8. In the planning phase of each project the communication management plan will be developed before the project management plan is
developed. This communication plan will have all what is needed to manage the communication methods and models.
9. By using or utilizing the "Expedition" like program
10. Emails and site report.
11. Through official document submittals. we als employ oracle database system to manage data & information.
1 - meeting records
2 - of formal directions/letters
3 - signed sketches/drawing
4 - approacals on physical samples
5 - response from stakeholders on the sumitted excution forms like (request for information, materials, submittas)
1. D: no need for more details and area for PMBOK
2. SA
3. A
4. (D) WHy: I think no need for this, because the knowledg areas it's more than enough to manage all types of projects.
5. D: Because it is available in the PMIS
6. A: To know more experiances in different types of projects
7. A: to fully control the project.
8. by controling the scope of work, the time, the cost, the qulaity, the human resourse, and etc ...
9. SA
10. A: Any modeling can be done will add value to the fild & to the personal experince
11. A
12. A: Should add some new knowledge area related to coordinations between organzation disciplinies
increase the examples related to actualy excution projects &
facilitate the process of chagese in scope
1. Autocad 2D
2. Oracle
1. yes I heard about it from projacs consultant and I can say that is a program show you the life cycle of project by showing it step by step
2. First time I hear about it
3. No, I just study PMP but I think it must be in all project because it is perfect to control project
4. Its a great system which will save contractor, consultant & owner from any loss and you can control all your departments (MEP-Civil-Arc-
procurment-QS-QA). It's very important.
5. It is a model or system to manage and format information and called in when we need it.
6. BIM should be commenly used in future to save money, time, and maintence and oepration in future
7. BIM is how to involve the generation and mangement of digital representation of physical and funcational.
8. Building information model. it facilitates building a complete model of the project & eases construction & project success.
9. Great tool to efficiently control every aspect of the project
10. its a way of putting information in a table that will lead to enhance the know how of doing things to everyone in the best & shortest way
11. BIM is used to reach to the project deliverables in (less cost, more benifit, more stakeholder satisification less time
1. No
2. No
3. No because normaly we didn't use it in the region or area
4. Actually, I didn't use it before, but I heered about it.
5. At present, the company is in developing procedures stage, and there is no plan shortly to use BIM. Probably in the future.
6. NO
7. By coordination with all the employ in charge and to be fully known which version to use.
8. No, I never interacted with any BIM holder.
9. No
10. No
11. No I hope that in near future
1. Depends on their input information according to the ability to learn.
2. Weekly meeting
3. Poorly, and we will fall in a lot of problems.
4. Communication flow well in general and things are clear between stakeholders.
5. have to follow the clients or the client follow me.
6. Poorly, I believe a lot of conflicts might happen.
7. Not at this point (In S.A)
8. Poorly
9. Adequate
10. poorly and difficult
1. I think that what is available now is enough
2. I do not know
3. Project Modeling and Cordinating Mangement.
4. it is hard tosay because I did not use it.
5. GIS
6. It would be very useful to add some real life programs that would be helpful & endulge your experiance like primavera.
7. I don't know
8. I propose to include a (K.A.)related to information management softwear to coordinate with the old classic way
1. Brain Storming.
2. ISO systems because it does not force a certain solution on us and it allo us to monitor and follow what we say we are doing
3. I used before GIS in storing data and then analyzes to used in a different facility projects
4. Risk Management
5. Historical records.
6. to involve all related stakeholders in the informations by emails and ensure that by calls or face to face verbally recived
1. I think PMBOK include these aspects in a suitable manner. There are many points and examples regarding dealing with information. I believe
PMI has covered the subject in a right way.
2. I think more examples, real life examples must be added to each broad topic to ease up understating & and to remember it easily.
3. I don't know
4. how to be sure that any conflict between the infos. will happen
5. the infos should be clear for all related team member
6. its easy to access to all need infos
1. I do not think that using one standard is adequate. However, putting general frameworks suitable for each community and regains is better,
because each country or place may have their different needs.
2. it should be supported & worked towards. Benefits would include office dessimation of information as well as timely flow of the same.
3. the benefits: more accurate in excution, less time and cost waste.
1. No
2. There are some well know organization are responsible for registering property rights. All contract clearly specify that. An example for these
organisations is Tala Abu Gazala Establishment. They have an important intellectual property rights system.
3. Yes, I know that the (IPRs) may make some problems specially in big projects, or when the owner need to use the BIM in another project
without approval/permission from BIM designer
1. No.
2. No
3. No.
4. No.
1. First, perform experiments on specific systems then perform statistic surveys to know if users understand and accept them.
2. By sharing their experience to others.
3. I have no idea.
4. By actively recording & sharing their knowledge & experience.
5. Survey, researches, symposiums, seminars specially practical application on the actual field and transfer the results to PMI
1. No
2. Yes, we faced some simple issues, some consultant forces us to use systems with some minors default. That is why these systems need to
be developed.
3. Yes, when importing a different version of software, then by phone call discussed to export in different version.
4. No.
5. No.
6. only throu emails. & I see that its good in a way or another to spread the information.
7. Yes. I solved this issues by one or more of the following:
1 - insure that the information are validated
2 - to know from where this isseue come
3 - to be sure this issue will not appear again in the future
1. Always I follow consultant form which is different from one project to another
2. Perform daiy reports to know the progress of each then combine these reports in a weekly report.
3. Yes, at the beganing of any projects, some rules are difine like, one contact person (document controller), on project Email, and a strict
passes of any documents transmital
4. by follow the client report if he has it not
5. I don't pass throw this before.
6. Yes. to make scan for all documents/informations
7. make log/register fro the formal information
8. I used the feature from Outlook that when I send an email to anyone then automatifally I'll recieved a notification that the email is delivered
and read (if occurs)
1. No
2. No
3. We have developed several systems and benefited from ISO system and FIDIC contracts too.
4. GIS, BIM, Revit
5. Time and cost
6. In my field, I didn't face any kind of this procedures.
7. Throw Emails as of Q17 answered
8. I favour the minute of meeting between the related clients/stakeholders/ for the client he favour the verbally information/directions
DATA APPENDICES
a. Appendix E2.pdf
b. Focus Group Instructions: App_E3_Krueger-Focus.pdf
c. Group Interviews PDF

Alignment Framework Between Building Inf PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Alignment Framework Between Building Inf PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY LONDON

SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

ALIGNMENT FRAMEWORK BETWEEN BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the

Requirements for the degree of

The study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing enough information to

List of Figures ............................................................................................. 5

List of Tables .............................................................................................. 7

Chapter 1 Introduction to the Research ............................................. 8

3.3 Next Steps: Project Description and Data Collection .................... 36

Chapter 6 Survey Results ................................................................ 56

Online Survey Questions ............................................. 90

RESEARCH INTERVIEW FORM ............................. 97

Raw Responses to Group Interview Survey .............. 101

AllCounted dot com Survey Data .............................. 102

a. Raw and Collated Online Survey Data ............................................. 103

b. Focus Group Interviews, organised by question number .................. 117

DATA APPENDICES ............................................... 133

a. Appendix E2.pdf................................................................................ 134

b. Focus Group Instructions: App_E3_Krueger-Focus.pdf .................. 134

c. Group Interviews PDF....................................................................... 134

Figure 1 - The information delivery cycle ............................................................................... 21

Figure 3 Document and data Management repository (BSI 2007) ............................

Figure 4 Are you or have you been a project Manager? ............................................

Figure 5 Licensed or Certified? What kind? ..............................................................

Figure 6 Years in Project Management?....................................................................

Figure 7 Type of projects worked on? .......................................................................

Figure 8 Question 7 responses: Should more ‘best practices’ IM guidance be

added to the PMBOK®? ......................................................................................................

Figure 10 Communications flow issues (question 11)............................................. 64

Figure 11 Quality of communication flow (question 12) ........................................ 65

Figure 12 Might it be useful to add a separate Information Management KA to the

PMBOK® and/or its construction extension? (Question 13)........................................... 65

Figure 13 Table, question 16, regarding alternative guidances specific to

information management process. As indicated at the top of the figure, only 11 of 21

respondents filled out this table. ...................................................................................... 67

regarding intellectual property rights? ............................................................................. 69

Figure 15 Years managing projects ......................................................................... 71

Figure 16 years managing projects .......................................................................... 71

Figure 17 Certifications? ......................................................................................... 72

Figure 18 Certifications? ......................................................................................... 72

Figure 19 Types of projects worked on .................................................................. 73

Figure 20 Types of projects worked on ................................................................... 73

Table 1 Minimum Sample Size by Confidence Level ....................................................... 34

Table 2 Non-PMBOK® Documents which contain Information Management or BIM

Table 3 Calculated margin of error for a given sample size. ............................................. 47

Chapter 1 Introduction to the Research

The UK government promulgated the “Construction Strategy” cost-saving measure in

skills, reducing carbon emissions, and increasing client capability.

and misunderstandings by the various project stakeholders. (PMBOK® Guide, 2013).

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) guide represents, to many,

concepts of collaboration and trust.

Collaboration between the participants in construction projects is essential for the

resources, time, and materials.

The PMBOK® Guide defines a project as “a temporary endeavour undertaken to create

beginning and end (2013). This ‘endeavour’ can be an enhancement, a construction or

renovation of a facility, a service or capability for a service, a document, a projection or trend

standardisation of formats or standard conversion protocols. (BS 1192:2007).

Building Information Modelling (BIM), in contrast, is a process, which generates and

manages the digital representations of physical and functional characteristics of physical

construction, by all teams concerned, including owners and other non-construction or

engineering stakeholders (BSI 2013).

BIM is accomplished using computer software and architecture to manage files