With construction project management in 4D, the benefits of BIM can extend throughout infrastructure project delivery and asset lifecycles, as traditionally disconnected workflows become digital workflows.
In civil infrastructure projects, notwithstanding the advances of BIM for design and engineering, prevalent design/bid/build contracting has institutionalised disconnected workflows, isolating construction planning from BIM data and geometry. Contractors have been constrained by the limitations of stand-alone planning and scheduling programmes, without digital visibility into the engineering information coalesced within the separate 3D BIM environment.
Construction planning typically lacks the workface-level granularity and depth of detail, and exploration of sequencing alternatives, to sufficiently minimise risk and schedule variance. Additionally, contractors characteristically need to create their own independent 3D models to serve construction only, in the process orphaning the BIM deliverables which can then never, despite their engineering intelligence, accurately represent the as-built asset for operations and maintenance.
Within Synchro, 3D BIM deliverables are linked with the 4D time dimension to intrinsically and immersively synchronise, through digital workflows, the construction strategy, work breakdown structure, schedule, costs, resources, supply chain logistics, and progress. Synchro’s 4D construction modelling appropriately incorporates other construction variables (human, materials, equipment, falseworks, and space) for safe, reliable, and predictable project delivery performance. Synchro includes intrinsic CPM scheduling, or users can maintain external project schedules.
By synchronising changes from BIM, schedule and/or field conditions, Synchro provides clear visibility into both the project data and the design, making it quick and easy to communicate and analyse the impact of changes on the entire project delivery process. This also enables Synchro users to compare construction strategy alternatives - even in early stages of design and bid processes - and to evaluate the feasibility and efficiency of different scenarios, deriving insights toward the best possible construction outcomes.
