Value proposition on interoperability of BIM and collaborative working environments António Grilo a, ⁎, Ricardo Jardim-Goncalves b a UNIDEMI, Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica e Industrial, Faculdade de Ciência e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal b UNINOVA, Departamento de Engenharia Electrotécnica, Faculdade de Ciência e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal abstract article info Keywords: Value proposition Enterprise interoperability Value level evaluation Building information modeling BIM AEC Communication Coordination Cooperation Collaboration Channel Interoperability has become recognized as a problem in the AEC sector due to the many heterogeneous applications and systems typically in use by the different players, together with the dynamics and adaptability needed to operate in this sector. In spite of the availability of many proposals to represent standardized data models and services for the main business and AEC activities, the goal of seamless global interoperability is far from being realized. Instead of focusing only on the technological level, the authors suggest that seeking solution(s) to the interoperability problem should include an analysis of an interoperability value proposition in the AEC sector, i.e., at the business level. The model presented for measuring the impact of interoperability at the enterprise level considers the interaction type, breadth of the impact, and geographic range dimensions. A specific analysis of actual and potential value of interoperability in the AEC sector is also conducted. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The on-line economy and society is expected to undergo another wave of transformation and growth over the next decade and beyond. New economic activities will arise with new classes of networked applications and services, new forms of enterprise collaboration, new business models, and new value propositions. It is generally accepted that Information and Communication Technol- ogy (ICT) is an enabler for innovation. What is less clear and controversial, however, is the changing nature of innovation and the mechanisms for catalyzing innovation. Still, it is generally accepted that in order to take full advantage of ICT, companies must increase their level of interoperability. As in many other industrial sectors, a major difficulty that Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) companies are currently facing with ICT is the lack of interoperability of software applications to manage and progress in their business. AEC organizations are being pressured by new business relationships, that is, driven by new contractual challenges such as the contractual typology of the project finance initiative (PFI), and the exchange of information and documents with new partners often cannot be executed automatically and in electronic format. This is principally due to problems of incompatibility with the reference models adopted by the software applications they are working with. This problem arises not only during the project phase, but also across the whole life cycle that includes operation and maintenance stages. To address such problems, during the past decade the need for innovation and standardization has been recognized by the AEC sector. For instance, in the United Kingdom the government set up a Construction Best Practice Programme (CBPP) and an industry-led Movement for Innovation (M4I). The Japanese Ministry of Construc- tion has established an action program (SCADEC), whose main objective is to develop a neutral CAD data exchange format based on STEP AP202 [41], able to deliver guidelines for the interoperability of CAD files within the Japanese construction sector. The major results from such projects have pointed out that the adoption of normalized methodologies and platforms to achieve an adequate level of integration of applications and interoperable-open environments would be indispensable. Now, emerging from the various initiatives around the world, the building information modeling (BIM) approach has been seen as something that might deliver substantial gains in terms of productivity in the AEC sector. Indeed, as most of design and construction-related communication consists of the back and forth translation of ideas between the 2D representations and the reality in a 3D space, BIM allows the visualization, understanding, and construction to take place in the same 3D dimensions. BIM is promising to overcome current limitations of systems where communication takes place through 2D diagrams and text Automation in Construction 19 (2010) 522–530 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: acbg@fct.unl.pt (A. Grilo), rg@uninova.pt (R. Jardim-Goncalves). 0926-5805/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.autcon.2009.11.003 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Automation in Construction journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/autcon