DesignDesign: A week before the milestone…
Laying out the parts
Josh brings every firm's model together a week before the milestone, and looks at it as one.
Stage 4 · Design it · Stop 4 of 7 · The right way
The night before
The back alley's bill so far: 79 weeks · See the bill
The right way
The clash
The sprinkler main runs through a beam. Found now, it's a ten-minute fix. Designer Alex's firm and the M&E firm fix it and check it again inside their own teams.
DesignDesign: Two weeks later…
The comments
The client's comments come back: two, both about the colour of the railings.
The night beforeForty clashes at 9pm, and the same forty back from the client.
A week beforeOne ten-minute fix, and two comments about railings.
Now there is: Laying out the parts (the information model review), a week before the milestone.
What's going on here
Each firm checking its own work isn't enough: the problems live where the pieces meet. Putting everything together on a regular rhythm, well before a milestone, finds the clashes while they're still cheap.
New at this stop
- Laying out the parts
- Putting every firm's work together to see whether it fits. (The information model review.)
- Information model
- All the information about the job together: drawings, models, documents and data.
In the town See it in the town: Every piece checked. Has anyone looked at the whole thing?
Every firm has checked its own work in its own room and put it on the shared table. Laying out the parts is the next step up: Josh brings every firm's models together in the Site Office and looks at them as one information model. Done a week before the milestone, it finds the clashes while they're cheap, before anything heads off to Client Town.
Fix it Milestone looming and nothing combined? Lay out the parts now.
- Combine every firm's current models today, even if they're rough.
- List the clashes and give each one an owner and a date.
- Book a regular combined review well before each future milestone.
A note for the information manager: Set the review rhythm in the plan, so laying out the parts is a routine rather than a rescue.
Try it on your job
When did your job last put all the firms' work together and look at it as one? Was it before or after a deadline?
ISO 19650 From pieces to the whole
| ISO 19650 says | Means | In the town |
|---|---|---|
| Project information model (PIM) | all the information built up for the job during design and construction, from every team | the information model |
| Federation | combining separate teams' models into one so they can be checked together | laying out the parts |
| Review of the information model | before information goes to the client, the lead appointed party reviews the whole delivery together, not just each piece | laying out the parts, a week before the milestone |
Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 and its UK National Annex are © ISO and BSI. You'll hear the same language across the industry. Read more for free in the Information Management Initiative (IMI) Framework guidance from BSI and nima. For the full requirements, use the standard itself.