A quantitative analysis of the recent BIM survey showed that 58
percent of building professionals preferred the approach and features
of Bentley BIM solutions while 38 percent preferred those of
Autodesk's Revit. Of those with "strongly preferred" responses, 69
percent chose Bentley BIM solutions and 31 percent chose Revit.
The blind survey was conducted by Lachmi Khemlani, Ph.D., founder
and editor of AECbytes, the building industry's leading BIM
newsletter. AECbytes' registered subscribers were asked to choose
among 12 fundamental BIM approaches and 19 BIM features identified by
Dr. Khemlani. The quantitative analysis applied the respective
strengths of Bentley BIM solutions and Revit - as established by Dr.
Khemlani - to the collection of responses and determined the winner.
Of the 650 respondents to this Bentley-commissioned survey, 46
percent identified themselves as architects, 14 percent identified
themselves as engineers or construction professionals, and the
remainder indicated they worked in operations. The group was divided
equally between single-office and multi-office firms.
Huw Roberts, global marketing director, Bentley Building,
commented, "Our initial interest in the survey was twofold: first, to
aid in our understanding of what BIM users value as a guide to our
ongoing BIM development; and second, to provide a comparative measure
of the values placed on the relative strengths of Bentley BIM and
Revit.
"After analyzing the results, we believe that many who are
considering BIM would benefit from using this survey to help them
think through their BIM decisions. Dr. Khemlani's BIM survey and her
comprehensive qualitative analysis highlight the important BIM issues
very well. Of course, we are also pleased that for the majority of
respondents, the approach and features of Bentley BIM were preferred
over those of Revit."
The 12 BIM approaches, as paired in the survey and listed with the
respective rates of preference, are:
1. A BIM application leveraging the powerful documentation and
visualization capabilities of a CAD platform (preferred by 65 percent)
versus a BIM-only application with more efficient modeling but less
well-developed documentation and visualization tools (18 percent)
2. A scalable solution supporting collaboration and distributed
work processes (47 percent) versus a single-database solution
featuring easier setup, organization, and management (32 percent)
3. Modeling governed by mandatory constraints, better guaranteeing
model integrity (39 percent) versus more flexible modeling where the
user takes charge of model integrity (41 percent)
4. Fully automated change management and coordination (59 percent)
versus semi-automated change management with faster performance (24
percent)
5. Intuitiveness and ease of use promising a short learning curve
(49 percent) versus enhanced scope and better capability to model
complex forms (35 percent)
6. Support for 3D PDF for electronic publishing and distribution
(53 percent) versus support for 3D DWF (14 percent)
The 19 BIM features, listed with their importance to respondents,
are:
1. Full support for producing construction documents so that
another drafting application need not be used (8.8 out of 10)
2. Smart objects, which maintain associativity, connectivity, and
relationships with other objects (8.7)
3. Availability of object libraries (8.3)
4. Ability to support distributed work processes, with multiple
team members working on the same project (8.2)
5. Quality of help and supporting documentation, tutorials, and
other learning resources (8.0)
6. Ability to work on large projects (8.0)
7. Automated setup, management, and coordination, reducing
traditional CAD management tasks (7.9)
8. Multidisciplinary capability that serves architecture,
structural engineering, and MEP (7.8)
9. Ability to support preliminary conceptual design modeling (7.8)
10. Direct integration with cost estimating applications (7.5)
11. Support for construction-related tasks such as quantity
take-off, estimating, and 4D scheduling (7.5)
12. Direct integration with energy analysis applications (7.4)
13. Extensibility and customization of the solution (7.2)
14. Direct integration with structural analysis applications (7.1)
15. Direct integration with project management applications (7.0)
16. IFC compatibility (6.7)
17. Number of third-party developers developing add-on
applications for the tool (6.4)
18. Built-in ability to generate highly photorealistic renderings
and animations (6.3)
19. The market-share leadership position of the vendor offering
the BIM solution (4.9)
The quantitative analysis was performed for each respondent. A
respondent's overall preference for Bentley BIM or Revit was first
based on his or her weighting of the 12 BIM approaches. The magnitude
of the respondent's overall preference was determined by his or her
rating of the BIM features. In the case of a tie in the BIM approach
weightings, the BIM features alone determined the preference. A PDF
file containing the full details of the quantitative analysis is
available at
www.bentley.com/en-US/Promo/BIM+Wizard/About+the+BIM+Wizard.
The classifications of BIM approaches, as ascribed to Bentley BIM
or Revit, and the BIM features, as ascribed to Bentley BIM or Revit,
were all developed by Dr. Khemlani. The quantitative analysis was
performed by Bentley.
Bentley also announced its new analyst-based BIM Wizard, an online
tool to help building professionals and their organizations:
-- Structure their BIM decision making
-- Accelerate and improve their BIM evaluations
-- Poll the BIM needs of a larger firm or project organization
-- Insert industry expertise into their final BIM decisions
The BIM Wizard enables these professionals to take the BIM survey
and uses their responses to generate a recommendation of Revit or
Bentley BIM - based on their BIM approach preferences, their ratings
of the BIM features, and the respective strengths of Bentley BIM and
Revit as established by Dr. Khemlani. It also creates a report that
compares their choices to the responses of their peers in the survey
conducted by Dr. Khemlani. The BIM Wizard is available at
www.bentley.com/BIMWizard.
AECbytes has released a qualitative report on the survey titled
"Top Criteria for BIM Solutions." To read the complete report, which
was authored by Dr. Khemlani, go to
www.aecbytes.com/feature/2007/BIMSurveyReport.html.
Dr. Khemlani completed her Ph.D. in Architecture at UC Berkeley,
specializing in intelligent building modeling. Her other credentials
include a professional B.Arch. (Honors) degree from the Indian
Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, and an M.Phil. in
Architecture from the University of Cambridge, England. She has worked
on numerous design projects as a practicing architect and taught CAD
and 3D modeling for several years at UC Berkeley. She gives frequent
presentations before both professional and academic audiences, serves
on juries for technology awards, and continues to stay closely
involved with the research community, serving on the editorial board
of the journal Automation in Construction. She can be reached at
lachmi@aecbytes.com.
About Bentley
Bentley Systems, Incorporated provides software for the lifecycle
of the world's infrastructure. The company's comprehensive portfolio
for the building, plant, civil, and geospatial verticals spans
architecture, engineering, construction (AEC) and operations. With
revenues now surpassing $400 million annually, and more than 2400
colleagues globally, Bentley is the leading provider of AEC software
to the Engineering News-Record Top Design Firms and major
owner-operators, and was named the world's No. 2 provider of
GIS/geospatial software solutions in a recent Daratech research study.
To receive Bentley press releases as they are issued, visit
www.bentley.com/bentleywire. For more information, visit
www.bentley.com. To view a copy of Bentley's April 2007 Annual Report
online, go to www.bentley.com/April2007annualreport.
Bentley and the "B" logo are either registered or unregistered
trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of
its direct or indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries. All other brands and
product names are trademarks of their respective owners.
