Will BIM eliminate the role of the project document control person? Probably not anytime soon.

Two days ago, I introduced my blog-visitors to the blog (actually, it’s a web-site) called “Extranet Evolution.” The author (of the articles on that web-site) has a background in construction, project document management, and I.T. related to collaboration software and SaaS. Here’s another article I found that I think will be of interest to reprographers:

Will BIM kill the document controller?

Posted on 13 July 2011 by Paul Wilkinson

Here are the first two paragraphs in this article:

I watched and listened to a Building Design webinar today on building information modelling (BIM). Hosted by Robert Klaschka of Studio Klaschka Architects (he and I shared a platform at a London Constructing Excellence event in May), it included a question and answer session with UK government chief construction advisor Paul Morrell, and short presentations from various BIM practitioners, including an architect, a software vendor and a contractor. Some viewers of the webinar were also interacting via Twitter (hashtag #BDbim), and someone asked: “Is BIM going to make the information manager/document controller’s role obsolete?”

I tweeted back that, under BIM, we will still need people to manage contract processes, correspondence, etc, but there would gradually be fewer drawings to control. I then added that we may also see the emergence of a BIM or Model Manager role, a more expert professional role combining design expertise with skills in team coordination (though this role is still in its infancy).

And, here are a couple of sentences from two additional paragraphs, just to highlight certain comments the author made:

Of course, this gradual erosion of the drawing management aspect of the document controller’s role will take some years, but it will continue a process that started over a decade ago when electronic document collaboration platforms first began to be used on construction projects.

The production of drawings is not going to suddenly disappear due to the advent of BIM.

Here’s the Internet address for the complete article (it is worthwhile reading this author’s comments and opinions. And, I would encourage you to visit this author’s web-site on a routine basis.

http://www.extranetevolution.com/2011/07/will-bim-kill-the-document-controller/