The ROI of CIM - Civil Information Modeling

If you’ve been reading our blogs, then the term CIM is not new to you. CIM stands for Civil Information Modeling and was derived from the more commonly known concept of BIM (Building Information Modeling). Now that you are more familiar with CIM, the question you may be asking yourself is: what is the ROI if I add CIM to my workflows? There is no question that CIM provides operational efficiencies but measuring it isn’t always the easiest. The lack of standard performance key indicators is one important variable that is currently missing. Overall, the industry would benefit from standards being set. This would enable consistency as well as a higher level of data analysis to be done, further improving ROI metrics.

How can CIM save you time & money?

The construction industry continues to have some challenges when it comes to meeting project schedules and budgets. It is well known that a significant amount of time is still spent on project rework. In some cases, the work is being done in the same manner as it has been for decades without much improvement to machines or processes. Imagine a scenario where you have a 3D model replica of the job site that allows you to see obstacles upfront before the work even begins! How beneficial would it be to know early on where you need to adjust your plans to not even encounter those obstacles. This is not only valuable, but it is quantifiable, hence where the ROI comes into play. You already have data from prior projects that give you the number of hours and resources that were planned versus the number of hours and resources that were used. You can then compare those numbers to those for your CIM-enabled project and calculate your savings. You will see that the investment in applying CIM will pay for itself and then some because your rework will decrease.

How does CIM improve collaboration?

A project’s success is highly dependent on the coordination and cooperation among all stakeholders.

Measuring gains in project efficiencies is important

Traditional siloed workflows are not the best practice. How many times have you found yourself having to send the same project information via phone, email, or text to all the different stakeholders at various stages during construction? How many times have you thought you sent the information to everyone who needed it but then realized you got interrupted while you were sharing it and never went back to ensure that it went to everyone that needed it? These are common practices that add risk to a project’s success because it can result in poor decision making from the lack of complete information not having been received by all stakeholders. As we have said before, CIM is more than just a software tool. CIM processes enhance workflows as well as improve information sharing. One way to improve collaboration is the use of a single project management information system (PMIS) by both the owner and the contractors. A survey done by Dodge Data & Analytics reported that PMIS has improved processes and the exchange of data between owners and project teams. The industry is realizing that improvements need to be made for accessing data in real-time because it provides a better level of transparency and allows for changes to be made more efficiently throughout the project’s lifecycle.

What are some ways CIM enhances workflows?

As you know, every project comes with many changes throughout its lifecycle. Making the changes flow through in such a way that it gets communicated across to everyone is difficult. Through the CIM process, information is directly linked to the design model. This makes handling changes much easier. As a result, everyone can immediately see the changes that were made, and the risk of human error/duplication is lowered. Another advantage of investing the time and effort to creating virtual civil works projects before the machines start moving the earth is the ability to create templates for future use. Templates are a great way to easily create your workflow from initial survey to project layout through to final design. Templates can save you time and effort when you are ready to move onto the next project, meaning a higher ROI.

By bringing together virtual models, data analytics, systems, people, and improved workflows through CIM you will gain efficiencies in every phase. Stakeholders will be able to easily access and rely on accurate and timely information which will enable them to do their jobs better. Your projects will not run behind schedule as often and your overall costs will decrease. At ECI, we pride ourselves in seamlessly integrating our services into your workflows so that you can see and realize the immediate impact and benefits of leveraging CIM.