This post is the first in a series showing the practical applications of BIM Track. This month, we focus on how BIM Track enhances the design review process.
Design review is a highly collaborative process that requires input from a variety of project stakeholders. The design teams are often using an assortment of design authoring solutions based on their industry expertise that don't natively speak the same language of BIM interoperability. It is critical to the success of the project that the design intent be shared early in the process.
Using BIM Track in the design review process enables the design team, the construction team, and project owner to easily collaborate on design and constructability issues early in the process.
What are the issues with traditional design review?
Problem #1: Design information is siloed
During the typical design review process, it’s a challenge to involve the project owner because the design intent is siloed in different BIM environments. Owners typically don’t have access to expensive design authoring solutions or the experience to navigate and interrogate the design.
Solution: BIM Track creates a centralized issue tracking platform
BIM Track breaks down the barriers of a siloed BIM environment. It provides a solution where the design team can publish read-only versions of the design intent at key project milestones in a centralized environment that is accessible in an OpenBIM, cloud-based solution available on any browser. Project owners have a greater awareness of the design intent earlier in the process. The transparency of the design review process leads to greater trust and understanding between all teams.
Problem #2: Complicated design software
Traditional design reviews assume a certain level of comfort with digital tools or reading 2D plans that all parties may not have. There is a real risk of some stakeholders not being able to understand or visualize the design intent.
Solution: BIM Track is easy for all stakeholders to use
With BIM Track, a design review is conducted online or in person, with one person walking the group through the model, viewpoint by viewpoint. It’s 3D, it’s visual, and it’s easy to understand. 
You don’t need to be a BIM specialist to add insightful comments that will contribute to the overall design quality. BIM Track democratizes the BIM process by opening design review to stakeholders that might otherwise not be included so early on, such as accessibility committees and facility maintenance teams.
Problem #3: Fragmented coordination communications
The typical design review process involves a lot of communication, usually via email, and is captured with screenshots, PDF markups, and spreadsheets. The challenge is the design communication is not linked to the actual issue in discussion or synchronized with the design files. Issues are often missed because it is difficult to track issue ownership through the typical design review process.
Solution: BIM Track centralizes coordination communications
BIM Track provides a centralized coordination workflow to track all comments, questions, and issues. Design review "action items" are logged directly in BIM Track during the design review, including assigning the person responsible and the due date. This puts the issue resolution workflow immediately into practice and creates individual accountability. There is a “no delete” audit log of all issue actions for a single source of truth of all discussions. The same data is also accessible directly in Navisworks, Revit, and Tekla Structures using the BIM Track add-ins.
BIM Track enhances the productivity of design reviews
BIM Track gives your design review meetings visual context that anyone can understand. Furthermore, by using BIM Track in your design review workflow, issues, comments, and questions are immediately sent to the appropriate parties for review and resolution. Coordination meeting reports with configurable graphs and charts are also generated from templates with a single click
If you would like to know more about how BIM Track can be used for design reviews, or other parts of the coordination process, please do not hesitate to reach out to me personally.