Thomislav Zigo of Clayco Inc. spent an hour during the first day of the Associated General Contractors of America IT Forum Conference discussing how to get the most out of Business Information Modeling applications for tablets and smartphones on the jobsite.
“There’s so much stuff available out there you really need to be careful what you pick,” Zigo said.
He took some time to discuss exactly what BIM is for the uninitiated and defined it this way: “The process of information management (that enables a business to get the) right information to the right person at the right time.”
He said “And that definition really screams to put this (information) in somebody’s hand 24/7,” via a mobile device. “With the vast amount of useful information at users’ disposal, now the industry is focusing on how to access and utilize the information using mobile technology during construction, material and progress tracking, commissioning, handover and operations maintenance.”
Zigo recommended that before implementing any mobile apps, first define your task process by identifying the application and the pathways the participants will take to accomplish it. He recommended making a flowchart of the process to identify areas where BIM can decrease wasted time and effort.
His talk sought to define the mobile workflow on the jobsite by identifying BIM applications currently being used in the field by Clayco and showing conference attendees how to best leverage mobile devices themselves.
