BIM for Improved Project Communication Networks: Empirical Evidence from Email Logs

Abstract

Building information modeling (BIM) has gained significant momentum in the architecture, engineering, construction, and operations (AECO) industry and has shown the potential to transform project organizations and management practices. Recently, a growing interest has evolved in examining the benefits of BIM for project communication networks. Evidence of such interest have been accumulated based on surveys and simulated data in terms of project communication network changes; however, there is still a lack of direct and empirical evidence from the industry. This research relies on actual email logs from project managers as the primary data source for mapping project communication networks. More than 50,000 emails were collected from eight participating companies to model the communication networks of 22 projects (12 BIM projects and 10 non-BIM projects). A social network analysis (SNA) was conducted to compare the differences between the BIM and non-BIM projects. The results indicate that BIM projects have more direct connections and shorter paths among the nodes, making the interpersonal information exchange easier and faster. In addition, it was found that the higher clustering coefficients and simultaneously lower path lengths of the networks in BIM projects result in a strong small worldness, where most nodes are not neighbors, but can be reached from every other node by a small number of hops. Compared with other networks, small-world networks encourage more effective internal collaboration and intergroup information exchange. This research provides direct and real-world evidence about the properties of BIM-enabled project communication networks and helps validate previous studies built on the basis of theoretical models and simulated data. The email log data used in this research are shared with the research community to inspire future findings.