For many years, people used long Gantt charts for construction schedules, which can be very hard to read. Recently, most construction teams are utilizing 4D scheduling to make the construction easier and cost-efficient. However, it is still in the infancy stage and people only started to realize its benefits.
In simple terms, 4D scheduling is the combination of the traditional project schedule with the 3D model of the project. This will allow the stakeholders to visually see how you are planning to complete the construction project. It was found that more than 65% of people are visual learners and showing them a visual representation of how the project is planned to be constructed helps them understand better.
Today, many construction companies started to introduce 4D BIM during construction. If you are new to this, keep on reading the article to find some tips that may help.
Choose The Right Project
Yes, 4D scheduling has a lot of benefits. But it does not mean that you can use it in every project. In most construction companies the project teams develop the schedules instead of schedulers. This will give them an upper hand when it comes to managing a 4D schedule. Not all projects need 4D scheduling, but in some projects, 4D scheduling is very essential for planning the construction process and figuring out the safety issues.
Make Sure To Coordinate With The Lean Plan
Figuring out how to make it work with the pull plan is one of the main challenges that your team may face while implementing 4D scheduling. Most companies, to overcome this challenge, ask their teams to create 3 schedules; the 4D schedule, the traditional 2D milestone schedule, and the pull plan. When you have to change your scheduling for some reason, this will allow you to compare the original schedule with the updated one.
Customize the Scheduling Process
Using BIM as the scheduling tool is a different perspective because different strategies, different resources, and different effort levels are involved in the process. You need to consider which activities should be represented visually in the 4D schedule, what level of detailing is needed to break down each activity, how to keep the process on the right path when challenges arise, and what you are hoping to achieve.
In simple terms, 2D scheduling is like a jigsaw puzzle with the picture. However, 4D scheduling is like working the jigsaw puzzle with the picture on top of the box.
