Appendix L: Glossary

Used to tie information and processes with Data Objects. An arrowhead on the Association indicates a direction of flow, when appropriate.

Information (in numerous formats) that may be required by contract or agreement to be submitted or passed to another party.

Objectives used to define the potential value of BIM for a project and for project team members. BIM Goals help to define how and why BIM will be used on a project or in an organization.

A generic name for the practice of performing BIM. This process can be planned or unplanned. The BIM Process may also be referred to as the BIM Execution Process or the BIM Project Execution Process. The BIM Project Execution Planning Process suggests diagramming the BIM process using process maps.

a diagram of how BIM will be applied on a project. The BIM Project Execution Plan proposes two levels of Process Maps: BIM Overview Map and Detailed BIM Use Process Maps.

Is a planning the results from the BIM Project Execution Planning Process. This document lays out how BIM will be implemented on the project as a result of the decision of the group.

A process for planning the execution of BIM on a project. It consists of four primary steps: 1) identify BIM Goals and BIM Uses, 2) design BIM Project Execution Process, 3) develop Information Exchanges, 4) define supporting infrastructure for BIM Implementation.

A method of applying Building Information Modeling during a facility’s lifecycle to achieve one or more specific objectives.

a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility. A BIM is a shared knowledge resource for information about a facility forming a reliable basis for decisions during its life-cycle; defined as existing from earliest conception to demolition. A basic premise of BIM is collaboration by different stakeholders at different phases of the life cycle of a facility to insert, extract, update or modify information in the BIM to support and reflect the roles of that stakeholder.
Source: National BIM Standard - US, Version 1.0

a process focused on the development, use, and transfer of a digital information model of a building project to improve the design, construction, and operations of a project or portfolio of facilities.

A mechanism to show how data is required or produced by activities. They are connected to activities through Associations

A comprehensive BIM Process Map that defines the various sequences to perform a specific application of BIM or BIM Uses. These maps also identify the responsible parties for each process, reference information content, and the information exchanges which will be created and shared with other processes.

An occurrence of the course of a business process. Three types of Events exist, based on when they affect the flow: Start, Intermediate, and End.

Used to control the divergence and convergence of Sequence Flow. A Gateway can also be seen as equivalent to a decision in conventional flowcharting.

A group represents a category of information. This type of grouping does not affect the Sequence Flow of the activities within the group. The category name appears on the diagram as the group label. Groups can be used for documentation or analysis purposes.

Information passed from one party to another in the BIM process. The parties involved should agree upon and understand what information will be exchanged. These are often in the form of deliverables from a process that will be required as a resource for future processes.

A sub-partition within a Pool and will extend the entire length of the Pool, either vertically or horizontally. Lanes are used to organize and categorize activities.

A high-level BIM Process Map that illustrates the relationship between BIM Uses which will be employed on the project.

Acts as a graphical container for partitioning a set of activities from other Pools.

A generic term for work or activity that an entity performs and is represented by a rectangle.

Structured information resources (enterprise and external) that assist or are required to accomplish a BIM Use.

Used to show the order (predecessors and successors) that activities will be performed in a Process.