Digital Issue Reporting in Model-Based Construction Projects

Paper in proceeding, 2025

Construction projects have traditionally been heavily document-based, with information exchanged through unstructured and unconnected channels, leading to fragmented and isolated data. However, this is changing with an approach known as Total BIM and the implementation of model-based construction processes, where BIM is legally binding, and construction workers create their own information. This shifts workers from merely consuming information in static documents, to creating valuable, timely data during construction. Previous research has not explored this new type of data due to the scarcity of model-based projects. Our paper addresses this gap by exploring how Total BIM can transform communication in the construction phase through digital issue reporting. Data from more than 27,000 issue reports across three projects were studied, showing considerable benefits and opportunities for creating structured data by connecting issues to BIM objects, with attached views and photos. However, our study also shows an overall lack of standardization, leading to issues frequently being mistakenly linked to wrong objects. Therefore, this paper suggests that a mindset shift is needed where the value of data created during the construction phase is understood. The Total BIM approach to issue reporting can bring us a step closer to gaining meaningful insights into the data that would not be feasible in traditional document-based projects.