How Ø.M. Fjeld uses BIMcollab Nexus for improved communication and project management

John Ola Bakken from Ø.M. Fjeld has been a loyal BIMcollab Nexus user since his student days. Today, as an experienced BIM coordinator, John shares how BIMcollab has shaped his way of working. The “Verket Brygge 2” project is discussed, where BIM collaboration with BIMcollab Nexus enables for improved issue coordination, easy communication and better project management for Ø.M. Fjeld.  

Ø.M. Fjeld is one of Eastern Norway’s leading construction companies. They carry out a great variety of construction processes, ranging from small service assignments to large and complex projects. These projects include residential buildings such as apartment blocks, as well as commercial buildings. As Ø.M. Fjeld is a local company with local employees, they have an in-depth knowledge of the local market and its opportunities.  

A loyal BIMcollab Nexus user from the start 

As mentioned, John has been using BIMcollab Nexus since he was a student at Fagskolen Oslo. As a BIM coordinator working on multiple projects at the same time, having an easy and clear overview of all projects is crucial for John. It also ensures a happy project team. Using a BIM coordination platform for efficient issue management, makes it easier to track and solve issues, resulting in an easier and more efficient way of working for everyone. As John mentions:  

John does have some experience of working on projects that did not use BIMcollab Nexus. As he elaborates: “For the projects without BIMcollab we used to send the BCF file via email or upload it online. With this workflow, we experienced quite some difficulties: 1) people were working with outdated BCF files, 2) there were too many different BCF files, 3) issues could not be tracked live because there was no synchronization, and 4) it was harder to track and keep control of multiple projects at the same time.”  

Efficient project management for the “Verket Brygge 2” project 

A project that John is currently working on for Ø.M. Fjeld is the “Verket Brygge 2” project, which is part of the second construction stage at the pier in Moss. The project consists of three new apartment buildings with a shared parking garage. As it is a large-scale project that involves several teams. It is not the same project team working on all buildings. Hence, to retain control of the models and issues, good communication and efficient project management is essential.   

Since the Verket Brygge 2 project has several project teams, Ø.M. Fjeld has decided on a different approach. They have created four different BIMcollab Nexus projects; one for each apartment building, and one for the parking garage. As John says: 

BIMcollab Nexus allows us to easily keep track of issues and ensures that the teams are not overwhelmed by too many issues in one project.

A standardized BIMcollab workflow for Ø.M. Fjeld  

To ensure the best use of BIMcollab Nexus within Ø.M. Fjeld, they have created a standardized workflow for the project teams. John says: “We assign a license to all project members and assign them to projects of interest. We then keep track of the projects together using BIMcollab Nexus and the PDF reports we generate from it.”  

After executing clash detection in Solibri, the Ø.M. Fjeld project teams synchronize the clashes to BIMcollab Nexus. They use the ‘Assigned to’ field to assign a team member to an issue and use the ‘Label” field to ensure all subjects involved with the issue are marked. They then create an issue report from BIMcollab Nexus containing all relevant data and share it with the project members and stakeholders via email.  

Then, during project meetings, the issues and project progress are discussed. As John elaborates, during these meetings it is easy to create new issues and synchronize them with BIMcollab Nexus, as well as talk about and comment on open issues directly within the cloud space. 

Why BIMcollab Nexus is a favorite issue management tool 

Working with BIMcollab Nexus has definitely improved project communication and project efficiency for Ø.M. Fjeld. According to John, some of the main benefits of BIMcollab Nexus are: 

• It saves time and effort. 
• It provides a clear project overview. 
• Issue management becomes easy. 
• Communication about models and issues is more efficient. 
• It is easy to use by every stakeholder involved. 
• The tool offers a wide range of possibilities. 

John highlights that the BIMcollab team offers great customer support. He finds that the live chat option on the Help Center page is a particularly useful resource. Here, users can get help from a support member when they need it, without having to interrupt their workflow. As John mentions, chat communication works well and quickly, and enhances the overall BIMcollab experience. As John concludes:  

We will not have any future projects without using BIMcollab Nexus. 

Would you like to improve your BIM project management?