As you assemble your end-of-year numbers and look back over a year’s worth of projects, a series of questions probably goes through your head:

* Where did we go right?
* Where did we go wrong?
* What could we have done better?
* What did we ace?

And, whether you had a stellar year or a year that you’d like to forget, you’ll ask yourself this:

* How can I improve my profits?

The bottom line is that profits increase when communication improves. This issue of Construction Project Controls looks at the various facets of communication. Larry True presents a wish list for the new year. At the top of his list? Team coordination and communication. John Jurewicz analyzed three of the leading BIM applications and how they communicate within the application and with other software. And finally, Gordon Aronson insists that your work breakdown structure and activity codes need to talk to each other. When we narrow things down to the bare essentials, communication is the common denominator. With that in mind, what are your communication goals for the new year?

By Larry True
With the beginning of a new year comes a hope for better things. Larry True offers his wish list of improvements he’d like to see in the world of cost control and scheduling.

By John Jurewicz of ASPTIP.COM
Part 2 of the two-part article contains the in-depth, side-by-side comparison table of the three major BIM application tool providers. This comparison includes strengths and weaknesses of each application in various functional areas including review control, material takeoffs, workgroup capability, printing management, detailing, item schedules, organization, interference checking, bidirectional associativity, parametric components, libraries, modeling, 3D presentation, import/export, market/model integration and more.

By John Jurewicz of ASPTIP.COM
Part 1 of this article summarizes the features of the three leading building information modeling (BIM) application providers. Part 2 of this article contains an in-depth, side-by-side comparison of the three tools. This includes strengths and weaknesses of each application in various functional areas including review control, material takeoffs, workgroup capability, printing management, detailing, item schedules, organization, interference checking, bidirectional associativity, parametric components, libraries, modeling, 3D presentation, import/export, market/model integration and more.

By Gordon H. Aronson
Failure to communicate is the leading cause of project failure, says Gordon Aronson. Make your WBS and activity codes communicate in your schedule and you’ll be on your way to project success.