Volume 4 - Number 10 | December 2008 - Construction Project Controls & BIM Report

Recent articles

EDITOR'S NOTES: To loosely paraphrase 19th century American economist Henry George, construction can be compared to a boat. “Her progress through the water will not depend upon the exertion of her crew, but upon the exertion devoted to propelling her. This will be lessened by any expenditure of force in fighting among themselves, or in pulling in different directions.” What does boating have to do with construction? Plenty! If project success is the goal, the crew needs to work cohesively. There is no room for adversarial roles, says Larry True in this month’s cost control feature. For example, he explains that if the operations and accounting teams can replace departmental infighting with common end goals, the project’s budget will have a better chance at success.

Also in this issue, Gordon Aronson and Doug Findley each take a close look at Oracle|Primavera’s P6 features and offer suggestions for change. Over the course of the past several months, both columnists have invited readers to submit their ideas to Primavera about ways to improve the industry’s most popular scheduling software. And with a new year ahead of us, now is the time to act. In the words of the above-quoted politico: “Let no man imagine he has no influence.”

Finally, we include a review of the recently released tome on building information modeling. A Guide to Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers and Contractors is a comprehensive look at BIM, its history, its benefits and its future.

PRIMAVERA'S P6 GLOBAL CHANGE: IT'S NOT REALLY GLOBAL: Frustrated by the difficulty in using Primavera's global changes feature, Gordon Aronson makes an impassioned plea to the software giant to broaden P6's capabilities.

COST CONTROL COMPETITION: THE BATTLE BETWEEN OPERATIONS AND ACCOUNTING: A contractor's operations and accounting departments shouldn't play adversarial roles. Effective cost control means convincing both sides to play on the same team, says Larry True.

BOOK REVIEW: A GUIDE TO INFORMATION MODELING FOR OWNERS, MANAGERS, DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND CONTRACTORS: Technology expert John Jurewicz reviews the recently released book A Guide to Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers and Contractors, more commonly known as the BIM Handbook.

A REQUEST FOR PRIMAVERA: For all its features and services, Primavera could improve in how it handles software problems and glitches, says Doug Findley. He issues a call to users to offer better problem management solutions to Primavera.

ECOBUILD-AMERICA TURNS OUT INFORMATION-PACKED CONVENTION: Ecobuild-America's semi-annual convention in Washington, D.C., may have been low in numbers, but the ample content and expertise of the presenters definitely did not disappoint attendees.

INDUSTRY UPDATES: Here's a look at recent industry news, software releases and company updates.