Security

The term security in BIM relates to managing access to 3D models and the information within, to the right people as and when required in a secured manner. Three main aspects to consider regarding information security are shown below.

Ownership & Accountability

Since the introduction of BIM, a more collaborative approach towards a construction project, there is often a debate about who owns the BIM Models that are developed through out the project life-cycle.

However, the responsibility of ensuring the quality of the models and the information lies upon the authoring parties. Internally, within an office environment documenting clear roles and responsibilities and supporting the staff with standard procedures to follow will help the team members to take the responsibility of the work produced.

Archiving

Archiving should not be confused with back-up. Archiving information on a frequent basis and also at every major mile-stone of the project will help the team to have a documented history of all the models. During the early design stages of the project, it is very common to switch back to a portion of old archived files.

Some of the key issues to consider while developing an Archiving protocol are;

Frequency of archiving should ensure to have a copy of all major design changes in the project.

All staff members should be trained in the office archiving policy specifically to the BIM model files.

Archived files should be readily accessible to the team when required.

Backup

Although conceptually BIM is a unified 3D environment, it is not practical to prepare the entire project in one single file. To be able to better manage the files and also to enable parcel wise coordination, a well organized File Break Down structure is necessary. It is a common practice to develop each discipline model in a separate file. However, basing on the scale of the project, the models are further broken down into parcels like tower models , basement models etc.