Development of an assessment tool for multi-actor social collaboration in BIM construction projects / Raja Nor Husna Raja Mohd Noor

The rapid advancement of Building Information Modelling (BIM) continues to influence the paradigm shift of collaboration, focusing on social collaboration among multi-actors in construction projects. There is incompetence of research in highlighting the importance of measuring the multi-actor social collaboration and no evidence of the assessment model established for multi-actor social collaboration for BIM construction projects. This research aims to establish an assessment model in measuring multi-actor social collaboration for BIM construction projects. Therefore, six objectives have been expressed: (1) to review relevant key attributes (KAs) of multi-actor social collaboration in BIM construction projects, with the intention of gaining a greater understanding of the attributes affecting multi-actor social collaboration, (ii) to identify the most significant KAs of multi-actor social collaboration in BIM construction projects, (iii) to establish suitable quantitative measures (QMs) for each KAs in measuring multi-actor social collaboration in BIM construction projects, (iv) to determine appropriate scales of performance levels for each KA in the range of poor to excellent performance, (v) to produce an assessment tool for measuring the multi-actor social collaboration practices in BIM construction projects, and (vi) to validate and demonstrate the applicability of the assessment tool in BIM construction projects. In this study, a mixed method was used for data collection, namely semi-structured interviews and the Delphi questionnaire survey. The Delphi questionnaire survey was carried out to gain the information regarding the current practices of multi-actor social collaborations by practitioners from various segments of BIM construction projects. The significant contribution of this research is in the clarification of the TEN (10) most significant KAs of multi-actor social collaboration for BIM construction projects. These KAs are (1) guidelines, standard and work process manual; (2) commitment from top management; (3) EIR; (4) readiness and awareness of mindset and culture to change among top management and multi-actors; (5) BEP; (6) understanding roles and leadership; (7) data security, privacy and ownership rights; (8) standardization practice; (9) resources; and (10) CDE based coordination. Further, this finding introduces the significance of KAs and the range of index to measure the performance index of KAs and QMs. A computerized version of the multi-actor social collaboration in BIM construction performance index (MASCOBIMPI) model tool was then developed in proprietary spreadsheet software, thereby providing an automated way of collecting, retrieving and presenting graphically data to assist in managing and monitoring performance for multi-actor social collaboration. The limitations of this research were limited to BIM construction practitioners that have experience in the construction industry and BIM construction projects. This research contributes not only to expand the knowledge in the concept of social collaboration but also for the implementation of social collaboration in BIM construction projects, particularly in Malaysia, through the developed assessment. The upcoming research can replicate the theoretical model approaches to investigate the measuring of the new variables of KAs.