Large Firm Support Network

[jamesgchambers]

We're currently evaluating our support network for Revit users in our office of about 120 people. At this point we have the following structure:
BIM Manager > Digital Design Specialist > Model Lead > User

DDS: Oversee many projects in the office, and in some cases are assigned to work on a project 30hrs a week, with 10hrs a week devoted to support and BIM development

Model Lead: Point person for a project team who is tasked with maintaining the model and coordinating file transfers with clients/design team.

What are people's thought on this? Other larger firms out there wanna share what they're doing?

[j_starko]

More Experiences would be great in this thread.
I'm quite new at a large firm, and I'm working on their first production Revit project ( doing detailing)

I know there is some frustration in figuring out how to apply to idea of Cad Standards and a Cad Manager to revit.

From past experience a Model Lead is crucial in keeping everything in order.

we have a bim manager , but I've seen the DDS refered to as the Guru . It tends to be someone who knows revit inside and out. I've seen them on one main project and then called in to help with problems on other projects as they arrise.

[patricks]

I've seen the DDS refered to as the Guru . It tends to be someone who knows revit inside and out. I've seen them on one main project and then called in to help with problems on other projects as they arrise.

heh that's me at my firm. While my co-workers and boss have been using Revit slightly longer than me, I'm the one who's on the forums and always finding out new tips, tricks, better ways of doing things, asking questions when there's a problem, etc. So I've pretty much become the guru around here.

[dhurtubise]

LArge firm usually have a leader (Director of Digital Design or something like that) then each offices might have a BIM Manager to support the office. Then each project have a leader to support the project and the users.
Some will also have a help desk or support specialist.

[j_starko]

heh that's me at my firm. While my co-workers and boss have been using Revit slightly longer than me, I'm the one who's on the forums and always finding out new tips, tricks, better ways of doing things, asking questions when there's a problem, etc. So I've pretty much become the guru around here.

I'm aspiring to be such!!! haha

[eric.piotrowicz]

I'm aspiring to be such!!! haha

Same here, I'm by far the most experienced guy in the firm on Revit and play tech support for nearly everyone but I have a tough time calling myself an expert or guru even though everyone here thinks exactly those things. Of course it was the same way at my last firm with both Revit and AutoCAD so maybe I am that guy. :lol::beer:

[kreed]

We have a system that's a little different but based on the same idea.
Our structure looks like this:
Implementation Group > Revit Mentor > Model Manager > User

We don't have a CAD/BIM manager anymore (although we've asked for one) so we have the Implementation Group that handles policy, procedure and standards. The Revit Mentors are the real power users, the ones who suffered through our initial pilot projects and setup most of the subsequent projects. Model managers are project team members with more experience, but due to staffing and politics sometimes relatively newer users get put in this role. Mentors spend 1-2 hours a week on their assigned projects while Model managers are supposed to be able to handle most questions.

The odd bit about our firm is that all of the people described above are architects or designers and assigned to projects as well so we don't have the independant IS support system for Revit. I don't think it would work well if we were much larger, but at about 60 people, we are handling it with three Revit mentors for the whole firm.

It's getting a lot harder now that everybody is using Revit though.

[j_starko]

.....

It's getting a lot harder now that everybody is using Revit though.

geez, I would think it would be the opposite.

[DaveP]

geez, I would think it would be the opposite.

Notice that he said "everybody is using Revit".
Not "everyone has learned how to use Revit". :shock:

We have a similar structure. BWBR is about 100 people, 50 Revit licenses. For the first few years it was just me making families, training, and creating standards. When we got enough other people experienced, we create a Revit Mentor group to sort of act as my triage. Questions to to the Mentors first, and if they can't answer a question, I get it. We've also designated one person as a Family Man, although I'll bet you can guess what gets priority when there's a project deadline.

[kreed]

[QUOTE=DaveP;1040528]Notice that he said "everybody is using Revit".
Not "everyone has learned how to use Revit". :shock:
QUOTE]

Yes, there is a BIG difference. For the first few years there were only two project teams using Revit so we got used to the dynamic and were able to figure things out. Almost all the people on those teams were on-board and excited about the transition. Now, every project has to use Revit by order of the management and all those who are not ready or resistant to change have to use it and there are a lot of headaches. Especially the debates about why do we have to do it this way or that way.

Once we got the support structure setup and the backing of the management for it, things got a little easier - but that still means the mentors have to be help desk/triage and producing billable work on deadlines at the same time.

[DaveP]

I forgot to mention that we are also running a series of catch-up classes. We'd really like to call it "Revit for Dummies", but we settled on "Focused Revit Lessons".
The idea is that we have a group that either we have identified or they have self-identified as needing some extra help. Most of these people have been though at least one basic Revit class, but haven't used it or just aren't getting it.
We pick a topic & spend an hour and a half working through exercises. First class was simply how to Open a Revit project and navigate Views. Other sessions have been on :

Phasing,
Placing Walls and Doors,
Schedules,
Working with consultants
Selection and Editing methodsThese classes are just a chance for those folks with marginal skills to catch up. Or at least not be afraid of Revit.

[jamesgchambers]

We have a similar training set up, but we do weekly "Revit User Groups" that are open to the whole firm. The during the first week of each month we will do a "Model Lead Group" where we teach advanced topics and have general discussions on workflow and project experiences. We've found that this is extremely appreciated by the staff and a great way of keeping a majority of people up to date in our latest workflow trends. Also helps that is out in the open and people tend to drift in and out of the class.

[greg.mcdowell]

Seems like my office is happy with just getting ink on paper. There is no "I" in BIM apparently... at least not around here.

[j_starko]

...... There is no "I" in BIM apparently... .


hahaha. That's the best revit annecdotal joke I've seen in a long time !

[Jason Grant]

I put a survey up to help further explore this question about BIM support. Please go to this location to fill out the survey.

http://jasongrant.squarespace.com/bim-support-survey/

Let me know if you have any questions!