Reverse process design

BIM and the implementation of a lossless digital building process cause a huge change for all involved parties. To create a lean data content along the process line it is essential to identify "who needs what kind of data, in which format at what time?" Reverse Process Design (RPD) is able to answer this question by starting with the data which the information recipient needs out of the BIM process. The recipients can very precisely identify their specific need for data, format and the most appropriate time to receive these. Having identified the necessary result, it is easy to define and locate timely the required action to solve this specific data need or process weakness in a perfect manner. Like in a reverse backwards jumping process the solution of this specific need creates footprints along the building process line such as: "To get information X in a specific format at time A, process Y must start at time B, which again calls for another necessary action Z at time C, ahead of B". By iteratively solving all process weaknesses along the complete building process line and implementing it into a Reference Building Process Map (RBPM) this method creates step by step a very slim adapted process baseline backing up all lessons learned. It continuously defines the need for data to be handled inside a central database at the lowest possible scale in terms of lean construction. By improving the baseline process step by step it creates "Quick Wins" increasing the motivation for a continuous improvement. The method is presented here based on two applications on real projects.