With the global adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) well underway, it is a huge challenge for Engineering businesses to manage the change in their project delivery processes from more conventional drawing production environments, to that of virtual design, clash detection and 'intelligent' modelling.
Looking at the global AEC picture, it is clear that the commercial software application adopted by a wide majority of the world's Structural Engineering firms, as their modelling tool of choice, is Autodesk's Revit Structure platform.
In recent years, KnowledgeSmart's online skills assessment software platform has captured test scores from thousands of Engineers, representing hundreds of firms, spread across six continents and a couple of dozen countries.
We have analysed the results data generated from these live assessments, at a basic skills level, and noted the following trends. For this particular study, the majority of our data is generated in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia (in that order).
A simple key to interpret the data below:
Str Eng = Job Title
RST = Revit Structure
1 to 5 = 1 to 5 years' experience using the tool
6 to 10 = 6 to 10 years' experience using the tool
Regular = use the tool daily (or almost daily)
Occasional = use the tool weekly (or less than weekly)
Self taught = learned to use the tool primarily 'on the job'
Formal = learned to the tool primarily via formal classroom or online training
All = overall KS benchmark data
AUS = Australia
CAN = Canada
UK = UK
USA = USA
Here is a summary of the results presented by different types of Engineers.
Overall
RST Fundamentals score overall: 67.1% in 4320 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/regular/self taught/All = 59.3% in 4854 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/regular/formal/All = 58.2% in 4738 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/regular/self taught/All = 68.3% in 4141 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/regular/formal/All = 67.4% in 4372 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/occasional/self taught/All = 55.2% in 5353 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/occasional/formal/All = 54.5% in 5244 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/occasional/self taught/All = 63.3% in 4967 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/occasional/formal/All = 62.5% in 4777 s
Australia
RST Fundamentals score Australia: 68.7% in 4191 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/regular/self taught/US = 59.4% in 4786 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/regular/formal/US = 58.0% in 4553 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/regular/self taught/US = 68.6% in 4003 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/regular/formal/US = 67.2% in 3967 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/occasional/self taught/US = 53.4% in 4822 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/occasional/formal/US = 52.0% in 4687 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/occasional/self taught/US = 59.6% in 4566 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/occasional/formal/US = 58.7 in 4330 s
Canada
RST Fundamentals score Canada: 72.4% in 3886 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/regular/self taught/US = 63.4% in 4378 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/regular/formal/US = 61.6% in 4233 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/regular/self taught/US = 72.6% in 3717 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/regular/formal/US = 71.4% in 3578 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/occasional/self taught/US = 58.1% in 4516 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/occasional/formal/US = 56.7% in 4439 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/occasional/self taught/US = 63.6% in 4248 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/occasional/formal/US = 62.5% in 4036 s
UK
RST Fundamentals score UK: 71.1% in 4887 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/regular/self taught/US = 62.2% in 5343 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/regular/formal/US = 60.6% in 5154 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/regular/self taught/US = 71.3% in 4673 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/regular/formal/US = 70.1% in 4491 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/occasional/self taught/US = 58.4% in 5616 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/occasional/formal/US = 56.9% in 5552 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/occasional/self taught/US = 62.6% in 5254 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/occasional/formal/US = 61.7% in 4987 s
USA
RST Fundamentals score USA: 73.7% in 4218 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/regular/self taught/US = 64.6% in 4843 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/regular/formal/US = 62.9% in 4661 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/regular/self taught/US = 73.8% in 4073 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/regular/formal/US = 72.1% in 3891 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/occasional/self taught/US = 59.3% in 4916 s
Str Eng/RST/1 to 5/occasional/formal/US = 57.9% in 4856 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/occasional/self taught/US = 64.8% in 4668 s
Str Eng/RST/6 to 10/occasional/formal/US = 63.7% in 4448 s
Observations
All four territories in this study are mature markets, in terms of Revit adoption.
Each country has an established Autodesk Training Centre market, offering high quality learning and development opportunities and consultancy.
Each country has a pool of further education colleges, community colleges and universities, many of whom teach technical software skills as part of courses in the built environment.
Each country is well supported by professional bodies and information-rich conference series', such as BIM Forum, RTC, AU, BIM Day Out and BIM Show Live.
Overall, regular users are more accurate and faster than part-time users.
Engineers with 6 to 10 years' of experience with these tools are the most efficient. They reach a plateau in performance after c. 7 years and make no further productivity gains.
Engineers who learn to apply these tools on projects are more accurate than those who have primarily formal training, but less practical experience. Formally trained users are faster overall than self-taught users.
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