# Facilitators and Barriers in Applying Building Information Modeling (BIM) for Construction Industry
## 2 Materials and Methods  
To properly understand the working environment of BIM in AEC industry, the authors conducted an in-depth survey with relevant professionals. A survey with 40 questionnaires was distributed to 100 professionals in construction, design, engineering, government, and rail industry. Among 100 surveys, 65 were returned with proper answers, 22 were returned with missing answers and 13 were not returned because of various reasons. The survey was delivered through an email to professionals working in AEC industries, especially railway environment. These experts were chosen based on the work scope written in employers' website. In addition, some part of the respondents was also contacted based on other expert's recommendations and the authors' individual network. The survey was conducted on October 16 to December 16 in 2020. Table 1 indicates the list of questions distributed to respondents. As can be seen, question 1 through 7 ask about basic information regarding each respondent. Although respondents were chosen specifically in AEC industries, their role, familiarity with BIM, years of experience, and other background differ to a certain degree. The second part of the survey is related to BIM education and knowledge management. As BIM is a relatively new field, not many people in the industry received formal education. Rather, they have learned BIM as a tool that is regarded as an extension to 2D computer-aided drawing (CAD). This second part is designed to identify if systematic education is required to properly conduct BIM assignments in rail and AEC industry at large. In addition, respondents were asked if a certificate system is required for a better BIM working environment. Currently in Korea, there is a certificate system for BIM implementation but the system does not guarantee economic valuation yet. It means the certificate only supports whether the person can handle BIM works, not representing financial stability in exchange. Therefore, the authors asked the professionals if certificate system is in demand and whether knowledge sharing platform is required. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Fields** & **No.** & **Questions** \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{Basic Information} & 1 & Age group \\ \cline{2-3}  & 2 & Work Professions \\ \cline{2-3}  & 3 & Experience (years in industry) \\ \cline{2-3}  & 3-1 & Rail industry experience \\ \cline{2-3}  & 4 & Type of Organization working for \\ \cline{2-3}  & 5 & Specific Job Description \\ \cline{2-3}  & 6 & Familiarity with BIM \\ \cline{2-3}  & 7 & Relevance of BIM to project \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{BIM Education} & 1 & BIM Education \\ \cline{2-3}  & 1-1 & Duration of the education \\ \cline{2-3}  & 1-2 & Education materials \\ \cline{2-3}  & 2 & Demand for Formal BIM Education \\ \cline{2-3}  & 2-1 & Length of proper BIM education \\ \cline{2-3}  & 2-2 & BIM education contents \\ \cline{2-3}  & 3 & Necessity of a BIM Certificate System for AEC Industry \\ \cline{2-3}  & 3-1 & Required BIM certification in rail industry \\ \cline{2-3}  & 4 & Exposure to BIM Knowledge \\ \cline{2-3}  & 5 & Relevance of BIM Knowledge Sharing Platform to Work \\ \cline{2-3}  & 6 & Contents for Knowledge Sharing Platform \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Survey Design and Delivered Questionnaire. The third part concerns the use of BIM in planning and construction stage. The questionnaires were specifically related to planning and construction, identifying obstacles, benefits, and requests from each respondent. As seen in Table 1, the use of BIM was asked in general context at first, and then some specific questions were delivered regarding railway industry for more detailed answers. There are some parts of the survey specifically designed to accommodate answers for government order systems in rail industry. Because most of railway projects are conducted from public side, governments are the biggest players in procurement and ordering systems.