Automation in Construction 35 (2013) 285–295

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Automation in Construction
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/autcon

Generating construction schedules through automatic data extraction

using open BIM (building information modeling) technology
Hyunjoo Kim a,⁎, Kyle Anderson b,1, SangHyun Lee b,2, John Hildreth a,3
a
Engineering Technology and Construction Management, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, United States
b
Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The architecture, engineering, and construction industries have had rapid technological advancements over
Accepted 17 May 2013 the last decade, particularly in the area of building information modeling (BIM). BIM stores all the informa-
Available online 4 July 2013 tion of a building and can be leveraged for many new and exciting applications including the generation of
quantity takeoffs, 4D scheduling, and building simulations. The main objective in this study is to establish a
Keywords:
framework for automating the generation of construction schedules by using data (e.g. spatial, geometric,
Scheduling
Building information modeling (BIM)
quantity, relationship and material layer set information) stored in BIM. Using the extracted information,
ifcXML the proposed system in this research creates construction tasks, computes activity durations using avail-
Data exchange able activity production rates, applies sequencing rules, and finally outputs a schedule. To demonstrate
Critical path method the functionality of this framework, a prototype system has been developed to import BIM representations
Activity sequence with basic building elements such as slabs, walls, doors, windows, roofs, floors, and ceilings in two story
buildings.
© 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction for this is that this process remains insufficiently supported by

Construction scheduling has come a long way in the last 20 years, a
time when many field supervisors felt that using formal scheduling was
irrelevant to day to day operations and a time consuming distraction
[9]. Since then, it has become an integral part of most construction
projects, but remains a time-consuming, error prone and tedious task
done manually [5]. As a result a wealth of research was conducting in-
vestigating how the process of schedule generation could be improved
by automating activity generation, duration estimation and determin-
ing sequence logic [5]. However, many of these efforts require substan-
tial manual input including that of the physical model [1]. Recently with
the technological advancement and prevalence of building information
modeling (BIM) and 3D modeling in the architectural, engineering, and
construction (AEC) industries new opportunities exist for improving
scheduling processes. By combining the built-in intelligence of BIM
with previous research efforts we can further advance the automation
of schedules.
Even today, scheduling is still mostly accomplished manually,
which can be an extensive and very time consuming process. A reason
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 704 687 2095; fax: +1 704 687 6577.
E-mail addresses: h.kim@uncc.edu (H. Kim), kyleand@umich.edu (K. Anderson),
shdpm@umich.edu (S. Lee), John.Hildreth@uncc.edu (J. Hildreth).
1
Tel.: +1 734 763 5091.
2
Tel.: +1 734 764 9420.
3
Tel.: +1 704 687 6166; fax: +1 704 687 6577.
software applications [14]. Since it is difficult to interact between
scheduling software and BIM, many benefits of the benefits of BIM
technology proposed in research papers remain unexploited [15].
Being able to exploit information stored in BIM to assist in generating
schedules could help achieve significant time reductions in schedul-
ing compared to traditional manual methods of scheduling. Previous
research has demonstrated the feasibility of generating construction
schedules for construction process by using the state of the art tech-
nologies including BIM, but to date, little work directly focused on
this topic and has been able to successfully completely automate
this process.
Before BIM technology came into being, there were many attempts to
automate the scheduling process. Cherneff et al. [4] and Zozaya-
Gorostiza et al. [17] developed systems to integrate CAD with construc-
tion schedules using knowledge based systems. Although the research
showed the potential to improve productivity in the AEC industry
through their proposed approaches, data extraction remained a signifi-
cant issue [11]. Later Fischer and Aalami [10] and Aalami and Fischer
[1], built on this work and devised a method to generate activities and
their sequences using construction method templates, CMMT (customiz-
able construction model templates) by generalizing activity elaboration
and sequencing knowledge. This allowed activities to be represented at
different levels of detail as desired by the target group, but the process
still required significant manual input.
Several more recent efforts have attempted to use information
stored in either 3D CAD models or BIM for processes related to

0926-5805/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2013.05.020
286 H. Kim et al. / Automation in Construction 35 (2013) 285–295
automated schedule generation. Tulke and Hanff [15] demonstrated
the viability of using element quantities stored in BIM to generate
durations for scheduling tasks using production rates. Their primary
objective in this work was not on schedule creation, but rather on
using this technique for expediting the 4D simulation process. Later
Kataoka [12], conceived the concept of using simple 3D models to
generate quantity takeoffs, schedules, and 4D visualizations by creat-
ing a structural planning process using the interpretable templates
(SPLIT) system. This system takes simple building geometry and ap-
plies known construction methods to it and subsequently generates
possible building construction configurations [12]. While innovative,
this approach focuses on constructing different possible framing sys-
tems and comparing schedules generated by using different methods
instead of generating schedules for designed structures from BIM.
Tauscher et al. [14] proposed a system to semi-automatically generate
schedules based on the data extracted from files using the Industry
Foundation Classes (IFC) standard. In their work, they used case
based reasoning (CBR) to determined task durations based on infor-
mation retrieved from similar cases. However, the paper did not at-
tempt to elaborate the details of actual outputs of their proposed
system [14].
This previous research shows that there is a need for enhanced in-
teroperability between BIM and scheduling software. The related re-
search efforts in this field have demonstrated advancements in
utilizing information in BIM or 3D models for scheduling related ap-
plications, but comprehensively leveraging of the intelligence of BIM
for automated scheduling generation remains to be done. Therefore,
in this paper we consider scheduling within the context of building
information modeling (BIM) with an end goal of generating a con-
struction schedule through automatic data extraction from a BIM
file, focusing on automating physical model input. The individual
goals of this research are as follows: firstly, extracting material, loca-
tion and quantities for all individual elements from BIM and storing
the data according to their unique location in the structure(s); sec-
ondly, generating activities and durations based on derived building
elements, materials, and quantities; thirdly, developing sequencing
for activities generated in the second step; fourthly, generating the
output of a preliminary schedule in scheduling software compliant
formats, and lastly, refinement process to facilitate the data exchange
between BIM authoring and scheduling tools. In order to test the fea-
sibility of the proposed approach, a prototype of the framework has
been developed and tested in a case study. The BIM-based scheduling
Fig. 1. Methodology flowchart.
was applied to generate the schedule for two small sized buildings in
the range of 6000 to 10,000 ft2 with the basic building components
such as slabs, walls, windows, doors, floors, ceilings, roofs and so on.
The application can be extended to scheduling of a more complex
building with necessary information and sequencing rules provided.
The remainder of the paper details the development of the frame-
work, presents a demonstration of feasibility, and concludes with a
summary and limitations of the current research.
2. Developing the framework
To address these issues a framework to generate schedules, given
a set of sequencing rules, based on BIM has been suggested. The pro-
posed process is deconstructed into five phases: A) construction of
the BIM, B) parsing of BIM data, C) transforming of parsed data to ac-
tivity data, D) generation of schedule, and E) refinement process
(Fig. 1).
During BIM creation, in addition to designing all the building ele-
ments, the user defines construction work zones (if desired) to prior-
itize construction of one area over another. This is a way to set
construction order if multiple buildings exist or to decompose a
large building into several smaller sections. The completed BIM is
then exported in the XML variant of the open industry standard In-
dustry Foundation Classes (IFC). IFC is a standard established by the
BIM community to allow for model exchange between its various
commercial software vendors [3]. The XML schema variant of IFC,
ifcXML, is used for the demonstration in this research since it allows
for access to more processing tools when compared to STEP files [8].
The prototype system, the implementation of the listed five processes
written in the Ruby computer language, then reads and extracts rele-
vant spatial, quantity, material, and relational information of all
building elements in each designated work zone. Next, durations
and resources related to those elements are calculated and assigned
by using production rates stored in a database while considering the
user defined sequencing rules. Durations are determined by using
production rates from RSMeans [13]. Fig. 2 illustrates the previous de-
scriptions of B) parsing of ifcXML data, C) transforming of parsed data
to activity data, and D) generation of schedule in greater detail. This
provides a detailed list of the informational requirements for this
framework. Lastly, the system writes the schedule in the format of a
Microsoft Project file, enabling the user to utilize built-in features in
MS Project, such as calculations of early start/finish, late start/finish,
 H. Kim et al. / Automation in Construction 35 (2013) 285–295 287

A) Building Data Loading Part C) Generating a

IFCXML Geometry Data Parsing Schedule
Wall Geometry Property Parsing B) Geometry
Get Wall Polygon Points Coordinates
/Material
Information
Get Wall Depths
Get Wall Origin Coordinates
Get Wall Story Coordinates Geometry Data

Get Wall Direction Ratios RSMeans

Wall Geometry Data
Daily Output
Door/Window Property Parsing Door/Window Geometry
Data
Get Door/Window Origin Coordinates
Foundation Geometry
Get Door/Window heights
Data Activity Duration
Get Door/Window Widths
Slab Geometry Data
Foundation Property Parsing Ceiling Geometry Data
Slab\Ceiling\Floor Property Parsing
Floor Geometry Data
Sequencing
Get Polygon Points Coordinates
Get Depths
Get Origin Coordinates Material Data Calculate / store
Wall Material Data schedling information
Get Story Coordinates
Get Direction Ratios Door/Window Material
Data
Sequencing
IFCXML Material Data Parsing Foundation Material
rules in
Data
Figure 9 &
Door/Window Material Property Parsing Slab Material Data Table 1

Wall Material Property Parsing Ceiling Material Data

Floor Material Data
Slab/Ceiling/Floor Material Property Parsing

Fig. 2. Overall scheduling process of data parsing, geometry/material information and generating a schedule.

total/free floats, automatically identifying the critical path and so on.
Each process will be explained in the following five sections.
A. BIM model preparation
The BIM model preparation process has a limited number of steps
(Fig. 3). For this framework, the first step in the process is to obtain an
architectural model built in a 3D CAD authoring program which has
built-in exportation to ifcXML. Built in 3D CAD authoring software,
the model is assumed to have basic building elements to the con-
struction of the project such as slabs, walls, doors, windows, roofing,
flooring, and ceilings.
After designing these elements, created built-in materials and/or
material layers will be assigned to each element. Assigning the mate-
rials to each element is critical. The names used for each element are
later used as filters to identify proper production rates for activities.
This makes it imperative to use names similar to, but not necessarily
identical to the names used in the productivity database (how this
works will be explained in greater detail in section C—transforming
of parsed data to activity data).
Once all building elements have been prepared and materials
assigned to each element, the user defines work zones for the order-
ing of construction. The building work zones are used to define the

Fig. 3. Procedure during BIM creation.

Fig. 4. ifcXML parsing flowchart.

288 H. Kim et al. / Automation in Construction 35 (2013) 285–295

Fig. 5. Abbreviated view of IfcRelContainedInSpatialStructure in ifcXML.

sequencing of construction areas for multiple structures or areas within
larger structures (e.g. construct walls in different work zones). There
are many possible ways to represent different zones in BIM. One simple
method, and the one employed in this prototype, is to create a slab ele-
ment representing the construction zone. All elements above and below
this slab are considered to be part of this construction zone. However, if
all building elements were drawn on the same slab, it would be neces-
sary to separate the slab into multiple work zones in this process. Even
though it might be an additional step in other applications, it worked
well in the case study of the research. Next, the model is exported in
ifcXML file format from the BIM authoring software.
B. Parsing ifcXML data
Information from the BIM now must be extracted from the ifcXML
data and the proposed prototype takes the ifcXML representation of
the BIM and reads it (Fig. 4).
For the purposes of constructing construction schedules, a logi-
cal way to sort through all the project data and building elements is
by story, and is done so through IfcRelContainedInSpatialStructure.
IfcRelContainedInSpatialStructure relates elements to a particular
location within the spatial structure of the project including
the site, building, story or space and then provides a reference to
where information about each element in that location can be
found [2]. How building element information is related to the loca-
tion being described by IfcRelContainedInSpatialStructure in XML
is illustrated in Fig. 5. Elements are identified by type under
RelatedElements in IfcRelContainedInSpatialStructure. The prototype
parses the references (the string listed in quotations after ref =
(B) in Fig. 5) for each like element (e.g. wall, slab, window). The
window references, for example, would be identified as “i45046”,
“i45173”, “i45427”, and “i45672” (C in Fig. 5). Using the reference
ids the prototype systematically parses attribute information

Fig. 6. Entity relationship diagram.

 H. Kim et al. / Automation in Construction 35 (2013) 285–295
Fig. 7. ifcXML mapping of element quantities through IfcRelDefinesByProperty.
(location, shape, quantity information, and material information)
about each element by following the paths from the reference id
to the attributes (Fig. 6).
For a typical wall, IfcWallStandardCase, several relevant pieces of
information are required. Initially the prototype checks to see in
what building area the item is located. Using the IfcWallStandardCase
reference from IfcRelContainedInSpatialStructure, “i44880”, a series of
iterations are processed to determine the location coordinates of the
wall relative to the center point of the model, (0, 0, 0). In ifcXML,
the coordinates for each item are written relative to itself, with the
first coordinate usually identified by their two dimensional coordi-
nates (x, y). Two sets of coordinates can be obtained from the wall
element, the coordinates of each corner of the wall and the offset of
these points from the center of the project. Since the element vertex
coordinates are relative to the element, it becomes necessary to
determine the element's actual distance to the center point of the
project by summing the distance to the center of the project and
the relative coordinates. The offset coordinates (x, y) illustrate the
distance from the relative coordinates to the center point of the pro-
ject. With this information the building area that the wall is located in
can be determined by combining the relative and absolute coordi-
nates of the wall and comparing them with the boundaries of the
various building areas. For example, if the first vertex in the wall
has a relative coordinate of (− 9, 0), combining this with its offset
coordinates of (− 688.5, 31.0) means that this vertex is located at
(− 697.5, 31.0) relative to the center point of the project. This pairing
of data would be checked against the boundaries of each of the
Fig. 8. IFC elements diagram.
289
defined work zones until it is determined in which zone this building
element is located.
Next, the prototype parses the quantities of the referenced wall as
shown in Fig. 7. Quantities relate to building elements through the
relationship IfcRelDefinesByProperties. Here the prototype uses the
wall reference to find the IfcRelDefinesByProperties that relates to it
through its related objects reference id. The quantities of the wall are
found using the path: IfcRelDefinesByProperties => IfcElementQuantity.
Under ifcElementQuanitity, individual element attributes include ele-
ment width, height, length, gross side area, net side area, gross volume,
net volume, and gross footprint area (Fig. 8).
Lastly, material information must be gathered. Materials relate to
the elements through the relationship IfcRelAssociatesMaterial. The
method for gathering this information is similar to the previous, in
that the prototype searches for IfcRelAssociatesMaterial with a relat-
ed object with the reference id of the wall. Once it is found, the
following path locates the layer set name of the materials associated
with the wall: IfcRelAssociatesMaterial => IfcMaterialLayerSetUsage =>
IfcMaterialLayerSet => IfcMaterialLayer. For example, for wall “i44880”
the layer set is named “Wall 2 × 4 + 1/2″ Gyp.Board.” As a layer set
may have only one material or more, as in this case, the prototype
reads for each material layer and parses each individual material name
and thickness that composes the layer set. At this point, data that can
be compiled about the wall includes its composition, the building area
it is located in, and all of its quantities and geometric configuration.
C. Transforming of parsed data to activity data
Each element's quantity and material information are stored along
with its location (building area location and story). Based on the type
of elements extracted, the prototype establishes the various activities.
The next step is to identify what activities these elements are part and
then to determine the durations associated with each activity in each
building area on a per story basis related to these activities. Since in
this phase of the research our objective is to demonstrate how infor-
mation stored in BIM can be extracted and applied for use in automat-
ed schedule generation, we use a set of predefined activities for each
building element, dependent upon the element location and material
composition, and user defined resource availability quantities, which
means that the proposed system requires for all the names of the
building components to be pre-determined in generating the con-
struction activities. Future extension of this work will focus on how
to determine which activities should be generated for specific build-
ing elements based on a combination of information stored in BIM
and user input. To generate the resulting activity durations, each
individual element and its associating material data reference a
well-established productivity data [13] for their construction. Fig. 9
290 H. Kim et al. / Automation in Construction 35 (2013) 285–295

Start

Parse building element

information and project data

Identify Project Scope Categorize Activity Groups

Identify
Construction Distribute Building Element Data Into Activity Groups
Phases

Analyze Individual Element Information

Quantity Material Spatial

Information Composition Information

Reference Productivity Rates

Compute Activity Duration

Apply Sequencing Rules

Calculate and Store CPM Scheduling Information

Early Start (ES) Total Float (TF)
Early Finish (EF) Free Float (FF) Adjust (extend or shorten)
Late Start (LF) Dependent Float (DF)
Late Finish (LF) Critical Path (CP)

Acceptable
Result? (Verified No
by User)
Yes
Compile/Activity List

Export Activity List

Schedule Critical Path: Network Diagram

End

Fig. 9. Generating a construction schedule.

illustrates the overall process of generating a construction schedule. The To illustrate the process of referencing the element database for a
prototype takes each building element and its information and refer- door installation, the name of the door and the dimensions are required.
ences a created productivity database drawn from selected This information was previously captured along with the story location
RSMeans values. The prototype checks for keywords in the material in their building area. To calculate the duration required for installing a
name and attributes from the element with the naming of items in door, a check is run against the name “Wood Doors”. This prompts the
the productivity database. If the name alone is not specific enough to prototype to access a certain section of the productivity database,
obtain a rate, additional checks, such as for item dimensions, are run “Wood Doors” (in this case, a specific ID of “08 14 33” from RSMeans
to obtain a production rate. This productivity is applied to the quantity, unit cost index). Since the true dimensions of (80″ × 36″) is identified
which may require unit conversions or count of the element, and the and the name does not include further description, the system defaults
duration for its construction is calculated. This technique is applied to to standard 6-panel wood doors in “08 14 33.20 1020” (cost index from
all of the like-items on the story and a total duration for the activity is RSMeans). At this point, the productivity rate of “16 doors per day”
computed. (daily output) is selected, yielding (1 door required/16 doors per
day) = 0.0625 days and storing the value as the duration for a single
Table 1 door installation on this story within the defined building area. This pro-
Sequencing rules for task ordering [6]. cess is automatically repeated for each door on the same building story
Criteria in deciding the Supported by 1. Install support first in the same building area and a total time for the activity door installa-
sequence of an activity 2. Remove supported first tion on this story is recorded.
Covered by 3. Install hidden first This prototype uses productivity rates for combined activities to
4. Remove cover first
reduce the complexity of construction processes and the total num-
Embedded in 5. Embedded component first
6. Embedded component before, ber of story activities while maintaining the integrity of the produced
concurrently or after schedules.
Distance to support 7. Closer to support first Activity sequencing is based off a set of sequencing rules developed for
8. Least flexible first the prototype. The rules govern the complete order of the construction
9. One providing service first
processes. Task generation considers how the user defined the building
 H. Kim et al. / Automation in Construction 35 (2013) 285–295
Fig. 10. Implemented sequencing of activities.
areas during the creation of the BIM. The building areas that the user
defined during the model production are decomposed by story. The se-
quencing rules used in the algorithm are then applied to determine the
sequencing per building area and for the total project. The rules were
considered based on its structural consideration and have four different
categories such as supported by, covered by, embedded in and distance
to support as shown in Table 1 [18].
These rules are founded on the logic that activities such as slab
construction require the completion of its vertical supports first.
Also, in regard to embedded components, a wall must be constructed
before the window or door may be installed in it. In addition, the rules
consider that the amount of labor is limited in a given area at a set
time. Once the crew has finished their activity in a given area, they
can begin the same activity for the next building area upon comple-
tion of the required supporting activities. These rules, those listed in
Table 1, are an example of a set of rules that have been applied and
used in this prototype (Fig. 10); however, if desired it would be pos-
sible to develop and implement alternate sets of rules.
D. Generate schedule
After the activity quantities, names, durations, and sequences are
defined, the output can be produced. The system exports activity list
of data to the format of a Microsoft Project file. The activities are de-
fined by building boundaries then by story. Each activity lists the ac-
tivity name in the format of building area—story level—description,
duration in days (assuming 40-hour workweek), start date, end
date and predecessors. This also produces a Gantt chart and network
diagram with the critical path indicated. By exporting the output in
Microsoft Project format, all of the functions of this popular and pow-
erful scheduling tool may easily be applied to the generated prelimi-
nary schedule.
E. Refinement process
There can be the need to refine the results from the proposed BIM
based scheduling process because the construction schedule generat-
ed by this research was created through generalized sequencing rules
291
and assumptions without considering a specific situation given in a
project. A construction schedule generated through automatic data
extraction can be modified and refined by experienced construction
personnel who can take into account the specific situations that exist
in a complicated real-world project.
3. Demonstration
In order to test the prototype, a BIM was created using Graphisoft's
ArchiCAD 15 [7]. The model consists of two buildings each representing
a separate building area (Fig. 11). The first building area contains a
5850 square foot two story wood framed building. The second building
area has a four story structure totaling roughly 9500 ft2. Both structures
have materials assigned to each element using premade composite
structure fills from ArchiCAD. No custom layer sets have been used.
Basic elements for construction compose each structure, including:
walls, slabs, flooring, soffited ceilings, doors, windows, and roofing
elements as shown in Table 2.
Accordingly, the prototype parses through the ifcXML file for all
the information described previously and produces a Microsoft Pro-
ject output file. The schedule for the BIM consists of 58 activities.
This includes 20 for the first building area and 38 for the second.
Some activities listed include: cast-in place concrete for the slab on
grade, curing, wall framing, and gypsum board installation. Table 3
shows the quantity take-offs arranged by building element (walls,
slabs, doors, etc.). Each building element is listed by its unique id, per-
tinent metrics (for wall: net area of the desired dimensional surface,
net volume, depth) and material layer set name.
The schedule estimates that construction would take 129 working
days (assuming a 40-h workweek), spanning from the starting date of
October 10 in the year 2011 through the end date of April 4 of the fol-
lowing year. The critical path determined for the project was heavily de-
pendent on the initial site work, foundation construction, wall framing
and floor construction activities. Microsoft Project displays the projected
critical path, visible here in the produced network diagram (Fig. 12).
Such results could be expected based on the sequencing rules, due to
the parameter to ensure that vertical supports are installed first.
Table 4 shows the materials of each building component used in the
case study.
4. Verification
We verified the automatic data extraction process. Specifically, the
verification was conducted to make sure that the data automatically
extracted from a BIM using ifcXML technology did not lose/skip any
data or material properties. Firstly, a visual inspection was conducted
by reproducing the same model in a different software platform,
SketchUP and confirmed that the original BIM drawn in ArchiCAD
15 and the one reproduced in SketchUp were identical in its geometry
and locations of each building component. Secondly, the material
quantity take-off list (as shown in Table 3), generated by the system,
showed that the material properties were consistent as those of the
BIM created at the beginning. On the other hand, the research consid-
ered only the basic building components such as slabs, walls, doors,
windows, roofs, floors, and ceilings to propose a systematic approach.
Therefore, the comparison between the result in the case study and
real construction project results was not made due to the fact that
our demonstration did not include all the building components that
a real project would do. However, we intend to include more building
components in the future research and verify the results in a more re-
alistic way.
5. Conclusions
Over the last number of years, BIM has changed the landscape of
the AEC industry. With the influx of this new technology, many new
292 H. Kim et al. / Automation in Construction 35 (2013) 285–295

Fig. 11. BIM in case study.

 H. Kim et al. / Automation in Construction 35 (2013) 285–295 293

Table 2
Abbreviated listing of activities, durations, start, finish, and predecessors.

Task name Duration Start Finish Predecessors

1 Pre-structure phase 59 days Mon 10/10/11 Thu 12/29/11

2 Bldg. 1: Story 1: Cast-in-place concrete (slab on grade) 10 days Fri 12/30/11 Thu 1/12/12 1
3 Bldg. 1: Story 1: Wall construction 3 days Fri 1/13/12 Tue 1/17/12 2
4 Bldg. 1: Story 1: Gypsum board installation 4 days Wed 1/18/12 Mon 1/23/12 3
5 Bldg. 1: Story 1: Acoustical tile installation 5 days Thu 1/26/12 Wed2/1/12 11
6 Bldg. 1: Story 1: Ceiling finishings (paint) 2 days Thu 1/26/12 Fri 1/27/12 11
7 Bldg. 1: Story 1: Wall finishings (paint) 5 days Thu 2/2/12 Wed 2/8/12 4, 5
8 Bldg. 1: Story 1: Door(s) installation 1 day Thu 2/9/12 Thu 2/9/12 6, 7
9 Bldg. 1: Story 1: Window(s) installation 3 days Thu 2/9/12 Mon 2/13/12 6, 7
10 Bldg. 1: Story 1: Floor finishing (carpeting) 6 days Tue 2/14/12 Tue 2/21/12 8, 9, 2
11 Bldg. 1: Story 2: Floor construction 6 days Wed 1/18/12 Wed 1/25/12 3
12 Bldg. 1: Story 2: Wall construction 3 days Thu 1/26/12 Mon 1/30/12 11
13 Bldg. 1: Story 2: Gypsum board installation 4 days Tue 1/31/12 Fri 2/31/12 12, 4
14 Bldg. 1: Story 2: Acoustical tile installation 4 days Tue 2/7/12 Fri 2/10/12 20, 5
15 Bldg. 1: Story 2: Ceiling finishings (paint) 2 days Tue 2/7/12 Wed 2/8/12 20, 6
16 Bldg. 1: Story 2: Wall finishings (paint) 5 days Mon 2/13/12 Fri 2/17/12 13, 14, 7
17 Bldg. 1: Story 2: Door(s) installation 1 day Mon 2/20/12 Mon 2/20/12 15, 16, 8
18 Bldg. 1: Story 2: Window(s) installation 4 days Mon 2/20/12 Thu 2/23/12 15, 16, 9
19 Bldg. 1: Story 2: Floor finishing (carpeting) 6 days Fri 2/24/12 Fri 3/2/12 17, 18, 11, 10

and exciting areas of research are now available. This new technology simulation in the context of BIM, relatively little work in academia
has been applied to many topics including scheduling. While there has explored the possibilities of automated schedule generation
has been significant research on scheduling as it relates to 4D from BIM.

Table 3
Abbreviated produced quantity take-offs spreadsheet.

File name Model for QT.ifcXML

Building square footage 11,900

“1 story”

Wall ID Net Net Layer set type Material 1 Material 1 Material 2 Material 2 Material 3 Material 3
area volume thickness thickness thickness

(ft2) (ft3) (in.) (in.) (in.)

“i1710” 200 76.13 “Wall 2 × 4 + “09 | Gypsum Board” 0.5 “07 | Insulation 0 1” 3.5 “09 | Gypsum 0.5
1/2\″ Gyp Board” Board”
“i4982” 250 93.47 “Wall 2 × 4 + “09 | Gypsum Board” 0.5 “07 | Insulation 0 1” 3.5 “09 | Gypsum 0.5
1/2\″ Gyp Board” Board”
“i8274” 250 93.19 “Wall 2 × 4 + “09 | Gypsum Board” 0.5 “07 | Insulation 0 1” 3.5 “09 | Gypsum 0.5
1/2\″ Gyp Board” Board”
“i8700” 400 150.85 “Wall 2 × 4 + “09 | Gypsum Board” 0.5 “07 | Insulation 0 1” 3.5 “09 | Gypsum 0.5
1/2\″ Gyp Board” Board”
“i9130” 180 61.18 “Wall 2 × 4 + “09 | Gypsum Board” 0.5 “07 | Insulation 0 1” 3.5 “09 | Gypsum 0.5
1/2\″ Gyp Board” Board”
“i4147” 300 11.94 “Wall 2 × 4 + “09 | Gypsum Board” 0.5 “07 | Insulation 0 1” 3.5 “09 | Gypsum 0.5
1/2\″ Gyp Board” Board”
“i14559” 350 131.84 “Wall 2 × 4 + “09 | Gypsum Board” 0.5 “07 | Insulation 0 1” 3.5 “09 | Gypsum 0.5
1/2\″ Gyp Board” Board”
“i15098” 450 169.32 “Wall 2 × 4 + “09 | Gypsum Board” 0.5 “07 | Insulation 0 1” 3.5 “09 | Gypsum 0.5
1/2\″ Gyp Board” Board”
“i15637” 100 37.5 “Wall 2 × 4 + “09 | Gypsum Board” 0.5 “07 | Insulation 0 1” 3.5 “09 | Gypsum 0.5
1/2\″ Gyp Board” Board”
“i15787” 480 173.12 “Wall 2 × 4 + “09 | Gypsum Board” 0.5 “07 | Insulation 0 1” 3.5 “09 | Gypsum 0.5
1/2\″ Gyp Board” Board”

Slab ID Net area Net volume Layer set type Material 1 Material 1 thickness Material 2 Material 2 thickness

(ft2) (ft3) (in.) (in.)

“i25335” 5950 5950 “2 × 12 + 3/4\ Plywood_1” “06 | Plywood 1/8\Plywood” 0.75 “2× Wood Frame” 11.25

Door ID Height Width Type Located in wall

(in.) (in.)

“i14040” 80 36 “D 1 Entrance side2 14” “i9130”

“i20697” 80 36 “D 1 Entrance side2 14” “i15787”
Total count 2
Height Width

Window ID (in.) (in.) Type

294 H. Kim et al. / Automation in Construction 35 (2013) 285–295

Regular activity
Critical activity

Extracted view of Network Diagram

Fig. 12. Network diagram showing the critical path created from the prototype.

This paper proposes a framework to be used for automated schedule
generation from BIM. This system focuses on data exchange using a
well-establish international data standard schema, ifcXML. To test the
suggested framework, a prototype has been developed and applies
the techniques described in the methodology and parses the pertinent
spatial element and material layer data from the constructed BIM.
Through the information gathered, the proposed BIM based scheduling
approach is used to create construction tasks, calculate activity dura-
tions using productivity rates from a database, and apply sequencing
rules. Once computed the prototype produces a preliminary schedule.
In the demonstration presented in this paper, the prototype was
successfully applied to a BIM consisting of two separate structures that
were modeled with a basic building envelope and exported as an ifcXML
file. Applying the prototype system to the produced file, a preliminary
schedule was generated and able to be visible in various formats.
Consequently, additional work can be conducted to further expand
the robustness of the prototype. In the paper, a limited number of
basic building components such as slabs, walls, doors, windows, ceil-
ings, and floors were applied in generating the construction schedule
in the case study. However, its possible application can be extended to
all the building components with further detailing each building com-
ponent in the process. Expansion of the set of elements that the system
can recognize and parse information from the BIM is the logical next
step in the development. Increasing the depth of materials and con-
struction methods in the productivity database also requires further
work. Another extension of this research could integrate the techniques
used here in automatically linking a generated schedule's tasks to build-
ing elements for the creation of 4D building simulations. Further, in con-
struction there are many possible ways to construct buildings and each
individual element. In this prototype the activities associated with each
element type have been predefined and determined based on specific
extracted information for the element (e.g. location, material). More
work is needed to identify practical ways to be able to determine
which activities should be associated with each element while minimiz-
ing the use of default settings and user input.
While the proposed methodology is able to quickly generate
construction schedules, there are a few limitations observed. This
methodology suffers from a limitation inherent to ifcXML, which is
scalability and complexity [16]. The models that have been tested in
the proposed process are relatively simple BIMs with limited details
and are able to generate construction schedules in from under a min-
ute to a few, but with increased complexity in models time required
will increase, possibly significantly.
In developing the BIM based construction schedule, this research
utilized ifcXML technology, which consists of a very complex schema
which requires a substantial time investment to learn. However, with

Table 4
Materials of building components in case study.

Type of component Material Daily output RSMeans reference

Slab Concrete in place, including forms (4 uses), reinforcing steel, concrete, placement and finishing unless otherwise 15.62 C.Y. 03 30 53 40 0010
indicated
Wall Concrete block, autoclave aerated concrete block, solid, 4″ × 12″ × 24″, incl. mortar 600 S.F. 04 22 10 11 0010
Wall finishing Sprayed on walls, two coats 1560 S.F. 09 91 23 75 0250
Flooring Wood block flooring, end grain block flooring, end grain flooring, coated, 2″ thick 295 S.F. 09 64 16 10 0010
Ceiling Suspended acoustic ceiling tiles, fiberglass boards, film faced, 2′ × 2′ thick 625 S.F. 09 51 23 10 0010
Door Wood door paneled, interior, six panel, hollow core, 1–3/8″ thick molded hardboard, 2′–0″ × 6′–8″ 17 Ea. 08 14 33 10 0010
Window Aluminum windows, incl. frame and glazing, commercial grade, stack units, casement, 3′–1″ × 3′–2″ opening 10 Ea. 08 51 13 20 0010
Roof framing Lightweight framing, angle framing, field fabricated, 1/2″ × 1/2″ × 1/8″ 200 L.F. 05 12 23 40 0460
Formwork Forms in place, elevated slabs, flat plate, job-built plywood, to 15′ high, 4 use 560 S.F. 03 11 13 35 1150
Insulation Rigid insulation, 2-1/2″ thick, R10.9 800 S.F. 07 21 13 10 0580
Painting Walls and ceilings, concrete, drywall, or plaster, primer or sealer coat, smooth finish, brushwork 1150 S.F. 09 91 23 72 0200
 H. Kim et al. / Automation in Construction 35 (2013) 285–295
the introduction of simplified XML schema, released by buildingSMART
in the year 2012, the burden of complex data parsing is expected to be
reduced.
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