THE FRAMEWORK
How the assessment works
The Planaletix Digital Design, BIM & Visualisation Maturity Assessment (DBV) evaluates an AEC firm's design production engine and its visual and content assets across twenty dimensions in two parts. Part A measures BIM and digital engineering: ISO 19650 practice, the common data environment, model authoring standards, multidiscipline coordination, drawing production, asset handover and digital twin readiness, reality capture, GIS, openBIM interoperability and BIM capability. Part B measures visualisation and digital content: content strategy, firm-owned BIM family libraries, materials and finishes libraries, FF&E and fit-out content, the rendering pipeline, real-time visualisation, VR/AR design review, client experience and sales visualisation, media production and workflow integration.
BIM maturity is not the number of Revit licences a firm owns. It is whether information is produced, coordinated, checked and handed over under a governed standard — and whether the firm's visual and content assets are managed as the business assets they are. The DBV measures both halves, because a firm strong in production and weak in content, or the reverse, is leaving margin on the table.
20 DIMENSIONS · 200 QUESTIONS
Explore the dimensions and maturity levels
WHO IT IS FOR
Built for AEC leadership teams
The DBV is designed for the leaders accountable for how an AEC firm produces, coordinates and presents its design information:
- Managing Directors and Design Directors of architecture, engineering and interiors practices
- BIM Directors, BIM Managers and Digital Delivery Directors
- Heads of Digital Transformation in developers, contractors and EPCs
- Visualisation Directors and Heads of CGI / Media teams
- Technical Directors accountable for deliverable quality and standards
- Development Directors whose sales galleries and marketing suites depend on design content
- Owner-operators receiving BIM handover and building digital twin capability
- Cost consultancies and QS firms working from design models
The DBV evaluates the firm as a design-production and content business — not one project or one office. It applies to developers, design consultants, construction contractors, EPC contractors, owner-operators and cost consultancies of any size, in any country. At the start of the assessment you select your firm type — or several, for multi-disciplinary businesses — and the assessment automatically presents only the dimensions applicable to your selection, renormalising the scoring so your result is comparable and fair. Questions name both design-side and site-side evidence, so the same instrument serves a boutique architecture studio and a top-tier EPC.
STANDARDS ALIGNMENT
Mapped to the standards you work to
Every dimension of the DBV framework maps to the standards and mandates that govern digital design delivery:
- ISO 19650 series — organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including the CDE workflow (WIP, Shared, Published, Archived), EIR/BEP practice and Level of Information Need
- UK BIM Framework guidance and the Information Management Platform
- buildingSMART openBIM standards — IFC, BCF and IDS — and openBIM certification
- Uniclass and OmniClass classification systems
- Dubai Municipality BIM mandate and Saudi MOMRAH BIM implementation mandate (phased from January 2024), plus client-side mandates from giga-projects and national developers
- NBS Digital Construction Report and Autodesk/Deloitte State of Design & Make — the benchmark sources
- COBie and asset information exchange conventions for handover and digital twin readiness
WAYS TO TAKE IT
Self-assessment, validation or a full programme
THE FRAMEWORK AT A GLANCE
Digital Design, BIM & Visualisation: all 20 dimensions
Part A — BIM & Digital Engineering (55%)
- D1 BIM Strategy, Standards & ISO 19650 Practice — risk gate
- D2 Common Data Environment Adoption — risk gate
- D3 Model Authoring & Modelling Standards
- D4 Multidiscipline Coordination & Clash Management
- D5 Drawing Production & Deliverable Quality
- D6 Asset Information, Handover & Digital Twin Readiness
- D7 Reality Capture & Scan-to-BIM
- D8 GIS & Geospatial Integration
- D9 openBIM, Interoperability & Classification
- D10 BIM Capability, Training & Adoption
Part B — Visualisation & Digital Content (45%)
- D11 Visualisation & Content Strategy
- D12 BIM Content & Family Libraries — risk gate
- D13 Materials & Finishes Libraries
- D14 FF&E & Fit-Out Libraries
- D15 Rendering Pipeline & Cloud Rendering
- D16 Real-Time Visualisation
- D17 VR/AR & Immersive Design Review
- D18 Client Experience & Sales Visualisation
- D19 Media Production & Animation
- D20 Visualisation Capability & Workflow Integration
QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
Is this a software audit?
No. The DBV is tool-agnostic — it measures governed capability, not licence counts. Platforms are referenced as categories with familiar examples, and the same maturity logic applies whatever your stack.
We are a developer, not a design firm — is it for us?
Yes. Select "Developer" at the start and the assessment scopes itself to the dimensions a developer is accountable for — mandating and receiving BIM, handover and asset information, sales visualisation — and skips production dimensions like drawing QA.
We do both design and contracting.
Select both firm types. The assessment covers the union of the applicable dimensions and the report notes the combined scope.
Who should answer the questions?
The person accountable for digital design delivery — typically the BIM Director or Design Director — ideally after consulting the CDE administrator, lead modellers, the visualisation lead and IT. Answers save automatically.
How long does it take?
150–180 minutes for the full 20 dimensions; less where firm-type scoping reduces the set. It can be completed over several sessions.
Is our data secure?
The report is generated in your browser. Answers and scores are stored in Planaletix's secured assessment record for your engagement and are never shared.