On a large construction project, BIM documents come from numerous architects and engineers, all of whom use a different BIM software application to do their work. Making these documents available for everyone typically involves a lot of email attachments or FTP site sharing, which in addition to being unproductive also results in significant gaps between BIM data and project management data.

Horizontal Glue is an integrated project database that provides direct links to BIM software (such as Revit and NavisWorks) and project management software applications (such as Prolog and Proliance). When implementing Horizontal Glue, the vendor looks at a company's existing workflow to find points at which BIM data can be used to augment the estimate, scope and budget phases of a construction project, according to Horizontal. (In addition, the vendor has partnered with RS Means to obtain cost estimate data.)

Information from one user's BIM software can be published to the Glue Server, which then takes the BIM document's attribute information to create a link between the objects in the model and the line items in another user's project management software, according to Horizontal. Thus, whenever a change is made to the BIM document, the budget line items will change in real time, the vendor said.

In addition, the use of Horizontal Glue provides version control, automated archiving, quantity take-off and the ability to link BIM objects directly to an RFI, the vendor said.