ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Built Environ.
Sec. Sustainable Design and Construction
Volume 11 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbuil.2025.1687407
An Integrated Decision Support System for BIM Level 3 Implementation
Provisionally accepted
- 1American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
- 2Cleveland State University, Cleveland, United States
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The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector accounts for 39% of greenhouse gas emissions, 40% of solid waste, and 12% of potablewater usage globally, underscoring the need for sustainable, efficient practices. Building Information Modeling (BIM) offers a digital framework to address these challenges through lifecycle management, collaboration, and efficiency gains. However, most organizations remain at BIM Level 2 maturity, which limits their potential for full integration. This study proposes a comprehensive Decision Support System (DSS) to facilitate the adoption of BIM Level 3, with an emphasis on collaboration, sustainability, and data interoperability. The DSS integrates Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to identify and prioritize key drivers— including political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, legal, and environmental factors.The framework is validated through case studies, demonstrating its ability to align organizational strategies with sustainable practices. Organization (A) highlighted several essential components, ensuring a comprehensive assessment of BIM level 3 implementation within the organization. On the other hand, organization (B) stressed the importance of comparing the predicted environmental performance outcomes generated by the DSS with actual performance data collected during the building's occupancy phase to validate the system's predictive capabilities. These findings offer a practical pathway for achieving BIM Level 3 maturity, enhancing efficiency, supporting digital transformation, and advancing sustainability in the AEC industry.
Keywords: Building information modeling (BIM), BIM Level 3 maturity, Decision support system (DSS), Integrated project delivery (IPD), analytic hierarchy process (AHP), Techniquefor Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), Structural equation modeling(SEM)
Received: 17 Aug 2025; Accepted: 18 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Abumoeilak, Beheiry and ATABAY. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: SERTER ATABAY, satabay@aus.edu
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