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The tender BEP and the mobilisation plan promised people, software, a CDE and ways of working. Mobilisation is when the lead appointed party puts them in place and, above all, tests them, before the first deliverable is due.
- 1Confirm the peopleMandatory
The named people are available, briefed and trained on the project’s methods.
Output: Updated team list and training record
Gate: Every task team has its information lead in place - 2Set up the CDE
Folders or workflows, metadata fields, access rights and the approval steps as the BEP describes them.
Output: A configured CDE with test users
Gate: Each role can do exactly what it should, and no more - 3Test an exchangeMandatory
Every team publishes a sample model and drawing through the real workflow, in the agreed formats and versions.
Output: A test federation and a short report
Gate: Files open, align and carry the right names and codes - 4Fix and record
Problems found go into the BEP, the standard or the templates, not into an email.
Output: Revised BEP, templates and risk register
Gate: The lead appointed party signs off mobilisation
Each gate is a test that has actually been run, not a promise in the BEP.
People
Confirm that the people named in the tender are actually available, and that each task team has an information lead. Brief everyone on the project's information standard, naming, CDE workflow and checks. A one-hour session in week one is cheaper than correcting names for months.
The CDE and IT
Set up the CDE as the BEP describes: the states and approval steps, the metadata fields (status, revision, classification) with their allowed values, and access rights per role. Create a test user for each role and check that each can do exactly what it should: a task team can't publish, a viewer can't upload.
Methods: test a real exchange
This is the step most often skipped, and the one that matters most. Every task team produces a sample: a model and a drawing, made from the project templates, named to the standard, exported in the agreed formats, and shared through the real workflow. Then the lead appointed party federates them and checks:
- Do the files open in every team's software version?
- Do the models line up (shared coordinates, levels)?
- Are names, status and revision right, and accepted by the CDE?
- Do the required properties come through the IFC export?
Mobilisation is a kick-off meeting and a CDE login for everyone. The first coordination models arrive in week six: the MEP model is two metres off and rotated, the structural IFC has no property sets, and the architect's files are a newer version nobody else can open. The first three coordination meetings are spent fixing exchanges.
In week one each team publishes a small test model and drawing. The federation shows the MEP offset immediately; the engineer fixes the survey point; the BEP gets an agreed software version and an IFC export setting per tool. Week six's models line up the first time.
You are the lead appointed party's information manager. The delivery team is an architect, a structural engineer and an MEP engineer, each using different authoring software. The first coordination model is due in four weeks. Write a mobilisation checklist for the first two weeks: what is tested, by whom, and what counts as a pass.
Key takeaways
- Mobilisation is when the lead appointed party puts in place the resources, IT and methods promised in its tender, and tests them.
- It confirms the people (available, trained), sets up the CDE (workflows, metadata, access) and tests a real exchange between all teams.
- Problems found go back into the BEP, the information standard and the templates, not into emails.
- The tender's mobilisation plan says what will be tested, by whom and by when; mobilisation ends with a sign-off.
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