**1. Introduction**

In recent years, adopting building information modeling (BIM) has become increasingly popular in the design, construction, operations, and maintenance phases of the building's life cycle [1,2]. BIM is a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility and a shared knowledge resource for information about a facility, forming a reliable basis for decisions during its life cycle [3]. In the engineering industry, owners, designers, builders, and managers have already reported the benefits of adopting the BIM methodology, which has led to its increasing acceptance at a global level [4].

Maturity models, which originated from total quality management [5] and are widely used in various industries [6], are primarily based upon the capability maturity model (CMM) of the Software Engineering Institute. Maturity models allow individuals and organizations to self-assess the maturity of various aspects of their processes against benchmarks [7], and enable organizations to accelerate the enhancement in their capabilities in fields such as business process management [8], software research and development [9], digital government [10], knowledge management [11], and project management [12]. Maturity models assume predictable patterns in every evolutionary phase of organization development [13]. These distinctive phases, with each later phase being superior to a previous phase, provide a roadmap for organizational improvement. The continuous progress of an organization on the evolutionary path implies gradual improvements in the organizational capabilities. The maturity levels represent a staged path for the performance and process improvement efforts of organizations [14].

**Citation:** Sun, C.; Chen, H.; Long, R.; Liao, R. Research on BIM Application Two-Dimensional Maturity Model. *Buildings* **2022**, *12*, 1960. https:// doi.org/10.3390/buildings12111960

Academic Editor: Amos Darko

Received: 20 October 2022 Accepted: 8 November 2022 Published: 11 November 2022

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BIM maturity can be defined as the level of "quality, repeatability and degree of excellence" in relation to performing a BIM-related task or delivering a BIM service or output [15]. Different BIM maturity models have been created to measure BIM maturity in the architecture, engineering, and construction industries [16]. Some models focus on assessing BIM against projects, while others target evaluating organizations [17].

However, the existing BIM maturity models have two main inadequacies. Firstly, most maturity models tend to evaluate the BIM application maturity at specific project phases under specified conditions, such as the design phase [18,19], construction phase [20,21], and facility management [22,23]. Few models can be applied to all phases from design and construction to operations and maintenance. Secondly, each model puts forward its own differing assessment indexes and has its own definition of maturity levels, and there is no commonly accepted model. As a result, it is difficult for users to choose a suitable model for their BIM maturity assessment [24].

In the era of digital twins, for the engineering industry, BIM represents the virtual world, whereas engineering construction represents the real world, and the two are like twins. Therefore, there is a need to study the BIM maturity and the project management maturity at the same time; however, there is no literature in this regard at present.

To this end, this study proposes an innovative BIM maturity model called the BIM Application Two-Dimensional Maturity (BATM) model, which combines the functions of the project management maturity model (PMMM) and BIM maturity model, simultaneously emphasizes project business management (PBM) and project BIM application (PBA) from the two dimensions of the real world (PBM) and virtual world (PBA), and achieves the effect of 1 + 1 > 2. The application of the BATM model helps in enhancing the maturity level of the project management and BIM application, improving the efficiency of organizational production management, and promoting organizational advancement along a maturity ladder.

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. The next section provides the background of project management maturity models and BIM maturity models such that the BATM framework can be better understood. The Methods section introduces the BATM concept, definition, model structure, and the related questionnaire, as well as an example in which the BATM model is applied. Subsequently, the important functions and innovations of the study are discussed. Finally, the Conclusions section presents the theoretical and practical implications of the study.

#### **2. Research Background**
