BIM for Facility Management

BIM for Facility Management Reviews

BIM (Building Information Modeling) has become an essential tool in building architecture and construction. Creating a logic model, structured all information related to a construction project can help the project go smoothly from one stage to another.

BIM helps keep construction projects on time and on budget. It helps ensure regulatory compliance. It helps facilitate the necessary collaboration that must occur between project planning and eventual construction.



For most people, the concept of a building information model implies a detail of a building rendered in 3D. The typical BIM not only include detailed representations of the planned building, but also specific information related to the engineering, construction and operation of buildings.

This information can include drawings, architectural specifications, site information, sheet material, budgets, schedules, staff, and more. BIM is not only useful in the design and construction of a building, but can also be very useful in the management of buildings, once construction is completed.

Cobie (Construction Operations Building Information Exchange) was accepted by the National Institute of Building Sciences in December 2011 as part of its standard National Building Information Model (NBIMS-US).

Cobie is used to capture and record essential project data from point of origin, including: product sheets, parts lists, warranties and preventative maintenance schedules.

Cobie's popularity is growing, and in September 2014 was included in a code of practice issued as British Standard (BS 1192-4: 2014, "the collaborative production of information Part 4: Compliance with the employer sharing requirements using Cobie information. - code of practice ")

This standard will require contractors involved in the construction of government buildings to comply with Cobie in providing the information system for the building owner after construction is completed.

Although this expectation in Britain is controversial and has been characterized as "unrealistic", it becomes increasingly clear that the information involved in Building Information Models can, must and will be used to help maintain and management building after construction.

This is where BIM becomes management facilities, and that is where some enterprising software developers create a new market for you.

Some BIM software developers have expanded their product lines, including products Facility Management BIMs transfer information in a useful format for the operation and maintenance of the constructed building.

In the space between BIM and facility management, it is often necessary for more automation. The exchange of information on the building today often requires an enormous amount of work - a lot of work described in man-years.

Often, facilities managers are provided several large paper boxes of documents, from which they must manually retrieve the timetable information of the assets and maintenance to be included in the computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS).

This process usually involves pallets of boxes filled with paper operations and maintenance manuals and drawings. Imagine the time necessary for the creation, analysis and transcription of hundreds of pages of documents to validate transcripts and manually enter data, assuming a CMMS system as used.

As time passes, documents can be moved or lost, which increases the cost of maintenance activities and potentially increase downtime in strategic installations. A study in 2011 suggested that 8% of annual maintenance budgets could be eliminated if the standard open electronic information were made available to technicians before beginning the complex work orders.

This is where some BIM software developers found a new market by providing the tools to transfer information without BIM pain in a facilities management system.