BIM for facilities management: A framework and a common data environment using open standards

Abstract

BIM for Facilities Management (BIM for FM) is a relatively new and growing topic of inquiry aiming to fulfil the informational needs of the operational phase of assets within increasingly digitalised project workflows. Research into the management of structured (i.e. graphical and non-graphical) and unstructured data (i.e. documents) has largely focused on design and construction phases. Information management in facilities management and maintenance is still challenged by the lack of a structured framework that can simultaneously fulfil these three capabilities: (1) the delivery of information models (i.e. Asset Information Models) from distributed data sources; (2) the validation of these information models against the requirements; and (3) the use of their information in facilities management (e.g. operation and maintenance). This research aims to develop and test a framework and a prototype Common Data Environment (CDE) to achieve these three capabilities.The framework and the developed CDE are entirely based on use open standards and integration of existing technologies. A requirements model, underpinning the framework and the CDE was developed during three iterative stages of interviews -in line with the adopted Grounded Theory and Design Science Research methodologies -with industry experts and through a three-stage coding process at each iteration. The framework and the CDE were tested in pilot demonstrations with a use case focused on preventive and reactive maintenance. The testing demonstrated that the implementation of 'BIM for FM' processes is feasible with the proposed framework and CDE using only open standards and existing technologies. Some additional requirements for BIM for FM processes were also identified during the verification sessions with industry and are proposed for future research.

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“…Recent hardware technology developments have made data capture an option in situations where as-built data of an existing building are not available. However, irrespective of the method used to generate the BIM model, its accuracy is essential for the use in FM (Patacas et al, 2020;El Ammari et al, 2019).…”

“…El Ammari and Hammad, (2019) suggested supporting interactive visual collaboration between the field and the office using BIM-based FM. Patacas et al, (2020) recommended adopting a Common Data Environment (CDE) using open standards to improve facility management. Pishdad-Bozorgi, (2018) describes the need for IFCs, Integrated Project Delivery to enable efficient BIM-enabled handover.…”

Implementation of Facility Management for Port Infrastructure through the Use of UAVs, Photogrammetry and BIM

“…The International Association of Facility Management defines “FM” as a discipline that encompasses various areas to ensure and manage the operation of buildings and/or infrastructures and their associated services through the integration of people, spaces, processes, and technologies specific to such buildings or infrastructures [ 31 ]. In this sense, correct and reliable information management facilitates decision-making in the operation and maintenance (O&M) phase [ 32 ]; however, traditional FM activities methods are performed based on planes or fragmented or dispersed information, which requires more time to be spent collecting information due to the lack of integration of information [ 33 ]. Thus, the integration and use of BIM in FM is becoming increasingly common.…”

Challenges in Industrialized Renovation of Apartment Buildings

“…Building information modeling and simulation (Alwisy et al 2019) and advanced data analytics (e.g., machine learning), utilizing collected data, are used to plan and design solutions. Building cloud-based common data environments (ISO 2018;Patacas et al 2020) and digital twins (Sacks et al 2020) could be used to manage data in the sustainable delivery of renovation projects.…”