Facility Management Executives Lax in Helping to Define BIM?

Facility management executives need to play a role in defining BIM.  Having personally reached out to several leading FM professional organizations I am amazed at how little interest and/or awareness there is relative to BIM… not to mention other ‘disruptive technologies’ such as ‘cloud computing’.
Unfortunately this also appears to be the case for many large facility portfolio Owners.

As a direct result, the ‘life-cycle management of the built environment supported by digital technology’, BIM, which is so critically linked to major economic and environment factors, continues to falter.

True, BIM is in the ‘disillusionment’ phase of a typical technology adoption curve, however, the degree of resistance to ‘getting everyone on the same page’ (Owners, AEs, Contractors, Sub, Building Product Manufactures, Oversight Groups, Building Users), is almost overwhelming in the US…. vs. other Countries.  

It’s beyond time for everyone to “visualize the possibilities and realities of what we can do quickly and what will take more time to really get right.”

The best “starting point” is to understand that the ‘ construction delivery method ‘ sets the tone and ultimately plays a key role in defining the success or failure of any renovation, repair, sustainability, or new construction project.  The method must be collaborative, value-based, and have some form of risk/reward and/or performance basis.  Integrated project delivery, IPD and Job Order Contracting, JOC and other “emerging” construction delivery methods have this characteristics.

 

3D, 4D, 5D BIM Growth — UK

A recent study by NBS provides a snapshot of  BIM (Building Information Modelling) implementation within the UK’s construction industry.

BIM_Report_Infographic_2013

Conducted between December 2012 and February 2013, a cross section of 1,350 professionals spanning a range of business sizes and disciplines from across the industry including architecture, engineering and surveying were included.

71%  of respondents to the NBS survey agreed that BIM represents the ‘future of project information’.

39% confirmed that they were now actually using BIM.

Fewer than half of respondents are aware of the different levels of BIM, despite Level 2 being    mandatory on all Government projects by the end of 2016.

74% agreeing that ‘the industry is ‘not clear enough on what BIM is yet’.

Only one-third of those questioned claim to be ‘very’ or ‘quite’ confident in their BIM knowledge and skills.

Despite the uncertainty around the subject, the survey once again supported the view that the greater use of BIM is unstoppable with 73% agreeing that clients will increasingly insist on its use, 66% saying the same about contractors and 51% confirming that the Government ‘is on the right track with BIM’.

Of those who have adopted BIM, more than half believe that the introduction of BIM has resulted in greater cost efficiencies whilst three-quarters report increased coordination of construction documents. Improved productivity due to easy retrieval of information and better quality visualisations were other gains.

NBS-NationlBIMReport2013-single

Via http://www.4Clicks.com – Premier software and service for  cost estimating and efficient construction project delivery – JOC – Job Order Contracting,  SABER, IPD, IDIQ, SATOC, MATOC, MACC, POCA, BOA, BOS.  Featuring exclusively enhanced 400,000 RSMeans Construction Cost Database.

BIM Evolution

In the long history of humankind, those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.
– Charles Darwin

BIM, the life-cycle management of the built environment supported by digital technology, requires a fundamental change in how the construction (Architects, Contractors, Engineers) and facility management (Owners, Service Providers, Building Product Manufactures, Oversight Groups, Building Users) sectors operate on a day-to-day basis.  

BIM, combined and  Cloud Computing are game changers.  They are disruptive technologies with integral business processes/practices that demand collaboration, transparency, and accurate/current information displayed via common terminology.

The traditional ad-hoc and adversarial business practices commonly associated with Construction and Facility Management are changing as we speak.    Design-bid-build and even Design-Build will rapidly go by the wayside in favor of the far more efficient processes of Integrated Project Delivery – IPD, and Job Order Contracting – JOC, and similar collaborative programs.  (JOC is a form of integrated project delivery specifically targeting facility renovation, repair, sustainability, and minor new construction).

There is no escaping the change.   Standardized data architectures (Ominclass, COBie, Uniformat, Masterformat) and cost databases (i.e. RSMeans), accesses an localized via cloud computing are even now beginning to be available.   While historically, the construction and facility management sectors have lagged their counterparts (automotive, aerospace, medical, …)  relative to technology and LEAN business practices, environmental and economic market drivers and government mandates are closing the gap.

The construction and life-cycle management of the built environment requires the integration off several knowledge domains, business “best-practices”, and technologies as portrayed below.   The efficient use of this BIG DATA is enabled by the BIM, Cloud Computing, and Integrated Project Delivery methods.

The greatest challenges to these positive changes are  the CULTURE of the Construction and the Facility Management Sectors.  Also, an embedded first-cost vs. life-cycle or total cost of ownership perspective.  An the unfortunate marketing spotlight upon the technology of 3D visualization vs. BIM.   Emphasis MUST be place upon the methods of how we work on a daily basis…locally and globally  − strategic planning, capitial reinvestment planning, designing collaborating, procuring, constructing, managing and operating.  All of these business processes have different impacts upon the “facility” infrastructure and  construction supply chain, building Owners, Stakeholders, etc., yet communication terms, definitions, must be transparent and consistently applied in order to gain  greater efficiencies.

Some facility life-cycle management are already in place for the federal government facility portfolio and its only a matter of time before these are expanded and extended into all other sectors.

BIM, not 3D visualization, but true BIM or Big BIM,  and Cloud Computing will connect information from every discipline together.  It will not necessarily be a single combined model.  In fact the latter has significant drawbacks.    Each knowledge domain has independent areas of expertise and requisite process that would be diluted and marginalized if managed within one model.   That said, appropriate “roll-up” information will be available to a higher level model.   (The issue of capability and productivity marginalization can be proven by looking a ERP and IWMS systems.  Integration of best-in-class technology and business practices is always support to systems that attempt to do everything, yet do not single thing well.)

Fundamental Changes to Project Delivery for Repair, Renovation, Sustainability, and New Construction Projects MUST include:

• Qualifications Based or Best Value Selection
• Some form of pricing transparency and standardization
• Early and ongoing information-sharing among project stakeholders
• Appropriate distribution of risk
• Some form of financial incentive to drive performance / performance-based relationships

BIM vs Information Silos

 BIM is not about software or technology but about CULTURE CHANGE and CHANGE MANAGEMENT.

BIM is about simplifying and adding visibility to the life-cycle management of the built environment.  You are either “on-board” or “not”.  It’s up to you.

BIM and FM are synonymous.  Unfortunately there are very few instances of BIM.

The biggest mistake made by most people new to BIM is to assume that BIM is all about technology, and so focus all their efforts on mastering the technology rather than considering the impact that the application of this technology will have on the processes among Owners, AEs, Contractors, Subs, Business Product and Service Providers.

IFMA BIM Lifecycle Operations Community of Practice (BIMLO COP) Kickoff Meeting Video – http://www.gosee.tv/bimlco/

BIM requirements:

1. Organizational Commitment
2. Collaborative, Efficient Project Delivery Methods (IPD- Integrated Project Delivery, JOC – Job Order Contracting …)
3. Standards (OMNICLASS, COBie, IFC), Common Terms, Definitions, Metrics, Cost Data (Standardized Cost Data, example-RSMeans)
4.  Life-cycle Information
5.  Open digital technology supporting the above
6.  Continuous Training and Improvement

via http://www.4Clicks.com – Premier software and services for construction cost estimating and efficient project delivery – IPD, JOC, SABER, IDIQ, SATOC, MATOC, MACC, POCA, BOA…featuring the best representation of RSMeans Cost Data, exclusively enhanced 400,000 line item database.

BIG DATA, BIM, Life-cycle Management of the Built Environment

BIM and BuildingSMART… and The the Official Definition of BIM

The international home for buildingSMART can is located at http://buildingsmart.com.

buildingSMART International – A neutral, international and unique not for profit organisation supporting open BIM through the life cycle.

buildingSMART regional chapters exist in Europe, North America, Australia, Asia and Middle East.

Duties of buildingSMART include the development and maintenance of international standards for “openBIM”:

• buildingSMART Processes
• buildingSMART Data Dictionary
• buildingSMART Data model

The BIM Evolution Continues with OPEN BIM Draft V8 20120131

What is BIM?
BIM is an acronym which represents three separatebut linked functions: Building Information Modelling:
Is a BUSINESS PROCESS for generating and leveraging building data to design, construct and operate the building during its lifecycle.
BIM allows all stakeholders to have access to the same information at the same time through interoperability between technology platforms.
Building Information Model:
Is the DIGITAL REPRESENTATION of physical and functional characteristics of a facility. As such it serves as a shared knowledge resource for information about a facility, forming a reliable basis for decisions during its life-­‐cyclefrom inceptiononwards.
Building Information Management:
Is the ORGANIZATION & CONTROL of the business process byutilizing the information in the digital prototype to effect the sharing of information over the entire lifecycle of an asset. The benefits include centralizedand visual communication, early exploration of options, sustainability,  efficient design, integration of disciplines, site control, as built documentation, etc. – effectively developing an asset lifecycle process and model from conception to final retirement.

What is OPEN BIM?
OPEN BIM is a universal approach to the collaborative design, realization and operation of buildings based on open standards and workflows.
OPEN BIM is an initiative of buildingSMART International (bSI) and several leading software vendors using the open buildingSMART Data
Model. Why is it important? OPEN BIM supports a transparent, open workflow, allowing project members to participate regardless of the
software tools they use. OPEN BIM creates a common language for
widely referenced processes, allowing industry and governmentto procure projects with transparent commercial engagement,comparable service evaluation and assured data quality. OPEN BIM provides enduring project data for use throughout the asset life-­‐cycle, avoiding multiple input of the same data and consequential errors. Small and large (platform) software vendors can participate and compete on system 9ndependent, “best of breed” solutions. OPEN BIM energizes the on-­‐line product supply  side with more exact user demand searches and delivers the product data directly into the BIM.

The buildingsmart-tech.org website is the international website of two long standing sub-committees of buildingSMART International.

• Model Support Group – »MSG
• Implementation Support Group – »ISG