As an Owner, Architect, Engineer, Contractor, Building User, or Oversight Group, you can strive for BEST VALUE, OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE, and TRANSPARENCY or maintain ‘status quo’, it’s your choice.
Presuming you want to improve productivity and provide the best possible return on resource expenditure, the first step is to improve your awareness, knowledge, and competency relative to physical asset life-cycle management.
Stop attempting to address problems with TECHNOLOGY, as all you will do is compound existing problems. Focus upon improving physical asset management competencies, especially the deployment COLLABORATIVE CONSTRUCTION DELIVERY METHODS.
The single most important consideration when attempting to improve quality, delivery times, and lowering expenditures is the CONSTRUCTION DELIVERY METHOD.
It is the CONSTRUCTION DELIVERY METHOD that sets defines roles, responsibilities, levels of risk, business processes and workflows, information standards, timelines, transparency, and collaboration.
It is the CONSTRUCTION DELIVERY METHOD that sets the overall tone for renovation, repair, maintenance, or new construction projects and determines ultimate success or failure more so than any other single element.
Collaborative construction delivery methods have been implemented for decades are a proven to delivery in excess of 90% of projects on-time, on-budget, and to the satisfaction of all participants. The most notable processes are Integrated Project Delivery, IPD, for major new construction, and Job Order Contracting, JOC for renovation, repair, and minor new construction.
Real property owners must become more knowledgeable in these areas and require collaborative construction delivery methods. As note, technology, such as 3D BIM, will not solve the woes of the AEC and Facilities Management sectors. The solution is change-management and improving competency.
Characteristics of LEAN Collaborative Construction Delivery Methods
If you consider BIM to be the solution to low construction productivity, think again.
3D visualization and technology will do little to solve construction project delivery woes.
The root of the decades long decline in construction productivity and associated poor facility management practices is cultural.
Construction is like any other relatively complex manufacturing process. It requires a focus upon best management practices, education and training, key performance indicators, and continuous improvement, in short, LEAN business process application.
Reducing end product variability, cycle-times, waste, and cost is not rocket science. There are multiple proven LEAN construction delivery methods and life-cycle / total cost-of-ownership models available. Owners must drive their accelerated adoption.
The most widely used and successful LEAN construction delivery methods are Integrated Project Delivery, IPD, for major new construction, and Job Order Contracting, JOC, for renovation, repair, maintenance, sustainability, and minor new construction. When deployed and managed properly by Owners, on-time, on-budget, quality construction is the norm versus the exception.
Characteristics of LEAN Construction Delivery
Collaboration
Mutual Respect & Trust
Financial Transparency
Owner Leadership without excessive management & control
Shared Risk/Reward
Best Value Procurement
Common Standard Terms, Definitions, & Data Architectures (UNIFORMAT, MASTERFORMAT, OMNICLASS)
Continuous Education, Training, & Improvement
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) / Audits
Written Execution / Operations Manuals (Roles, Responsibilities, Deliverables, Workflows / Standardized Work Processes, Reporting Requirements…)
Ontology was originally reserved as a philosophical exercise dealing with categorization, analysis, and inter-relationships. Ontology is now a rapidly evolving science in response to increasing complex information systems and/or “big data”.
Specific to the built-environment life-cycle management BLM / BIM, ontology is a fundamental requirement as it’s needed to establish robust, coherent, and consistent representations of ever-changing information. This information comes from a variety of competencies, processes, and technologies and must be aggregated and harmonized to enabling enhanced decision-support mechanisms and overall improvement in resources allocation.
“Formal ontology now spans conceptual modeling, database design, software engineering, organizational modeling, artificial intelligence, computational linguistics, the life sciences, bioinformatics, geographic information science, knowledge engineering, information retrieval, and the semantic web.”
Reusing existing buildings achieves a 15%+ higher return on investment and 20% reduction in greenhouse gases. It is less costly and more sustainable to reuse existing buildings.
With 345,000 buildings, with over 105,000 buildings more than 50 years old, the importance of efficient renovation, repair, and sustainability of existing buildings is paramount.
DoD Building Treatment Terms
•“Adaptive reuse & rehabilitation” are terms of art outside DoD
•The DoD term for “major rehabilitation” is “modernization”
•Modernization means: “the alteration or replacement of facilities solely to implement new or higher standards to accommodate new functions or to replace a building component that typically lasts more than 50 years.”
•This study compares the costs and GHG of modernization with new construction
Sustainment/Status Quo
•Formulated for measuring baseline energy consumption
Demolition and New Construction
•LEED Silver certifiable construction – 2009 LEED for New Construction and Major Renovations
Full Modernization with Strict Application of Historic Preservation Standards (HPS)
•Full modernization with a strict application of Historic Preservation Standards ( HPS) and other DoD facility design standards
•LEED Silver
Full Modernization with Strict Application of AT/FP
•Full rehabilitation/modernization but with strict application of Anti-terrorism/ Force Protection requirements through building hardening, seismic and other DoD facility design standards
•LEED Silver
Applicable design standards include:
Whole Building Design
UFC 1-200-01 General Building Requirements
UFC 4-610-01 Administrative Facilities
UFC 1-900-01 Selection of Methods for the Reduction, Reuse and Recycling of Demolition Waste
UFC 3-310-04 Seismic Design for Buildings
DoD Minimum Antiterrorism Force Protection Standards for Buildings
Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation of Historic Buildings
Findings
DoD’s Pre-War masonry buildings are an underutilized resource for meeting DoD GHG carbon reduction goals
ATFP and Progressive Collapse requirements tend to be rigidly and prescriptively applied, raising construction costs and introducing additional Scope 3 GHG emissions
Prior modernization treatments result in loss of original energy saving design features in Pre-War Buildings
Differences in GHG in alternatives resulted from the amount of new building materials introduced and transportation of demolition debris
Cost estimates and construction bid requests should include materials quantities in addition to costs to evaluate and validate GHG impacts.
Design professionals with practical experience with archaic building materials and systems are critical to the development of accurate planning level specifications
GHG emission tradeoffs of proposed new materials and building options should be evaluated early in the conceptual design process
Recommendations
Incorporate life-cycle GHG emissions analysis into DoD MILCON and SRM programs
Invest in formulation of carbon calculator system
Place more emphasis on existing buildings as viable project alternatives to meet mission requirements
Identify characteristic strengths and vulnerabilities by class of building
Place more emphasis on existing buildings to meet DoD energy reduction goals
Avoid modernization treatments that result in loss of original energy saving design features in Pre-War Buildings
Efficient project delivery methods are of critical importance to the task of sustainability and life-cycle management of the built environment. Job Order Contracting ( JOC ), and SABER are proven project delivery methods for renovation, repair, sustainability, and minor new construction. JOC and SABER are a form of Integrated Project Delivery for existing buildings and infrastructure.
JOC and SABER provide the following advantages to building portfolio Owners:
•Fast and timely delivery of projects.
•Consolidation of procurement – lower overhead cost and procurement cost.
•Contractor and owner efficiencies in prosecution of the work. Development of a partner relationship based on work performance.
•Virtual elimination of legal disputes, claims and mitigation of change orders.
•Standard pricing and specification utilizing a published unit price book (UPB), typcially RSMeans-based, resulting in efficient and effective estimating, design, and fixed price construction.
A bit more about JOC –
“IPD Lite” for Existing Buildings.
Consolidates procurement to shorten Project Timelines and reduce procurement costs.
Transparency of pricing and procurement compliance through Unit Price Book. Owner creates internal estimating (IGE)
Long Term Facility Relationship increases productivity and enables reiterative process improvements.
Quality and performance incentivized through IDIQ form of contract with minimal guarantee and clear maximum volume.
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Exclusive 400,000 line item enhancement of RSMeans Cost Data
Legal and Policy Framework
•National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 ( Amended)
•Energy Policy Act of 2005
•Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
•Executive Order 13423: Federal Environment, Energy, and Transportation Management (2007)
•Executive Order 13514: Federal Leadership in Environment, Energy, Economic Performance (2009)
Is the trend analysis of the Business Value of BIM in North America from 2007 through 2012 reality, or are many of us walking around with rose colored glasses?
I ask you, do you really believe the following statement ” Now in 2012, 71% of architects, engineers, contractors, and owners report they have become engaged with BIM on their projects …”. If you define BIM as the life-cycle management of the built environment supported by digital technology, I can tell you that either the survey is flawed… a lot of people don’t know what BIM is… or we have a lot of folks inflating the truth. There is NO WAY 71% of ANY of the groups are “engaged with BIM on their projects”…period, end of story.
Playing with Statistics? The 71% average appears to have been calculated by taking a simple average of the “adoption rate” from architects, engineers, and contractors” from three size classes of firms “small, medium, and large”. If I am correct, this is just plan WRONG. Most firms in the U.S. are small business, thus a weighted average must be applied. The “adoption rate” for small firms 50%… a number I also believe to be inaccurate.
I just came back from the NIBS Conference. This is without question, the most valuable, authoritative meeting relative to BIM in the United States. How many people were there you might ask? A few hundred at most.
So, what does any of this matter? Simple really. Until our industry stops the hype and focus on important issues relative to BIM, we will continue to be mired in inaction. The AECOO is the most unproductive business sector and also has the lowest rate of technology adoption. These are facts…. if one wishes to be interested in facts that is.
Here some thoughts as to where emphasis must be placed:
Greater adoption and use of collaborative construction delivery methods: IPD – Integrated Project Delivery, and JOC – Job Order Contracting. The later is a form of IPD specifically targeting renovation, repair, sustainability, and minor new construction projects. Let’s face it, 80% or more of all funding for the built environment will be going in renovation, repair, and sustainability.
Emphasis on business process, strategy, and standardized terms, metrics, and data architecture vs. technology. Technology is NOT the problem, is the lack of clear, robust business strategy and processes, and domain knowledge… largely on the part of Owners that is the primary obstacle to progressive change. Owners write the checks, they are “where the buck stops”.
Focus upon life-cycle costs / total cost of ownership, vs. first costs.
A bit more on data standards…. OMNICLASS, UNIFORMAT, MASTERFORMAT, COie, IFC, et al… all have there roll. Some will survive, some may not. The point is that unless we have standardized terms, definitions, detailed reference and actual cost information (localized materials, equipment, and labors), physical and functional condition metrics, etc. etc. etc. … we can’t collaborate or improve productivity!
Participation by all stakeholders – Owners, AE’s, Contractors, SubContractors, Building Users, Oversight Groups, Regulatory Bodies, Building Product Manufacturers, Communities, ….
I am writing this from Washington, D.C. while participating in the NIBS Building Innovation 2013 Conference. The buildingSMART alliance conference is part of this gathering under the title “Integrating BIM: Moving the Industry Forward.”
BIM education and practice requires focus upon process and associated return-on-investment. Robust communication and adoption of standard and/or “best practice” construction planning and delivery methods specific to efficient life-cycle management of the built environment are sorely needed.
It is amazing that Integrated Project Delivery – IPD, and “IPD-lite”… the latter being Job Order Contracting and SABER which are forms of IPD specifically for renovation, repair, sustainability and minor new construction… are not being brought to the forefront as critical aspects of BIM. It is the construction planning and project delivery method that sets the tone of any project and ultimately dictate relationships and associated successes or failures.
Collaboration, transparency, and performance-based win-win relationships are necessary components of a BIM-based philosophy. Yet, these and other critical aspects; including defensible, accurate, and transparent cost estimating and standardized construction cost data architectures, are neither in forefront of current thinking nor receiving an adequate allocation of resources.
Far too much emphasis continues to be place on the 3d visualization component aspect of BIM, IFC format pros and cons, and other “technology” areas.
Technology is NOT what is holding back BIM, it is the apparent lack of understanding of … and associated failure to adopt … facility life-cycle management processes… combined and what can only be described as a pervasive “not invented here” attitude.
Many of of our peers are reinventing the wheel over and over again at tremendous cost to all stakeholders…Owners, AEs, Contractors, Subs, Oversight Groups, Building Users, Building Product Manufacturers, …not to mention our Economy and our Environment, vs. sharing information and working toward common goals.
Cloud computing is a more than catalyst for change, it is a DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY. Cloud computing will drive significantly enhanced productivity within the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Facility Management Sectors by enabling the consistent deployment of integrated project delivery methods. Owners, Contractors, Architects, Engineers and stakeholders of the built environment will benefit if they focus upon CHANGE MANAGEMENT and how to best leverage cloud computing.
Collaboration – True cloud computing (vs. cloud-washing, or simply posting legacy application to the cloud) lets users work concurrently on projects in real-time (milliseconds)… virtually anyone, anywhere, anytime. Multi-language and mult-currency, etc. can easily be implemented.
Security – Information is NEVER deleted. This is potentially the best form of security available. “Who” does “What” and “When” is always tracked and changes can be “rolled back” at any time by authorized administrators. Furthermore, only changes are transmitted vs. full data sets and even these are encrypted.
IP Protection – Despite all the “hype” to the contrary, it is YOU, the user who determines how, when, and where to publish data. For example, you can maintain information in your private area, publish as read only to specified members within a private cloud…or publish to all members in a private cloud, or publish information to all members in public cloud and enable rights to use and modify data.
Visualization – Despite the pervasive misunderstanding of BIM and unfortunate focus upon 3D visualization, DATA visualization and the associated development and implementation of the colloborative life-cycle management of built environment are the benefits provided by BIM. Cloud computing will accelerate data visualization and transparency among all stakeholders of physical infrastructure and promote performance-based processes.
Agility – Our work and natural environments are changing at an accelerated pace. Rapid deployment, monitoring, and the associated modification of processes and policies is becoming increasingly important. Cloud computing deploys process faster than any other method currently available. There is no longer a need to rely upon internal “IT” for deployment or applications specific changes.
Mobility – It is neither cost effective, nor efficient to have everyone working in offices or specified work settings. Resources need to be tapped from multiple locations enabling use of “the best of the best”, and resources with localized resources and/or capabilities. Cloud computing allows direct, transparent access to local resources while also communicating centralized processes and procedures.
Centralization of Information – While information can be scattered among several data centers, it also can be instantly consolidated to provide global management in support of an organization’s mission as well as associated, efficient local action.
Business Continuity – True, Internet access is required, however, would you rather store your information at your location and risk catastrophic failure, or have your information at multiple locations designed with redundancy, power backup, etc.?
BIG DATA and EFFICIENT CONSTRUCTION METHODS (Integrated Project Delivery, Job Order Contracting), CLOUD COMPUTING, and BIM are here to stay, are you ready?
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BIM (Building Information Modeling) is the life-cycle management of the built environment supported by digital technologies. As such it is a process of collaboration, continuous improvement, transparency, and integration. 3D distractions aside, achieving optimal return-on-investment (ROI) on BIM requires focus upon change management, first and foremost. Ad-hoc business practices, traditional construction delivery methods, and legacy software must be cast aside.
BIM is managing information to improve understanding. BIM is not CAD. BIM is not 3D. BIM is not application oriented. BIM maximizes the creation of value. Up, down, and across the built environment value network. In the traditional process, you lose information as you move from phase to phase. You make decisions when information becomes available, not necessarily at the optimal time. BIM is not a single building model or a single database. Vendors may tell you that everything has to be in a single model to be BIM. It is not true. They would be more accurate describing BIM as a series of interconnected models and databases. These models can take many forms while maintaining relationships and allowing information to be extracted and shared. The single model or single database description is one of the major confusions about BIM.(http://4sitesystems.com/iofthestorm/books/makers-of-the-environment/book-3/curriculum-built-world/categories/introductionbim-integration/)
The principles of BIM:
Life-cycle management: Process-centric , longer term planning and technologies that consider total cost of ownership, support decision making with current, accurate information, and link disparate knowledge domains and technologies.
Collaborative Delivery Processes: Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) procurement and construction delivery processes that consider and combine the knowledge and capabilities of all stake holders – Owners, AEs, Contractors, Business Product Manufacturers, Oversight Groups, Service Providers, and the Community. (i.e. IPD, Job Order Contracting/JOC)
Standards and Guidelines: Common glossary of terms, metrics, and benchmarks that enable efficient, accurate communication on an “apples to applies” basis.
Collaborative, Open Technologies and Tools: Cloud-based systems architectures that enable rapid, scalable development, unlimited scalability on demand, security, real-time collaboration, and an full audit trail.
(Johnson et al. 2002) – There is an interrelationship between business goals, work processes, and the adoption of information technology. That is, changes in business goals generally require revising work processes which can be enhanced further by the introduction of information technology. But we also recognized that innovations in information technology creates possibilities for new work processes that can, in turn, alter business goals In order to understand how information technology influences architectural practice it is important to understand all three of these interrelated elements.
Business Goals… Work processes …. Information technology
require/create require/create require/create
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Sustainability – “to create and maintain conditions, under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations.” – US Executive Order 13423
BIM is the life-cycle modeling and management of the built environment supported by digital technology. Forget the 3D visualization distraction for a moment and let’s focus on the important component of the BIM acronym; the “I” for information.
INTRODUCTION
As we all know from a quote commonly attributed to Peter Drucker… and I paraphrase ‘You can’t manage what you don’t measure’. Most, if not all failures to implement BIM and/or facility life-cycle management are likely traceable to the fundamental failure to gather the requisite accurate and transparent information required in order to make informed decisions. (Note: I use the terms “facility” or “facilities” to include any built structure.)
First, a few clarifications and items to help frame this discussion:
BIM definition: “BIM is the life-cycle modeling and management of the built environment supported by digital technology.”
While BIM can be applied to any situation, the focus of this discussion is upon – multi-facility portfolios, with extensive capital reinvestment, renovation, repair, maintenance, and sustainability requirements/projects.
We are all faced with a significantly altered economic and environmental landscape: more to do, limited capital/cost cuts, more accountability and transparency, and the need to reduce our “carbon footprint”.
Success in today’s world requires moving from a reactionary and needs-satisfaction mode to longer term strategies with associated options. This is a major shift in thinking for many, but especially for our business or “for-profit sectors”.
Robust, proven processes with associated accurate transparent, and actionable information in support of fact-based decision-marking are drivers for success.
Creation of a business-based capital reinvestment and asset management framework and decision-making capability are central requirements.
Accurate, timely information is required for sound decision-making.
Decisions regarding reinvestment into the built should be made in concert with the attainment and support of an organization’s mission.
Technology is a tool to enable lower cost implementation of strategies and processes. Technology’s role is to assure consistent, cost-efficient application of embedded business process, enabling faster deployment, automation of routine or complex mathematical processes, and associated decision-making and reporting capabilities.
BIM’s SLOW START
Okay, so know let’s look a bit more about why BIM is not fully understood, nor being rapidly accepted across the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Owner, Operations/Facility Management sector(s).
Many, if not most organizations lack robust, consistent, and transparent planning policies and overall life-cycle management processes.
Existing processes and construction delivery methods are largely antagonistic and outdated, with divergent goals for involved parties.
Stove-piped mandates with many players, and unused or misunderstood information.
Lack of clear direction and leadership focus, process management, and desired, quantitative outcomes.
Lack of appropriate tools to assist the life-cycle management process, inclusive of appropriate data validation and standardization.
The appropriate use of consultants, especially in the areas of “change management”.
Lack of understanding and adopting of newer and more efficient construction delivery methods (Integrated Project Delivery – IPD, Job Order Contracting – JOC), contracts, and supporting technology tools.
All aspects of BIM/faclity life-cycle managment, it’s organization, purpose, policies, assumptions, mandates, methods and scope must be discussed, agreed upon, and re-evaluated on a continuous, cyclical basis. It’s important that process ownership resides with everyone in the organization with appropriate expertise applied and shared from multiple knowledge-domains. Furthermore, that direct involvement and support of decision-makers and appropriate involvement of consultants and/or outsourcing is available.
BIM/life-cycle facility management requires fundamental changes in business practices. Unfortuantely, change management is a tremendous chasm to bridge, and achieving any significant success using internal resource only is unlikely. Just a few of the areas associated with implementing a BIM strategy are shown below.
Anticipated outcomes must be linked to ALL decisions in terms of anticipated financial, functional and/or conditional improvements.
TECHNOLOGY
Proprietary (e.g., Excel) and COTS tools for are used for various aspects of facility life-cycle management – strategic planning, capital planning and management/financial modeling, construction delivery, maintenance management, spaces planning/untilization, building automation/security, project management, etc. Relatively limited effort, focus, associated or investment is typically applied in consideration of integrating and rationalizing these various systems in terms of the validation and standardization of information across multiple knowledge domains. The piecemeal/ad-hoc approach is a symptom of process and cultural issues with an organization and/or lack of attention to change management. For example, a common “excuse” relative to this issue of integrating disparate technologies and processes is that the involved technology is” incompatible”. In today’s world, virtually any technology using current technology can communicate with another. The real issues reside in the people and process that create the information. The inherent “fear of change” and traditional lack of collaboration among various professional discipline are the fundamental issues to be address. A good example is the continued use of proprietary spreadsheets for cost estimating and other somewhat complex domains. The use of spreadsheets is well beyond their technologies ability. Spreadsheets are single user and non-collaborative, have no concept of hierarchy, nor full audit capability. In short, spreadsheets are inefficient and costly to maintain at best, and are costly relative to information reuse or updating. Spreadsheet use cost estimating and cost control for facility portfolios is unfortunately both pervasive and untenable.
Similarly CAD-centric visualization tools, such as Revit and AutoCad [from Autodesk], SketchUp (graphical design), Archicad, Bentley, etc. are excellent data visualization tools however, should not be confused as a turnkey BIM life-cycle management solutions. Relational database centric systems offer enhances data management, however, do not afford the flexibility of spreadsheets. Newer cloud-based technologies and associated offer higher degrees of collaboration, transparency, and flexibility.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Any attempt at life-cycle facility management – BIM will have little or no value unless based upon a collaborative evaluation of current and planned operations, conditions, and priorities. The objective of BIM is to cost-effectivey meet infrastructure requirements in support of an organizations mission, and to mitigate any preventative and unplanned disruptions to operations and/or compromises the financial position of the organization. This includes an asset management decision support capability the bases capital reinvestment upon financial and functional returns. All projects compete for organizational resources and objective criteria must be established to enable maximum utilization of these finite resources. Informed, goal focused decision support capability is a definitive source of opportunity for efficiency/productivity gains.
Cost awareness across the organization is an important starting point. Everyone in an organization must realize that capital reinvestment decisions are inter-related and impact long term operational expenses.
While uncertainty will certainly be present to some extent, virtually any facility life-cycle project or task can be modeled for decision-makers, and modeled over several timelines… 5 yr, 10yr, 50yr. etc. The mindset that performance and process improvement is ongoing vs. static must be adopted. This accounts for associate organizational “growth” or “shrinkage”, trends, regulatory impacts, etc. The overall goal is to maximize any ability to adapt, renew, renovate, recycle, reuse, and/or grow/shrink physical resources.
WHO IS INVOLVED?
“Everyone impacted by decisions made” is the short answer, including but not limited to Owners, Architects, Planners, Contractors, Sub-Contractors, Business Product Manufacturers, Technology Providers, Consultants, Building Users, Oversight Groups. From an Owner perspective, involved parties would include; Senior Management/HQ, Local Management, Planners, Capital Planners, Finance, Procurement, Project Managers, Building Users,
ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES
So, assuming one proceeds down the BIM life-cycle facility path, what are the reasonable expectations? First, it’s important to understand that a phased approach is likely the best approach. Think of BIM as a large pie, one that you are going to put together a piece at a time. That said, you need the to be aware of the list of ingredients and how and when to put the ingredients together.
Secondly, BIM / life-cycle facility management is verb, a process, not a one time thing… like a project. It’s primary gold is to improve upon the efficiency of impacts of the built environment, helping decision-makers compare and better select among available capital reinvestment alternatives. All decisions should consider space, equipments, physical and functional conditions, current construction cost estimates and operational cost estimates over defined periods of time. An ROI, Return-on-Investment business analysis is mandatory for all projects, inclusive of due consideration of any associated potential risks to the organization’s mission. So called , “lean practices” are an important objective, as are simple to use decision support and monitoring tools such as “dashboards” and associated key performance indicators (KPIs).
Ongoing facility portfolio reassessment based on a routine and consistently conducted functional and physcial facility assessments associated with appropriate standardized and well vetted reference cost databases, cost models, and other tools such as GIS and BAS.
Efficient facility construction, renovation, repair, and sustainability process management methods such as IPD [integrated project delivery] and JOC [Job Order Contracting], which involve all stakeholders collaboratively from project concept and design, through construction and warranty periods are core components of BIM/facility-life cycle management.
Thus in summary, anyone involved in BIM, particularly owners would do well to establish clear leadership and organizational ownership of the associated business processes at all levels in the organization ( local, regional, and HQ) as well as defined inter-relationships and expectations of all collaborative partners (Architects, Engineers, Contractors, Consultants, Technology Providers, etc.). Organizations also must
clearly articulate all associated business processes and workflows, and mandate their use, as well as the fact that all decisions must be outcome-based. Full training and support must be available as all levels, including access to all requisite tools, software, information, etc.