Facility Management and BIM
Explore how BIM improves facility management by integrating design, maintenance, and operational efficiency
The Definition of BIM
There are three main explanations for BIM as an acronym:
- Building Information Modelling: Combines methods, technologies, and processes to create a BIM model.
- Building Information Management: Combination of processes directly related to managing information about buildings/projects.
- Building Information Model: A 3D model that includes a project's visual representation and a wealth of information about every single part of a building.
The Value of BIM for Facility Management
There are several different phases that the lifecycle of a building can be separated into – design, engineering, construction, and so on. A rather common abbreviation for it is DBFMO – as in Design, Build, Finance, Maintain, and Operate. Since its rise in popularity, BIM was mostly used for the benefit of the first three phases – starting at the design phase and ending at the construction phase.
Can BIM Work with Integrated Workplace Management Systems (IWMS)?
Integrating BIM with IWMS is fairly new, and there are still very few examples of that happening. A BIM model usually consists of multiple “aspect models” combined to create one BIM model – the construction model, the architectural model, etc. Plenty of software can work with these models, such as Tekla, Revit, Bentley, ArchiCAD, and more. However, the demand for BIM to be used in IWMS has never been high until very recently, even though there are plenty of areas in which IWMS can be improved with the help of BIM data, such as portfolio management, maintenance management, and space management.
How to Integrate BIM into IWMS?
The first step when it comes to integrating BIM into IWMS is to reach an understanding of what facility management processes could benefit from BIM data. This is a great way of reducing the work that would have to be done to perform the aforementioned integration. For example, suppose the main goal of integration is to improve space management. In that case, there is no need to try transferring building asset data from BIM because it is irrelevant to this particular goal.
Revizto and Facility Management
Solutions such as Revizto are a great example of how beneficial a BIM platform can be for facility management. Revizto is capable of empowering facility management in terms of providing both models and data, providing the most up-to-date information about the project's current state. It can also help with a more detailed visualization of the project’s current status; it can simplify site maintenance by using relevant data to track on-site maintenance better, delegating tasks, etc.