A Change Management Perspective on BIM-FM Implementation

Construction Research Congress 2012, 2012

Successful management of design changes is critical for the efficient delivery of construction projects. Building Information Models (BIM) and the use of parametric modeling provide significant benefits in coordinating changes across different views in a model. However, coordinating changes across several discipline-specific models is significantly more challenging to manage. In this thesis, I present a case study that used observation-based empirical research methods to investigate current practices and the requirements of practitioners in conducting change management during the design and construction of a building project. The case study examines change management in the context of a multidisciplinary collaborative BIM environment during the design and construction of a fast-track project. I documented the design changes, analyzed the change management processes and evaluated existing BIM tools in support of this process. Using examples from the case study, I identified the characteristics of design changes required for tracking the history of changes and understanding the consequences of changes. I developed an ontology of changes based on the identified characteristics and patterns in the observed changes. The ontology characterizes design changes based on changed component attributes (the geometry, position, and specification), dependencies between components (analytical and spatial), level of changes (conceptual, primary and secondary), timing of changes (design, procurement or construction stages) and time and cost impacts of changes. Based on the developed ontology, I further categorized numerous examples of changes encountered throughout the design and construction of the building in a taxonomy of changes. I then proposed a computational approach for tracking the consequence of changes in an information model. This research provides a common understanding of design change characteristics for practitioners who develop or utilize BIM tools for managing changes. The results of this study provide some possible directions for future developments in change management systems, particularly in reference to a BIM-based delivery process. Additional research is needed to implement and test these characteristics in a decision support system, and to analyze different types of changes across different types of projects.

Purpose – Building information modelling (BIM) in facilities management (FM) applications is an emerging area of research based on the theoretical proposition that BIM information, generated and captured during the lifecycle of a facility, can improve its management. Using this proposition as a starting point, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the value of BIM and the challenges affecting its adoption in FM applications. Design/methodology/approach – Two inter-related research methods are utilised. The literature is utilised to identify the application areas, value and challenges of BIM in FM. Due to the lack of case studies identified in the literature review, and to provide empirical evidence of the value and challenges of BIM in FM, a case study of Northumbria University’s city campus, is used to empirically explore the value and challenges of BIM in FM. Findings – The results demonstrated that BIM value in FM stems from improvement to current manual processes of information handover; improvement to the accuracy of FM data, improvement to the accessibility of FM data and efficiency increase in work order execution. The main challenges were the lack of methodologies that demonstrate the tangible benefits of BIM in FM, the limited knowledge of implementation requirement including BIM for FM modelling requirements, the interoperability between BIM and FM technologies, the presence of disparate operational systems managing the same building and finally, the shortage of BIM skills in the FM industry. Originality/value – There is lack of real-life cases on BIM in FM especially for existing assets despite new constructions representing only 1-2 per cent of the total building stock in a typical year. The originality of this paper stems from both adding a real-life case study of BIM in FM and providing empirical evidence of both the value and challenges of BIM in FM applications. Keywords Information technology, BIM, Information management, Facilities management, Asset management, Facilities management (premises), Information exchange

In 2011, the UK Government declared its objective of fully collaborative 3D BIM (with all project and asset information, documentation and data in electronic form) on all public sector projects by 2016. This pushed the construction industry to rethink its processes and reexamine its approach to design management and handover. Facilities management (FM), particularly in the public sector, is feeling a pressure to conform.

2018

The potential of Building Information Modeling (BIM) to add value to Facilities Management (FM) has long been recognized. The usefulness of BIM in asset management, including operations and maintenance has been described by numerous authors. Crucial to its implementation is the integration of information, which increases efficiency and productivity on the job and, in turn, positively impacts the primary organization’s mission and goals. In view of the potential of BIM to add value to FM wh ich in turn can boost the mission of organizations, there is a potential to study the experiences of early adopters, map out patterns and differences and to record lessons learned. This research aims to investigate how BIM is implemented in operations, how value can be derived and what the critical success factors are. What are the areas of process waste and consequent loss of value within the lifecycle phases of facilities? To this effect, the case study of a large tertiary educational institutio...

International Journal of Real Estate Studies

Building information modelling (BIM) is the most recent facility management (FM) technology adopted in Malaysia. However, management and information technology (IT) system improvements are required for the adoption of this technology. Incorporating BIM and FM at an early stage of a project has the potential to yield significant benefits but may also increase project risk. Through a survey, this study aims at investigating the prospective benefits and challenges of BIM-FM integration in the early phases of a BIM project. 109 (55.6%) of the 196 facility management companies in Klang Valley answered a questionnaire survey that was sent to them. To determine the perceived benefits and obstacles of the integrated BIM-FM process, mean scores and standard deviations were computed. As a result, respondents perceived positively that integrating BIM-FM in the early phase of the BIM project will increase performance, improve collaboration and communication, increase FM business values, and red...

WIT Transactions on the Built Environment, 2015

This paper presents the process of implementation of a building information model for managing an existing building, identifying a development framework and documenting the difficulties that occurred during the implementation of the initial stages. The use of building information modelling (BIM) for the design and construction phase of a building has been thoroughly looked into by researchers and practitioners and there is evidence to support that it is beneficial for reducing cost, time and improving communication. A single shared building information model results in a greater accuracy, clarity and consistency of the information available during the life cycle compared to traditional 2D/3D drawings. Yet the potential use of BIM for the operational and management phase (facilities management), besides maintenance schedules and equipment information and location, is still not clearly identified. The UK Government, institutional clients and major private owners are now demanding BIM ...

2018

Knowledge Management and Information Tools for Building Maintenance and Facility Managemen, 2016

The aim of this chapter is to introduce the main aspects and needs of the relation between the Building Information Modeling (BIM) methodology and the Facility Management (FM) sector. In fact FM activities, which nowadays are negatively influenced by the fragmentation within the construction industry and the inadequate information exchange between Project Lifecycle Phases (PLPs), can be improved and addressed by the synchronized and collaborative nature of BIM which works as a lifecycle and interdisciplinary 3D data store. Although benefits of an efficient knowledge and process management by using BIM to support FM activities, the adoption of this new methodology for asset management and facility maintenance has been overlooked for a while. Nevertheless, recently the BIM potentiality to overcome the traditional uncertainty in the information management of the built environment and to improve deficient documentation prevalent in existing buildings has boosted the research focus towards this direction. In particular many research groups are working at defining the information requirement of BIM objects as useful for FM activities.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an IT enabled technology that allows storage, management, sharing, access, update and use of all the data relevant to a project through out the project life -cycle in the form of a data repository.

For many years the issue of how to run buildings efficiently and effectively has posed a considerable challenge. This debate has had renewed significance since the emergence of Building Information Modelling (BIM) processes and the proposition that BIM information, captured during the facilities lifecycle, can help improve the efficiency of Facility Management (FM). Using this proposition as a starting point, the overarching aim of this paper is to investigate the value-adding potential of BIM and the challenges hindering its exploitation in FM. The literature review showed the BIM value adding potential stems from improvement to current manual processes of information handover. It also adds improvement to the accuracy of FM data and increases the efficiency of work orders execution, in terms of speed, to accessing data and locating interventions. It was also revealed that there is lack of real world case studies, especially in the case of existing buildings, despite new constructions representing a small percentage of the total building stock in a typical year. The case study was conducted on an existing asset composed of 32 non-residential buildings in Northumbria University’s city campus. This was done to empirically investigate the value of BIM in a specific FM function (i.e. space management). The results provided evidence of the value of BIM in improving the efficiencies of FM work orders and the accuracy of geometric information records.