This chapter the current state of the BIM software and its impact on the work of the Facility manager will be analyzed. The structure of analysis is based on the life cycle model; Concept, planning, construction, usage, re-use and demolishing. In the second half of this chapter the future of BIM will be discussed, how will it look like and how should it look like in the future? Now To investigate the current situation on BIM tools for Facility Managers we will describe the field of work by a life cycle model of a building. Therefor we created a model based on the schema of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA). It will show the phases of a life cycle in which a Facility Manager could be involved. For a complete overview of the matter we will assume that the Facility Manager will be involved in all phases of the project development.
For the analysis of the now we used the Life Cycle Model because it shows the complete life time of a building (from beginning till the demolishing) and the Facility Manager is normally in charge of the building. As read before normally the Facility Manager comes in when the owners/users use the building but we believe that the Facility Manager should have influence during the whole life cycle of the building, the Facility Manager knows what his/her company wants, what their demands are. The BIM model is a tool that is meant for the entire life cycle of the building.
Even though the actual design is done by architects, the facility manager will be part of the concept creating team, especially if he is in the role of a project developer. BIM software can help him in any case to see early drafts of the building from various perspectives and allows him to intervene when he notices design flaws that would make a reasonable use impossible. BIM software also gives the facility manager a handy tool to present visual results of the conception phase to the customer/investor before even going too deep into details. Most importantly BIM programs can help the planners to implement the schedule of requirements into the design phase. A schedule of requirements is a word document with all the requirements/demands of the consumer.
During the usage phase of the building the Facility Manager can use the BIM software to plan, manage and track projects. The Facility Management module is in most software programs integrated, like Bentley and Autodesk, to ensure that data in the Facilities Database is securely connected to the engineering drawings and other documents that are consistently managed and maintained in the software environment. Web-based reporting capabilities allow a wide range of recipients in the organization to access or create facilities reports for their needs.
With the following aspects1 in the daily work life he can use BIM: BIM software allows the facility manager to manage the available space very efficiently. Facility drawings are an important component of facilities planning and management, and Facility Manager allows two different types of drawings to be used: space plans and plan views. A space plan is object-based, comprising of the drawing geometry linked to the associated data of spaces and/or equipment objects in the FMDesktop database.
It is the main feature that integrates facility drawings with the facility data. A plan view, on the other hand, is a static layout that only contains drawing geometry without any associated information about the drawing. Once the facility drawings are imported and integrated with the associated data, Facility Manager can be used to carry out the wide array of management tasks.
Space Management Module of Bentley BIM Once a file (e.g. DWF) is imported it can be associated with the individual spaces in a database such as space number and description. The area of each space is also calculated (see picture 6) and displayed. The facility manager can now go ahead and add additional information about each space such as occupant information, capacity, type, equipment, and so on.
2. Environment Management With the native heating and cooling load-analysis capability in BIM, one simply defines analysis parameters for rooms in the building model and click on the Heating & Cooling loads tool. A visual representation of the analysis model is presented, along with additional analysis inputs that can be used to refine the data that’s automatically assigned to the building and rooms for the analysis. Data such as occupancy, internal loads, room type and construction and even building location that are defined in the BIM model can be adjusted and overridden for the analysis if desired.
This analysis package allows architects to receive quick feedback on their design; feedback such as how much energy the building will use, what are the anticipated CO2 emissions and if the building will pass day lighting requirements. Facility Managers can use this module to visualize the current energy consumption and CO2 emissions with a dashboard interface. The automatically generated reports show the energy consumption per room, room function or floor this allows the Facility Manager to track down the biggest energy users.
4. Maintenance The BIM maintenance module shows all the maintenance that has been done in the past and gives automatically a warning sign when maintenance needs to been done on product or building. The BIM software can also automatically assign workers (intern and extern) the maintenance tasks. The module can contain an overview of the spare parts in stock. As well as a library where part numbers of technical equipment can be found in case they need to be ordered.
The module also keeps track of the time of a replacement of critical components and the tools that are required to change them. 5. Emergency Management This module gives a graphical overview of the escape routes in the building and insures that these are properly illuminated and signposted. It contains the location of the fire extinguisher/smoke detectors and other firefighting equipment plus their checkup dates. The smoke detectors, if connected to building network, can be tested remotely through the BIM.
6. Move Management For successful Change Management and restructuring of departments the vital information is what kind of furniture is available, where is it, what is the condition and does it fit in the new space. For that the BIM provides an inventory module that shows this kind of information. With a RFID chip on the furniture the BIM can also locate the position of the specific furniture. In case a wall needs to be moved to enlarge the room there is a map of the infrastructure grid available.
