The Usages of BIM in Facilities Management

This article discusses the benefits and techniques of using BIM in facilities management. It explores how BIM can improve cost savings, project delivery, and client satisfaction. The article also examines the potential gap in data workflow from BIM modelling to Cobie to FMS.

Running head: BUILDING FACILITIES 1
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Name of Student
Institution Affiliation

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The usages of BIM in facilities management
The information which is stored in within the BIM includes the blueprints, schedules and the
asset data such as location, cost, carbon impact, and maintenance, integrating the BIM with
the facility management software system is a great tool to standardized data and also the
better services. Reliable data is provided by BIM which can be used to report to the board.
This because the data can be received, combined with other data, stored and analysed
seamlessly. The BIM allows the Facility management system to make informed decisions via
the entire lifecycle of the facility around the areas such as floor planning, space usage, asset
and equipment maintenance, energy consumption and the cost efficiencies. The holistic
nature of the BIM and the facility management integrated data, the problems can be solved
quickly, and the performance predicted (Sanchez, 2013). That results in fewer asset and
equipment failures.
Appraising the practice of BIM
The building information modelling technologies are gaining ground at a very high rate
within the Design, construction, and management of the technical projects (Reddy, 2011).
The BIM has been defined and described. The value of the BIM in the project management
has greatly improved because most of the parties involved in the technical projects have
accepted it.
Assessment of the value of BIM in the facility management.
There are many benefits which have been associated with the usage of the BIM in the facility
management they include;
 Cost savings at both the operational and the delivery stages.
 Fast project delivery and the improved efficiency.

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 The improved client satisfaction. That is the client gets the buildings which match
their needs and expectations.
 Reduced safety risks.
 Early modifications and greater project predictability.
Examining building information using BIM
BIM is coming rising as an innovative way to increase the efficiency of the project in terms
of using more prefabricated elements, increasing on the time completions, rework and
requesting for more information which is required.
The space usage of the building can be easily determined by use of BIM. There are many
standard which are incorporated in the BIM system which usually gives the designer of the
building an easier time to know whether the building which is being designer is workable in
terms of natural lighting, ventilation and thermal comfortability.
BIM techniques in facilities management
In the BIM software there are some of the functions that can be very significant in managing
the facility they include;
Browsing the BIM model in the web and coming up with a report.
The create report function can create a report of the facility management information when
the facility model has been saved the information of maintenance as shown in the figure
below (Weygant, 2016). On the other hand the facility managers have the capability of
publishing the BIM model in the web.in that way it is possible for the users to understand the

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state of the facility via the web-based BIM model.
How to improve facilities management practices by using BIM.
The facility management can be improved by BIM by;
 Including the energy management data in the BIM which will allow the accurate
measuring of the long-term energy use.
 BIM will allow the facility managers to separate the operational data from the data
which is for archive purposes.
 The BIM will allow the construction of the database which will show the benefits
which are associated with the BIM to the facility management.

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QUESTION 2
Commercial office unit floor plan layout.
QUESTION 2
a )Cobie spreadsheet.

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b) How Cobie data can be imported to a Computerised Facility Management System
(FMS)
Facility managers and owners have started using the computerized maintenance management
and the computer Aided Facility Management to support their day to day activities of
maintaining, operating and managing the facilities. To be able to do that job it is very
essential for an individual to have sufficient information on how the equipment which is
required for investigation and maintenance (Akin, 2013).
To setup, the FMS system the manager who is in charge of the maintenance needs to come up
with the maintenance schedules and the operating instructions and link directly or copy the
data into the system (Garber, 2014).
Usually, the process of hunting down the information is usually time-consuming as it requires
the information which is specifically related to the equipment which is installed.
Pandora FMS is a software which is used in monitoring the computer networks; it also allows
the visual monitoring and performance of several parameters from various operating systems
(Kensek, 2015).
c) The potential gap in data workflow from BIM modelling to Cobie to FMS.
There are limitations which hinder what a building model can offer to the facility and the
management (L. Mahdjoubi, 2016). In most cases, not all the manufactures of the building
materials offer their products to be included in the building model. This means that in most
construction sites where the construction team uses a product which its information is not

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included in the building model it forces the facility managers to track down any relevant data
regarding the product and be included in the facility management system (Reddy, 2011).

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References
Akin, Ö. (2013). Embedded Commissioning of Building Systems. Paris: Artech House,
Garber, R. (2014). BIM Design: Realising the Creative Potential of Building Information
Modelling. London: John Wiley & Sons.
Kensek, K. M. (2015). Building Information Modeling. Sydney: Routledge.
L. Mahdjoubi. (2016). Building Information Modelling (BIM) in Design, Construction, and
Operations. London: WIT Press,
Reddy, K. P. (2011). BIM for Building Owners and Developers: Making a Business Case for
Using BIM on Projects. Chicago: John Wiley & Sons,
Rogers, J. (2014). BIM Development and Trends in Developing Countries: Case Studies.
Texas: Bentham Science Publishers,
Sanchez, A. X. (2013). Delivering Value with BIM: A Whole-of-life Approach. London:
Routledge.
Weygant, R. S. (2016). BIM Content Development: Standards, Strategies, and Best
Practices. Chicago: John Wiley & Sons,