Effective facility management and operations via a BIM-based integrated information system

Abstract

Purpose: Background: Considerable financial losses could occur as the result of insufficient interoperability issues among information systems. In order to minimize losses, Building Information Management (BIM) tools must be able to interoperate with a variety of digital FM&O systems.

Approach: This research applies the principles of grounded theory as well as conceptual constructs of a proposed BIM framework. Firstly, descriptions of information management systems of eleven projects in technical reports are analyzed and the prevailing technical issues extracted. Then, a narrative representation of an IT-implementation project together with its organizational context has been provided. Finally, the most important issues from recent projects have been presented together with their respective solutions provided by the case project.

Results: The results demonstrate that the most important issues in implementing BIM for streamlining FM&O activities are lack of guidelines and efficient technologies for capturing BIM models of existing facilities, coping with non-consistent terminologies and taxonomies, requirements specification in BIM applications, and identifying which information and what levels of detail are desired by the FM&O teams.

Practical implications: In addition to scholars, the results are useful to database implementers and database designers, as well as decision-making buddies in the FM&O sector.

Research limitations: More research in this area is needed with a focus on business processes and regulatory requirements.

Originality/value: No earlier research has so thoroughly described the overall architecture and functionalities of different components of an integrated BIM FM portal solution with regard to the latest findings in both theory and practice.

The purpose of this paper is firstly to summarize the status quo of the building information management technologies applied in the facility management and operations (FM&O) sector and identifying prevailing issues; and secondly, to devise technical solutions for those issues based on an exemplar case.