Driven by economic and environmental pressures, facilities management (FM) will…. more rapidly align itself with the core mission, encompass more services, use global standards, embrace flexibility and continuity, focus upon life-cycle sustainability, maintain and end user/client focus, improve supply chain synchronicity, achieve a life-cycle / total cost of ownership perspective, and employ better capital/risk/performance reporting and metrics for management and continuous improvement.
Integrating robust FM processes, especially the following five (5) areas, each with its support technology backbone, will centralize and standardize building INFORMATION and link with a core BIM (Building Information Modeling) system.
Capital Planning and Management (CPMS) – Multi-year capital planning, decision support, and physical/functional conditions management will enable owners to better reinvest available funds based upon organizational mission requirements.
Computerized Maintenance Management (CMMS) – Maintenance and inventory of “moveable” equipment systems will allow for more efficient, timely, and less costly minor repair and maintenance.
Space Planning (CAFM) – Space planning and utilization management systems will assure maximum space utilization, mitigate waste, and help to limit carbon impacts.
Construction Delivery Methods (IPD, JOC, DB) – Efficient construction delivery methods such as Integrated Project Delivery for new construction and Job Order Contracting for faculty renovation, repair, sustainability, and minor new construction will become the norm, driving collaboration, transparency, quality, and performance.
Building Automation Systems (BAS) – Electronic data gathering and system/equipment monitoring and management systems, including GIS will provide real-time feedback on site, building, system, and equipment location, operation, and performance, providing the ability to more rapidly adapt to change.
The importance of BIM is actually “BIM for FM”, with building Owners leading the charge.
BIM for FM will not replace the above processes or technologies. On the contrary, the above domain specific, rich information systems will support a central repository of reusable, standardized information (BIM).
Cloud technology and standards such as COBIE, UFC, Uniformat, MasterFormat, etc., with enrich these domain specific knowledge centers feed a rich information repository to enable more efficient building life-cycle management.
Exciting time for us all!
