Application Areas and Data Requirements for BIM-Enabled Facilities Management

Abstract

Facilities management (FM) encompasses and requires multidisciplinary activities, and thus has extensive information requirements. While some of these needs are addressed by several existing FM information systems, building information modeling (BIM), which is becoming widely adopted by the construction industry, holds undeveloped possibilities for providing and supporting FM practices with its functionalities of visualization, analysis, control, and so on. This paper explores how BIM can be a beneficial platform for supplementing FM practices. An online survey and face-to-face interviews were conducted to assess the current status of BIM implementations in FM, potential applications, and the level of interest in the utilization of BIM. Interactions between BIM and FM are defined by illustrating application areas and data requirements for BIM-enabled FM practices. Highlighting the synergy between the two, this paper can help professionals recognize potential areas in which BIM can be useful in FM practices.