The understanding of Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been gradually enriched from a 3D replacement of traditional 2D CAD drafting to a very broad term that describes the process of creating and managing digital models of buildings (or other facilities). Accompanying demands and expectations of BIM workflow are growing in response. Asset owners and clients who have recognized and fascinated by the benefits coming from BIM utilization during asset delivery phase started to outline BIM’s integration in the operational phase as the sensible next step in the BIM Lifecycle Implementation. Meanwhile, along with the aggravation of the AECO industry globalization process, the request of collaborative approaches of information collected, created, managed, and shared intensified. The advent of ISO 19650 series is a timely response to the call for a standardized process regulate BIM-related information management throughout the entire asset life cycle.
ISO 19650 has been developed based upon the UK 1192 series, which was produced following the UK Government’s BIM Level 2 initiative. As the first international BIM ISO Standard, ISO 19650 enables teams from around the world to enhance efficacy and efficiency through a set of common information management approaches. Currently, ISO 19650 part 1 and part 2 have been released, focus on concepts and principles, and delivery phase of the assets, respectively. Part 3 and Part 5 are on the roadmap and yet to come in 2020. Part 3 will focus on the operational phase of assets, and Part 5 will focus on the specification for a security-minded approach to the management of information relating to sensitive assets. ISO 19650 series, combined with various region-specific requirements annex, will comprehensively define the collaborative process for the effective management of information through the delivery and operational phase of assets when BIM is being used, the first time from a global perspective.
The Project Information Model (PIM) and Asset Information Model (AIM) have been defined by BIM Level 2 as two adjoined stages of Common Data Environment (CDE). As shown in Figure 1, The PIM is developed during the delivery phase of a project, starting from a design intent model, and eventually becoming an as-built model to represent the real as-constructed condition of the built asset. After that, the PIM transfers to the AIM to continue serving the asset management (AM) / facility management (FM) purpose during the operational phase. In another word, ideally speaking, the AIM should be considered as a “digital twin” of built assets, embrace digital replica of necessary physical assets, processes, locations, systems, and devices that can be operated for various purposes. Aligned with BIM Level 2, ISO 19650 cogitates over principles and processes to refine data interoperability and integrity during the handoff from PIM to AIM. Figure 2 below illustrates the transition from PIM to FIM and the relationship between Digital Twin and its corresponding physical assets.
When talking about BIM’s integration into the operational stage, we are one step ahead of the current BIM utilization in the AECO industry - which places us in a bitter and sweet situation. On one side, we have been able to foresee the promising and appealing long-term benefits coming from BIM-integrated AM/FM, which have been supported by a good few, but substantially successful cases; on the other side, we have experienced spending extra efforts to overcome difficulties regarding data sufficiency, interoperability, and consistency, mainly from upstream phases. Lacking industrial level consensus of asset data classification, and codification contributes to a big part of these difficulties. Meanwhile, a bigger problem is data requirements and demands from the operational phase cannot be sufficiently involved in the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) Process, reflected in BIM relevant regulations, standards, and contractual languages, let alone conduct the data collection and preparation processes during the delivery phase. In short, a variety of factors, from perspectives of taxonomy, business process, PM approaches, policies and regulations, etc., is jeopardizing the data interoperability, integrity, sufficiency, consistency, and accuracy during the handoff from PIM to AIM. Figure 3 illustrates the current information asymmetries and process defects in between the delivery and operational phases.
One good example is regarding the popularity of COBie, or any other classification/codification system suggested by UK 1192, or the proposed ISO 19650-3. Under “ideal” condition, region-specific requirements regulated by Nation Annex suppose to diminish all the data barriers in between handoffs, as well as complete the life cycle of BIM data flow. However, a lot of things are difficult to reach an ideal state. It is close to impossible to require all owners and facilities to reach consensus on classification and codification to structure their assets. For most owners, when COBie fails to meet their Enterprise-level Asset Management (EAM) standard, they start to build their own system. In this case, if the owner’s EAM requirements not been able to integrate into the delivery phase in a sufficient manner, a substantial amount of time and work will be required after the delivery phase to fill the gap of data asymmetry. Meanwhile, due to inconsistency data transfer, extra efforts will be required to perform data validation to ensure data interoperability and accuracy.
This is one of the true values the new ISO 19650 series can bring to the industry and positively affects current BIM lifecycle implementation, from the principle and process level. The combination of part 1 (concepts and principles), part 2 (delivery phases of assets), and part 3 (operational phases of assets) provide a high-level, generic structure to ensure holistic data management processes could be streamlined throughout delivery and operational phases, by addressing questions: 1) What kind of data operational phase will need? 2) How can I make these data collected? And 3) How can I ensure these data will be accessible and readable by operational phase?
Some remarkable efforts have been contributed into the BIM to FM (or PIM to AIM) integration to improve the BIM lifecycle implementation with our progressively elaborated understanding of the true value of BIM. For example, Asset Management Department at Microdesk developed customizable BIM to FM solution to help clients incorporate FIM into daily FM operation, take most advantages of asset data embedded within PIM, without replacing clients’ existing asset classification and codification. Meanwhile, Microdesk provides a holistic strategic implementation plan for clients to take the most advantages of BIM to FM workflow by incorporating FM’s requirements into delivery phases. To achieve this, a throughout requirement analysis need to be performed on existing FM system, and corresponding data requirements are established for each delivery stages to ensure most asset data could be captured and streamlined with the developing of the project (Design, Construction, and Commissioning). Figure 4 presents a proposed CDE data flow diagram derived from BIM Level 2 Illustration1.
The diagram create backflow to indicate operational phase data requirements as inputs to upstream stages, in order to conduct an asset-minded data collection and preparation for the AM/FM purpose. In the meantime, efforts also have been placed on related BIM standards, BIM Execution Plans (BEPs), contractual languages, and other peripheral documents to enforce the data transfer during each model handoff to ensure data interoperability, consistency, and accuracy.
Furthermore, Microdesk considered FIM, or Digital Twin, of physic asset a living model that synchronize with Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) to update itself on a timely basis. This bidirectional data flow between AIM and CMMS keep the model fresh ready for next delivery cycle, as well enable additional functionalities (e.g., analytics and reporting) of utilizing AIM during the longest stage of asset’s life cycle.
More detailed information will be covered in the second part of this article: From PIM To AIM (II) - A Detailed Look at How ISO 19650 Series Affect Asset Management.
In authors’ another article “The Connected Future2”, the authors highlighted the technology future of AECO industry be the advent of Internet of Things (IoT) enabled Connected Operations “with the data of today as the roadbed”. As a first step, efficient and effective data transfer in a well defined CDE is critical for the global industry to moving up from the current state. BIM Level 3 has not been fully defined yet. However, the trend of data fusion and integration pushes the entire industry to march towards the next era that IOT-enabled, data-driven connected operations will fundamentally changing the way that current asset management has been utilized. We are thrilled to see the release of ISO 19650 part 1 and 2, and the undergoing part 3 and 5. As the first International Standard that covers both delivery and operational phases, ISO 19650 series will arouse the global consensus on streamlined data management from PIM to AIM, and raise the bar of current AECO industry by creating an entirely new standard of measurement of true BIM lifecycle implementation.