Unlocking Facility Management Potential with BIM: Expert Insights from Elaine Chivers and Nigel Warrwick

Bim is the foundation of digital transformation within design and construction , and it offers a platform to optimize value for building owners . Now , with BIM , an owner can receive a digital representation of a building or of a building asset and they can pull data from across all of its life cycle .

And with that data , or once that data is brought into a real-time digital replica , such as a digital twin , facility managers can use that information at handover to optimize all the elements of building operations .

So just to kind of jump right into this , elaine is the founder of ECCS and she started the business in 1991 . Eccs is an IBM Gold business partner that specializes in the implementation of Maximo Solutions , trirega and within the EAMCMMS arena .

Elaine has more than 30 years of experience in the world of enterprise asset management , where she employs a logical problem solving approach and enjoys being hands-on in identifying solutions . Now here's an interesting fact about today's guest . Elaine has also used her IT skills and bloodstock knowledge . Yes , bloodstock knowledge .

If you don't know what it is , google it . But she has used this to develop a mating analysis software to produce breeding plans for thoroughbred racehorses . Now , as a side note , winning racehorses just don't appear from nowhere .

They are the result of intensive breeding over generations to create a supreme equine athlete that's ready to compete in one of the world's toughest sports horse racing . Hydro Warwick is a senior consultant at Voiency .

He is an accomplished business information consultant with more than 30 years of demonstrated experience and success in providing integrated workplace management solutions and strategic workplace services to facility management in real estate industries .

Nigel understands the often complicated needs of clients and has proven how to help them gain control and visibility of the key metrics across their asset portfolios . Both ECCS and Voiency are in a partnership to offer a seamless BIM facility management solution and an end-to-end experience .

Rather than looking at ourselves as a supplier , provider , we very much look at ourselves as working in collaboration with our clients to help achieve their their goals and their end objectives , and we're we're passionate about that that's awesome .

How have you helped clients in those two arenas ? Sure ?

That gave me access to an amazing array of customers across the board in all different types of industries and running their drawing office . I then had to go and scan their buildings , understand their architectural needs and do drawings . At that time , integrated workplace management solutions or cathom solutions were coming onto their scene .

So naturally , with a drawing office and the sort of projects I would have done , would I put the drawing office in for wembley stadium , for honeywell , a whole team and a port cabin running every single change management process in the stadium as it was actually built right . Equally , arsenal stadium uh , did that as well , with a team .

So , but what happened was this transition of not just having drawings and , if you like , surveys . It was actually then relating them to databases and that was where computer-aided facility management was born and you could tag the spatial areas and all the different changes through move management tools .

So really evolving through my own company , working with a plethora of different companies in every single industry , that's my background .

But , elaine or Nigel , this is really for either one of you Can you educate us ? Or the listening audience . What is enterprise asset management ? What is that ?

So an enterprise asset management system helps you manage exactly what's happening to those assets over a period of time . What maintenance needs to be carried out . What maintenance is carried out on a reactive basis . As a general rule , planned maintenance costs less than reactive maintenance .

So you really want to plan your maintenance strategies as well as you possibly can to minimize downtime and increase efficiencies . To minimize downtime and increase efficiencies , you also want to prolong your asset life as long as you possibly can , so trying to get your strategy right in terms of your maintenance regimes is of significant importance .

Inherently , people like Autodesk , Bentley , Trimble a whole plethora of different companies doing wonderful things for your management of a project from concept all the way through to you know sort of handover . The problem's been , though , at the handover stage , 96.6% of information is not then shared with the FM people .

one source of the truth , being a hookup between the two , and and the Revit models being one source of the truth , being a hookup between the two . And then you're then talking to a different plethora of companies . You're then talking to the sort of plan-ons , the IBM maximos , the tri-riggers , the financial systems , the BMS systems . So you've got this .

If you imagine that picture of just two small circles together , you've got a whole load of technology in there . Um , and the secret is really simplifying that technology roadmap .

Um , and you know , pulling through , that 96.6 percent of information has been flattened , lost , not used and recreated by the fm people , probably in their eyes , more simply , but in fact , in effect , more expensively , right , and that that makes sense .

But here's , here's the million quid question and I use the word quid because I want to make sure that we honor our friends across the pond right , but what exactly is the BIM in facility management ? Now , you've touched on it just a second ago , nigel , when you talked about how these systems connect .

But building , information modeling , specifically , how does that work with facility management ? I mean , what's ? I think even at the beginning of this conversation let me just kind of step back We've established that BIM is the underpinning of this term . We all hear in the industry , digital transformation .

Everyone's talking about digital transformation , particularly as it relates to design and construction . So we already have established that . So maybe a better question is why is BIM crucial for facility managers ? Why is it such a big deal for facility managers ?

And then , if you look at building information models , um singly , you're talking about a digital twin , uh , almost like a digital copy of a physical building . Right , and that's the connection . It's where you use that model , because you can have different types of digital twins .

Okay , but the thing is you can use multiple places , including inside an idms or cathom system . You can use that model or zone of that model or floor , that model get the benefit of the 3d model .

Plus , if you've got a Revit upload there , you can actually start tagging the assets which you weren't seeing before , which were previously in Kobe , into a CAFM system and then , as Elaine pointed out earlier , you can start running the asset lifecycle management of that asset .

This is , you know , this is kind of what I envision when we talk about a facility manager , for example . But I guess , if we take a deeper dive in this , elaine , when we talk about facility management , it's typically characterized by disconnected experiences .

Usually there's some type of proprietary management process , the data is siloed , there's multiple file formats that need to be leveraged and shared .

Typically , it's really an inefficient operation and you mentioned it earlier , elaine , when you talked about maintenance processes right , and usually this means that they're wasting time , money and even resources because of this inefficiency . So , elaine , help us to understand . How does BIM-FM this process ?

How does BIM-FM address all of these challenges in facility management ?

So , therefore , the information that's held within the systems , the combination that we're talking about at the moment , bim , combined with enterprise asset management that that information needs to , you know , needs to be spot on and up to date .

So problems might be found out in the field and the team on the ground might not know how to resolve the issues that they're finding .

But if the information in the system is up to date , then with a mobile , you know , some kind of handheld unit , they can find out how to resolve things whilst they're on site and the visual representation of those assets on , say , a handheld device , looking at that and then looking at the asset that's actually physically in front of them can help significantly .

We'll get into , I guess , the conversation about IoT now the ability to now be able to use sensors and the Internet of Things , combining this all together so that you're able to track , analyze and understand significantly what's going on on that asset , what's really happening in real time with that particular facility .

And so if you look at the actual BIM digital twin journey , you know the fact that you go out very quickly , do reality capture with the scanners . You then scan the building right , don't just think 3D , you can get 2d outputs , elevation drawings , um , you know construction grade drawings with your furniture and all visible mep there , very , very quickly .

You have to then imagine in the world there's a lot of new buildings and new projects , but what about the 90 of buildings are already there right and then follow that through to the revit model and or , if you like , the digital twin . That's where Elaine can pick that up within her systems and then start leveraging that for maintenance .

Or , if you like , putting into the internet things systems you know as a virtual reality model or whatever .

One is there's been a change in the way we work in the way that we work from home , we spend less time in the office or we do hybrid working , so the whole workplace has had to change the whole design of how they work , more on an HR basis than , if you like , an IT basis . Now , that's obviously affected .

Then the systems underneath , because the maintenance of those assets are different . So an asset can be a building as well as it can be just a light bulb or whatever it might be . You might go down to the level you go down to . So really , there's a hunger to get the latest drawing , whether it's 2D or 3D .

But you can have 3D and what we're showing now is you can use those 3D models or 2D models with your assets in there and then you can start maintaining them again . So it's almost like stepping up again from a point of failure .

Now , I know that . You know to your point . A lot of organizations have changed the way they work , so now people have different schedules . You know they're in the office maybe only two days a week , where before it was five or six days a week that they're physically in the office . So no , that makes sense .

You know , fm , we've got their model and it's a sort of build on what they might have from the you know the part of the business , whether it might be and over here , capital projects , and those people have had their model and quite often these departments run in silos and that's why the old desk products and the bin products are supposed to pull them all

together . But it doesn't always do that and it doesn't stretch as far as then the CAFM or IDMS systems . Right , and again I make the point how many buildings are already in existence , against how many are being built or being refurbished ? Right , right , right . You know that's a great point .

That bin process of linking the two things together is the most important thing .

I was only gonna say that those workflows that you were referring to earlier mal and I was referring to someone out on site who finds something needs to be done um , the the fact that you can set up these workflows that follow all the way through Whilst that person is on site , they can also obtain approval to carry out that work , because the workflow is

already in existence . So , instead of having the efficiencies are absolutely enormous because , instead of making a note that that problem needs to be resolved , they can raise the work order . They can get the authorization whilst they're already there on site and carry out the work , so the cost savings are significant .

That it's and Nigel even talked about a second ago . It's improved space management . It's being able to you's being able to share the information . I think Nigel even called it having a common data format where the same piece of information could be shared downstream .

But it's also creating efficiencies to Elaine's point so that now , from the field , the person that's physically boots on the ground , that's standing there in front of the air handler , the ground that's standing there in front of the air handler they can actually go and start the process of repairing or updating that equipment based upon a request that was given , I

don't know , 25 minutes ago from someone that's in the facility itself . So it does give a better understanding of both the operational and the maintenance cost and the ROI of the building .

that can be shared with other engineers then because it could be a problem that's not been encountered before . So technology is moving on so much that you can even have a camera in your head , you know be doing this as they do with the projects .

The asset managers are now coming around to this sort of way of working , self-enabling the actual engineer to capture data and share it back , okay , up the line , to other people okay , no , and that's that that .

And you've touched on a couple of these , both the efficiency and I talked about this a second ago and the monetization of the space , how they can monetize the space more efficiently okay , what's really interesting ?

It also had room booking and sensors and various other things which give them analytics .

But it was really good to use a 3D model to talk to them about what's right , what's wrong , what's not working and that bit of feedback that we got actually let us redesign the building and also how many days a week they wanted to go in the office and were allowed to go in the office , which saved two days a week on average , which then saved the floor ,

which then put the revenues in to actually change some of the children's areas and make it much more nicer for the children , because there was a saving over a period of time . Okay . And also centralize all the reprographics and document management .

So loads and loads of things that you can do visually by using a 3D model or a BIM model and applying it to a remote team . And sharing knowledge through questionnaires , online and also face-to-face lets you change the whole workspace . That's just one application .

But in front of us we had the building and , um , the state it was in and various other things , and what what's not good , what's good , and technology what's good , what's bad right , but then , face to face with the leaders of each of the groups of people , how would they like to reorganize their teams ?

Right , it's just not from a design , yeah .

So again , you need a company like Elaine's to actually sift that through , filter it and zone it back down to the actual spatial areas of the business , the business departments . Then it makes sense and then that becomes invaluable as well .

So the systems that we're talking about this afternoon provide information on all of the assets , also provides information on the resources who are working on those assets as well , which then ultimately leads to reliability center of maintenance Right .

Ultimately leads to reliability center of maintenance working out which parts fail on a regular basis , perhaps from one particular supplier over another supplier . And all of those good things , because over a period of time you start to build up very valuable information which again help organizations save money Right .

Right , what we actually found was that they were losing masses of money by shutting down all of their plant for a period of time , because the plant actually did better when it was working on a regular basis , but by collecting the data we could help them make an informed decision Right , right , absolutely later .

We we could give them and we could help them make an informed decision right right absolutely .

But it's getting so , um good now that as people go into the building , they can put devices within the actual HVA systems or into plant rooms to actually modify the output depending on the occupancy of a zone or an area . And in some buildings they're occupying the building zone by zone , with hybrid work and the lights and heating come on and doing that .

Actually , when you take weekends and evenings into consideration , there can be a 30 saving on your you know , your energy bill and , of course , your global footprint .

So this kind of helps us to kind of transition to the next , I guess point to this and this is for both you , elaine and Nigel , as you , because you're in the industry , you do this every day what are facility management practitioners people that are really on the you know on day .

What are facility management practitioners people that are really on the you know , on the front lines , if you will , of FM ?

What do you think they're prioritizing , you know , over the next two to five years , as work order volumes increase Elaine had mentioned that a second ago , and even you know , as you look at the backdrop of economic uncertainty , we're all talking about shortages of skilled FM labor .

I mean , all these things are kind of in a big vat of circumstances that impact the facility management space . What do you think people are looking for and planning for over the next two to five years ? What are your thoughts , elaine ? We'll start with you .

For example , you can do visual inspections , you can pick up where there are defects . You can then automatically raise work orders for your team to go out and complete the work . So I would think a lot of processes will have to be automated .

So as we talk about this , right , and we're talking about BIM and FM , you know we're using those two terms almost as two separate things . You know BIM building information modeling and FM is facility management . But how do we integrate , you know , building information modeling with facility management ? What is that process ?

The integration process , elaine , what does that look like ?

the way that you want the defects to be highlighted , and then automatically generating workflows and jobs and work orders , et cetera , to automatically get distributed to your team , so that you reduce the amount of manual intervention .

Now this can be done virtually in real time . We're talking about what the future holds , to some degree of what you know the practitioners in the FM space and the BIM FM space are looking for . But what else could we look for as it relates to the benefits of BIM and FM integration ? What else is a benefit of that ?

What you're finding now is some companies , when they actually have a change done within their building be it the shell center , somewhere , like that they're saying to their contractors you have to update the binIM model as part of your process .

Now , in the old days it used to be you did a construction project , you didn't get paid until you handed over the drawing pack and that was it . There's a construction drawing there , you get paid now and it was always the last thing to be delivered .

Now they're saying quite cleverly for change managers in the FM world , you've got to update the Revit model , yes , and then you get paid . So what those subcontractors companies are doing ? They're outsourcing that little bit of work . So the drawings instead of just being put in an O&M manual , it's a digital 3D O&M manual .

So you've got the O&M manual , but it's all digital . Plus , it updates the Revit model . That's one change . Another change is people in FM now are getting much more cleverer , because years ago ago , even you know I worked for vodafone . Years ago the guy who'd become the fm manager was a guy that was doing the caretaking all the right , he's the guy actually .

There's a change of culture , there's a change in the way that people pay people commercially , all of that leading to we want up-to-date drawings and our assets managed correctly , and I think it's now all .

The technology is there now , whereas before it probably wasn't , and it's also , I think , relatively more cheaper than it used to be , so you can integrate facility management platforms .

So now you're saying you can implement or you can integrate these systems with BIM , is that ?

Every company wants reliable , consistent data .

They want to be able to share information with their I call them , the cooperating companies , like the GCs and the subs that are working in the building , you know , on projects , and it sounds like everyone wants to have some type of database of the equipment information to have in one place where they can find this information and be able to make decisions on

that . So , as we keep walking down this path , I guess , of the BIM-FM integration , what other FM technologies and , nigel , let me ask you this what other technologies are out there that will work directly with BIM from an FM standpoint ?

Say , you've got a brand new building not built yet . You can start then using that model for hr induction , um signage , um . So a lot of the big shopping malls , um , if they've got a point cloud or a Revit model or a design or something that they can work with , they can then start redesigning all the signage , the retail stores and various other things .

So I think what's happening is you've got things happening across the board , right , and everyone's starting to use the same model now . Okay , and the more we do that , the more benefit you get and the cost savings you get from doing that .

Right , and everyone's starting to use the same model now , okay , and the more we do that , then the more benefit you get and the cost savings you get from doing that .

But yes , at the same time you can get real-time information from the sensors the energy sensors , the desk sensors and pull that through as well into the model and visualize it , so you can visualize those things as well . Okay , Elaine .

If you have a visual representation of that on your handheld device , it just makes the identification process so much easier . Okay .

How does the , the kobe , I guess creation or standard creation or file , I think , think it's probably the better word how is the COBE file extracted from the BIM model ?

There is another advantage to having the BIM models as well integrated within a CMMS or an enterprise asset management system , and that's that you can then click on to the asset itself and see what work has been carried out onto that particular asset or part of the asset , so you can then find out more about the history and what's happened to it over a period

of time whilst you're working on it .

So it's a lovely little database called Kobe and whereas it's more architectural and P-based , it's a very valuable database in itself and it's got loads of other fields , so at that point you can actually use that model without it even being inside the CAF system okay to do some assets okay that asset squeeze ?

yep you , but what you do you'd actually make sure the fields you're actually um compiling um are usable . And because the kobe data doesn't always match the idms cathode data , because they look at different things . They look at more location based stuff rather than sort of like the technicalities of the actual individual window and what it's made of . Okay .

So what you have to do is just really align these two things and then you can work either side of the fence . You can have people doing sweeps in Revit , or you can actually do an API to Maximo , as Elaine has done on other projects , and they can clean it from that end as well .

He just wants to know if it's a fire door , what it's made and manufacturer number . You know generally .

If you've got assets , then it would be as good to have this software , because it gives you all of the information that you need to successfully manage and run those assets in an economical manner . I think the future is very exciting .

We're very excited about the use of AI and we do embrace the technology and feel that it's going to change the way that we do business .

Use some of your data sets , run it through a process that's unified , where you can see the CAFM , you can see the Revit model , you can see it happening and proof of concept . Then you avoid the domino effect and also work with different suppliers , different stakeholders . That can be pulled together quite quickly as a model for the future .

So it's nothing to be scared of if you take a small step to then before and then look at the benefits and return on investment you know for doing that for your organization .