10 Things Your Facilities Management Team Can Do to Rock in the Field

The use of building information modeling (BIM) data by building owners and facilities managers is on the rise, a survey by DLT partner, IMAGINiT Technologies reveals. Compared to 2016, the percentage of owners integrating BIM data into facilities management (FM) systems has increased by almost 9%. Yet challenges remain. Many organizations aren’t prepared or equipped to make the process and technology changes required for BIM adoption.

The biggest challenge for owners in the use of BIM for FM is integrating the information into their FM platform (21.4%) and maintaining the BIM data once it was received (21.4%).

But did you know that mobile facilities asset management software makes it easier for contractors and building owners to realize the value of BIM in building operations? With Autodesk BIM 360 Ops, contractors can transform the handover process by connecting BIM asset data created during building design and construction to building ops. Owners can begin operations on day one, with a mobile-first solution and the information they need. Mobile-first means that it addresses the needs of the people out in the field, the technician knee-deep in water trying to fix a leak in the basement – the guys who needs data in their hands while they’re out working, solving problems, and maintaining the building.

But it can typically take 12-18 months for someone to get started maintaining a building. And, if you need to change a filter of some kind every three weeks, that’s a non-starter. BIM 360 Ops goes a long way to improving the handover process. For example, if you designed a building with Revit, and built it with BIM 360 you can export immediately and get all the data into BIM 360 Ops on day one.

But, going back to the findings of the survey about handover challenges, it can take many months of training to use these tools effectively, and even then, training may not stick. This is the challenge the BIM 360 Ops product development team sought to solve. What they tasked themselves with in creating BIM 360 Ops a tool that can be used right away, with easy setup, that could be put in the hands of those in the field and was simple enough for the to use that they don’t need any training.

BIM 360 Ops is a computerized maintenance management solution (CMMS) that lets you jumpstart asset maintenance by adding assets from Revit, BIM 360 Field, IoT solutions, and even spreadsheets. Assets that can be viewed include documents and models, maintenance checklists, scheduling and maintenance history. It also includes support for ticket creation (by smart device) and management for reactive, preventative, and predictive maintenance.

If you’re a BIM 360 Ops user or interested to know more about how it all comes together, check out this excellent live presentation from Autodesk University 2017: 10 Things Your Facilities Team Must Do to Rock with BIM 360 Ops.

All images courtesy of Autodesk.