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Automatically Updating Maintenance Information

from a BIM Database

Conference Paper · June 2012

DOI: 10.1061/9780784412343.0047

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Rui Liu Raja R A Issa

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Automatically Updating Maintenance Information from A BIM Database

R. Liu1 and R. R. A. Issa2

1
Rinker School of Building Construction, University of Florida, PO Box 115703,
Gainesville, FL, USA 32611-5703; PH (352) 373-1178; email: liurui@ufl.edu
2
Rinker School of Building Construction, University of Florida, PO Box 115703,
Gainesville, FL, USA 32611-5703; PH (352) 273-1152; email: raymond-
issa@ufl.edu

ABSTRACT

With the development of building information modeling, knowledge sharing

between facility management and design professionals has become possible. The use
of building information modeling (BIM) technology in the design and construction
phases of buildings is increasing. There is a need to expand the use of BIM beyond
the two to three years design and construction phase into the facility management
phase of buildings in order to facilitate tasks such as maintenance and to maximize its
value to facility owners. However, the fact of current Architecture, Engineering,
Construction and Operations (AECO) industry practice is that the facility
management phase seldom uses the BIM models even when they are required by the
owner in design and construction phase. This fact results in BIM models being
wasted where they have the most value, in the facility management phase. This study
is a part of the ongoing research of BIM-assisted Facility Management which is
aimed to bridge the communication gap between design and facility management
professionals. This paper focuses on automatic bidirectional communications
between Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) and BIM
models on a database level.

INTRODUCTION

The AECO industry has shown a good deal of interest surrounding the use of
BIM for facility management. The opportunities for leveraging BIM for facility
operations are compelling, but the utilization of BIM in facility management is
lagging behind the BIM implementation in design and construction phases. On one
hand, designers and constructors seldom know what documents and other varieties of
information are needed for the facility management phase. On the other hand, a
limited degree of knowledge and experience gained in the operation and maintenance
phase of these existing buildings is sent back to the design phase. This research is
aimed at bridging the communication gap between design and facility management
professionals on a facility database level. Since a Computerized Maintenance
Management Systems (CMMS) is an important component of the operation and
maintenance phase, it is imperative to obtain accurate information, e.g manufacturer
information and equipment parameters, needed for the proper operation of CMMS

373

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system. The ready availability of such data will reduce the maintenance period and
minimize the down time of equipment. Through operations on the BIM database, data
can be transferred bidirectionaly between BIM models and the CMMS system. A
template that can transfer information bi-directionally between design and facility
management software was developed.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology has undoubtedly changed

the way the AEC industry executes design and construction, but will it also change
the way facilities are operated and maintained (Autodesk 2008)? The AECO industry
has expressed a good deal of interest in the use of BIM for facility management. The
opportunities for leveraging BIM for facility operations are compelling, but the
utilization of BIM in facility management is lagging behind the BIM implementation
in design and construction phases(Akcamete et al. 2010).
Facility managers are the ones who responsible for the operations and
maintenance of the designed and constructed buildings for years. However, there are
many organizations and individual professionals involved in these fields. , The
leadership of these organizations are beginning to communicate and collaborate, but,
to date, have not served the facility and property managers well in the area of BIM
(Cotts et al. 2010). On one hand, designers and constructors seldom know what
documents and other varieties of information are needed for the facility management
phase. On the other hand, a limited degree of experience in the use and operation
knowledge of these existing buildings is sent back to design phase for consideration
(Jensen 2008). The link between design and facility management is not sufficiently
understood and usually avoided (Erdener 2003). Issues related to facility maintenance
have been left out of the design decision-making process (Pati et al. 2010).
The operation phase constitutes approximately 60% of the total cost of a
construction project. Main activities during operations are related to maintenance and
repair (M&R). Reactive maintenance and repairs bring excessive expenses, but it
must be remembered that most maintenance work is reactive (Akcamete et al. 2010,
Mobley et al. 2008, Sullivan et al. 2010). It is not efficient because reactive
maintenance cost three to four times more than the planned maintenance for the same
repair (Mobley et al. 2008, Sullivan et al. 2010). So it is reasonable to support more
planned maintenance work and not just reacting to failures. Sullivan, et al.(2010)
recommended prioritizing the components in a facility, recording root causes of
failures and analyzing equipment failure modes etc. in order to capture reliable
information for reactive maintenance cost three to four times more than the planned
maintenance planned maintenance. A reliable maintenance database holding
historical information of maintenance and repair work is necessary for planned
maintenance decisions. As significant unnecessary expenses occur in the current
practice, there are ample opportunities for major savings in the operation phase;
computerized supports are needed for the improvement of operation and maintenance
activities (Akcamete et al. 2010).
In addition, the detailed design model is not useful for daily use by facility
management. Since design software such as AutoCAD Revit, ArchiCAD etc. are for

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use by design professionals, requiring facility management staff to use these software
packages to query the information they need is both burdensome and inefficient. Only
a portion of information from the BIM model is typically required for this purpose.

METHODOLOGY

As shown in Figure 1, the first step of this research is to identify the needs and
possible solutions for the requirements of facility management. Existing FM
software is examined and interviews have been done with several facility
management staff. Although current facility management (FM) software may still
have some problems such as not including enough information fields for maintenance
work, it is not the focus of this paper. The information required by the FM software
and other necessary information are added to the BIM model as parameters.
Information needed for the software includes: Location ID, Building, Room Number,
Floor, Description, Sq Feet, Requestor, and Phone. Description, requestor and phone
should be inputted by the end user and is not related to the BIM models. So those
three fields are not considered for parameters. Instead, the name of manufacture, the
contact information of manufacture, the location of equipment, the equipment model
number, and the warranty expiration date are added to the BIM model as shared
parameters.
The BIM tool chosen here is Revit MEP as we focused our problem on MEP
system maintenance. The functionality of Revit MEP is investigated to hold the
shared parameter, which can be used for multiple projects and exported to external
database and a Revit template is built using the parameters created for maintenance
purpose. DBLink connections that can export Revit data to external database such as
Access were also investigated. A case study of an educational facility is conducted to
validate the proposed method for automatically updating information between BIM
software and FM software.

CASE STUDY

A case study interview was conducted with the FM information system

manager of large owner. The FM manager indicated that they were using an MS
Excel file to collect information for equipment from contractors and designers and
were using Automaid software to feed the data into their CMMS. The MS Excel
format has been used for 14 years. From the CMMS perspective importing the data is
already not a problem. This case study is focused on how to populate the MS Excel
file from the BIM model automatically for importing into the CMMS software.

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Investigate available
Examine existing FM
Literature Review BIM tools and Interview FM staff
software
functions

Prepare parameters for use Find out information

in BIM tools requirement

Build template for data collection

Validate the template developed

(Case Study)

Figure 1. Process for database connection between BIM and FM

Once the required information and data fields have been determined after
investigating the existing FM software and interviews with FM staff, the first step
would be to prepare the template in Revit and a database export is used to add the
required parameters to the Revit Model. Shared Parameters are used here because
they can be shared by multiple projects and families, can be exported to ODBC and
also appear in schedules. If project parameters are used, the parameter created can
only be used for the current project but not shared by other projects. As parameters
are set to be used for different projects, shared parameters are more appropriate.

Figure 2. MEP Model and Shared Parameters Editing

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Revit allows the user to build a schedule for single or multiple categories,
based on the requirement of the end user, different schedule types can be chosen, a
multiple category schedule is shown in Figure 3 by using the shared parameters set in
Figure 2. Based on the import format that the FM software can accept, the template
created in Revit MEP can be saved as an MS Excel file shown in Figure 4 or exported
to ACCESS as a mdb file through DBLink as shown in Figures 5 and 6.

Figure 3. MEP List for Collecting Data in AEC Phase

Figure 4. MEP List Export to Excel

Through DBLink, data behind the 3D visualization of the BIM Model can be
calculated easily and as the mdb file can be imported back to the Revit model, any
changes that happened in the ACCESS can be automatically have the corresponding
change to the BIM model after import. In addition, the users can add new fields in the
ACCESS database, and the new fields will be the shared parameters in the BIM
model (WikiHelp 2012).

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Figure 5. Relationships of Revit Classes

Figure 6. Tables in the Revit Database

Based on what information is needed for the FM software, as we need some

more information that the existing FM software that is used by a university, some
manipulation of the data field should be edited in the database before import into the
FM software system.

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CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH

With the process proposed above, the template is built once in Revit and it can
be used repetitively without rebuilding in the succeeding projects if the FM software
does not require different data. When the designers and contractors input the required
data during the modeling process, the template can be populated automatically and be
ready to export.
With the development of building information modeling, knowledge sharing
between the facility management and design professionals has become possible. The
use of BIM technology in the design and construction phases of buildings is
increasing. There is a need to expand the use of BIM beyond the two to three years
design and construction phase into the facility management phase of buildings in
order to facilitate tasks such as maintenance. The information of a building project
that is created and collected in the design and construction phase is valuable for the
facility management phase and can help to improve the effectiveness and efficiency
of the FM group in operation and maintenance activities. However, the reality of
current AECO industry practice is that the facility management phase seldom uses the
BIM models even when they are required by the owner in design and construction
phase. This fact results in that BIM models are wasted where they would have the
most value, in the facility management phase. This paper is a part of the ongoing
research of BIM-assisted Facility Management which is aimed to bridge the
communication gap between design and facility management professionals. This
study focuses on automatically bidirectionally communicating between CMMS and
BIM models on a database level. The workflow and case study discussed in this study
show that it is possible to automatically transfer information bidirectionally between
BIM software and FM software. The storage of FM data in the BIM model can also
compensate for the lack of information in current FM software such as cut sheets and
3D visualizations of the work order request, manufacturer contact information and
equipment manuals are more easily located for the maintenance work. Future
directions of this study may be conducted in querying the required information and
fields from the FM software by using Add-Ins or any development by the FM
software companies that can make the FM software more compatible with BIM
software. As the BIM software package is for design purpose and tends to be
expensive, it is not necessary for the FM staff to keep the software itself, if the FM
software can contain the necessary information and views from the BIM that are
required by the FM staff that would be sufficient for BIM-assisted Facility
Management purposes.

REFERENCES

Akcamete, A., Akinci, B., and Garrett, J. H. "Potential utilization of building

information models for planning maintenance activities." Proc., Proceddings
of the International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building
Engineering, Nottingham University Press.
Autodesk (2008). "BIM and Facilities Management."

Computing in Civil Engineering (2012)

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Cotts, D. G., Roper, K. O., and Payant, R. P. (2010). The facility management
handbook, AMACOM/American Management Association.
Erdener, E. (2003). "Linking programming and design with facilities management."
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, 17, 4.
Jensen, P. "Integration of Considerations for Facilities Management in Design." Proc.,
Design Management in the Architectural Engineering and Construction
Sector: CIB W096 Architectural Management & TG49 Architectural
Engineering, 191-199.
Mobley, R., Higgins, L., Wikoff, D., and ebrary, I. (2008). Maintenance engineering
handbook, McGraw-Hill.
Pati, D., Park, C., and Augenbroe, G. (2010). "Facility Maintenance Performance
Perspective to Target Strategic Organizational Objectives." Journal of
Performance of Constructed Facilities, 24, 180.
Sullivan, G., Pugh, R., Melendez, A. P., and Hunt, W. D. (2010). "Operations &
Maintenance Best Practices: A Guide to Achieving Operational Efficiency."
U.S. Department of Energy: Federal Energy Management Program.
WikiHelp, A. (2012). "Revit 2012 User's Guide."
<http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Revit/enu/2012/Help/Revit_User%27s_Guide
>. (January, 12, 2012).

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