ZEMCH 2019 International Conference Proceedings April.2020 | Page 342
1. Introduction
Having new buildings created using Building Information Modeling (BIM) provides a lot of rich
data—from being able to anticipate a building’s energy costs to knowing when that new equipment
might require maintenance. This digital and effective platform therefore could provide an opportunity
for both worlds to complement great efforts of building professionals for design, construction and
operations of building projects. Having a sustainable Facility Management (FM) can be achieved by the
proper engagement of BIM where the integration can offer a number of benefits, which can be simply
summarized in the sustainable triple bottom line—having a positive effect on the buildings’
environmental impact; increasing the buildings’ profitability and Return of Investment (ROI); and
enhancing the communities and the quality of life. Thus, the investigation to understand the current
standing of the integration of BIM into FM is crucial for any future studies in this area.
As the study [1] highlighted, one of BIM definitions is “a digital representation of the physical and
functional characteristics of a facility. A BIM is a shared knowledge resource for information about a
facility forming a reliable basis for decisions during its life‐cycle; defined as existing from earliest
conception to demolition”. Based on this definition, BIM is a database to represent and utilize the
geometrical and non‐geometrical properties of any facility. To better identify a correct and a well
utilized BIM model, one should be aware of what should not be considered as BIM as per the study [2]
where four different types of digital models were mistakenly categorized as BIM. Moreover, the study
[3] stated a definition for FM that refers to “the building phase that involves the financial management
of funds to operate and maintain a facility”. Thus, this phase is the most expensive phase of the building
life cycle, which costs more than 80‐85% of the total life span costs of the building [4], yet, facility
managers are not usually involved in the project planning process. This absence results in making their
decisions rely on the information that can be extracted from investigating the building in its “as‐built”
condition. However, many important pieces of information, which are sometimes crucial for successful
and proper FM decisions, may be missed out and undocumented during the construction phase that
leads to poorly managed facilities and highly costed operations [5]. To overcome this problem of the
poor information management between stakeholders in the construction field, a new concept was
emerged into the industry around the world that has the potential, if it has been utilized well, to
facilitate the building project’s information by the stakeholders during its whole life cycle process,
including the operations and maintenance (O&M) phase where the FM occurs. This innovative
approach is referred to as BIM [6].
During the operational phase of the building, while FM is in place, BIM can be very beneficial.
Many aspects of FM, such as space management, quality control, security management, commissioning,
locating building components, energy management and maintenance and repair, can be addressed and
utilized by BIM [7]. BIM has been concerned by many research studies as a beneficial technology for
design and construction purposes, whereas not as many research studies had considered it for its
benefits for FM [3]. Nevertheless, many benefits had been identified for implementing BIM into FM in
the available literature. The well adoption of the BIM in the operational tasks in the service providing
organization can lead to a better customer service [8]. Improving the decision‐making process is another
benefit of the integrating BIM into FM [9].
BIM can benefit the operations in different ways as well. It can reduce the cost of operations [10],
the time of operations [9], and the effort of operations [11]. Reduction of maintenance failure [11],
having proactive maintenance strategy [10], and streamlining the process [12] are also benefits of BIM
integration with FM. Moreover, a well‐integrated BIM into FM can help for better cost forecasting [10]
and for better planning [10]. It can also help in improving the tracking of inventory [10]. BIM can
strengthen the bonds of the integration of Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) with FM
[11] while also improving data consistency [13] and access to information [11]. However, increasing
processes efficiency [14] and reducing response time [13] are another benefits of well integration of BIM
into FM. Nevertheless, with all abovementioned benefits, facility managers are usually building their
331
ZEMCH 2019 International Conference l Seoul, Korea