IMAGINiT Building Solutions Blog

7 Acronyms Every Facility Manager Should Know

By Peter Costanzo, Facilities Management Division Director

If you've worked in computer-aided design (CAD) for any length of time, you'll notice a propensity for those around you to acronym-ize pretty much anything. But there are some that become industry standards. Here are a few that are pertinent to the facilities management set:

(1) CMMS - Computerized Maintenance Management Systems are similar to, but not the same as, (2) CAFM - Computer-Aided Facilities Management, which focuses on tracking facilities, space, assets and maintenance. CMMS applications focus primarily on maintenance. 

(3) IWMS - Integrated Workplace Management Solution takes it even further. This system provides a full suite of facilities applications which integrates with existing IT systems such as: human resources, construction/facilities, billing, etc.. An IWMS provides an enterprise facilities management solution that integrates with existing enterprise systems.

This, however, is not to be confused with (4) Enterprise Asset Management. EAM systems are typically the backbone of manufacturing facilities because they track both the assets as well as the maintenance issues. EAMs are built specifically to manage and maintain assets. 

None of these should be confused with (5) BIM - Building Information Modeling. This is used more on the design and construction side of the house, but is becoming a mainstay term in facilities as well. BIM offers an intelligent model that (purportedly) can be used right away in any of the systems described above. 

But, in order to use your BIM in CMMS, CAFM or IWMS, you'll probably need (6) COBie. This is the Construction-Operations Building Information Exchange put togeter by the National Institute of Building Sciences. You can read more on it here. 

Finally, in order to keep abreast of the latest technology, you'll eventually (7) NAA - Need Another Acronym. 

And, with that thought, we leave you with some fun IT-related acronyms you should know. 

Our Facilities Management team focuses on the issues and needs of today's owners and facilities managers.

The Four AutoCAD Demons of Revit Detailing

By Jordan Mussett, IMAGINiT Building Solutions

When exploding to convert details from AutoCAD to Revit, what have you heard people say? Wait! Don’t!

Whoever said this knows about the four demons. When you explode AutoCAD files in Revit Projects, several things happen.

#1 The text from AutoCAD is normally converted to new Revit Text Styles but the name and scale probably won’t be right, especially if the text in the AutoCAD file wasn’t annotative.

#2 All AutoCAD layers become a new Line Style. This doesn’t sound so bad but those Line Styles will be the same color as the layers if you preserved the colors when you imported. Additionally, those line styles will most likely carry a weight of 1. These will need to be tracked down and removed.

#3 All Line Patterns from AutoCAD come over into Revit. Revit already has its own Line Patterns, utilizing a different system, so these don’t compute. These will need to be tracked down and removed.

#4 All visible hatches from the exploded AutoCAD file become new Revit Filled Region types. Again, this doesn’t mean quite as much as the others but these will need to be tracked down and removed.

It might not seem like a problem but it normally does become a problem. Revit projects are just like other projects in that one of the main goals is for the entire drawing set to have a consistent look, like one person drafted the entire project. The more illegitimate Text Styles, Line Styles, Line Patterns, and Filled Regions you have to choose from, the better the chances that user 1 is utilizing a certain combination of those four categories and user 2 is utilizing a different combination. This will easily and quickly conquer the effort to create a cohesive, concise set of Construction Documents.

Practical Advice: Convert AutoCAD details etc. in a separate file. Then utilize “Insert Views from File” to bring that converted detail to the working project. This way, all of the demons stay behind in a file that you will eventually delete. One extra step saves the model manager time and headaches.

As a side note, if you want to explode a line segment that is very small, Revit might not convert it. This dimension is somewhere under 1/32”. This is normally rasterized objects or splines and curves.

Cricket Adaptive Family for a Chimney and Roof - Part 2

By Veredith Keller, IMAGINiT Building Solutions

In this Adaptive Family, reporting parameters will be used and formulas will be added to the Cricket Adaptive Family.

Reporting parameters are a parameter type in which the value is driven by a dimension in the family. Reporting parameters extract a value from a geometric condition and use it to report the data to a formula or as a schedulable parameter.

Video:

 

Here is the link to the White Paper:

http://portal.imaginit.com/Article-Manager/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/364/Revit-Adaptive-Family-for-a-Chimney-and-Roof

Cricket Adaptive Family for a Chimney and Roof - Part 1

By Veredith Keller, IMAGINiT Building Solutions

In this Adaptive Family, the adaptive points’ orientation will be changed and parameters will be added to change the offset distance.

Orientation affects the adaptive component family when placed on another component or in a project environment. With the adaptive points selected, go to the Properties Palette and under the Adaptive Component section, specify the Orientation. For this family, the adaptive point Orientation will be changed to “Vertical on Placement”.

This example contains a roof and a chimney. A cricket or saddle is needed to divert water on the roof around the high side of the chimney.

 

 Video:

 

Five Thoughts on the Intersection of Building Information Modeling and Facilities Management

By Peter Costanzo, Director, Facilities Management Team

Building information modeling (BIM) is a method of creating coordinated, internally consistent, computable information about a building project, and then using that data in design, construction, and operation. BIM has taken the architectural world by storm, but what does it mean for facilities managers?

Here are five key takeaways to consider as you think about the intersection of BIM and facilities management:

1. BIM is not a technology. While technology aids in creation of a building model, BIM is really about process.
   
   
2. BIM means different things to different stakeholders. From a facilities management perspective, electronic models and their data can be imported into facility management systems. This contributes to better building management.
   
   
3. Both BIM and facilities management are all about data. Maintaining accurate data forms the foundation of effective facilities management. Similarly, data is the core of building information models. The goal for facilities managers is to create links and to leverage the right information from models to support maintenance, sustainability programs, and more.
   
   
4. Standards are helpful for extracting facilities management data from BIM. Industry standards exist like COBie (Construction Operations Building Information Exchange) or organizations can develop their own standards.
   
   
5. True integration between BIM and facilities management results in Building Lifecycle Management. Building lifecycle management or BLM is possible when models are one integrated piece of data used by facilities managers and owners to help with the life of buildings. 
   
   

BIM and facilities management hold a lot of promise and efficiencies can be gained by linking systems. Download our white paper What Facilities Managers Need to Know About BIM to learn more about where the technology is today, the promise of technology in the future, and key considerations for facilities management projects that leverage BIM.

IMAGINiT aims to help architects, engineers, construction teams and owners create as-built models that contain information useful to facilities managers.

Learn more about our Facilities Management capabilities.

Sustainable Facilities Management: Bridging the Gap from BIM to Building Operations

By Peter Costanzo, Director, Facilities Management Team

Buildings and the resources needed for their operation contribute to the world’s carbon footprint. It’s no surprise that many organizations are looking at the impact of their facilities within the bigger picture of corporate social responsibility. Or, just to save money.

The sustainability of new buildings depends on factors like water consumption, energy efficiency, and materials selection. Those are influenced by the architectural design and building systems. A lot of valuable information related to sustainability is often captured in building information models (BIMs) that are created during design and construction. That data is useful for facilities managers once a building is completed and moves into the operations phase.

Unfortunately, a major hurdle for facilities managers is getting data from BIM which can be used in a facilities management system. Here are three recommendations for bridging the gap from BIM to sustainable building operations:

1. Request that Facilities Management be involved in the building design process. The American Institute of Architects suggests that sustainable design requires more parties to be involved early in the design process. Facilities management should have a seat at the table and convey what information will be needed for ongoing sustainable operation of the building after completion.
   
   
2. Identify what information is needed in the facilities management system to support sustainable building operations. Efficient facilities management is all about having access to data and using it efficiently. This information may include electricity, fuel, water, and other resource consumption.
   
   
3. Consider working with a partner to integrate data from BIM to facilities management systems. Rather than reinventing the wheel, it’s preferable to migrate data directly from BIM to the existing facilities management systems. Unfortunately, many facilities management teams don’t have the IT expertise to make that possible and in-house IT teams are usually overburdened with other tasks. A good option is hiring an outside partner with expertise in both facilities management and technology to recommend the best approach and help make it happen.

 

Sustainable facilities management is possible, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. Creating a smooth path from BIM to the facilities management system is a good first step towards greener building operations.

Learn more about our Facilities Management capabilities.

Autodesk FormIT and Levels

By Howard Roman, IMAGINiT Building Solutions

Recently, I attended an excellent demonstration of the new Autodesk FormIT application at the New York Revit User Group by Tom Vollaro of Autodesk. Although the application is at the beginning of its development, one particular feature of FormIT appears to plug a hole in the existing workflow between the Revit conceptual massing environment and the Revit project environment.

In particular, there was simply no way to transfer any levels created in the conceptual massing environment into the project environment. When you loaded the conceptual mass into the project, you had to recreate the levels in the project environment from scratch. If there had been considerable work put into creating multiple levels and carefully establishing their location, this lapse in the workflow was frustrating.

The Autodesk FormIT application takes care of this workflow problem as well as providing an excellent design sketching environment that will compete favorably against the Revit conceptual massing environment. Whether you use web based or IPad based FormIT, you get a very easy to use sketching tool that connects very well with Revit. It’s still early but the development plans seem to be strong and it is usable today as is.

Here is the workflow from FormIT to Revit:

1. Either before or after sketching your building, click the Levels tab in FormIT. There are 5 default levels and you can either adjust their heights or delete them to start from scratch.

2. If you delete the default levels you should leave one level to work from.

3. Next, you can use the “Add Multiple Levels” button and specify how many levels you want to create as well as their spacing.

4. Now the new levels appear, but how do we make them visible in the model?

5. The next step is to activate the Properties tab so we can control the visibility of the levels.  We can tab over the object to highlight the whole object and select it to see the object properties.  Next, pick the “Area by Level” button.  This will allow us to expand the levels to see the level list.  Finally, we can choose “Check All” or choose just the levels we want to see in the model.  When the model is converted into a Revit file, all levels will appear including any levels that are above or below the model.  The FormIT levels do not have to intersect the modeled object to be converted into Revit.

6. Now the model can be saved to A360.  This central cloud location manages model sharing and conversion to Revit.

7. Once the model is saved to A360, a Revit rvt file will automatically be generated.  The rvt file can be downloaded and opened in Revit.

8. The result is a fully functioning Revit project with the model and all of the Levels present.  The conversion process on A360 will include all levels even if they do not intersect the model itself.

The workflow from FormIT to Revit is a promising alternative to the conceptual massing environment. In addition to the level tools, there are a host of excellent sketching and materials features in FormIT that will ultimately result in a very strong workflow for building design.</p>

Building a Bridge between BIM and FM

By Peter Costanzo, Director, Facilities Management Team

A study conducted for the Construction Owners Association of America found that a quarter of owners (26%) are not using BIM as a facilities management tool and around a third (35%) are using BIM “slightly” as a facilities management tool. However, in three years’ time, 70% of study participants suggested that they will use BIM for facilities management purposes. The top barriers that prevent using BIM as a facilities management tool include lack of training, lack of operability between facilities management systems and BIM, and the user interface.

What’s the key to building a bridge between BIM and FM? Here are a few suggestions:

• Hire a partner who understands how these two worlds intersect and can evaluate how your existing BIM and FM systems can be integrated.
• Conduct an audit of the information that is in your BIM and how it could be used for facilities management. Identify additional information that is needed for FM purposes.
• Invest in training so facilities managers can take advantage of BIM information and use it productively.

Where do your facilities management teams stand in terms of BIM adoption? Are you using BIM not at all or only slightly? What’s holding you back? To learn more about the intersection of BIM and FM, download our white paper and feel free to contact us to continue the conversation.

Learn more about our Facilites Management capabilities.