BIM-based operational information requirements for asset owners

Abstract

ABSTRACTIt is widely recognised in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry that asset owners do not really understand their information needs for effective BIM-based Asset Management (AM). Hence, they may be unable to develop their operational information requirements to request the right data from the design and construction phases. This paper investigates the operational information requirements of three asset owners through a comparative study. A qualitative multi-case study approach was used to collect and analyse the operational information requirements of three asset owners. A qualitative content analysis was also utilised to identify key asset information requirements and categories. The study revealed that operational information requirements are strongly related to business needs and that it is not possible to develop a rigid list of requirements for asset owners, but rather some templates to help them define their data requirements. Of a total of 172 analysed information requirements, only 7 requirements were common in all cases and 16 were common in 2 cases, which represents 4% and 9% of the total. The research addressed a significant research gap regarding the development of operational information requirements for asset owners. Moreover, the paper provides templates to help guide asset owners when defining their data requirements for asset operations in order to derive BIM business value.