This morning an email arrived announcing the next in a series of Onuma Inc webinars on the recent BIMstorm BIG BIM Bang. The kickoff event in Washington, DC focused on the BIG DATA collaboration that Onuma has created with the California Community Colleges (CCC) system and the emerging possibilities and opportunities at Kaiser Permanente (KP).

The DC event focused on projects from Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles Community College District and Mira Costa College. The organizations came to the program to highlight their efforts in embracing the new paradigms that are emerging in the AECOO industry.

Even if you have not been following the BIMstorm, you really should sit in on this free webinar. Sign up here to attend the webinar.

The presentation will highlight significant developments in the industry’s process of morphing into something new and exciting in this time of uncertainty and constraints. Where some are shouting from the rooftops about the demise of parts of the industry, this program offers a more optimistic view of the future. By embracing BIG DATA and distributed systems it is clearly possible for the AECOO industry to come out of the current crisis in a much stronger and more valuable position in the global economy.

The California Community Colleges came with their highly successful FUSION + CCC GIS + Onuma system (check out John Roach’s latest video posting here).

Kaiser Permanente is exploring and testing. They are building on discussions among the Department of Defense Military Health System (DoD MHS), the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), Kaiser Permanente (KP), and Sutter under the auspices of the Health Healthcare BIM Consortium.

If it were not for mistakes, how would we learn and improve? On December 30th, my friend Randy Deutsch AIA, LEED AP posted about Makers of the Environment in his BIM + Integrated Design blog. Within the post, Randy writes about a significant error that he found as he read Makers. I thank him for bringing it to my attention. Unfortunately I did not read Randy’s post until Sunday.

Some of you bought the book with this error.

I felt that those of you that bought the book and spent the time to read it deserved a correction. The print version of Makers of the Environment included two and a half pages of repetitive text beginning in the middle of page 23 and ending on page 25. The redundant text evidently was added in the last round of paste-up and everyone missed it. Fortunately the error only occurred in the print version and none of the many ebooks. If you bought the book for Nook, Kindle, iBook, et al. the error does not affect you.

There is a “btw.” at the end of this post that you might want to read, tho’.

The graphic designers have the correction in hand. In about a week the book will come off the shelf for a couple of days and go back up with the issue fixed. One of the many advantages of starting your own publishing house is that things like this can be corrected with little or no fuss.

For those that bought the print version with this error, I am offering a replacement book as soon as the error is fixed.

I would appreciate your letting me know if you have one of the books with this error. I will make sure that you get a replacement copy as soon as the updated book becomes available. Please send me a note at my personal email referencing your purchase information and address. The printer cannot ship to PO boxes, so make sure to send your physical address.

btw. Randy also expressed concern about the grey boxes in the print version. The text in grey boxes is my attempt to differentiate fact and opinion from the design fiction parts of the book. The grey boxed text should be considered in the same context as all of the other AECOO books in the Process re-engineering/BIM/IP genre. All other text in the body of the book is design fiction.

It is my hope that you find Makers of the Environment a good read and that it will start you thinking about the issues and opportunities that we face. Too often these days, we default to the negative messages that permeate the media and discussions about the construction industry. There really are other ways to move forward than those too often represented. We can do more (and better) even in a world of constraints.

Best regards. Thank you for your support and interest — Finith Jernigan FAIA

As you may have heard by now, there is a lot of controversy spinning around the licensing agreement for the recent release of Apple’s iBook Author tool. Here are a couple of links that describe the issues: 9to5Mac and the HuffPost Books

For my work, I look at this issue a bit differently.  From my perspective, Apple is the ‘printer’ and/or ‘distributor’ of books that I choose to place with them, not the publisher. In the case of my books, I am the ‘author’. The publishing company that I started four years ago, 4Site Press, is the ‘publisher’.

From what I can tell, Apple’s rights do not extend to the ownership of my intellectual property. I only want them to control things within the realm of fulfilling the sell (and perhaps some marketing). Sure, I would love total freedom to do what I choose with iBook Author and Apple is likely overstepping the bounds of reason, but that is not, at heart, why I am starting to use the tool. I love the product that I can produce with this tool.

In traditional publishing, the author turned over most rights to the publisher. After signing the publisher’s agreement, most authors had little say in what happened from that point. The author did most of the real work, the publisher took some highly controlled financial risk and the author received a miniscule share of the financial returns. The often glossed over part of traditional publishing is that the traditional publishers rarely (like 2% of the time) did any significant marketing, so the author still had to sell his or her book, even tho’ he/she had signed away the rights and the publisher was theoretically responsible for marketing.

I can have Apple distribute iBooks and iTextbooks (I intend to use their system to distribute multiple editions, with different isbn numbers). The iBooks version will be managed by an aggregator (SmashWords) and the iTextbooks, I will do myself, directly with Apple. At the same time I have made CreateSpace responsible for physical books throughout the Amazon system and handle bulk orders myself. I also have Kindle/Nook/et al distributed through my own Amazon account and through SmashWords. As I find other distribution outlets, I work with them too.

The trick is to retain ALL IP. Whenever I give up even a small piece of the IP, I lose control and limit what can happen. For example, right now Amazon has what seems like a great program for distributing Kindle material. However, if you sign up for it you are contractually obligated to have no other electronic versions of your book available in ANY format. You really have to keep up with the details of each distributor’s agreement.

I think that iBook Author offers several opportunities in the short run, at least for my work:

1. It allows me to push much of the information that I have created over the years into a more packaged, system basis, without losing the web connection, ie. I can quickly publish Helps & How-tos in a much cleaner way. Conceptually that is what my new book, Makers of the Environment is designed to do, so iBook Author creates another, better approach to what I have been working on for the last couple of years.

2. It offers the possibility of taking the iPad version of some of my favorite systems and distributing them within iBooks or all kinds. I think that we should add cool design tools to every building information modeling and real-time data book on the market. How better to show people what they are really about, in order to get away from the hype and sales pitches? For instance, I would like to include live demos of the cloud based tools that Onuma Inc. and others have created to Makers. To do this, I only have to create a page of sales/how-to/eula material plus set the system up to work within the iBook.With this tool we can really bring non-linear processes into people’s consciousness.

Think in terms of moving away from showing people how we did something in the past, toward live, proof-of-concept tools surrounded by the facts and issues that have created the need. For several years, I have been working to help people understand the difference between ‘best practices‘ which are how someone we cast as an expert did it yesterday; to ‘next practices‘ which is how we all need to do similar tasks tomorrow. This is one step in that evolution.

The tool developers may need to include a way for people to move to full system functionality in order to generate income, but that is something that they should be able to handle. If I can expose people to the possibilities and opportunities, it will work to everyone’s advantage, the users, the developers and mine. If everyone begins to understand the need and power of BIG BIM and BIG Data, everyone will benefit.

3. It allows me to present information in a pretty powerful way that should be highly acceptable to my clients. Especially the ones that have embraced the iPad. It really is starting to be a direct link to the live data that much of my work is now revolving around. Think in terms of presenting your next Validation Study or planning project, directly as an iBook, tied to user input and the outcomes of design and construction so that your facility’s live sensors inform and verify your design thoughts. Without a direct and easily usable connection between design and planning decisions and actual ‘in-use’ outcomes, how do you know that you did the right thing? And, more importantly, how do you adjust to do a better job, next time?

My biggest issues with the system right now are that:

• So far, I have not been able to iframe sites into my iBooks. You cannot just paste the iframe code into a widget. You can paste in movies and other media, easily, though. It is possible to view a site within an iBook, but that requires more development than I have figured out, yet. It involves Xcode/Dashcode/et al. That’s why some of my material will remain as images with links that are not interactive, for at least until I figure out Dashcode.
•  It seems to take Apple a very long time to approve even established businesses to use their system. Weeks to months (which is what Apple says in their FAQs), seems pretty draconian at this stage in the distributed data game. Hopefully, Apple will ramp up the approvals process.

btw. I have found that importing Pages and other formats into iBook Author is pretty unsatisfying. After a bit of experimentation, I ended up cutting and pasting into the system using FormatMatch to strip out formatting. It’s a little slower than importing, but one thing that I have learned about ebooks is that it is best to nuke all formatting from any print form, before starting ebook formatting. Just like when we converted from typing and had to learn to not use double spaces after periods; things are different in ebooks.

I wanted to make sure that my circle of friends heard about a new opportunity for spreading the message that I write about in Makers of the Environment.

WPL Publishing Co., Inc., publishers of Construction Claims Advisor and Construction Advisor today announced the first 2012 webinar based upon my just released new book Makers of the Environment—Building Resilience Into Our World One Model at a Time. The webinar is titled:

Data, Collaboration and the Cloud — Prepare for Design-Build Practices of Tomorrow

And will take place on Thursday, January 26, 2012, 1:00-2:30 EST

There is a growing recognition that the future will revolve around open processes, collaborative decision-making and clearly understanding needs, assets and resources. In this program, we will talk about ways that you can work now, to become a leader and prepare for the future. The sooner you get involved, the more quickly you will find the successes to be repeatable, productive and commonplace. You can merge visualization, data and technology from many sources to plan, design, construct and manage the built environment better that you may have ever imagined.

In this program, we will discuss:

• Why it is more critical than ever to be able to  make “go/no-go” decisions very early in the process.
• Ways that we as the general public (and we as owners) can minimize the chances of being over budget, late or buried in problems
• How to recognize the potential of teams and tools to help make more informed, fact-based decisions to avoid unplanned risk.

Savvy people know that we cannot rely on anecdotal tales and history… the fact that we did it that way for 20 (or 200) years does not work anymore. As a society we are beginning to understand that the pace of change, politics and financial complexity are all working to increase the opportunities for catastrophic errors of judgment. Whatever your current comfort level with information technologies, the demand for more technology is about to escalate, and my mission is to help you see why. Signup today to learn about where technology is leading society and how each of us can prepare for tomorrow.—Finith

Click Here for Details and to Sign Up Today

As part of your registration fee, WPL includes:

• CD copy and handouts for your personal and company training needs
• A free copy of Makers of the Environment: The 380-page book provides clarity about the tools needed to synthesize and reuse complex data, solve problems early in the design-build process, save costs, and increase profits and productivity. This unique book employs and information model paradigm to access additional data, allowing the reader to have the most current information available.  The book will give you ideas for streamlining decision making, improving project visualization, and achieving superior results during design, construction, and more.

Hello and Happy Holidays,

My new book, Makers of the Environment : Building Resilience Into Our World One Model at a Time, was released in softcover by 4Site Press on December 15th. The Kindle version went live at Amazon a few days later. Additional ebook versions will be released soon after the first of the year. Stay tuned.

Makers of the Environment merges storytelling with everyday reality to offer a moment where we can rethink our expectations to understand how technology can and should be used to improve our world. The book makes the extraordinary ordinary, offering a vision on how society can take advantage of new and emerging technology to create a better, more sustainable world for our children.

Makers of the Environment shows how an organization in a small, depressed rural county can pull together to take advantage of the opportunities to become a world leader in the management of information to change our world. With systems and processes such as Makers describes, we for the first time in history can define and manage real-world assets. The book’s central design future forms the backbone for three scenarios showing how to use the information to improve the world.

The design futures include rich information, show how to take advantage of existing tools, and allow just-in-time decision-making, but they are not yet fully realized. The people in these scenarios are archetypes of the people who manage similar issues today. The stories and concepts in Makers are thought provoking and entertaining. The book offers a vision of more inclusive and resilient ways of managing and living in our built world. Nigel Davies, says of the book:

Finith’s approach to the highly dispersed subject of information management builds on the style he initiated in BIG BIM little bim, yet with in a much more ambitious context. His position is now firmly set as one of the foremost authors of modern information management techniques. His natural grasp of what is important, and this work’s fictional approach to the enigma of design information management helps the reader understand the implications of action and inaction from the human perspective.

Instead of a work of dry technical theories, Finith manages to exemplify concepts clearly and with real application. Finith has a wealth of knowledge to share and shares it exceedingly well. In fact, the “almost reality” style is so well written and so close to what we could and should, be doing, that I was wondering if I’d missed out on some major changes in the industry. With this book, you will be in a strong position, to play catch-up. For once a technical business book is worth adding to your night-time reading list.

You are one of the most potent change agents in our environment, whether you have recognized it, or not. Never before have people and communities had as much power to decide their futures, as they do today and in ways that are beneficial for people, places and the planet. For the first time in history, the tools and knowledge are available to enable us to meet this lofty goal. These are the issues that Makers of the Environment helps people to understand.

It is people like you and me that must become the starting point for aligning innovation, commerce and the common good to bring transparency, accountability and a caring, human focus back to our world. Together, we can create a resilient and positive environment in the twenty-first century. To do this, we need agility, sense of place, and a level of decision-making that is not yet well understood by most people.

The built environment consumes most of our fossil fuels. With the world heating up and fuel becoming ever scarcer, we must do something now. We have the tools to analyze consequences and change trajectories. It is our responsibility to promote sustainability and better decisions throughout our world. We must take action. There is no time to wait.

You are critical to the changes that are taking place in our world. The ability to interact with everything in the built environment is the most compelling aspect of the information that surrounds us. Easily using the distributed, multidimensional tools and processes that connect data from multiple sources is not a dream… people are doing it today. Collaborative processes, rich data repositories and advanced graphics are the seeds of this information revolution. Properly applied, the tools that make this transformation possible are straightforward and accessible. Anyone can apply them to their benefit.

Today’s technology lets us to talk to each other in ways that enable positive change.

Technology allows each of us to make decisions about the things that affect us personally.

Technology is leveling the field for everyone. No longer must we rely on experts talking at us as we find solutions to today’s most vexing problems. We can all take part directly in the decisions, with real data, to get greater certainty of outcomes.

Complexity has changed the nature of our world. There are significant barriers to improving things in the world today. Some of the barriers are due to ignorance… people do not know what they do not know. Some are due to inertia… people have a hard time changing to new ways of doing things. Some are due to self-interest… people are looking out for “number one.” Some of the barriers are slowing the change, and others are undermining the benefits to society.

Not long ago, we watched well-televised battles about whether we face a global energy and environmental crisis. Financial markets escalated as though investor confidence and price increases would last forever. Business was thriving. Few understood the power and opportunities that technology could make possible. Few had a vision for how to move forward. Through it all, there was little talk of real change.

Now, things are much different. We are recovering from the financial crash at a snail’s pace. Too many are still out of work. We are suffering the effects of poor planning and lack of transparency. A small fraction of society is reaping financial benefits from the low-hanging fruit. Through it all, information is becoming a commodity. Many are embracing new tools such as the iPad and smartphones. The cloud is becoming ubiquitous. A vision for the future remains elusive.

Order your copy of Makers of the Environment today at https://www.createspace.com/3503060 and use discount code 5MYDBUMN at checkout to receive a 15% discount off the cover price, as my way of thanking you for your support and for everything you do to make our world a better place.

I wish you and yours a merry holiday season and a happy new year!

Best regards,

Finith Jernigan

We face many dilemmas. We dream of designing the ultimate project. We strive for perfection. We need to stay ahead of the curve, because everyone else passes us if we do not grow. We react by holding our cards close. We become afraid to take risks. We run risks in openly sharing our concepts and innovations. We fear for our intellectual property. With good reason, since society puts everything that we value on the line. When something goes wrong, our approach makes us an easy target. We have a lot to lose.

The complexity of the whole information modeling issue makes it easy for people to blow smoke. It makes it hard for good people to understand what is happening. I recently sat through a presentation by a firm that is supposedly a BIM Leader with 300 employees. A principal and the firm’s CIO gave the presentation. Between them, they made at least five glaring theoretical errors. Obviously, vendors had planted the message to further their position. They use the software, but that is all.

Today I read the letters to the editor resulting from a recent article in a major architectural journal. Almost all were application centric. Universally, they reinforced the – “since application x is not able to do it now, it is not possible. So, why are we raising everyone’s expectations?”

This stuff makes it hard for an owner to ask for what they want and need. It makes it even harder for an us to figure out the best approach.

That is why people like you can step in and just do the right thing. You can make the benefits happen. You do not have to tell the world about it, you just have to do it. If you sell the benefits, forget the technology and just give your clients a great product, they will buy into it. They do not need to know why or how.

We have found that we have to risk selling an integrated process, without telling people how the technology works. When we tell them that they can see their project earlier; can make better decisions earlier and can be more certain about the outcomes, they buy in. They want the benefits; they do not care how we achieve them.

When we try to explain what BIM is, people’s eyes glaze over, because it is not important to them, yet. It is too complicated. Why waste energy explaining what it is? Just do it!

“BIG BIM little bim” author Finith Jernigan, AIA discusses the COBIE2 Challenge with Michael Bordenaro, who provides a brief summary.

The COBIE2 Challenge in Baltimore on March 17, 2010 added to the 3-year series of building industry process improvement demonstrations using the Construction Operation Building Information Exchange data sharing format based in Excel.

Developed under NASA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in support of evolving buildingSMART alliance open standards, COBIE2 establishes more robust data transfer standards that promise to be continuously improved as technology advances.

The Construction Operation Building Information Exchange (COBIE) is an international standard format and has been demonstrated by industry leaders to dramatically improve the transfer of critical design and construction information to the operation and management team.

COBIE2 demonstrators described data transfer tasks that previously took 6 hours to be completed in 2 minutes, others noted 85% reduction in data entry time and some showed live, web-based building data management processes that previously were not possible.

A brief summary of what COBIE2 can be used for now and in the future and links follow the interview.

A COBIE2 Discussion with Finith Jernigan, AIA

Finith Jernigan, AIA wrote the Axiom Award winning “BIG BIM little bim” and is president of Design Atlantic Ltd, an architectural firm and BIM consultancy. Jernigan has been testing and implementing advanced technology in the building industry for 30 years.

He helped write the ground breaking BIM guidelines for the state of Wisconsin and has won a FIATECH CETI award for use of advanced design, construction and data transfer processes for the Salisbury, Maryland Fire Department Headquarters, Station and Museum featured in his book.

Jernigan was a key participant in the AIA BIM Award winning BIMStorm Los Angeles and has been active in other BIMStorms.

The COBIE2 Challenge in Baltimore on March 17, 2010 afforded Jernigan the opportunity to witness the presentation of eight (8) software vendors who demonstrated their capabilities to import and export building data to and from COBIE2 formatted spreadsheets.

Jernigan spoke about the COBIE2 Challenge with Michael Bordenaro, cofounder of the BIM Education Co-op.

Michael Bordenaro:

Is there an umbrella assessment of the benefits available with proper use of COBIE2?

Finith Jernigan, AIA:

All vendors were in agreement with the fact that COBIE2 shortens the data entry time required to populate a CAFM system. By having the designer and contractor build the information in COBIE during design and construction, Computer Aided Facilities Management (CAFM) propagation time is reduced. One vendor quoted 2 minutes vs 6 hours for the test project (a small two-story apartment building). Another quoted a reduction in data entry time of 85% at a level that completes 85% of the data required for their clients’ operations and maintenance (O&M) use.

COBIE2 replaces much of the manual work effort in developing as-constructed data, operations and maintenance manuals and commissioning detail. COBIE2 makes this information easily available without sorting through files or searching boxes in the boiler room. Savvy building owners will use COBIE2 to replace and expand what they are given at project hand-over rather than requiring their contractors to do duplicate work. This requires owners to look at COBIE implementation differently than “little bim” implementation. COBIE2 is one more step toward “BIG BIM”.

The real power of building information modeling is that with BIM, it possible to achieve significant benefits in all phases of the building life-cycle. The rapid development cycle of bim tools has resulted in uses that greatly benefit one industry segment without producing measurable benefit elsewhere in the process. Use of BIM during design-only or construction-only with little consideration for future uses of the data embedded in the model, are examples of “little bim.” It’s good when designers and contractors use bim to do a better job. However, we as an industry can achieve much more. “BIG BIM” is characterized by data that, once created or captured is then reused over and over throughout the life-cycle of an asset, making the entire process more efficient, less costly and more sustainable.

Bordenaro:

What is the cost of using COBIE2?

Jernigan:

COBIE is an open-standard available at no cost. Dr. Bill East, who has been the leader of COBIE development, stated that the Army Corps of Engineers has been able to do COBIE2 data entry for $1.50 per square foot for existing buildings. At least one vendor has indicated this seems to be in the high range. No one has fully documented the time and cost savings for COBIE projects in relation to square footage. My experience shows that the savings from properly using COBIE2 will be substantially more than $1.50 per square foot.

Bordenaro:

Building industry professionals are bombarded with messages of “better, faster, cheaper” from software vendors of all types. Can you name a reason why building industry professionals should feel comfortable about COBIE2.

Jernigan:

COBIE2 data can be generated by many different means, depending on the project phase and team capabilities. The data can be added directly into the COBIE2 spreadsheets. The Onuma System offers a clear path for building COBIE2 data during planning, schematic design and design development. Both Tokmo and Vela Systems offer ways to add the data using web-based tools that assist data collection. They make it easier to get proper information in the right fields in a repeatable way during construction. Vela Systems even lets you barcode components and then use barcode scanning to expedite the process.

Bordenaro:

COBIE2 is intended to assist in the long-term operation of a building. How do you see the transfer of data to the software programs facility managers are familiar with already?

Jernigan:

Except for a single reference from ArchiBus, there was little acknowledgement of direct integration between the major engineering BIM applications and Computer Aided Facility Management software (CAFM) without a intermediary such as COBIE. This has been a long running issue and one of the major hold backs from achieving “BIG BIM” integration into the O&M process. There have been few options for moving data from the design and construction processes directly into CAFM. COBIE2 offers a straightforward way for teams to populate CAFM. Whether COBIE becomes the interface or is an interim step toward full integration, remains to be seen.

Most of the CAFM and CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) vendors appeared to be looking at COBIE2 (and BIM) as a feed to their facility management products only. TMA Systems did present from the perspective of the cradle-to-cradle approach to advanced building industry processes.

Except for images in Tokmo’s presentation, IBM’s Maximo was not represented in the test. This is interesting, as many federal government agencies have used Maximo for many years. Maximo is one of the legacy products that federal agencies have been hoping to move into the BIM arena to leverage government long-term investments in the software. Hopefully, they will participate in the next Challenge as an effective way to show what is possible for converting legacy data for use improved processes assisted with Building Information Models.

Bordenaro:

Whether Maximo participates in a COBIE2 Challenge or not, doesn’t the use of Excel make data transfer to almost all software possible?

Jernigan:

All CAFM/CMMS software imported COBIE2 spreadsheets by mapping them to their existing formats. Any CAFM/CMMS that allows import by way of mapping data fields would likely be COBIE2 compliant.

It was not possible to determine whether the CAFM vendors have deployed their mapping templates into their standard products or whether they will use the mapping to increase price or build market advantage.

Since it appears to involve a rather typical effort to map COBIE2 into the systems, we hope that the vendors will deploy their templates as a standard part of their products.

Bordenaro:

Geographic Information Systems (GiS) Open Standards are more advanced than Building Information Model Open Standards. Does COBIE2 allow Building Information Models to benefit from the vast amount of information available from the GiS community?

Jernigan:

Vendors demonstrated using the geographical data in the COBIE2 spreadsheet.
Kimon Onuma, FAIA defined a site in his system, geolocated the test building and output both building and geographical data in COBIE2 format for the other vendors to use. TMA Systems used GiS data to generate click-able mapping of facility locations within their system.

Mr. Onuma also demonstrated a direct data feed from a remote building automation system that concurrently presented graphical operating data in both the Onuma System and in Google Earth. This creates a “dashboard” that allows remote operations, such as monitoring and controlling mechanical systems. Remote data from webcams was also shown streaming-in live within the BIM. COBIE2 is critical in making this type of activity a building industry standard process that dramatically reduces energy consumption and lets us manage better.

Bordenaro:

Having live presentations by COBIE2 Challenge participants is an effective promotional activity, but are not intended as serious “test drives” of processes. Results of actual software performance will be provided soon. What do you think interested professionals should review before establishing their approach to gaining benefits from the COBIE2 format and related business process improvements?

Jernigan:

I always shy away from presentations that rely on work done off-line or specifically prepared to show one aspect of a product. It is much easier to correct the flaws off-line than it is live, making it hard to be sure how well a product works. Live is always best when you evaluate products in the BIM world.

Bordenaro:

Thank you for your time. I look forward to talking with you when the COBIE2 Challenge results are published.

Jernigan:

Thank you.

COBIE2

A Brief Summary of Construction Operations Building Information Exchange v2
By Michael Bordenaro

COBIE2 data transfer processes are greatly assisted by Building Information Models that allow professionals to exchange data using open standards. Properly implemented, COBIE2 data exchanges are an excellent way to share Building Information Model (BIM) data. Only Excel is needed to obtain and manage usable data about materials, equipment, location and other information embedded in a Building Information Model. This ease of access to information is a key benefit of COBIE2.

Using a spreadsheet format, design information, construction submittal requirements, manufacturers’ information and other data is more easily delivered to building owners in a manner that is effective for commissioning, operations, maintenance and management professionals. Facility hand-over data transfer takes less time, is more accurate and allows much more valuable use of critical design and construction information by building managers.

COBIE2 is a way to transfer data. Using a human readable Excel spreadsheet that is structured as a database, COBIE is also machine readable. Since COBIE is human readable, it can be managed manually. However, manual management of COBIE2 data likely to be very error prone. As vendors integrate the COBIE2 format into their products, the typical user will not need to understand the underlying data structure. Rather they will use tools that create and read COBIE within commercial-off-the-shelf products.

With COBIE2, it is already possible to:

Have single-entry of manufacturer’s data that remains consistent from design through construction to operations;

Assign uniquely identified equipment, furniture, fixtures and other objects to specific rooms;

Produce a COBIE2 Excel file from a Building Information Model;

Use a COBIE2 Excel file to create a low-level-of-detail Building Information Model;

Change data in a COBIE2 file and have it automatically change in the Building Information Model;

Change the Building Information Model and have the data automatically update the COBIE2 Excel file;

Have COBIE2 data populate CAFM/CMMS software and provide many other productivity improvements.

Eventually, the COBIE format will evolve to allow schematic design processes to include cost estimates that include the price implication and storage requirements of such items as floor cleaning products for different surfaces during the next 100 years.
While there is ongoing development work that will improve performance and benefits, today COBIE2 allows significant improvements in data transfer interoperability that provides surprisingly dramatic productivity improvements when managed properly.

Much detailed information on Construction-Operations Building Information Exchange and all the COBIE Challenge results are available at  Search for “COBIE” in the upper right field on the buildingSMART alliance web page.

Information about the March 17, 2010, COBIE2 Challenge

2010 COBIE2 Challenge Participating Organizations:

U.S. Army Corp of Engineers
Archibus, Inc
Assetworks
Bentley Systems
Eagle Technologies
ONUMA, Inc
Tokmo Systems
Vela Systems

I live in a rural area near Washington, DC. Few local architects use the tools, and when they do they can usually be accused of ‘bimwashing.’ They fight the change at every pass, and are now losing municipal projects because of their mindsets. At a Scout dinner the other night, I had a discussion with a mechanical contractor, who when asked, knew what BIM is and obviously understood how it was starting to affect his business. His organization is not using BIM, but they realize that they must, soon.

I spend a significant amount of time across the US speaking about the change. Many do not ‘get it.” Interestingly, Owners understand immediately and want it NOW.

Contractors understand after a bit of research and thought. Clash detection and other construction support tools give them a verifiable return, very quickly. The returns for architects and engineers are more difficult to quantify, but come just as fast.

Unless design professionals become fully engaged and adapt to new ways of working, they will be left behind. Some are now feeling this pain. They must learn the difference between cooperating and collaborating.

A cooperative process can be done by one person or organization. Others only to pick up the slack. For generations, we have worked cooperatively, and it’s not working so well any more.

A collaborative process requires the active engagement of others. Leadership moves around, expertise takes center stage and shared risk and reward govern. That is what happens when you use a BIM based process.

The change is coming, because BIM is a better, more efficient and less problematic approach to the built environment. It smooths relationships and gets work done on-time and under-budget. But, it is not about software. It is about people and working practices. Those that focus on software do not ‘get it.’

Returning to first-principles and assessing how we work and how the process could and should occur is the first step. As a worldwide industry, we must begin to first become strategic thinkers and view the world from a system’s perspective. There must be an end-game vision, backed up by a holistic understanding of where things stand today. Only then should we think about tactics to meet the goals.

The US is a very diverse place. In the US, few government agencies mandate any level of BIM. Most still opt for CAD processes and deliverables. Some federal agencies (most notably the US Coast Guard and GSA); some universities and one or two state governments have formal requirements. It is much improved from five years ago, but is definitely a work in progress. Those of us that have been on the BIM track for a long time, see improvements daily.

There is no reason to fear BIM. My firm (and others I know) have profitably done 3.5×3.5 meter screened porch additions with BIM.

After nearly 25 years of virtual building/BIM based practice, I can say with confidence that there is no project that BIM will not make better. The alternative view has always been due to lack of knowledge, fear of change or someone working at counter-purpose to the group, IMHO.

Today, the issues have shifted and some aspects of the implementation of BIM and integrated delivery are rapidly becoming defacto standards in the design and construction segments of the construction industry. There are however a number of thought patterns that are hampering or  retarding implementation.

1. Not understanding the difference between cooperation and collaboration.

• Focus on wrong social and organizational structures.

2. Not understanding that many of the problems that the industry faces, are wicked problems that cannot be resolved with linear solutions.

• Lack of system thinking.
• Lack of strategic vision.

3. Approaching BIM and integrated processes as technology.

• Focus on 3D not on Integrated Decision Making
• Reliance on and fear of changing legacy systems and processes.
• Not understanding of the power of Open Standards and interoperability.
• Requiring systems that are more complex, more finished and more difficult than necessary.

4. Focus on ‘What’s in it for Me?’

• Focusing on one’s niche to the exclusion of others.
• Traditional specialization is no longer the ideal approach. Mastery coupled with broad interests and curiosity rule today.

5. Focus on Integrated Project Delivery as an end-product

• Focus on Projects is too limited.
• Lack of a long view

People have been trying forever to understand the impacts of technology on society. The world-wide-web would have seemed like science fiction in the 1970s. In that era, pioneers envisioned or invented many of the technologies that make information models and a connected world possible. Visionaries such as R. Buckminster Fuller and Alvin Toffler foretold many of the issues that we are working to handle today. From today’s perspective, most of what they envisioned has happened or is now possible.

To many people, the Internet of Things… Internet of Places… Web Wide World, may sound like science fiction. The concept of a world where data and the internet touches everything that we do is close at hand. The systems and processes are here today. They are not science fiction.

Imagine how the Internet and cloud-computing work today and extend that to the physical world. Tomorrow, all buildings, things inside buildings, people and business needs, will be interconnected through the common interface of the built environment. Utilities such as The BIMsynergy Corporation will be the subject of this combination of technologies and people.

As the Internet evolved, it shifted from being a place to view information, to a place for creating your personal information and collaborating with others. The Internet is about YOU being in control. YouTube™ turned TV viewers into producers of content. Facebook™ and Twitter® changed how you interacted with your social networks. Not long ago, few imagined a world of Google Earth™, Google+ and Expedia™. The Internet changed everything about our personal and business lives.

Today, if you are not connected to the Internet you are no longer relevant. Google®, Expedia® and Amazon® have revolutionized how we interact with the world. Yet, even in this new flat world, many have not changed how they manage and deliver their services. There are incredible savings and efficiencies to be had by those who embrace change and think differently to take advantage of this new world.

Tomorrow, the connections will be more robust and all-encompassing. The four intertwining design futures, in this book, illustrate a few of the possibilities. They are only a tiny sliver of the reality. Available tools and processes let us remove the disconnected practices and inefficiencies of the past to make the world better for us all. The Internet is bigger than information models, and it has the infrastructure to make BIG Data and BIG BIM a part of everything we do.