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At handover, the project information model has done its job: the asset is built. From now on, the asset information model (AIM) is what the owner relies on, for decades. ISO 19650-3 describes how to keep it right. From the information manager's seat, the task is to set up the operational phase as carefully as the delivery phase.
The owner is the appointing party
In operation the owner or operator sets the requirements: organisational information requirements (what the organisation needs to know to run its estate), turned into asset information requirements (AIR) per asset type. Writing good AIR is covered in Writing asset information requirements; here the point is that they apply to every party who works on the asset, not only the original contractor.
Trigger events start the work
Anything that changes an asset, or what is known about it, is a trigger: a planned replacement, a failure and repair, an inspection, a change of use, an alteration, a disposal. Each one should lead to information: what was done, to which asset, what replaced it, the new maintenance regime. Keeping the AIM alive goes through the day-to-day side.
Every operational appointment is an appointment
The maintenance contractor, the lift specialist, the fit-out contractor and the small-works framework are all appointed parties. Each needs:
- the part of the AIR that applies to its work;
- an asset information protocol in its contract, as the design team had an information protocol;
- a way to deliver into the CDE or the CAFM, and a check before the information is accepted into the AIM.
A tenant's fit-out replaces lighting, ceilings and fan coil units on three floors. The fit-out contract asks for O&M manuals as PDFs. Two years later the FM team plans a lamp replacement from the AIM and orders the wrong fittings for half a building.
The landlord's fit-out guide includes the AIR for lighting and HVAC terminals and an asset information protocol. The fit-out contractor delivers updated asset data in the landlord's template; the landlord's information manager checks a sample and accepts it into the AIM before the final payment.
For each event at an office building in its third year of operation, say whether it is a trigger, what information must change in the AIM, who provides it and who accepts it.
- A chiller fails and is replaced with a different model.
- The annual fire door inspection.
- A meeting room is split into two.
- The cleaning contractor changes.
- A boiler is removed and not replaced (heat pump installed elsewhere).
Key takeaways
- In operation, the owner or operator is the appointing party; its requirements (OIR, then AIR) define the asset information model (AIM).
- Trigger events, planned or not, start information work: a repair, a replacement, an inspection, an alteration, a disposal.
- Each operational appointment carries the relevant part of the AIR and an asset information protocol, and its information is checked and accepted into the AIM.
- At handover, the project information model is checked and accepted into the AIM; that's the start of the operational phase, not the end of the project.
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Related tool
Build an asset register from an IFC and check it on the model: data quality in colour, a data sheet per asset, rooms and systems, a first maintenance plan and tag labels.
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