The Construction-Operation Building Information Exchange is an open standard that greatly improves project handover and long-term building operation. COBIE2 is the latest version of the open standard data exchange format that uses Excel as the basis for information sharing. BIG BIM little bim author Finith Jernigan, AIA shares his perspective on the March 2010 COBIE2 presentation with Michael Bordenaro, who provides an overview of COBIE.
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COBIE2 Challenge - Perspectives
1. COBIE2 Challenge: Dramatic Building Industry Productivity Improvements
“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. Finith Jernigan
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?
3. 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.
Igor Starkov of Tokmo
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.
6. • 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 www.buildingsmartalliance.org Search for “COBIE” in the
upper right field on the buildingSMART alliance web page.
Information about the March 17, 2010, COBIE2 Challenge is available at: http://
www.buildingsmartalliance.org/index.php/newsevents/meetingspresentations/cobiechallenge2010/
Information about COBIE2 use customized for building industry professions, such as owner,
architect, engineer, contractor and facility manager is available by emailing:
COBIE@DesignAtlantic.com
2010 COBIE2 Challenge Participating Organizations:
U.S. Army Corp of Engineers
Archibus, Inc. www.archibus.com
Assetworks www.assetworks.com
Bentley Systems www.bentley.com
Eagle Technologies www.eaglecmms.com
ONUMA, Inc. www.onuma.com
TMA Systems www.tmasystem.com
Tokmo Systems www.tokmo.com
Vela Systems www.velasystems.com