Why not simply integrate the bim database directly into the cmms or bms ?
This is the common approach for all existing applications that want to move to BIM: Keep the same tool but with an initialization module that retrieves the data from the BIM model.
The Limits of this approach
However, this approach remains very limited in our eyes. It does not allow for a single shared repository to be maintained and its quality to be guaranteed. Very quickly, in the life of the building, the different repositories living separately will no longer be equivalent to each other and the initial gain will be lost very quickly. In other words, limiting BIM integration to this approach amounts to maintaining silos.
This reduces the range of possible scenarios and therefore the benefits for the client. For example, I can’t create a CMMS ticket from the equipment avatar in the BIM viewer. I will have to open the CMMS, search for the equipment and create the ticket. Another example, in the case where the CMMS has a BIM viewer (this is very rarely the case today), I can easily locate the equipment linked to the ticket. On the other hand, I will have to go to the BMS supervisor to retrieve the measurements generated such as volume, air flow …). So I multiply the data sources and consequently the intervention time.
To go further
To go further, it will be necessary anyway to connect the systems. The choice between a “spaghettiware” or “middleware” type of integration will always be essential and the experience of deploying ERP, PLM… systems naturally leads to preferring a middleware approach.
To summarize, this approach aims, in our opinion, to offer a front-end solution that avoids the evolution of software offerings and the implementation of open APIs. On the one hand, this can be very costly, and on the other hand, it requires profound strategic and cultural changes in historically closed vendors.
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