Analysis

Coping with COBie - think "well appointed suitcase" to underpin BIM data sharing

BIM BS 1192 pt 4

Consultation on  BS 1192- 4 – Collaborative production of information - Part 4:  a new standard for of information exchange across construction project teams finished in the summer.  

BIM Task Group member Nick Nisbet explains why it is so important for construction.  

COBie (Construction Operations Building information exchange) is a standard format for sharing facilities information. It is designed to ensure that the client gets all the information needed to own and operate the facility in a reliable form.

Informally one can think of COBie as a well-appointed suitcase that allows us to move information from the project team across to the client team. The sides of our suit case are transparent: anyone can see the what is and isn’t yet included: we see slots for all our essentials and lots of free space for our loose items.

So what are the essentials: it’s the project, site and the facility itself, the list of visit-able spaces and locations (forget the cupboards), and a list of the manageable components (forget the reinforcement). These spaces are grouped into floors and locations, and into zones such as occupancy and activities. The components are organised by their specification (type) and by their functions (systems). Each of these needs a name, description and classification, and a note of who and when they were added.

"Is COBie too difficult (like “long-division” as one critic claimed)? Hopefully not for a mature and accurate industry moving into a data-rich era."

These can then be supplemented with additional loose items such as attributes, document references, contact details, maintenance instructions, and cost and carbon impacts.

The “COBie for all” working group has run through a series of infrastructure scenarios, from simple stations through detailed track and motorway handover right up to progressive handover of a whole new line. We have found that the COBie can do the job: in fact COBie helped resolve some of the casual ambiguities that creep into conventional practice. Some specifics such as the use of Linear Referencing Methods, turned out to be not so different to building practice such as the use of grids in large spaces. 

But the importance of COBie lies in its efficiency: neither the client nor the designers/contractors need waste time designing suitcases but instead can focus packing the correct information. If you want a packing list, then the Employers Information Requirements (EIR) and the forthcoming digital Plan of Work (dPoW) will give the detail. But given the base asset register, the content of COBie is driven by real purposes such as using or maintaining or operating or monitoring or repurposing the facility.

Like any good suitcase, you don’t always have to fill it all at once: COBie has proved invaluable for client briefing and schedules of accommodation, later it can contain the Room (and Zone) Data Sheets (RDS).

Like any good suitcase, you don’t always have to fill it all at once: COBie has proved invaluable for client briefing and schedules of accommodation, later it can contain the Room (and Zone) Data Sheets (RDS). As a progress report, COBie can be used to convey to and from the client the state of his facility. Product manufacturers often offer COBie in preference over proprietary 3D objects, especially if their products are less likely to be modelled or selected in early stages . So although COBie’s primary purpose is to deliver handover information, it can offer the whole UK facilities industry a step into a world of containerised information transport.

It is a required deliverable by 2016 in central government projects where information must flow into portfolio, asset planning and facility maintenance tools.

Already private clients are seeing the same value. Applications such as Revit, Xbim, Solibri and AEC3 are offering tools that help the supply side. Suggestions for generating, comparing and checking COBie are openly available (www.bimtaksgroup.org/labs). On the receiving side UK CAFM tools are now catching up with US applications and offering COBie support.

Is COBie too difficult (like “long-division” as one critic claimed)? Hopefully not for a mature and accurate industry moving into a data-rich era. Use a calculator! Is it too simple (“IFC-lite”) ? COBie is 100% convertible with IFC and is entirely usable on every computer and smart device, so it is likely to be around for a while yet.

This article first appeared in the UK Government's BIM Task Group news letter. For details visit www.bimtaskgroup.org

Where can one learn to speak COBie? There are a number of 10-minute movies on YouTube (search “COBie east”). There’s lots of free examples on the buildingSMART Alliance and BIM task group websites (search “COBie-UK-2012”) and shortly there will be the full British Standard:

Last November a working group of the BSI construction information committee began collarating on a standard description of the UK use of COBie.

The outcome is named “BS 1192-4- Collaborative production of information - Part 4: Fulfilling employers information exchange requirements using COBie – Code of practice” [for which consultation finished int he summer].

Anyone familiar with the earlier “COBie-UK-2012”, and the training material available on YouTube will recognise the core content. But have we succeeded in introducing the ideas behind COBie and making them relevant to both buildings and infrastructure, and both new and existing assets? Have we struck the right balance between prescriptive requirements and the use of EIR (Employers Information Requirements)? Have we kept the door open wide enough for the forthcoming “digital Plan of Works” ?

If you want a sneak preview, and want to check it over, go to http://drafts. bsigroup.com and search for “BS1192” or click through to http://drafts.bsigroup.com/Home/Details/53020. We currently rank as the second most popular draft, could you help push us into the number one slot (and improve the document at the same time)

Nick Nisbet is a director of AEC3 UK and an advisor to the UK Government BIM Task Group

This article first appeared in the UK Government's BIM Task Group news letter. For details visit www.bimtaskgroup.org