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Building information modeling (BIM) is emerging as a potential solution for facility owners to address the challenges of poor information fidelity, interoperability, and usability in project delivery to support the lifecycle of their assets' information. Despite the many benefits offered by BIM, its use for facility operations remains significantly limited. The reality is that implementing BIM in large owner organisations is a complex challenge. In particular, a significant barrier to BIM adoption for owners is the challenge of identifying and formalizing the information requirements needed to support model-based project delivery and asset management. This paper presents the results of a longitudinal research project that investigated two large owner organisations in Canada to better understand the process of developing and formulating BIM requirements to support the lifecycle of their assets. Specifically, the objectives were to formalize an iterative approach to the identification and characterization of owner requirements and to develop a conceptual framework that would relate digital and physical products to owner requirements and organisational constructs, to underpin the formalization process. As part of this research an array of requirements documentation were analysed, interviews were performed with numerous facility management personnel, and BIMs from four projects were analysed. A methodology is introduced to support a rigorous and detailed analysis of BIM requirements. The investigation of the owner requirements helped to develop an understanding of the required information content, and its alignment with BIM. Finally the relationships between organisational constructs, owner requirements, and BIM were mapped. As the construction industry shifts towards model-based project delivery, this research will inform owners about how to think about handover of digital facility models, and what to require in models based on their specific needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Announces the 95th annual meeting of the Poultry Science Association, Inc. slated in July 16 to 19, 2006 at Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. Program chairmen; Papers and Presentation; Participants.