     | Facility Infomation Council Activities
An information revolution is taking place in the construction industry, as in most segments of society. The building construction community has long suffered from a high level of professional and intellectual fragmentation. This industry has not been good at communicating with itself; however, the capability of emerging information technology is changing all that. The history of construction has witnessed three major events. The first was building drawings on paper in the Middle Ages. The second was the invention of perspective drawings during the Renaissance. The third event is the late twentieth-century creation of virtual building models that can be viewed, manipulated, flown-through, and analyzed in a variety of ways prior to the first shovel of dirt. In 1994, NIBS formed the Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) Council. The original council, a membership body open to those interested in all aspects of computer design, was established to provide industry-wide public and private support for the development, standardization and integration of computer technologies and software providing for the improved performance of facilities. The defined purpose of the Council was to improve the performance of the life-cycle of facilities by fostering:
The United States National CAD Standard™ In 1996, with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), the Tri-Services CADD/GIS Technology Center, and with support from the Sheet Metal Contractors Association (SMACNA), the U.S. Coast Guard, the General Services Administration (GSA), and the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) the CADD Council embarked on the development of a U.S. National CAD Standard. In 1997 the Council convened a broad consensus project committee with representatives from across the construction industry. The basis for the CADD standard was earlier documents developed by the American Institute of Architects, the Construction Specifications Institute, and the Tri-Services CADD/GIS Center. The committee met four times between January 1998 and March of 1999. Version 1.0 of The U.S. National CAD Standard was published in July of 1999. Version 3.1, published January 2005, is now available. This on-going effort is reflective of a paradigm shift taking place in the construction industry. Computers were originally used to automate the drawing process but have evolved into database management systems. The new CAD Standard is a single piece in a complex jigsaw puzzle. It will play a vital role in developing the capability of managing one continuous electronic data stream across the life-cycle of facilities; beginning with the owner's design intent and continuing through architectural design, construction, life-cycle maintenance and operations, renovation, and finally planned deconstruction and demolition. The standardization of CAD drawings for buildings will facilitate the eventual interconnection of computerized systems for product specifications and maintenance instructions, space planning, energy management, and facility maintenance and management. In 1998, the NIBS CADD Council changed its name to Facility Information Council (FIC). In 1999 the FIC started a new initiative to create a software tool to perform Total Life-Cycle Costing and assist facility owners in making informed investment decisions based on productivity benefits and actual return on investment over the life of facilities. The United States National Building Information Model Standard The Total Life-Cycle Costing effort mentioned above has now grown to fully embrace the original defined purpose of the Facility Information Council to foster "a common integrated life-cycle information model for the A/E/C industry, and standards that allow for the free flow of graphic and non-graphic information through the information model". The effort that was first discussed in 2004 has evolved to a stated goal of producing the first version of the National Building Information Model Standard by December 2006 with preliminary products likely to be released prior to that date. BIM has been defined by the FIC to be "A computable representation of the physical and functional characteristics of a facility and its related project/life-cycle information using open industry standards to inform business decision making for realizing better value. BIM can integrate all the relevant aspects into a coherent organization of data that computer applications can access, modify and/or add to, if authorized to do so." This is yet only a working definition developed by Facilities Information Council, 19 Nov 2004 and is intended to be included in the standard although it could be modified slightly. |
