PAS 1192-3: using BIM to manage assets

PAS 1192-3: the “codes of practice” developed from simplified procedures to rapidly meet the needs of BIM asset management (part 3)

The documents set by the British Standards Institutions (BSI) and known as Publically Available Specification (PAS) have progressively become an international reference for the implementation of a BIM process in the construction sector over the course of time.

Although PASs have not been defined as rules, but as codes of practice or guidelines by the BSI, they have been issued with a sort of urgent procedure to respond to emerging market needs; and, specifically, in response to the need of the UK Government’s decision to introduce BIM into the country’s public works.

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PAS 1192 part 2 and part 3 respectively deal with design and construction phase, and the building management and maintenance. Whilst PAS 1192-2 focuses specifically on project delivery, PAS 1192-3 is concerned with the operational phase, specifying how an Asset Information Model (AIM) should be created and how that model should be used and maintained through the life of the asset up to final disposal. It is worth to notice that these two documents have been conceived as partner-documents, since one is the continuation of the other from the information flow point of view.

However, from the involved parties point of view, PAS part 3 deals with the management of pre-existing assets and addresses to organizations (such as public bodies, companies, etc.) that carry out their activities during the building life cycle.
PAS 1192-3 explicitly states that its purpose is to help these organizations to realize their asset specific digital information model (Asset Information Model – AIM).

What is Asset Information Model?

Asset Information Model (AIM)

For the purposes of this PAS, the following terms and definitions apply :

Data and information that relates to assets to a level required to support an organization’s asset management system.
An AIM can relate to a single asset, a system of assets or the entire asset portfolio of an organization
The AIM consists of graphical, non-graphical and documentation components as well as metadata.

Therefore, it can be defined as a controlled “archive” of construction data, from where to extract the correct and updated information, so that all the appropriate management decisions can be taken.

It follows that certain organizations may have the need for information models that are different, in terms of content, according to their specific activity. For this reason, different activities will imply different models.

The identification of the expected benefits, in relation to the costs to be incurred for the the system implementation, represents a fundamental aspect to also be taken in consideration.

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