Save Money and Increase Organizational

Effectiveness using FM Data and COBie

Many facility management teams today have file drawers, or some cases rooms, full of paper-based as-
built drawings, operations and maintenance manuals and other asset information (Figure 1). With
advances in technology, it should be possible to organize all of this data electronically (Figure 2).
Although maintaining and using the data electronically increases organizational effectiveness and can
save money, few facility management organizations have been able to achieveCMMS
this. As building occupants,
owners and financial decision makers request high performance buildings and the use of technology
continues to increase, there is a need to transition to proactive, data driven facility management
practices. This transition requires process changes and the development and adoption of standards, such
as the construction operations building information exchange (COBie).

Figure 1: Piles of paper-based asset information Figure 2: Populated facility management software to support
information (CREL © 2008) decision-making (TMA Systems © 2012)

What is COBie? COBie Challenge for Facility

The construction operations building information
exchange (COBie) is an international standard that
supports the collection of facility management of data
to further populate CMMS, CAFM, and IWMS
software.
Managers
The COBie Challenge for Facility Managers is a public
demonstration where facility management software
vendors present how their software compiles with the
COBie standard.

COBie is part of the National Building Informational
Modeling Standard-United States (NBIMS) Version 2,
published by the buildingSMART alliance.
The information within COBie provides a structured
list of possible data that can be collected about a
facility and the assets within the facility, such as
spaces, floors and systems; as well as information to
operate and maintain the assets.
The next COBie Challenge for Facility Managers will be held
in March 12, 2013 at the National Facilities Management
and Technology Conference (NFMT) in Baltimore, MD.
Facility professionals and facility management software
vendors are invited to attend. CMMS, CAFM and IWMS
software vendors are encouraged to actively participate by
making their software COBie compliant, demonstrating
compliance through a quality assurance process and then
presenting compliance at the event.

The standard can currently be used through the use
of 20 commercial-off-the-shelf software tools that are
used by architects, engineers, construction
contractors, commissioning agents and facility
managers. The data within the standard can also be
displayed in a spreadsheet, 3D PDF or computer
code. For a list of COBie compliant software
products, see
www.wbdg.org/resources/cobiefaq.php.
Facility professionals who use CMMS, CAFM and IWMS
software are encouraged to actively participate by asking
their software providers to make their software COBie
compliant. To support this effort, a letter template to
contact your software provider is available.
For more information, to request a copy of the letter
template or participate in the challenge, contact Angela
Lewis at angela.lewis@feapc.com. For more information
about NFMT see www.nfmt.com/baltimore.
 Frequently Asked Questions
Why should I attend the 2013 COBie Challenge for Facility Managers?
To hear from leading facility management organizations who have successfully implanted COBie, gain an
awareness of resources that can be used to implement COBie and have the opportunity to hear from COBie
compliant CMMS, CAFM and IWMS vendors.

If my organization currently does not use BIM, can I still use COBie?
Yes, COBie is often mentioned during discussions about building information modeling (BIM) that focus on 3D
modeling, opposed to the information that can be collected when creating a BIM. Although COBie can be used as
part of the design and construction process when BIM authoring tools are used, COBie can also be used to collect
facility and asset information at any time a facility team wants to collect and organize facility asset information.
Is COBie only useful for new construction and major renovation projects?
No, COBie is a standard that can be used to organize and collect asset data at any point in the life cycle of a
facility. Although the use of COBie today is most common today during the interface between construction and
operations, COBie can also be used during other phases of a facility, such as asset re-inventories and
commissioning.
As a software vendor, do I need to participate in the COBie Challenge every year?
No, however, participation provides software vendors the opportunity to demonstrate commitment to
advancing the industry and to be seen as a leader while increasing exposure to potential customers.

For more COBie FAQs, see www.wbdg.org/resources/cobiefaq.php

The Engineering Research Development Center (ERDC) helps to find solutions to some of
the most challenging civil and military engineering needs for the Army, Department of
Defense, civilian agencies and the Nation’s public good. Through the ERDC, the work of Bill
East and Mariangelica Carrasquillo-Mangual, has been and continues to be instrumental in
the development of open information exchanges, such as COBie.

COBie is part of the National BIM Standard, published by the buildingSMART

alliance. The building SMARTalliance (bSa) is a public/private initiative that operates
within the independent nonprofit National Institute of Building Sciences. bSa promotes
the use of building information models (BIMs), the digital tools that are increasingly
helping building industry stakeholders to share highly accurate information throughout a
facility or project’s life cycle. Effective use of BIMs has the potential to eliminate enormous
waste in the industry resulting from the recollection and recreation of project information
and date. The Alliance has a goal of helping the building sector eliminate 31% of current
waste, or almost $400 million by 2020.

Facility Engineering Associates is leading the 2013 COBie Challenge for

Facility Managers. Facility Engineering Associates (FEA) is an engineering and facility
management consulting firm founded in 1992 to provide technical support to owners and
managers of existing facilities. FEA’s corporate office is located near Washington, DC, with
regional offices located in Dallas, TX, Denver, CO, and San Francisco. FEA’s services
include, but are not limited to facility management technology, energy management,
building information modeling (BIM), condition assessments, sustainability, staffing
analysis, and proactive maintenance planning. FEA also provides engineering services
including repair and restoration and mechanical, electrical and plumbing design.

For more information, or to get involved in the 2013 COBie Challenge for Facility Managers,
please contact Angela Lewis at angela.lewis@feapc.com or Mariangelica Carrasquillo-
Mangual at mariangelica.carrasquillo@usace.army.mil