diff --git a/src/ifcopenshell-python/docs/ifcfm.rst b/src/ifcopenshell-python/docs/ifcfm.rst index cefbe99a87..2decea229a 100644 --- a/src/ifcopenshell-python/docs/ifcfm.rst +++ b/src/ifcopenshell-python/docs/ifcfm.rst @@ -1,4 +1,60 @@ IfcFM ===== -IfcFM is a utility to +**Facility managers** (FM) need to know a lot of information about the building +in order to maintain the facility and its assets effectively. This includes +information about spaces, services, and key equipment, such as who to call when +things break, what the model number is, the warranty period, associated +certificates, what valve or circuit breaker must be shut off prior to +maintenance, and a punch list of periodic maintenance tasks. + +Traditionally, this information is collected in numerous operations and +maintenance (O&M) manuals. IFC can collect this information incrementally +throughout the design development, construction, and commissioning stages of a +project. IFC's standardised and rich digital relationships can describe the +information that facility managers need. The most popular requirements +specification for IFC-based digital FM data is known as **COBie 2.4**. + +Despite already requesting and receiving IFC deliverables, many clients still +request FM data in a spreadsheet format. Unfortunately, many of these +spreadsheet deliverables are not produced from IFC databases. This defeats the +purpose of BIM: asset data is no longer richly stored using international +standards and the BIM model may no longer be trusted. + +IfcFM is a highly standards-compliant tool to convert FM data in IFC databases +to spreadsheets and other machine readable formats, such as ODS, XLSX, CSV, +Pandas, XML, and JSON. These formats may then be easily read, audited, or +imported into technologies that cannot work with IFC natively. + +Supported data standards +------------------------ + +IfcFM assumes that you want to convert IFC data grouped into one or more +categories of data (e.g. list of assets, list of spare parts, list of documents +and certificates, etc). Each category of data includes a list or schedule of +information, and may reference information in other categories. In a +spreadsheet format, each category correlates to a worksheet, where each +worksheet focuses on one type of data and has multiple columns (e.g. name of +manufacturer, point of contact, etc). There are four data standards compatible +with this data structure that IfcFM supports: + +- **COBie 2.4**: the most popular requirements specification for FM data + currently in use first published in 2007. It specifies requirements to + collect almost 20 categories of data, focusing on maintainable equipment and + finishes. It is published by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National + Building Information Model (NBIMS-US) standard, version 2, chapter 2.4, and + in British Standard BS 1192-4:2014. +- **COBie 3.0**: an update to **COBie 2.4** published by the National Building + Information Model (NBIMS-US) standard. Unlike **COBie 2.4**, it is not a + British Standard nor developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. +- **AOH-BSEM**: a draft specification by buildingSMART based on the lessons + learned from the implementation of **COBie 2.4**, as part of a modular + approach to asset data exchange that supports not just buildings, but + infrastructure projects too. **AOH-BSEM** is set to supersede **COBIE 3.0** + with a focus primarily on equipment maintenance. +- **Vanilla IFC**: Regardless of any "named" requirement such as above, IFC + itself contains a number of standardised property sets and object types + related to assets, warranties, manufacturers, and construction / + installation. As expected, the majority of these are already referenced in + named standards. "Vanilla" IFC offers a "specification agnostic" approach + towards facility management data collection.