by Brianna Crandall — May 4, 2012—FM:Systems, a global provider of integrated workplace management systems (IWMS) and computer-aided facility management (CAFM) software, continues to lead the way in the Lifecycle Building Information Modeling (BIM) market by announcing significant enhancements in its BIM Integration Component with the latest release of FM:Interact.
As a Design and Construction Industry Partner for global 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software developer Autodesk, FM:Interact boasts many new capabilities to help facilities managers capture the information from Autodesk Revit models to better manage their portfolio. Autodesk Revit software is specifically built for BIM, to help building professionals design, build, and maintain higher-quality, more energy-efficient buildings.
FM:Interact now allows facilities professionals to easily integrate data from multiple BIM models. Since many different firms work together on any construction project — architects, engineers, contractors and various subcontractors, etc. — and each firm often brings its own model to the project, tying all the information from numerous models to one building record in FM:Interact ensures critical building data will not be lost — one of the key benefits of working with BIM, notes FM:Systems.
For space managers, FM:Interact’s BIM integration now supports both Autodesk Revit room and area elements. Support for Revit rooms lets facilities managers track building information such as flooring types and architectural finishes while support for Revit areas help space managers keep accurate, detailed records of space and occupancy.
For maintenance professionals, the new mapping templates in FM:Interact help streamline asset integration. Templates define the BIM deliverable requirements for the various design and construction industry firms involved in a project, ensuring the operations team gets a model built specific to their needs. In addition, mapping templates can be used across multiple projects and buildings, providing facility professionals with consistent, reliable BIM data.
“One of the biggest challenges in Lifecycle BIM is helping facility professionals better communicate with design and construction industry firms in the beginning of a project so the models that are delivered have the information the building owner needs,” said Marty Chobot, vice president, FM:Systems. “Our goal is to build products that help remove the barriers for sharing building information. We want to help facility professionals plan occupancy and maintenance before they even take occupancy of the building.”
Additional features enable system administrators to control access to Revit, enhancing security on projects in which multiple design and construction industry firms are connected to the same system.
By connecting people, place and process, FM:Systems helps facilities and real estate professionals improve customer service, reduce costs and increase productivity enterprise-wide. FM:Systems Web-based software improves management of space, occupancy, moves, maintenance, leases and property. Customer results include: real estate costs reduced by 15 percent, move spend reduced by 88 percent, enterprise productivity savings of $1.5 million and an internal customer satisfaction rate of 97 percent.
Many of the world’s leading organizations rely on FM:Systems products, including CA, Devon Energy, DuPont, GMAC, Herman Miller, Indiana University, Lockheed Martin, National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), Northwestern University, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Progress Energy, Target stores, and the U.S. Census Bureau.
FM:Systems is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, and conducts business in the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, contact FM:Systems as well as see their FMLink ad.
