Study On The Information Resources Reuse System In Construction Firms Based On BIM Technology

Nowadays most construction firms are using information management systems as management tools in construction management and more and more information is being accumulated in the systems with time, relating to such productive elements as labor, machine and material etc., and covering such managerial subjects as schedule, cost, quality, etc. The information that can be reused is called information resources in the context of this study. It could be predicted that by making full use of the information resources, the decision-making in the management could be improved, which thus enhances the competitiveness of construction firms. Traditional methods for utilizing information resources can be grouped into two types, i.e. to extract and analyze information manually and by using such software as BI (Business Intelligence) software. Since the former was not efficient and the latter requires the help of professional consulting, it is difficult for most construction firms to utilize information resources.In order to facilitate utilizing the information resources, a conceptual framework for reusing the information resources was proposed based on BIM (Building Information Model) technology, IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) standard and related researches, which extracts information resources project by project and manages them in the standard format. The framework could be divided into four phases, i.e. the extraction, the standardization, the management and the detailed analysis of information resources.In the extraction phase, decision activities and preliminary information resource items were identified by means of literature reviews and expert workshops. The reusability of information resource items was evaluated in an evaluation workshop, and the result was verified in a verification workshop. In the standardization phase, the extension of IFC standard was carried based on the analysis of information resources by using object-oriented method, and information resource items were represented by using the IFC to verify its feasibility. Then the model of information resources based on IFC standard was established to lay its foundation. In the management phase, the performance of managing IFC data in various databases was evaluated and the object-oriented database was selected to store IFC data due to its high performance. Then the method on how to form information resource based on the IFC standard was analyzed and the instances were give to verify its feasibility. Based on these analyses, the information resources reuse system named InfoReuse in construction firms was formulated and developed, where object-oriented database and object-oriented programming method were taken. Information resources could be managed and retrieved in the system and such method as multi regression algorithm could be applied to analyze the information. Then the system was applied in the construction firm using real information resource to verity its feasibility and effectiveness of the system.The result of this study has indicated that information resources could be organized and represented by using BIM data standard and the system provides a solution for construction firms, which has important significance for the decision-making of construction firms.