Construction-Operations Building information exchange (COBie) standard data
The Construction-Operations Building information exchange (COBie) standard defines information for assets that are delivered as part of a facility construction project and is used to document the data for the building information modeling (BIM) process. You import COBie data files by using the BIM Projects application and manage the data as assets, locations, contacts, and job plan records in Maximo® Manage.
COBie data, which is defined in .CVS or .XLS files, is a series of data fields that are organized in a spreadsheet with multiple worksheets. Each worksheet corresponds to a COBie table.
You can import data into Maximo Manage from the following COBie tables:
- Facility
- Floor
- Space
- Component
- Type
- System
- Zone
- Attribute
- Contact
- Document
- Job
- Tools in the Resources table
- Assembly
To ensure a successful import of COBie data, adhere to the following guidelines:
- Adhere to the minimum table requirements.
- The facilities and floor tables are required to import COBie data. Use the components table to collect the necessary data to support business processes.
- Use unique model IDs.
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All spaces and assets require a model ID. The model ID must uniquely identify the model element and must map to a property that is visible in the files in the viewer. This field is loaded from the COBie ExtIdentifier column. For an Autodesk model, the Revit GUID is used for the model ID. For an Industry Foundation Class (IFC) model, the IFC GUID is used for the model ID.
- Use unique table IDs.
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Each COBie table uses one or more columns for a unique ID. Tables that are referenced by other tables, such as the spaces table, must use a unique ID. If the COBie data was generated by using design tools, the tables might not have unique IDs.
- Carefully define the space definitions.
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The COBie specification requires that all components reference a space. Ensure that all spaces for every floor in the model, including external service areas, have a space definition. You can copy space definitions into linked models, and you can use the default floor or facility references for components.
- Use standardized categorization carefully and consistently.
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Use a single unified classification scheme consistently in all project contracts: OmniClass, Uniformat, or a user-defined scheme. The import utility compares the value for the Category attribute in the COBie data set to the values in the classification tables in the Maximo database. When a match is found, the Maximo Manage records that are created from the COBie data are assigned the matching classification. For OmniClass and Uniformat, the category value is processed to extract and normalize the number portion of the value before matching the classification.
- Divide large files or large buildings into multiple files.
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The import utility accepts multiple files, such as architectural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP), and service model files, for input and reassembles them. In some COBie conversion tools, the size of models is limited. You can divide a large file into several smaller files and generate COBie data from each file. You can also use multiple files when the model consists of several linked files or when you have a large building that is divided into wings or sections.
- Prevent the import of unnecessary attributes.
- Some attributes are not required to use COBie data in Maximo Manage. Careful design and planning of your import can prevent the import of unnecessary attributes.
- Spare parts are manifests, not actual inventory.
- In Maximo Manage, the spares table from the COBie data is used to list the field-replaceable units for an asset. The spares table from the COBie data is not used as an actual inventory of spare parts in Maximo Manage.