The Information Management Initiative will “enable the integration of data and information across the whole lifecycle of the built and managed environment, enhancing collaboration, efficiency, safety and sustainability to meet the evolving needs of society, business and the environment”.
That is the mission statement for the Information Management Initiative (IMI), launched this week by nima at its autumn conference. The IMI replaces the information management mandate launched three years ago, which in turn superseded the original UK BIM mandate, introduced in 2016.
The key change from the two mandates (as previously announced) is that the IMI invites companies from across the built and the managed environment to mandate their staff to adhere to information management principles – and professional institutions to follow suit with their members. And government is not being left out.
Dr Anne Kemp OBE, nima co-chair and fellow and technical director of digital engineering at AtkinsRéalis, said: “This is an industry-led initiative that will lead the way in building momentum to support a government approach, which will be enacted through procurement regulation and legislation. It will be supported through an evolving ecosystem of standards, guidance, tools, case studies and training.
“The target is that by 2030, at a minimum, the built and managed environment sector transitions to a common way of specifying, procuring, delivering, storing and maintaining that data and information required for the optimal whole-life management and use of its assets."
Kemp noted that the plan for the IMI is ambitious, but grounded in small steps. She also stated: “This is not, emphatically not, a talking shop. We have to be looking at practical outputs, and the big call is to simplify, simplify, simplify. We have heard that message, and we’ll be really striving to deliver on that.“
While the IMI will initially rely on the UK BIM Framework, the latter will evolve to become the IM Framework.
How the IMI will work
When an organisation agrees, at the top level, to participate in the IMI, it commits to supporting the initiative and to all teams and individuals in the organisation understanding and moving to fulfil the step one principles.
Those principles state:
- All participants involved with the built and managed environment at any level will commit, appropriately and proportionately to the best of their ability, to enabling and supporting the principle of digitally transforming the whole of the built and managed environment by better through-life management of its data and information.
- All participants regard the aims of optimising value, health and safety, productivity, social, economic and environmental benefit across the built and managed environment as the key outcomes for embracing the IMI.
- All participants will move to understand why it is important to know:
- the purpose of the data and information;
- what data and information are needed;
- where to store the data and information;
- how the data and information is shared and used;
- who has access to the data and information; and
- how the data and information are maintained.
Step two focuses on organisations planning how they will turn the commitments above into actions. The third step entails preparation and ultimately, the issuing of an internal mandate across the organisation.
Five rules
The third step sets five overarching rules:
- The organisation will commit to building on its existing capability to shift to its target capability within a stated timeframe.
- The organisation will continue to upskill and train its teams and individuals as required to enable the stated progressive implementation of the framework.
- Each participant within the organisation will follow the relevant rules for their specific activity, as set out in the framework, proportionately and appropriately to the best of their ability.
- The organisation will put in place a process to encourage and monitor the level of compliance with the relevant rules across its teams and individuals.
- The organisation will share progress towards complying with its internal mandate, sharing its experience and helping to converge to a common approach across the Initiative, supporting appropriate progression of the framework.
Funding and resource
Nima is a voluntary body, so needs both direct funding from the industry and more volunteers to achieve the goals it has set for the IMI. “We are appealing for resource, we are appealing for funding,” said Kemp. “We can only move as fast as our resource and the funding that comes in.”
Meanwhile, in the closing address, Department for Business & Trade deputy director of infrastructure, construction and rail Fergus Harradence emphasised that the IMI is not just for those legally required to provide the golden thread of information. “The golden thread of information for higher-risk buildings requires detailed information sets, which need to be digitised. While the Building Safety Act only requires this for a subset of buildings, and not at all for infrastructure, I think it is certain that this approach and this standard of information will be required for almost all built assets, not least because the investors in those assets, the owners of those assets and the insurers of those assets will demand it and expect this to be delivered.”
Nima announced the following as founding IMI sponsors:
- AtkinsRéalis
- BEAMA
- BSI
- Data Clan
- Morta
The following have signed up as IMI Supporters:
- 1Spatial
- BIM4Water
- Binnies
- Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors
- Construction Products Association
- McGee
- National Home Improvement Council
- Operance
- Xylem
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