With the newest series of Doctor Who on the horizon, I got to thinking about how the TARDIS – a time machine/space ship used by The Doctor and his companions (it’s a police box on the outside, but as big as a planet on the inside) is an amazing feat of design, engineering and build.
Every few years throughout the show’s seasons, the TARDIS is refurbished (“changing the desktop theme”) – and I imagined all the information that would be needed for such a large and complex project. And that’s when I thought about BIM.
I spoke to our Senior BIM Communicator – Dan, about what might need to be considered in a project like this, and the following were his thoughts…
‘From a BIM perspective, we would refer to the TARDIS as a manageable asset, as it often requires attention to remain functional. Now, if there are any Whovians among you, you are likely already aware of how important the TARDIS is to the Doctor as well as how often it goes awry or malfunctions!
This means that it would be of benefit for The Doctor to hold some asset information about his TARDIS, and to do this consistently (so that information is usable between TARDIS ‘desktop theme’ refurbishments) The Doctor should apply some BIM Level 2 standards.
By following Construction Operations Building information exchange (COBie) and BS 1192-4, The Doctor could exchange consistent asset information to manage the TARDIS. As it is an obsolete Type 40 TT capsule, it often requires attention, from issues with its chameleon circuit (Pr_75_51_17: Control circuit devices and timeswitches), to the helmic regulator (Pr_60_75_08_01: Artificial reverberation, time delay and frequency shift equipment). Through COBie, all the information about the components within the TARDIS could be managed in a consistent manner. Leaving The Doctor with more time to avoid extermination.
However, before The Doctor appoints someone to produce this information, he will need to ensure that whoever is employed to survey and produce is sufficiently competent. Meaning that he should write some Employer’s Information Requirements and undertake some supply chain assessments. For example, to be able to store this information in the TARDIS’ CAFM system, the information may need to be produced in Gallifreyan, without a competent supply chain the information handed back to The Doctor may not be in a useable format.’
If he wanted to find out more, the Doctor would could attend a BRE Academy BIM Level 2 Fundamentals training course to understand the basics of best practice information management, or attend our upcoming BIM Prospects conference to hear from industry experts about how it is being implemented within industry.
Isn’t it about time you become the Lord of your information?