Enhancing Facility Maintenance Using Knowledge-Based BIM Systems

Enhancing Facility Maintenance Using Knowledge-Based BIM Systems | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Enhancing Facility Maintenance Using Knowledge-Based BIM Systems A. Ehab, Mazkour A. Mahdi, Arafa El-Helloty This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6595289/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 09 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The operation phase of a building's lifecycle refers to the period during which the building is in active use. So, to keep all these facilities working with acceptable performance, maintenance is necessary to keep the buildings working throughout their life cycle. Building maintenance and facility management are very complicated by traditional methods like personal estimation or manual inspections. On the other hand, the growth of technology, mainly in construction, helps in different fields of construction management. A big example of this technology is Building Information Modeling (BIM), a digital representation tool of buildings at various phases of the construction life cycle. To get more simplification, many commercial plugins for construction maintenance have been issued, which are integrated with the BIM model. Unfortunately, these plugins require specialized knowledge, are complicated, and need expertise, training, and more accuracy. In addition, the needed improvement in the maintenance process to overcome the challenges and obstacles that the organization is currently facing. This paper proposes a decision support system framework plugin to help facility management teams effectively plan, track, and allocate their maintenance budgets with a very simple, flexible, and easy-to-use system. The proposed framework creates maintenance schedules based on the facility's condition, type of equipment, a frequency of use, and allocates the necessary resources, parts, and labor required for the maintenance phase. It can also generate reports that show resource utilization, expenditure, and other cost-related indicators, making it easier for facility managers to plan their budgets and make informed decisions. The main idea of the proposed framework plugin that was created using Python is to use real-time data and predictive models to optimize maintenance plans, schedules, and resource allocation, facility management teams. The results show reduced downtime, minimized costs, and extended the lifespan of building assets within an actual case study. This framework plugin is an exemplary approach for facilities seeking to implement an innovative yet scalable Facility management (FM) optimum solution. Physical sciences/Engineering Physical sciences/Engineering/Civil engineering FACILITY MANAGEMENT DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 09 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 15 Sep, 2025 Reviews received at journal 10 Sep, 2025 Reviews received at journal 08 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 08 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 29 Aug, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 29 Aug, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 03 Jul, 2025 First submitted to journal 26 Jun, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6595289","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":508857026,"identity":"b6b95844-cb30-4790-9eca-85f91da93abf","order_by":0,"name":"A. Ehab","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA8klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACNgkgwcPwL4FBgvkYROgAAS38EC0HgFrY0ojTIjkDroXHjDgtBre7Ex+8YTiQxz+759tjnhoGOb4bCYwPv+DTcufsZsM5DH+KJe6c3W7Mc4zBWPJGArOxDD4tN3K3SfP+O5DYAGY0MCRuuJHAJi2BR4v9jdztv4F+SZx/I+cZSEs9UAv7b3xaQLYwg7RsuJHDBtKSYAC0hfEDfi2bJecAtWy8c8zccM4xCcOZZx42S+PRAdKy8cMbhn+J8243P3vwpsZGnu948sGPP/DpQQMgTzA2AJ1KKmAkxZZRMApGwSgY9gAA/H9YbqSz5jcAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Badr University in Cairo","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"A.","middleName":"","lastName":"Ehab","suffix":""},{"id":508857027,"identity":"a46d6f02-5ed6-4292-ad34-478a05a8db7b","order_by":1,"name":"Mazkour A. Mahdi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Al-Azhar University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mazkour","middleName":"A.","lastName":"Mahdi","suffix":""},{"id":508857030,"identity":"5c560dc3-e0f3-482a-85b9-4760390dc6ca","order_by":2,"name":"Arafa El-Helloty","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Al-Azhar University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Arafa","middleName":"","lastName":"El-Helloty","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-05-05 14:23:28","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6595289/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6595289/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-30057-7","type":"published","date":"2025-12-09T15:59:34+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":98245650,"identity":"263ec2a4-7a41-4711-9ce1-2bc049ba3357","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-15 16:18:13","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1436596,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript12clean.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6595289/v1_covered_810fd184-6d0f-488d-9699-0b68c405d2b3.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Enhancing Facility Maintenance Using Knowledge-Based BIM Systems","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"FACILITY MANAGEMENT, DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM, BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING, PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6595289/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6595289/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe operation\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c/strong\u003ephase of a building's lifecycle refers to the period during which the building is in active use. \u0026nbsp;So, to keep all these facilities working with acceptable performance, maintenance is necessary to keep the buildings working throughout their life cycle. Building maintenance and facility management are very complicated by traditional methods like personal estimation or manual inspections.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn the other hand, the growth of technology, mainly in construction, helps in different fields of construction management. A big example of this technology is Building Information Modeling (BIM), a digital representation tool of buildings at various phases of the construction life cycle. To get more simplification, many commercial plugins for construction maintenance have been issued, which are integrated with the BIM model. Unfortunately, these plugins require specialized knowledge, are complicated, and need expertise, training, and more accuracy. In addition, the needed improvement in the maintenance process to overcome the challenges and obstacles that the organization is currently facing. This paper proposes a decision support system framework plugin to help facility management teams effectively plan, track, and allocate their maintenance budgets with a very simple, flexible, and easy-to-use system.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe proposed framework creates maintenance schedules based on the facility's condition, type of equipment, a frequency of use, and allocates the necessary resources, parts, and labor required for the maintenance phase. It can also generate reports that show resource utilization, expenditure, and other cost-related indicators, making it easier for facility managers to plan their budgets and make informed decisions. The main idea of the proposed framework plugin that was created using Python is to use real-time data and predictive models to optimize maintenance plans, schedules, and resource allocation, facility management teams. The results show reduced downtime, minimized costs, and extended the lifespan of building assets within an actual case study. This framework plugin is an exemplary approach for facilities seeking to implement an innovative yet scalable Facility management (FM) optimum solution.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Enhancing Facility Maintenance Using Knowledge-Based BIM Systems","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-09-05 18:16:54","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6595289/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-09-15T08:57:11+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-09-10T06:48:05+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-09-08T20:14:37+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"172846717031096577827640646116142037582","date":"2025-09-08T19:50:02+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"298616491200277157155095591109039819778","date":"2025-08-29T11:54:05+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-08-29T10:32:20+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-07-03T05:26:02+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2025-06-26T09:57:34+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"08691625-c191-4a20-83c5-b24d8b5fa96f","owner":[],"postedDate":"September 5th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":54039841,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering"},{"id":54039842,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering/Civil engineering"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-12-15T16:15:27+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-6595289","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-30057-7","journal":{"identity":"scientific-reports","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Scientific Reports"},"publishedOn":"2025-12-09 15:59:34","publishedOnDateReadable":"December 9th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-09-05 18:16:54","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s41598-025-30057-7","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-30057-7","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6595289","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6595289","identity":"rs-6595289","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}