US Coast Guard commits to data sharing through IFCs

The US Coast Guard is a multi-mission organisation responsible for 95,000 miles of coastline and over 8,000 buildings and structures. It is part way through a sweeping programme of process change that will create closer links between facilities and operations.

‘We set up a Shore Facility Capital Asset Management initiative or SFCAM,’ explains David Hammond, senior programme manager, Office of Civil Engineering, US Coast Guard. ‘We selected 20% of our staff to look at certain functions and make changes, creating a virtual organisation in order to do so.’

One part of the initiative is to ensure that present and future facilities are aligned to the requirements to ensure homeland safety and security. Facility assessments are being carried out and funding re-allocated. ‘We are making real change – real quick,’ adds Hammond.

Underpinning this massive change programme is the use of information-rich 3D CAD models. Links with GIS software are also being explored, and the contribution made by IFCs is much valued by the Coast Guard. ‘It is standards like the IFCs that have really made this possible... the beauty of IFCs is the ability to use the data many times.’

And 3D is just the start of things. Prospects like adding in a fourth dimension, that of time, and a fifth, that of finance, are looming.

David Hammond’s recommendation to anyone embarking on a change programme is to embrace change actively. His ‘confessions of a change agent’ conclude with the advice: ‘Hold to the vision ... manage chaos.’