The digital twin takes a different approach. It connects the BIM model with real-time sensor data, IoT streams and AI-driven analytics – creating a living, breathing representation of the building. Not the past, but the present and the future.
What Is CAFM – and What Can It Do?
Computer-Aided Facility Management (CAFM) is software that helps facility managers to plan, control and monitor all activities relating to the management of buildings and workplaces. This includes space management, relocation planning, maintenance scheduling, upkeep and room reservations.
CAFM systems provide a structured overview of resources and help standardise processes. They are proven, reliable and have been in use in many practices for years. Their weakness: they work with manually maintained data – and therefore always reflect a past state rather than the present.
What Is a Digital Twin – and What More Can It Do?
A digital twin is more than a 3D model. It is a dynamic, accurate virtual representation of a building that reflects both its physical structure and its real-time operational performance. It combines: the physical layer (as-built data from the BIM model), the building systems layer (BMS or IoT sensors for real-time data), the people layer (behavioural data) and the enterprise layer (CAFM processes).
The result is a continuously updated operational model that can be monitored, analysed, simulated and optimised. Predictive maintenance, scenario modelling, energy optimisation – capabilities that traditional CAFM systems alone cannot provide.
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