Estate Information Model
Typically within Trusts there many sets and sources of information about the health care estate and operational facilities. Again typically, these tend to be discrete or separate sets, prepared and assembled over time in a variety of different formats from a variety of sources. In many instances the information is several years old and may not be current, but core data sets about the estate holding and its performance – in very general terms – is likely to be available due to the requirement to prepare and submit the ERIC reports (Estate Returns Information Collection) to the Department of Health. If property surveys in connection with this have been carried out fairly recently and/or recent building or development projects have been designed or constructed, there is a chance these have provided some decent additions to the information sets. However, it is most likely that all the information is contained within ‘separate’ files and formats – both hard copy and electronic :
- Drawings – maps / site plans / block plans / floor plans / room layouts
- Documents – reports / surveys / studies / lists / strategy documents / business cases / specifications / agreements etc.
- Spreadsheets and tables – survey tabulations & results / schedules / cost plans / budgets / timetables / maintenance profiles
These could be associated with or extracted from :
- Estate Terrier document
- Land Registry
- Development Control Plans
- ESTATECODE surveys
- FIRECODE & safety management plans
- ERIC Returns
- Health & Safety File(s)
- Project documents
- O&M information
- Maintenance Management systems
A common challenge presented to estate management professionals is how to gather, update and collate the estate information into a co-ordinated set and keep it up to date. Additionally a further challenge is keeping track of how the space is currently being used – i.e. what patterns of service - and being able to model how it might be used (e.g. for an alternative use, or more effectively).
Within HEDM we have highly developed processes and proven solutions that can take these existing sets of information (in current format) and extract core data to upload into a common (relational) database. Uniquely, we are able to extract and hold the spatial data from CAD files, create intelligent graphical objects from the spaces and items within a building, and attach / relate associated meta-data, such as from documents and spreadsheets to them – and vice-versa.
This means we are able to produce ‘intelligent floor plans’ of health care premises, which allow viewers to interrogate the plans for other sources of data. Conversely, users are able to generate plans or maps according to the data they wish to report.
This means we have a robust solution to conventional problems and are able to relate core data sets to each other, including relationships between the estate (buildings and infrastructure) and the services provided from within them.
This solution meets all the needs of the CIAMS development and implementation.
For more information :
Solving the data dilemma 1.16MB
