AI for Asset Centricity in Construction Project Management
For Better Outcomes, Organize Data By What You Build, Not Just How You Built it
The reason owners and contractors collect data is to understand what’s going on, improve how we’re making decisions and running our projects.
So, it is not surprising that almost all construction software focuses on processes. We track submittals, RFIs, change orders, communications and more. In fact if software doesn’t include a focus on the process of building, it’s not really helping with project management.
The problem is, we’re not delivering a process at the end of the job, we’re delivering a building: an asset, that is made up of other, smaller assets. Whether it's a chiller, an HVAC pump, or an elevator, buildings are valuable because of what they contain, not how they were built.
Whether it's a chiller, an HVAC pump, or an elevator, buildings are valuable because of what they contain, not how they were built.
At the end of a project, we’re left with volumes of data about the process, that are often not clearly connected to the assets put in place, making handover and running the building that much harder.
But what if that didn’t need to be the case?
What if, by using modern database methods, software could put the assets being installed and built at the center of the way data is organized, while not losing sight of how the process is run?
In other words, what if project teams running the business could keep their ongoing, detailed understanding of the building process, while owners and facilities teams could also get a clear picture of all the data they need for each asset, organized by that asset?
Becoming Asset-centric
The truth is we’ve been able to do this sort of thing for years—in fact many software systems, and for that matter websites, let the user tag data in multiple ways. For example, by tagging data as both an RFI and relating it to the second chiller on the roof, both project and facilities teams are able to use the data the way they need.
Increasingly, AI is able to help with some of this: By analyzing process-based data, AI can assign some of the documents and relevant information to individual assets.
Unfortunately, that is at best a half measure, because so often there are multiple assets of the same type, and roughly same location.
Think again of our chillers on the roof. It is not unusual to have three or more right next to each other, making it very difficult for AI, or even a human, to assign information to a given asset after the fact. Far better to organize data by asset during the process, when it is clear what each document is referring to.
Once you have this ability to organize data based on assets, though, your job isn’t done.
Next you need to give users that ability to understand the building through the lens of its assets—not just as a maintenance log, but as a rich history of decisions that are made during the selection, installation and handover of that asset: Where did it come from? Was it changed from one model to another? If it was changed, why?
As a building begins operating, understanding these decisions helps with ongoing facility maintenance, and down the road, decisions about replacement when necessary.
Needless to say, asset-centric project management®—organizing data around assets—makes the process of handover that much easier because we can track and manage the operating & maintenance manuals, training and information, as well as attic stock and other key handover deliverables.
Just the idea of avoiding the massive, disorganized data dump that handover has traditionally involved is its own reason for re-thinking how building data is organized.
Read it: Ready or Not: 7 Ways to Format Construction Project Management Spreadsheet Data for AI in 2026
A Better Way to Collect Asset Data
In today’s world, where AI is increasingly able to work with data to automate routine tasks, give operators visibility into their operations, and give predictions that help with maintenance scheduling, it makes more sense than ever to look at data through the lens of assets—not just processes.
By organizing our data in an asset centric way, we are able to understand the progress of each asset, and post-handover, understand how best to operate and maintain those assets.
