Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Automation in Construction journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/autcon Lifecycle information transformation and exchange for delivering and managing digital and physical assets Bilal Succar a,⁎ , Erik Poirier b a ChangeAgents AEC, Founder of BIMe Initiative, Australia b École de Technologie Supérieure, Montréal, Canada ABSTRACT The rapid pace of digitalisation within the Construction Industry and the divergence from traditional practice inherent to this transformation requires the devel- opment of new knowledge to frame these emerging practices. Acting on increasing digitalisation pressures, many national and international standards, protocols, and specifications have been generated with little conceptual framing or with no theoretical underpinning. This positioning paper responds to practical business needs of organisations and project teams, builds upon existing conceptual constructs, and delivers a modular information management framework. The Lifecycle Information TransformationandExchange (LITE) framework is an extendable conceptual skeletal for defining, managing, and integrating project and asset information. Developed, described, and explained for ongoing field testing, the LITE framework integrates multiple components - information statuses, states, milestones, flows, gates, routes, loops, actions, sets, and tiers – which collectively lay the foundations for an open access digital platform being developed by an international Community of Research and Practice. The framework describes – and aims to predict - information flows across an asset's lifecycle. Its modular conceptual structure, iterative flows, and task- oriented terminology are calibrated to guide the integrated design, delivery, and utilisation of assets of any type, function, or scale. 1. Introduction 1.1. Background The adoption of advanced technological solutions is accelerating across the Construction Industry, and the broader sectors responsible for designing, delivering, managing and maintaining the built en- vironment. This provides increased opportunities to address the in- dustry's characteristically poor performance and lagging productivity. Reaping the full benefits of technological innovation, however, cannot be fully achieved without parallel innovations in processes and policies. When addressing lifecycle information management challenges in par- ticular, there are many lessons to be learned from the Manufacturing and Software industries and significant benefits to be reaped from adapting their Lean, Agile and integrative production methods [1–3]. However, the distinctive challenges faced by the industry– especially lack of integrated supply chains [4–5] and discrete/fragmented in- formation flows [6] – only permit partial adaptation of these methods [7–11]. To address distinctive and novel challenges, equally distinctive and novel solutions need to be sought. This paper responds to this challenge by introducing the Lifecycle Information Transformation and Exchange (LITE) framework, a conceptual structure that lays the groundwork for a new approach to asset and project lifecycle information exchange and management. The framework accounts for the proliferation of technolo- gical innovations enabling the integration of asset lifecycle information– e.g. Smart Contracts [12–14], Robotics [15–17], BIM Data Analytics [18], and Artificial Intelligence [19–20] into Design, Construction, and Operation activities ([21], Table 4). While presenting new concepts that intersect with mainstream discussions, and promoting new approaches that may seem to contradict those currently accepted by industry, is undoubtably challenging, the opportunities and benefits from potentially identifying more effective solutions may far outweigh potential adoption obstacles [22]. 1.2. The need for the LITE framework There are numerous ongoing efforts to formalise the business pro- cesses and project/asset information management practices of the Construction Industry, especially during the design and delivery phases of a built asset. These include the significant efforts by the International Standards Organisation [23] and the European Committee for Stan- dardisation (CEN) which - supported by buildingSMART International [24] - have released a plethora of reference documents cited throughout this paper. The most notable release in recent years, and covering di- gital information management for the built environment, is the adap- tation of the United Kingdom's Publicly Available Specifications (PAS 1192 series) as ISO 19650 suit of standards. These and other standards https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2020.103090 Received 16 September 2018; Received in revised form 6 January 2020; Accepted 15 January 2020 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: bsuccar@changeagents.com.au (B. Succar), erik.poirier@etsmtl.ca (E. Poirier). Automation in Construction 112 (2020) 103090 0926-5805/ © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. T