IDM

Information Delivery Manual (IDM)

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a new approach to being able to describe and display the information required for the design, construction and operation of constructed facilities. It is able to bring together the different threads of information used in construction into a single operating environment thus reducing, and often eliminating, the need for the many different types of paper document currently in use. To use BIM effectively however, and for the benefits of its use to be released, the quality of communication between the different participants in the construction process needs to be improved. If the information needed is available when it is needed, and the quality of that information is appropriate, then the construction process can be improved. For this to happen, there must be a common understanding of building processes and of the information that is needed for and results from their execution.

The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) provides a comprehensive reference to the totality of information within the lifecycle of a constructed facility. It has been created as an integrated whole in response to the identification of business needs expressed by the international building construction community. It does not contain a comprehensive reference to individual processes within building construction.

The case for a comprehensive reference to processes in building construction is clear and compelling. By integrating information with the process, the value of such a reference is greatly enhanced and it becomes a key tool in really delivering the benefits of BIM. The Information Delivery Manual (IDM) aims to provide the integrated reference for process and data required by BIM (... more)

Objective

The IDM will provide the integrated comprehensive reference required by identifying the discrete processes undertaken within building construction together with the information that is required for and results from their execution.

The IDM will target both BIM users and solution providers.

• For BIM users, it will provide a simple to understand, plain language description of building construction processes, the requirements for information to be provided to enable the process to be carried out successfully, additional information that may need to be provided by the user and the expected end results of the process.
• For BIM solution providers, it will identify and describe the detailed functional breakdown of the process and the IFC capabilities needing to be supported for each functional part in terms of the entities, attributes, property sets and properties required.

Additionally, the IDM will provide an improved methodology for development of future extensions to the IFC model that will include close descriptions of business requirements and IFC support so as to support accelerated implementation.