IDS BIM - Information Delivery Specification

An Information Delivery Specification (IDS) in the BIM and openBIM IFC is a computer readable document that defines Exchange Information Requirements (EIR) based on a model exchange.

IDS defines how the required datasets must be exchanged and delivered to the objects of an information model of a construction (classifications, properties and even values and units of measurement) in a BIM and openBIM IFC process.

The advantage of the openBIM IDS standard format is that it can be interpreted with a combination of the IFC, an extension of its domain and with properties and classifications defined by national or company specifications, formalized within the bSDD (buildingSMART Data Dictionary) or elsewhere.

IDS is the standard to be used to define your Level Of Information Need (LOIN) as required by UNI EN 17412-1.

The IDS allows the validation of the IFC by the customer and enables the possibility for the supply group to carry out automatic analyses on the models to be produced using special BIM Tools.

It's defined by buildingSMART International as a fundamental component in the management of the BIM process that can be placed on a contractual basis for the correct delivery of the requested information.

IDS is the solution to establish exchange workflows on predictable and reliable data. This offers the opportunity to structure perimeter requirements and use cases specific to projects and the organic management of an asset portfolio.

ACCA has developed usBIM.IDS, a new innovative BIM tool that meets the objectives that buildingSMART International aims to achieve with the introduction of IDS.

Application to validate the Exchange Information Requirements (EIR) (or LOIN) of an IFC file, as required by UNI EN 17412-1, using the information delivery specification (IDS) standard of buildingSMART international.

usBIM.IDS enables the construction sector supply-chain to create, enhance and maintain its Information Delivery Specification, innovate its operational workflow and centralize in a single shared solution the interaction by all the actors involved.

usBIM.IDS can:

• define requirements at the instance level;
• connect to bSDD concepts, properties, and domains;
• specify properties and classifications;
• be machine readable to be automatically loaded by the software to facilitate both the users and the software tools to generate, validate and correct the mapping of internal data to the desired output;
• be interpretable by the computer to allow automatic validation of the IFC against the requirements;
• rely on industry-standard technologies to work with generic parsers;
• be extensible.

The software allows you to manage the entire process of creation, compilation and validation of the information request (EIR). In a typical process, the information request formulated in an informative specifications could:

• starting from the creation of an IDS specific to the order;
• deploy through the cloud platform;
• validate the information delivery with cloud platform service.

The informative process of creating the BIM model is fully supported by the software with obvious advantages of communication, coordination and quality of the expected result.

The BIM model can be created with any BIM authoring software (Edificius, Revit, ArchiCAD, etc.) and the information dataset required in the IFC file can be inserted with IDS modeler even by multiple users at the same time.

With usBIM.IDS, the BIM coordinator can request specific data sets of information from the managers of the different activities and obtain the complete information system for each phase of defining the model with the coordinated and simultaneous work of all the process stakeholders.

in 2018, ACCA became stable member of buildingSMART international, the organisation that operates at a worldwide level for the dissemination of the openBIM and the IFC standards. ACCA has a long time leadership in IFC openBIM workflows and its corporate mission and can boast:

• the highest number of buildingSMART international IFC certified software in the world;
• the first free IFC viewer with BIM model editing functions;
• the first and only IFC certified BIM Management platform by buildingSMART in the world;
• the first editor to work in such an advanced manner on IFC openBIM models.

ACCA software is involved in the main buildingSMART technical tables and has also proposed itself as a technological partner on the topic of Information Delivery Specification.