CEN/TC 442 - Building Information Modelling (BIM)

This document represents an open international standard for information used in Building Information Modeling (BIM) that is exchanged and shared among software applications used by the various participants in the construction or facility management industry sector. This document includes definitions that cover information required for buildings and infrastructure works over their life cycle. This edition of the document added coverage of information required for infrastructure facilities including bridges, roads, railways, waterways and port facilities.
This document comprises the publication of a data schema, its documentation, the property and quantity set definitions and the mechanism of an exchange file format structure.
Definitions from this document are used to support different recognized work flows in the construction and facility management industry sector, representing information deliveries. Such information deliveries can be described according to ISO 29481.
Different implementation levels of this document can be defined to better support multiple information deliveries, they are referred to as a Model View Definition (MVD). Each MVD identifies which subset of the definitions of this document imposes requirements for implementation in software applications. Conforming software applications need to identify the model view definition they conform to when applying for software certification.
The following are within the scope of this edition of this document:
BIM exchange format definitions that are required during the life cycle phases of buildings and infrastructure:
demonstrating the need;
conception of need;
outline feasibility;
substantive feasibility study and outline financial authority;
outline conceptual design;
full conceptual design;
coordinated design;
procurement and full financial authority;
production information;
construction;
operation and maintenance.
BIM exchange format definitions that are required by the various disciplines involved within the life cycle phases:
architecture and civil engineering design;
service and utilities engineering;
structural engineering;
procurement;
construction planning;
facility and utility management;
project management;
client requirement management;
industry authorities for permits and approval.
BIM exchange format definitions including:
project structure;
physical components;
spatial components;
analysis items;
processes;
resources;
controls;
actors;
context definition.

The digital transformation of the construction industry includes also the digital transformation of the supply chaine of construction products. With EN ISO 16739-1 exists an open language to design, transfer and maintain construction models. The construction models (e.g. of a building) contain a digital twin of real-life products. The data of these products should be transported in a digital format on the way from the factory to the building owner.
This product data should be expressed also in an easy and open way. The creators of product data files should be able to do this manually or automatically, as they like it. The users of product data should be able to use it to:
•   Express their requirements related to products
•   Describe configurable products
•   Import product data easily in the BIM models at any stage of the project (design, construction, operation)
•   Export product data easily from the BIM models at any stage of the project (design, construction, operation)
These scenarios fit in the business models of manufacturers, planners, construction companies and facility managers.
The working group 4 of CEN-TC442 has published proposals for creating new work items in the sector of CEN regarding the storage and the transport of product data in the sector of building information modelling (BIM):
EN ISO 16739-1:2018: Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) for data sharing in the construction and facility management industries- Part 1: Data schema
EN ISO 12006-3: Building construction – Organization of information about construction works – Part 3: Framework for object-oriented information
prEN ISO 23386: Building information modelling and other digital processes used in Construction – Methodology to describe, author and maintain properties in interconnected dictionaries
prEN ISO 23387: Data templates for construction works entities, Part 1:  Objects, collections, and relationships defining the general structure of data templates
This standard defines a format to negotiate product data templates, express requirements and describe configurable products and therefore fills the missing link between the product data sources (e.g. catalogs) from the manufacturers and the BIM models of the designers, builders, and owners.

The scope of this document is as per the scope of CEN/TC 442/WG 6, that is:
-   Identify key stakeholders.
-   Investigate existing activities within standardization for BIM in infrastructure (3.1).
-   Formulate the need for standardization related to the implementation of BIM for infrastructure (3.1) in Europe, not covered by existing standards and ongoing standards development.
-   Make recommendation on whether standards are to be developed and if so, how this can be done.
For the purpose of this document, the term 'BIM standards' is a loose reference to standards available for the use of BIM, including those under the responsibility of CEN/TC 442, ISO/TC 211 and ISO/TC 59. It is not a defined term.

This document addresses syntactic and semantic interoperability for information describing assets going through their life cycle in the built environment. It assumes the underlying technical interoperability provided already by the Internet/World Wide Web (WWW) technology-stack. The syntactic aspects relate to the Linked Data (LD)/Semantic Web (SW) formats and the SPARQL direct access method provided. The semantic aspects relate to the LD/SW-based information models in the form of thesauri and ontologies giving meaning to the information.
The following information architecture (Figure 1) applies.
This document specifies:
- a conceptual "L1: Information language" with four RDF-based language bindings being SKOS, RDFS, OWL and SHACL, including:
- a choice of 'linked data'/RDF-based formats (to be used for all modelling and language levels); and
- a generic Top Level Information Model of a total "M1: Information model", here "an upper ontology", including:
- a set of generic information modelling patterns for identification, annotation, enumeration datatypes, complex quality/quantity modelling, decomposition and grouping.
This modelling approach for information models and information sets is relevant within the built environment from multiple perspectives such as:
- Building information modelling (BIM);
- Geographical information systems (GIS);
- Systems engineering (SE);
- Monitoring & control (M&C); and
- Electronic document management (EDM).
Annex E discusses in an informative way how the information models and sets relevant for these different worlds can be linked together using LD/SW technology.
This document does not specify a full meta-'information model', sometimes referred to as a 'Knowledge Model (KM)'. EN ISO 12006-3 provides such an often used model for the built environment. In Annex D, Subclause D.3 it is shown how this existing model can be made compliant to this document. The only direct support for this meta level comes in the form of the possibility to define 'types' (enumeration types or concept types) and 'objectifications' as metaconcepts.
This document does not specify a meta-'information language' since this is already provided by the concrete RDF-based language bindings (being RDFS).
The scope of this document in general excludes the following:
- Business process modelling;
- Software implementation aspects;
- Information packaging and transportation/transaction aspects already handled by ISO TC59/SC13 Information container for linked document delivery (ICDD) ([13]) respectively various information delivery manual (IDM) / information exchange requirements (EIR)-related initiatives; and
- Domain-specific (here: 'built environment'-specific) content modelling in the form of concepts, attributes and relations at end-user level (the actual ontologies themselves) beyond a generic top level information model ('upper ontology') and modelling and linking patterns.

This document is the technical addition to the methodology set out in ISO 29481-1. It defines a specification to store, exchange and read information delivery manual (IDM) specifications in a standardized and machine-readable way.

This document specifies the detailed process and criteria for decision makings when executing an information exchange as specified by the ISO 19650 series to ensure the quality of the resulting project information model or asset information model. It details the implementation of the concepts in ISO 19650-1 and is applicable to any information exchange within the delivery stages covered by ISO 19650-2 and operational trigger events covered by ISO 19650-3.
This document is applicable to assets of all sizes and all levels of complexity. This includes portfolios of buildings, campuses, infrastructure networks, individual buildings and pieces of infrastructure. The requirements in this document should be applied in a way that is appropriate to the scale and complexity of the asset. This document makes use of the phrase “shall consider”. This phrase is used to introduce a list of items that the person in question is required to think about carefully in connection with the primary requirement described in the subclause. The amount of thought involved, the time taken to complete it, and the need for supporting evidence depend on the complexity of the asset, the experience of the person(s) involved, and the requirements of any national policy on introducing building information modelling. On a relatively small or straightforward asset, it can be possible to complete, or dismiss as not relevant, some of these “shall consider” items very quickly. One way to help identify which of the “shall consider” statements are relevant can be to review each statement and create templates for assets of different sizes and complexity.

This document specifies a language-independent information model which can be used for the development of dictionaries used to store or provide information about construction works. The model is extended by instantiating content, such as further objects and their relationships, allowing the content to serve as an ontology, taxonomy, meronomy, lexicon and thesaurus.
NOTE 1    Lexicons are resources for comprising lexical entries for a given language
NOTE 2    Meronomies are type of hierarchies which deals with part-whole relationships
NOTE 3    Ontologies are formal, explicit specification of a shared conceptualizationIt enables classification systems, information models, object models, data templates and process models to be cross-referenced from within a common framework.
This document provides the description of an API allowing the interconnection of data dictionaries as described in ISO 23386.

This document provides guidance on how to develop an information delivery manual (IDM) in compliance with EN ISO 29481-1 hereafter referred to as the “IDM standard”. This document explains the core components and development process of the IDM methodology in non-technical terms. This document aims to help users and software vendors understand and utilize the IDM standard in defining information requirements and deliverables.
The technical implementation of IDM in a data model, model view definition  (MVD), is excluded from this document’s scope. IDM standard introduces the MVD concept but does not specify it in detail.
This document also utilizes some transaction framework concepts introduced in EN ISO 29481-2. The technical XML- and XSD-schema definitions supporting the software solutions are excluded from this document.

This document deals with the processes involved in the procurement and delivery of information to planning and construction projects, specifically with exchange information requirement (EIR) and BIM execution plan (BEP), considering the administrative processes. This document takes into account international standards and specifications as well as recommended practice.
This document is relevant for all parties involved in the tendering of information deliverables. Including both those that require and those that deliver the information. The required information can be relevant for all processes in the life cycle such as design, construction, operation and maintenance and end-of-life processes. It applies above all to e.g. client, asset owners/operators, architects, engineer, contractors, subcontractors etc.
This document provides methodology to appointing parties on how to require and agree the right amount, quality and level of information needs.
It is also important for appointed parties to be able to assess the quality of existing EIRs and identify possible over-specification or gaps. Based on this, it is possible to estimate and calculate the necessary effort for data creation.
This document operationalizes the tendering and appointment process of information deliverables as specified in EN ISO 19650-2:2018. This document does not cover all clauses of EN ISO 19650-2:2018. Its main goal is to provide template examples and guidance for all activities conditioning specification of requirements and deliverables in the production of exchange information requirements and BIM execution plan. Specifically, it covers the “shall” and “shall consider” requirements in EN ISO 19650-2:2018, 5.2.1 (EIR), 5.3.2 (pre-appointment BEP) and 5.4.1 (confirmed BEP). For specification of Scope and out of scope see Table 1 (see Annex A for which part of EN ISO 19650-2:2018 is supported by templates).

This document specifies concepts and principles to establish a methodology for specifying level of information need and information deliveries in a consistent way when using building information modelling (BIM).
This document specifies the characteristics of different levels used for defining the detail and extent of information required to be exchanged and delivered throughout the life cycle of built assets. It gives guidelines for principles required to specify information needs.
The concepts and principles in this document can be applied for a general information exchange and whilst in progress, for a generally agreed way of information exchange between parties in a collaborative work process, as well as for an appointment with specified information delivery.
The level of information need provides methods for describing information to be exchanged according to exchange information requirements. The exchange information requirements specify the wanted information exchange. The result of this process is an information delivery.
This document is applicable to the whole life cycle of any built asset, including strategic planning, initial design, engineering, development, documentation and construction, day-to-day operation, maintenance, refurbishment, repair and end-of-life.

This document provides the opportunity to add information about the contents of a container by further specializing the generic types of links specified in ISO 21597-1. The defined link types have been chosen to enhance the use of the container by allowing the addition of semantic relationships that are human interpretable to provide greater clarity about those links.

This document specifies requirements for information management, in the form of a management process, within the context of the operational phase of assets and the exchanges of information within it, using building information modelling.
This document can be applied to all types of assets and by organizations of all types and sizes involved in the operational phase of assets.
The requirements in this document can be achieved through direct actions carried out by the organization in question or can be delegated to another party.

This document sets out the principles and structure for data templates for construction objects. It is developed to support digital processes using machine-readable formats using a standard data structure to exchange information about any type of construction object, e.g. product, system, assembly, space, building etc., used in the inception, brief, design, production, operation and demolition of facilities.
This document provides the specification of a taxonomy model that defines concepts from ISO 12006-3:2007, i.e. objects, collections and relationships between them, to support the information need for the specific purpose of the data template.
This document provides an EXPRESS specification with extensions of the EXPRESS-G notation and specification from ISO 12006-3:2007. These extensions have been provided to support market needs developed since the publication of ISO 12006-3 in 2007.
This document provides the rules for linking between data templates and IFC classes within a data dictionary based on ISO 12006-3:2007.
This document provides the rules for linking between data templates and classification systems within a data dictionary based on ISO 12006-3:2007.
The target audience of this document is software developers and not construction industry domain experts appointed to create data templates based on sources describing information needs.
It is not in the scope of this document to provide the content of any data templates. The data structure provided is intended to be used for developing specific data templates based on standards developed in ISO/IEC, CEN/CENELEC, national standardization organizations, or other sources describing information needs.

This document specifies the principles and requirements for security-minded information management at a stage of maturity described as "building information modelling (BIM) according to the ISO 19650 series", and as defined in ISO 19650-1, as well as the security-minded management of sensitive information that is obtained, created, processed and stored as part of, or in relation to, any other initiative, project, asset, product or service.
It addresses the steps required to create and cultivate an appropriate and proportionate security mindset and culture across organizations with access to sensitive information, including the need to monitor and audit compliance.
The approach outlined is applicable throughout the lifecycle of an initiative, project, asset, product or service, whether planned or existing, where sensitive information is obtained, created, processed and/or stored.
This document is intended for use by any organization involved in the use of information management and technologies in the creation, design, construction, manufacture, operation, management, modification, improvement, demolition and/or recycling of assets or products, as well as the provision of services, within the built environment. It will also be of interest and relevance to those organizations wishing to protect their commercial information, personal information and intellectual property.

This document defines an open and stable container format to exchange files of a heterogeneous nature to deliver, store and archive documents that describe an asset throughout its entire lifecycle.
It is suitable for all parties dealing with information concerning the built environment, where there is a need to exchange multiple documents and their interrelationships, either as part of the process or as contracted deliverables. The format is intended to use resources either included in the container (such as documents) or referenced remotely (such as web resources). A key feature is that the container can include information about the relationships between the documents. Relevant use-cases reflect the need for information exchange during the entire life cycle of any built asset and can include, but are not limited to, the handover of
- a published bidding package,
- required project deliverables at a specific project stage (e.g. when proposing different design scenarios),
- shared information as background or for further development,
- published approval packages, or
- information about versions between partners to provide a means to reference particular states of the information and track changes.

This document establishes the rules for defining properties used in construction and a methodology for authoring and maintaining them, for a confident and seamless digital share among stakeholders following a BIM process.
Regarding the definition of properties and groups of properties, this document provides:
—     definitions of properties and groups of properties as a list of attributes;
—     definitions of all the provided attributes.
Regarding the authoring and maintaining process, this document provides:
—     definitions and roles of applicants;
—     definitions and roles of experts and the commission of experts;
—     definitions of request's attributes;
—     definitions of expert's attributes;
—     requirements to establish the management rules to interconnect data dictionaries through the mapping process for properties and groups of properties.
To apply the methodology of this document, it is presupposed that the following are in place:
—     an established governance model for a data dictionary;
—     a framework for a network of data dictionaries.
It is not in the scope of this document to provide the content of the interconnected data dictionaries.

ISO 12006-2:2015 defines a framework for the development of built environment classification systems. It identifies a set of recommended classification table titles for a range of information object classes according to particular views, e.g. by form or function, supported by definitions. It shows how the object classes classified in each table are related, as a series of systems and sub-systems, e.g. in a building information model.
ISO 12006-2:2015 does not provide a complete operational classification system, nor does it provide the content of the tables, though it does give examples. It is intended for use by organizations which develop and publish such classification systems and tables, which may vary in detail to suit local needs. However, if this part of ISO 12006 is applied in the development of local classification systems and tables, then harmonization between them will be facilitated.
ISO 12006-2:2015 applies to the complete life cycle of construction works, including briefing, design, documentation, construction, operation and maintenance, and demolition. It applies to both building and civil engineering works, including associated engineering services and landscaping.

The scope of this guidance is deliberately restricted only to refer to EN ISO 19650-1 and -2, highlighting and describing the manner in which to use it -and not extending or contradicting the scope and content of the standard  The document aims simply to provide minimum supporting text to achieve a basic understanding and ability to implement EN ISO 19650-1 and -2. In each country, each client, each team can use this guidance to provide the best response to information management in each project.  
This document explains the terms and definitions, explains the concepts and principles and how to use them, and gives typical examples with clear explanations.
It should be noted that in this guidance, Information Management is considered as a part of the Project Management.
This guidance is intended to demonstrate how the standard works at European level, which is neutral, agnostic, and applicable to any of the following circumstances:
-   the nature of contracts: e. g. public; private, alliances, global, partnership,
-   the actors' functions: e. g. through the programming, design, construction phases, from small agencies, SMEs to large firms, large companies,
-   the types of works: e. g. simple, complex, new, rehabilitated, housing, infrastructure.

ISO 16757-2:2016 describes the modelling of building services product geometry. The description is optimized for the interchange of product catalogue data and includes
-      shapes for representing the product itself,
-      symbolic shapes for the visualization of the product's function in schematic diagrams,
-      spaces for functional requirements,
-      surfaces for visualization, and
-      ports to represent connectivity between different objects.
The shape and space geometry is expressed as Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) based on geometric primitives concatenated to boundary representations by Boolean operations. ISO 16757-2:2016 uses the applicable primitives from ISO 10303‑42 and from ISO 16739 and adds primitives which are required for the special geometry of building services products. For symbolic shapes, line elements are also used.
ISO 16757-2:2016 neither describes the inner structure and internal functionality of the product nor the manufacturing information because this is typically not published within a product catalogue.
Building services products can have millions of variant dimensions. To avoid the exchange of millions of geometries, a parametric model is introduced which allows the derivation of variant-specific geometries from the generic model. This is necessary to reduce the data to be exchanged in a catalogue to a manageable size. The parametric model will result in smaller data files, which can be easier transmitted during data exchanges.
The geometry model used does not contain any drawing information such as views, line styles or hatching.

The primary purpose of ISO 16757 is the provision of data structures for electronic product catalogues to transmit building services product data automatically into models of building services software applications. This includes a meta model for the specification of product classes and their properties and a meta model for the product data which is exchanged in product catalogues. Product data has to follow the specifications for their product groups.
ISO 16757-1:2015 specifies
the underlying concepts,
a generic model specifying the available modelling elements and their relationships, and
a framework for the specification of the Content Parts by describing the elements which are to be provided by these Parts.

This document outlines the concepts and principles for information management at a stage of maturity described as "building information modelling (BIM) according to the ISO 19650 series".
This document provides recommendations for a framework to manage information including exchanging, recording, versioning and organizing for all actors.
This document is applicable to the whole life cycle of any built asset, including strategic planning, initial design, engineering, development, documentation and construction, day-to-day operation, maintenance, refurbishment, repair and end-of-life.
This document can be adapted to assets or projects of any scale and complexity, so as not to hamper the flexibility and versatility that characterize the large range of potential procurement strategies and so as to address the cost of implementing this document.

This document specifies requirements for information management, in the form of a management process, within the context of the delivery phase of assets and the exchanges of information within it, using building information modelling.
This document can be applied to all types of assets and by all types and sizes of organizations, regardless of the chosen procurement strategy.

ISO 29481-1:2016 specifies
-      a methodology that links the business processes undertaken during the construction of built facilities with the specification of information that is required by these processes, and
-      a way to map and describe the information processes across the life cycle of construction works.
ISO 29481-1:2016 is intended to facilitate interoperability between software applications used during all stages of the life cycle of construction works, including briefing, design, documentation, construction, operation and maintenance, and demolition. It promotes digital collaboration between actors in the construction process and provides a basis for accurate, reliable, repeatable and high-quality information exchange.

ISO 29481-2:2012 specifies a methodology and format for describing ?coordination acts' between actors in a building construction project during all life cycle stages.
It therefore specifies
a methodology that describes an interaction framework,
an appropriate way to map responsibilities and interactions that provides a process context for information flow,
a format in which the interaction framework should be specified.
ISO 29481-2:2012 is intended to facilitate interoperability between software applications used in the construction process, to promote digital collaboration between actors in the building construction process, and to provide a basis for accurate, reliable, repeatable, and high-quality information exchange.

The focus of ISO 16757 is the support of manufacturers to provide their product data in electronic product catalogues.
This part of the standard – ISO 16757 Part 5: Product catalogue exchange format - describes how product catalogue data is exchanged as IFC format according to ISO 16739-1 from manufacturers to designers of building services systems.
With ISO 16739-1 (IFC), an open language exists for the creation, transfer and maintenance of design models.
prEN 17549-1 and prEN 17549-2 define the data exchange of scalable product properties within IFC. These standards provide a Model View Definition (MVD), a subset of ISO 16739-1 from an information technology perspective. It focuses on core classes and relies on external data dictionaries to describe business semantics.
This document completes the description of the IFC-based data exchange format for manufacturer catalogues by describing how to model:
•   Catalogue metadata
•   Product classes
•   Constraints for parametric data
•   Product accessory structures
•   Constraints for assembling composable products and accessories
•   Reusable and multiply used data blocks
•   Product properties as defined in the related library  
•   Static product properties
•   Dynamic computable properties
•   Geometric data of product spaces
•   Geometric data of product symbols
•   Geometric data of product shape
•   Geometric data of product ports
•   Article numbers
•   Etc.
This document focuses only on the format of the data exchanged and not on how to process it.
This document is aimed at both software manufacturers for the construction sector and professionals in the sector who use their software.

The focus of ISO 16757 is the support of manufacturers to provide their product data in electronic product catalogues. The standard - ISO 16757 Part 4: Dictionaries for product catalogues – describes which data structures are required in a dictionary to support the exchange of product data from manufacturers to designers of building services systems.
Basis for this specification are the standards ISO 12006-3 and ISO 23386.
In the scope of this standard are the following elements:
-   The definition of roles of ISO 12006-3 subjects that are needed to describe the concepts used in current product catalogue dictionaries. These roles include the following:
o   Product classes to represent product groups with similar property sets
o   Blocks that represent reusable and multiply used set of properties
o   System classes that represent the systems into which a product may be installed and provide the system properties which determine the values of dependent product properties
o   Port classes that allow the product independent description of different kinds of ports which can be used for the definition of product classes or blocks
o   Catalogue classes that describe the meta data of a catalogue
o   Tagging classes that allow the tagging of properties to distinguish property roles in the product description
-   A requirement model capturing the necessary structures to describe these roles
-   A mapping to the dictionary model of ISO 12006-3.

This Document outlines the concepts and principles to ensure that Health and Safety information is developed, shared and managed collaboratively, ensuring the economic, environmental and social benefits are secured.
This Document;
1) specifies requirements for the collaborative sharing of structured H&S information throughout the asset life-cycle.
2) supports the progressive development of structured H&S information for all built assets.
3) provides guidance on how H&S information is produced, flows and can be used throughout the asset lifecycle. Whilst all H&S risk information can be included within an information model, this document requires the contextualization and filtering of hazards and risks to prioritize the elevated risks and aspects that are safety critical.
4) sets out a framework (risk information cycle) for the application of H&S information-use through BIM processes and applications.
This document specifies how to use H&S information in order to:
a)   provide a safer and healthier environment for end-users;
b)   mitigate the inherent hazards and risks across the asset lifecycle;
c)   result in improved H&S performance, fewer incidents and associated impacts;
d)   provide for clearer, more assured and relevant H&S information to the ‘right-people’ at the ‘right time’;
e)   reduce costs across the whole lifecycle of the asset.
The exchange and use of H&S information is intended to support:
1)   representation of the nature and characteristics of the project, site, built asset and associated activities;
2)   representation of H&S hazards, risks and associated factors;
3)   the generalization, dissemination and re-use of H&S knowledge and experience.
This document is applicable to individuals and organizations that contribute to and influence the definition of design, construction, use (including maintenance) and end of life of a built asset.
This standard is intended to address information management at a stage of maturity described as “building information modelling” (BIM according to the ISO 19650 series. However, the principles and requirements of this document can be applied equally to non-BIM projects.

This document, EN 17632-2, provides semantic modelling patterns for (at least) the following asset aspects:
•   Support for distinction between spatial regions and real (“tangible”) objects; the latter being discrete or continuous (“bulk matter”);
•   Support for the materialization of physical objects, adding generic chemistry aspects directly relevant for the built environment dealing with concrete, steel and asphalt;
•   Support for the interaction between objects including connections, interfaces and ports (parts of objects where such interaction can take place). Interaction being defined as activities where material, information, energy/forces are transferred;
•   Support for the definition of requirements, unstructured and structured, coming from client needs, laws and regulations or sector recommendations;
•   Support for implicit groups having no explicit members (to model situations like “all main girders of some steel bridge”);
•   Support for the explicit modelling of measurements reusing the existing W3C Semantic Sensor Network (SSN)/Sensor, Observation, Sample, and Actuator (SOSA) ontology, incl. extended QUDT support.
•   Support for geospatial geometry (GeoSPARQL/wgs84)
These patterns are currently inspired by NEN 2660-2 (that is itself finalized and tested in practice in parallel). These modelling patterns can all be positioned in the global modelling framework already provided in the form of the top level taxonomy by Part 1.
Some of the information needs might be resolved by extending existing language level constructs. Finally there is a lot of ‘pattern potential’ under ‘Discrete Object’  and ‘Spatial Region’ in the built environment (road network, tunnel, bridge, road, building, installations). Care will be taken not to cross existing standards boundaries (like for open BIM and GIS).

This document specifies concepts and principles to establish a methodology for specifying level of information need and information deliveries in a consistent way when using building information modelling (BIM).
This document specifies the characteristics of different levels used for defining the detail and extent of information required to be exchanged and delivered throughout the life cycle of built assets. It gives guidelines for principles required to specify information needs.
The concepts and principles in this document can be applied for a general information exchange and whilst in progress, for a generally agreed way of information exchange between parties in a collaborative work process, as well as for an appointment with specified information delivery.
The level of information need provides methods for describing information to be exchanged according to exchange information requirements. The exchange information requirements specify the wanted information exchange. The result of this process is an information delivery.
This document is applicable to the whole life cycle of any built asset, including strategic planning, initial design, engineering, development, documentation and construction, day-to-day operation, maintenance, refurbishment, repair and end-of-life.

Recommendations for defining format and content for construction library objects to support project briefing, design, tendering, construction, and management of built assets. It is intended for all professionals and service providers using generic and product specific data, supporting then development of information throughout the process. To develop an International Standard giving principles and definitions for the symbolic and simplified visual presentation of objects in connection with Building Information Modelling (BIM), and their organization into libraries.

The digital transformation of the construction industry includes also the digital transformation of the supply change of construction products. With ISO 16739-1 exists an open language to design, transfer and maintain construction models. The construction models (eg. of a building) contain a digital twin of real-life products. The data of these products should be transported in a digital format on the way from the manufacturer to the building owner.
This product data should be expressed also in an easy and open way. The creators of product data files should be able to do this manually or automatically, as they like it. The users of product data should be able to use it to:
• Import products easily in the as-planned-bim-models to plan with the products in an early stage of development
• Import delivered real life products easily in their as-built-bim-models to document them for a later stage of development
These scenarios fit in the business models of manufacturers, planners, construction companies and facility managers.
The working group 4 of CEN-TC442 has published proposals for creating new work items in the sector of CEN regarding the storage and the transport of product data in the sector of building information modelling (BIM):
prEN ISO 23386: Building information modelling and other digital processes used in Construction – Methodology to describe, author and maintain properties in interconnected dictionaries
prEN ISO 23387: Data templates for construction works entities, Part 1:  Objects, collections, and relationships defining the general structure of data templates
This standard defines a format for exchanging empty product data templates and filled product data templates (product data) and therefore fills the missing link between the product data sources (e.g. catalogues) from the manufacturers to the construction models of the designers and owners.
The part 1 of the standard describes a way to represent information templates and configured products in a library based on a structure based on ISO 16739-1 (prEN ISO 16739-1) and how this relates to the upcoming standards prEN ISO 23386 and prEN ISO 23387.
The part 2 will define the way, how a (requirements) request can be formulated with EN ISO 16739 and how this can be used to represent variants of configurable products. The requests by part 2 will be applicable to product libraries based on part 1.
The part 2 will furthermore define a way, to create a constraint based product library for highly configurable products to
support an interactive selection process. The application of an request to a "Part1-Library" and to a "Part2-
Library" shall response same products as the result. It is up to the manufacturers to choose the way, they want to represent their products ("Part1-Library" and/or
"Part2-Library"), they just have to be sure, that all requests can be applied to both types of libraries.

This document provides a methodology and process to create data templates for construction products that are covered by harmonized technical specifications (harmonized product standards (hEN) and European Assessment Documents (EAD)), under Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 - the Construction Products Regulation (CPR).

The Industry Foundation Classes, IFC, are an open international standard for Building Information Model (BIM) data that are exchanged and shared among software applications used by the various participants in the construction or facility management industry sector. The standard includes definitions that cover data required for buildings over their life cycle. This release, and upcoming releases, extend the scope to include data definitions for infrastructure assets over their life cycle as well.
The Industry Foundation Classes specify a data schema and an exchange file format structure. The data schema is defined in
- EXPRESS data specification language, defined in ISO 10303-11,
- XML Schema definition language (XSD), defined in XML Schema W3C Recommendation,
whereas the EXPRESS schema definition is the source and the XML schema definition is generated from the EXPRESS schema according to the mapping rules defined in ISO 10303-28. The exchange file formats for exchanging and sharing data according to the conceptual schema are
- Clear text encoding of the exchange structure, defined in ISO 10303-21,
- Extensible Markup Language (XML), defined in XML W3C Recommendation.
Alternative exchange file formats may be used if they conform to the data schemas.
ISO 16739-1:2018 of IFC consists of the data schemas, represented as an EXPRESS schema and an XML schema, and reference data, represented as definitions of property and quantity names, and formal and informative descriptions.
A subset of the data schema and referenced data is referred to as a Model View Definition (MVD). A particular MVD is defined to support one or many recognized workflows in the construction and facility management industry sector. Each workflow identifies data exchange requirements for software applications. Conforming software applications need to identity the model view definition they conform to.

ISO 12006-3:2007 specifies a language-independent information model which can be used for the development of dictionaries used to store or provide information about construction works. It enables classification systems, information models, object models and process models to be referenced from within a common framework.

ISO 16739:2013 specifies a conceptual data schema and an exchange file format for Building Information Model (BIM) data. The conceptual schema is defined in EXPRESS data specification language. The standard exchange file format for exchanging and sharing data according to the conceptual schema is using the Clear text encoding of the exchange structure. Alternative exchange file formats can be used if they conform to the conceptual schema.
ISO 16739:2013 represents an open international standard for BIM data that is exchanged and shared among software applications used by the various participants in a building construction or facility management project.
ISO 16739:2013 consists of the data schema, represented as an EXPRESS schema specification, and reference data, represented as definitions of property and quantity names and descriptions.
A subset of the data schema and referenced data is referred to as a model view definition. A particular model view definition is defined to support one or many recognized workflows in the building construction and facility management industry sector. Each workflow identifies data exchange requirements for software applications. Conforming software applications need to identity the model view definition they conform to.
The following are within the scope of ISO 16739:2013:
BIM exchange format definitions that are required during the life cycle phases of buildings:
demonstrating the need;
conception of need;
outline feasibility;
substantive feasibility study and outline financial authority;
outline conceptual design;
full conceptual design;
coordinated design;
procurement and full financial authority;
production information;
construction;
operation and maintenance;
BIM exchange format definitions that are required by the various disciplines involved within the life cycle phases:
architecture;
building service;
structural engineering;
procurement;
construction planning;
facility management;
project management;
client requirement management;
building authority for permits and approval;
BIM exchange format definitions including:
project structure;
physical components;
spatial components;
analysis items;
processes;
resources;
controls;
actors;
context definition.
The following are outside the scope of ISO 16739:2013:
exchange format definitions outside of the domain of construction and facility maintenance;
project structure and component breakdown structures outside of building engineering;
behavioral aspects of components and other information items.