1. Taming the information
Management Beast with IDS
NEW TOOLS TO DELIVER BETTER
ASSET MODELS AT HANDOVERS
Andy Ward
CEO @ xbim
GIIG contributor

2. IDS

3. • Our three founders are experts in BIM and have more
than 50 years combined experience in the built
environment
• Our open-source xbim Toolkit is where it all began
more than a decade ago
• xbim Flex is open enterprise vendor-neutral cloud
platform enabling partners to build services using
BIM and AIM data
• UK-based and VC backed
About Us

4. The Flex Platform

5. • Open Standards unlock building data throughout the product
lifecycle, making information accessible to everyone
• Reducing reliance on proprietary software can allow for more
collaborative working, making compliance and management of
your data far more achievable
• OpenBIM (schemas such as IFC, and BCF) is a structured way
in which we organise data from the built environment
for its most effective on-going use.
• Our belief in Open Standards and use of OpenBIM is core to the
xbim ethos and the products we develop
Importance of
Interoperability and
Open Standards

6. What do clients typically get today?
Is it good enough?
Information
Handovers

7. DELIVERY TEAM
PROCESSES
ISO19650 Information Exchanges
- what’s the problem?
BEP
BIM Execution
Plan
response to
QA/QC
Quality
Assure/
Control
× Ambiguous requirements
× Manual & subjective
× Spots checks
× Low value testing
× Done late / infrequently
× Missed completely?
× Outputs: another PDF
× “Marking own work”
specifies
QA Issues

8. BuildingSMART IDS
IDS

9. Introducing IDS
(Information Delivery Specification)
Information Delivery Specification is a buildingSMART standard for
specifying and checking simple information requirements from IFC
models.
It is designed as a free, lightweight, standardised approach to
model checking.
Easy to create, and verifiable across multiple software tools

10. Information Delivery Specification
– A contract for data exchange workflows
Client can define the
requirements! [1]
[1] or their agent
& Client can verify
the requirements

11. DELIVERY TEAM
PROCESSES
How IDS can help
BEP
BIM Execution
Plan
response to
QA/QC
Quality
Assure/
Control
× Ambiguous requirements
× Manual & subjective
× Spots checks
× Low value testing
× Done late / infrequently
× Missed completely?
× Outputs: another PDF
× “Marking own work”
specifies
➢ Structured requirements
➢ Automated & repeatable
➢ Comprehensive
➢ Verify what matters to you
➢ Can run automatically
➢ Outputs: structured data
BCF Issues
➢ Independent verification
Previously
With IDS
IDS Spec
IDS Spec
IDS Spec
IDS Verify
IDS Verify
IDS Spec
IDS Spec

12. ‘Under the hood’ of IDS
All doors must have a FireRating of 30, 60 minutes and a UniClass classification of EF_25_30_25*
All doors must have a FireRating of 30, 60 minutes and a Uniclass classification of EF_25_30_25*
Applicability Requirements

13. • Applicability and Requirements are described by ‘Facets’
• Facets – similar to a legal clause?
Breaking down a Specification
All doors must have a FireRating of 30, 60 minutes and a Uniclass classification of EF_25_30_25*
Entity Facet
“Is IfcDoor”
Property Facet
“A property Named ‘FireRating’
with Value one of [30, 60]”
Classification Facet
“classification Value matching
EF_25_30_25* from the ‘Uniclass’
System”

14. Entity
•IFC Class, Predefined / Custom Type. E.g. IfcWindow [Skylight], IfcFlowMeter [EnergyMeter], IfcSensor [CO2]
Attribute
•A field name on an Entity. E.g. Name, Description, Tag, Longitude, EmailAddress
Classification
•Tagged with a defined classification name & system. Support hierarchies, and type inheritance
Property
•Has a property defined with a value, from a PropertySet. Supports Type inheritance, units etc
Material
•Has an associated Material. E.g. Must have a ‘timber’ material
Parts
•Has a relationship to a container. E.g. must be contained in a Space, or System
What IDS will verify today
Each Facet type can have 1 or more
values (“constraints”).
E.g. Property Facet has
PropertyName, PropertyValue and
PropertySet – all can be used to set
enforce your requirements
All Facet types can be used for both
Applicability and Requirement parts
of a Specification
E.g. For all elements with ‘Concrete’
material, a Volume property is
required

15. • Property Name = ‘IsExternal’
• Material Name = ‘Concrete’
Simple
(Equality)
• Entity is one of [IfcDoor, IfcWindow]
• Property Value is one of [True, False]
Enumeration
(one of)
• Property Name contains ‘External’
• Entity Name starts with ‘D_10*’
String Patterns
• Width Property Value is > 100
• Cost Property Value is between 0 and 100,000
Bounds
(Numeric range)
• Entity Name should be < 20 characters
• Space Tag should be between 3 and 6 characters
Length
(Text length)
Expressing requirements

16. Flex & Flow IDS Demos

17. <ids:specification name="Window" minOccurs="1" ifcVersion="IFC4X3"
description="IfcWindows should be provided with properties coming from the UK National Data Dictionary">
<ids:applicability>
<ids:entity>
<ids:name>
<ids:simpleValue>
IFCWINDOW
</ids:simpleValue>
</ids:name>
</ids:entity>
</ids:applicability>
<ids:requirements description="Cobuilder Link requirements on Window from UK National Data Dictionary">
<ids:classification>
<ids:value>
<ids:simpleValue>Pr_30_59_98</ids:simpleValue>
</ids:value>
<ids:system>
<ids:simpleValue>Uniclass 2015_Products Table</ids:simpleValue>
</ids:system>
</ids:classification>
<ids:property uri="https://platform.cobuilder.com/define/generic-property/details/xyz" measure="IfcInteger">
<ids:propertySet>
<ids:simpleValue>CobuilderLink_Requirements</ids:simpleValue>
</ids:propertySet>
<ids:name>
<ids:simpleValue>porosity volume</ids:simpleValue>
</ids:name>
</ids:property>
…

19. Improving BIM model quality:
Our hypothesis-
“If it hurts, do it more often..“
Jez Humble
Google Engineer, and author of “Lean Enterprise”

20. How the software industry tackled
the “information quality” problem
Detect
Code
change
Build code
Test Code &
application
Deploy
results
✓ 100% Automatic
✓ Customisable
✓ Repeatable
✓ Independent
“Continuous Integration”

21. Adopting a Continuous
Integration model for BIM
Detect the Model
change
Process the Model Test the Model Deploy Results
✓ 100% Automatic
✓ User-definable
✓ Repeatable
✓ Independent
Data
3D
Geometry
Detect Code change Build code Test Code & application Deploy results

22. https://youtu.be/f5DOs2ZSH48

23. • Revit Integration video
https://youtu.be/L81vbT-jWZQ

24. IDS Summary
▪Powerful specification standard for Model Handovers and
Exchanges – focussed on specifying Information Requirements
▪Human and Computer readable
▪Interoperable – author and verify in different software
▪Available to clients as well as supply team
▪Simplifies model complexity for a rule author
▪Currently being ratified by BuildingSMART as a standard
▪Multiple implementations of IDS Authoring and Verification tools
▪ xbim supports both Authoring and Verification
▪ Other implementors include: BIM Collab, Plannerly,
BlenderBIM, and many in development
▪Further information at BuildingSMART and on IDS GitHub:

25. 5 minute table discussion
What ‘Information
Requirements’ do you see
clients having …
where IDS could help provide
better deliverables?
Entity
• IFC Class, Predefined / Custom Type. E.g. IfcWindow [Skylight], IfcFlowMeter
[EnergyMeter], IfcSensor [CO2]
Attribute
• A field name on an Entity. E.g. Name, Description, Tag, Longitude, EmailAddress
Classification
• Tagged with a defined classification name & system. Support hierarchies, and type
inheritance
Property
• Has a property defined with a value, from a PropertySet. Supports Type inheritance,
units etc
Material
• Has an associated Material. E.g. Must have a ‘timber’ material
Parts
• Has a relationship to a container. E.g. must be contained in a Space, or System

26. Some things IDS can’t do at launch
• Check uniqueness – e.g. Space names should be unique
• Checking totals. e.g. total GFA of all spaces > 1000m2
• Document associations – e.g. All HVAC systems should have an associated certificate
document
Out of scope of IDS
• File naming conventions
• Clash detection
• Spatial rules – e.g. access clearances
• Geometry modelling rules. e.g. All Walls should be modelled as Extrusions
• Testing 3D visualisation, performance etc.
IDS - Current Limitations

27. Summary
• IDS is a new Model specification and verification standard
• designed to give clients more control over handover process
• Can be used across the building lifecycle – agnostic of software tooling
• Flex Flow is an automation engine for BIM, and supports IDS natively
• enabling automated model verification / rules checking & BCF collaboration
• IDS and Flex Flow are under active development – available today
• Talk to us about access to our Flex platform
• See us on stand D662

28. Any Questions?
Thank you
Andy.ward@xbim.net
@xbim_ltd