BIM standards, explained.
A concise, practical guide to ISO 19650, IFC, IDS 1.0 and buildingSMART — and how IDSCompass turns these standards into a plain-language workflow for BIM information requirements.
What are BIM standards?
Building Information Modeling (BIM) standards are open, agreed-upon rules that help project teams create, share and verify digital building information. They cover processes, data formats and information requirements. The most important standards for construction information management are:
The international standard for organizing and managing information about built assets using BIM.
Industry Foundation Classes — the open, vendor-neutral data format for exchanging BIM models.
Information Delivery Specification — the open standard for defining machine-readable information requirements.
The international organization that develops and maintains open BIM standards including IFC and IDS.
Information management, not just modeling.
ISO 19650 is the international standard for managing information over the whole life cycle of a built asset using BIM. It is derived from the UK's BIM Framework and is now adopted across Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and beyond.
The standard defines roles such as the Appointing Party, Lead Appointed Party and Task Teams; it requires an Asset Information Model (AIM) and a Master Information Delivery Plan (MIDP). At its core is a simple idea: information requirements must be defined clearly, then verified against what is delivered.
Key ISO 19650 concepts
- Information requirements must be defined before production begins.
- The Exchange Information Requirements (EIR) set the brief.
- The AIM captures approved information for operations and maintenance.
- Verification proves deliverables meet the stated requirements.
What IFC contains
- Building elements: walls, doors, windows, stairs, slabs.
- Spatial structure: sites, buildings, storeys, spaces.
- Properties and property sets: fire rating, material, load capacity.
- Relationships: containment, aggregation, spatial containment.
The open model format.
Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) is an open, vendor-neutral data format for exchanging BIM models. It is developed and maintained by buildingSMART and is the most widely adopted open standard for BIM interoperability.
IFC 4.3 extends the standard to infrastructure assets such as roads, railways, bridges and tunnels, making it relevant for the entire built environment, not just buildings. Because IFC is open, owners can receive models from multiple design and construction tools and verify them against the same requirements.
The requirement language for IFC models.
Information Delivery Specification (IDS) is the buildingSMART standard for expressing BIM information requirements in a machine-readable way. An IDS file defines what an IFC model must contain — which entities, which properties, which values, and with what cardinality — so that compliance can be checked automatically.
IDS 1.0 was released as a buildingSMART standard and is now supported by major verification tools. It closes the loop between ISO 19650 process requirements and the technical reality of an incoming IFC file.
What an IDS file specifies
- Applicability: which IFC entities the requirement applies to.
- Property requirements: name, data type, value or allowed range.
- Classification references: systems such as Uniclass or OmniClass.
- Cardinality: whether a property is required, optional or prohibited.
From brief to validated IDS file.
IDSCompass maps the standards above onto a five-step workspace: describe requirements in plain language, let AI structure them, reuse and version them in a library, publish standards-compliant IDS files, and validate incoming IFC models.
Describe
Paste a brief, email, PDF excerpt or chat transcript in plain language.
Structure
AI extracts entities, properties, data types, values and constraints.
Reuse
Store requirements in a versioned library and compose them into sets.
Publish
Export a standards-compliant IDS 1.0 file for any downstream checker.
Validate
Run an incoming IFC model against the requirement set and get a pass/fail report.
Manual XML authoring vs. IDSCompass.
| Capability | Manual XML | IDSCompass |
|---|---|---|
| Authoring | Write XML by hand or template | Plain-language input with AI structuring |
| Validation | Validate externally after export | Built-in validation against IDS 1.0 |
| Reusability | Copy files between projects | Versioned library and requirement sets |
| Collaboration | Email files and track versions manually | Shared workspace with clear ownership |
| IFC checking | Use a separate checker | Validate IFC models against requirements |
| Standards | Author must know IDS schema | IDS 1.0 output generated automatically |
Who uses these standards with IDSCompass?
BIM & Information Managers
Turn project briefs into structured, reusable information requirements and publish IDS files the delivery team can execute against.
Owners & Asset Managers
Define the information you need to operate the asset, then verify that incoming models contain it.
Consultants & Contractors
Know exactly what models must contain before delivery, reducing rework and rejection.
Standards-ready requirement checklist.
Use this checklist to verify that your information requirements are ready for ISO 19650-aligned delivery and automated IDS checking.
- Requirements are written in plain language before structuring.
- Each requirement maps to a specific IFC entity or type.
- Property names, data types and values are explicitly defined.
- Cardinality is stated: required, optional or prohibited.
- Classification references are included where relevant.
- The IDS file is exported as buildingSMART IDS 1.0.
- Incoming IFC models are validated against the published IDS.
- Requirement sets are versioned and reusable across projects.
Common questions.
What is the difference between IFC and IDS?
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IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) is the open data format that describes what is in a BIM model. IDS (Information Delivery Specification) is the open standard that defines what information a model must contain to be accepted. IFC is the answer; IDS is the question.
Is IDS a buildingSMART standard?
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Yes. IDS is maintained by buildingSMART International as an open standard for specifying information requirements in a machine-readable way. IDS 1.0 is the current major release.
Do I need to know XML to write an IDS file?
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Not with IDSCompass. You describe requirements in plain language and the workspace structures them into standards-compliant IDS XML. You can still inspect or edit the XML at any time.
How does ISO 19650 relate to IDS?
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ISO 19650 defines the processes and information management principles for BIM. IDS provides the technical mechanism to express the information requirements that ISO 19650 asks you to define and verify.
Can IDS files be reused across projects?
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Yes. Because IDS is a standard format, a requirement set written for one project can be reused, versioned and adapted for another. IDSCompass stores these in a versioned library so teams do not start from scratch.
What downstream tools can read IDS files from IDSCompass?
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Any tool that supports the buildingSMART IDS 1.0 standard, including Solibri, BIMcollab ZOOM, simplebim, DDS-CAD and open-source IDS validators.
Turn standards into a working workflow.
Join the IDSCompass beta and start authoring ISO 19650-ready IDS files from plain language.
Private beta · free while in beta.