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ISO 19650

A standard ensuring better flow of – and access to – information

Jan Karlshøj, Vice Director, Nordics, buildingSMART
Jan Karlshøj, Vice Director, Nordics, buildingSMART
Jan Karlshøj, Vice Director, Nordics, buildingSMART

buildingSMART Nordic welcomes ISO standard 19650 on managing information in construction. In particular, we welcome the starting point of the standard: how assets are managed. The focus will enable better workflow since the data related to asset management will be identified from the beginning, rather than having to transform design information to asset management information.

By Jan Karlshøj, Vice Director, Nordics, buildingSMART

Identifying the requirements from the beginning will lead to more structured information and avoid the need for the information sender to guess what the customer wants.

The increased focus on the structuring of data will enable better use of information among different domains throughout the lifecycle of the asset. Focusing on both the current and the long-term access to data will increase awareness on interoperability, giving buildingSMART standards such as IFC the freedom to choose software tools during the lifecycle of the asset.

buildingSMART Nordic suggests that users of the ISO standard specify that information will be structured according to IFC, that process models and information deliveries will be modelled as IDM, and that requests for design changes and solutions (and any other issues) will be done using BCF. The ISO standard is already supporting the buildingSMART Data Dictionary (bSDD) since it is based on ISO 12006-3.

Linking and structuring of data

The new ISO standard will support linking of information to a federal system. This is fully in line with buildingSMART’s increasing interest in linked data technology. Linked data technology enables access to structured information stored in different data structures and distributed in different web storages.

buildingSMART Nordic sees ISO 19650 as beneficial for the industry as it will force the initiator to decide how information will be structured and what information is needed for asset management.

Increased collaboration between involved parties

By educating and certifying users in ISO 19650, the industry will become more aware of interoperability, and how information can be used during the lifecycle of a facility. This method will increase collaboration between the parties involved in projects and those managing the assets, leading to a better understanding of the parties’ need for information to execute their tasks.

Based on the experience that buildingSMART has gained through its development of IDM, it will be a challenge to identify the information needed for managing assets and to standardise the requirements. However, buildingSMART Nordic certainly believes that the industry will benefit from this effort.


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