7. Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie)
COBie is a data schema which is delivered in a spreadsheet data format, and contains a ‘subset’ of the information in the building model (all except graphical data, and hence a subset of IFC; see below), for FM handover. It was originally devised by the US Army Engineering Corps. Over the course of a project, data can be added to it from a range of sources (besides CAD programs), relating to brief, design, construction, operation, refurbishment or demolition, as the case may be. The Government’s Level 2-mandated requirement is for COBie-compliant information exchange (see above). BS 1192-4 documents best practice for the implementation of COBie.
8. Data drop
A key information delivery stage, referred to in the BIM Industry Working Group’s Strategy Paper for the Government Construction Client Group, and also the CIC BIM Protocol. PAS1192-2 refers instead to ‘data delivery’ and ‘information exchange’. These match common project stages, as set out in the RIBA Plan of Work 2013, but they are to be made electronically. Level 2 compliance requires these to be to the COBie standard (see below).
