This is just the beginning. First standard of the ISO 19650 series on the standardization of the BIM methodology.

At the beginning of summer, the UNE-EN ISO 19650-1 standard was published in Spanish, the Spanish version of the ISO standard developed by the British Standards Institution (BSI) and published in English a few months earlier.

This standard is the first of a series that is being developed and which replaces the previous British standard and PAS 1192. The publication of this standard represents a movement by the British institution to expand its influence, and thus establish itself as the first standard on BIM published internationally.

This first chapter is titled: "UNE EN ISO 19650-1: Organization and digitization of information related to building and civil engineering work, including BIM. Part 1: Concepts and Principles" and focuses, as its name indicates, on defining the basic concepts on which any project developed under the BIM methodology must be based. A generic description of what the processes should be is provided and many of the terms of the previous standard are redefined.

Next, we will see some of these key concepts and to what extent they can affect us.

On the other hand, it should be noted that the second part of the standard [(UNE EN ISO 19650-2): Organization and digitalization of information relating to building and civil engineering work, including BIM. Part 2: Production phase of the assets (Une EN ISO 19650-2): Organization and digitalization of information related to building and civil engineering work, including BIM. Part 2: Production phase of the assets] (https://www.une.org/encuentra-tu-norma/busca-tu-norma/norma/?c=N0062138) has recently also been published in Spanish, which until very recently could only be found in the English and French versions.

Meanwhile, the CEN committee TC442 is developing parts 3 and 5 of this series, which will deal with the processes of use and management of information during the operation phase and on information security requirements respectively and which are expected to be published in early 2020.

In my house (no longer) we play like that.

The difference with previous publications of standards is that this one, being developed as an ISO standard, has an international character and has already been approved by the European Committee for Standardization. This means that this standard should serve as a base or reference for the development of possible national and European standards.

In some way, what this standard attempts to do is put an end to the current mix of regulations and references and the problems that this causes when developing a BIM project. Without contradicting other common reference documents (such as Penn State University guides, BIM Forum publications, etc.), this standard aims to establish at least the concepts and basic terminology that we should all use.

It therefore aims to clarify the steps to follow in the management of digital information within a BIM process. It brings clarity to the current environment, and means that no one can justify the different nomenclatures in the documents by saying "it's just that in my house we play like that." However, the true rules of the game, those that help us work in our daily lives, will have to have a more local character and future adaptations of the standard will come.

See for example that alongside the publication of this standard, BSI also published the document [PD 19650-0: United Kingdom Transition Guide] (https://www.bsigroup.com/es-ES/BIM/bim-diseno-construccion/iso-19650/), to assist in the implementation of the standards and will ensure that BIM Level 2 was achieved within this new framework.

BIM is getting bigger: 5 Key points why the ISO 19650 standard expands the scope of the BIM methodology.

One of the most important conclusions that one reaches after delving into this first chapter of the standard is that "BIM is getting older." This is the least we can extract from the 5 key points we analyze below.

1. BIM maturity.

The publication of an ISO standard has consolidated the concept that BIM is here to stay, in case there were still some clueless people who doubted it. This represents advance at a technical level, but also at a strategic level where it is already difficult to justify that any advance in the sector does not go through integration within the BIM methodology.

2. Scalability.

In this case, we should say more than "BIM gets bigger" than BIM gets small, too. And one of the most disturbing points of the principles of the standard is the one that contradicts that pseudo-slogan/justification that said that "BIM is only for large projects."

BIM is for all types of projects. Thus, in the very introduction of the document it is stated that this standard "is applicable to built assets and construction projects of any size and level of complexity".

Although it is obvious that not all projects are the same, and that their structure is unleashed by that size and level of complexity. For this reason, emphasis is placed on this concept of scalability: "They must be applied in a proportional manner and adapted to the scale and complexity."

Currently, its application in practically all mega-projects is already a reality. However, the benefits of applying the BIM methodology could be considered even proportionally higher in cases of "Little BIM", where it is easier to guarantee control over its application. In any case, the team structure, requirements and objectives must be adapted to the characteristics of the project.

1. For everyone:

Another reason why we consider that BIM "grows" according to this standard is the roles and agents that are cited as recipients of it.

"The concepts and principles of this document are directed at all those involved in the life cycle of assets. This includes, but is not limited to, the owner/operator of the asset, the customer, the asset manager, the design team, the construction team, an equipment manufacturer, a technical specialist, a regulator, an investor or an end user."

That is, the transversality of information management within a project is highlighted. This is especially important to understand that the BIM methodology, and the management of its associated information, has to be something that involves all company departments, and is not something that can be maintained in isolation or in parallel. BIM models, for example, are information containers where departments such as finance, legal or administration will also have to go to consult information related to their tasks.

1. Throughout the cycle:

Another concept that has been expanded in this standard is that of the application cycle.

Thus, in the main prerequisite document, the EIR (Exchange Information Requirements), it is specified that both project information requirements (PIR-Project Information Requirements) and those referring to asset information (AIR-Asset Information Requirements) must be accommodated.

"This document applies to the entire life cycle of any built asset, including strategic planning, initial design, engineering, development, documentation and construction."

This renewed graph is also included, where the project development phase is located as a small part of information management compared to the operation phase and emphasis is placed on the transition phases (A and C) where the transfer of information from the project carried out or to be carried out to the asset and vice versa occurs.

Transition phases A and C are key points in the process.

The first, A, would coincide in most cases with the development of the building project, where the asset information is extracted if there is any (of the building to be demolished, the plot, or the building to be renovated, for example).

Part C corresponds to the entry of information from the development phase of the project to the operation part of the building, which would coincide with the information and/or AsBuilt models.

It should be noted that the scalable nature of this cycle is highlighted, which would apply to any intervention on an asset in any state in which it is found.

1. All information:

It is not a new concept, since both the title of the standard "Organization and digitization of information (...)" and in the acronym of BIM itself, information appears as the key to the entire process_._

The truth is that the management of this information is once again the main aspect of the standard, and its structuring within the CDE (Common Data Enviorment) one of the pillars on which Pas 1192 was already based, and continues to be this ISO 196500 Standard.

What did appear new and very interesting to us with respect to the information is the introduction of a key concept such as the granularity of the information.

This concept of granularity emphasizes the fact that the information provided must be the minimum necessary to satisfy each requirement. That is to say, more information than necessary will not help in the development of what is proposed, but rather will hinder the correct use of that which is necessary.

At the same time, its importance is even indicated by stating: "The granularity of alphanumeric information should be considered at least as important as that of geometric information."

Therefore, at the level of definition and/or development of the information, it must always be subject to the achievement of the proposed objectives.

We can conclude then that for BIM development, the most important thing will be:

Right information, in the right place, at the right time.

Finally, and in relation to information management, a scheme is introduced as a perspective on the stages of maturity in analog and digital information management. We consider that this is a broad and very interesting topic, which is why it has motivated the following post:

"Perspective on the stages of maturity: A detailed view of what is proposed by the ISO-19650 standard."