ISO 19650 Implementation: Getting the Information Requirements Right

Why implementation starts with requirements

ISO 19650 frames BIM as whole-life information management: information is produced, exchanged and maintained to meet defined requirements, using a shared information environment, so that decisions are made from reliable data. The standard places assessment and need before appointment. The appointing party establishes its information requirements and its information management strategy, and confirms the prospective delivery team's capability, before the work is awarded.

The ISO 19650 series at a glance

• Part 1: concepts and principles
• Part 2: the delivery phase of assets
• Part 3: the operational phase of assets
• Part 4: information exchange
• Part 5: security-minded management
• Part 6: health and safety

The series is not a single document. It combines defined requirements, a common data environment, planned delivery, open exchange and a security-minded approach.

The requirements hierarchy: OIR, PIR, AIR and EIR

• OIR (organizational information requirements): what the organization needs in order to meet its objectives.
• PIR and AIR (project and asset information requirements): what a specific project and the operating asset need.
• EIR (exchange information requirements): what each appointed party must deliver, when and how. This is the contractual hinge.
• PIM and AIM: the project information model is produced during delivery; the asset information model is what operates and maintains the asset.

Every EIR clause should trace up to an OIR or AIR need, and the project information model should carry everything the asset information model will require, so that handover does not become a late data-collection scramble.

Writing an EIR that can be checked

1. Capture the operational and asset needs (OIR and AIR) in plain language.
2. Translate them into exchange requirements (EIR) with acceptance criteria.
3. Decide the BIM uses that actually serve those needs, and drop the rest.
4. Set the standards, the level of information need, the common data environment and the naming the project will use.
5. Assess whether the delivery team can deliver before committing.

A practical EIR covers seven areas:

LOIN and LOD: agree which one you use

ISO 19650 is framed around Level of Information Need (LOIN), defined internationally in ISO 7817-1:2024, rather than Level of Development. LOD, on the common LOD 100 to LOD 500 scale from AIA and BIMForum practice, remains widely used, and in reality the two are often used together. LOIN does not automatically replace LOD on every project, and many teams map one to the other. The EIR is the place to agree which is used, and how.

Two corrections help: LOD 500 is not automatically more detailed than the lower levels, because it is a different kind of reliability, field verification; and Level of Detail covers only the geometry, while the information need also includes data and documentation.

Common mistakes

• Projects start with enthusiasm and no defined information need, then dispute what was supposed to be delivered.
• Requirements are written from habit rather than from a stated need.
• A blanket high level of detail is demanded everywhere, so teams pay to model detail nobody uses and still miss the data that matters.
• The EIR has no acceptance criteria, so nothing can be checked later.

A short self-check

• Each information requirement traces to a stated need, not a habit.
• The EIR has acceptance criteria that can be checked later.
• A capability assessment exists and was acted on.
• Each deliverable states the required level of information need per element and milestone.

References

• ISO 19650-1: concepts and principles
• ISO 19650-2: delivery phase of assets
• ISO 19650-3: operational phase of assets
• ISO 7817-1:2024: level of information need
• AIA G202 and BIMForum Level of Development specification (LOD 100 to 500)

Drawn from the approved DEIM knowledge base

Related service: Digital Delivery (BIM and ISO 19650)

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