Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a new approach to describing and displaying the information required for the design, construction and operation of constructed facilities. It can bring together the numerous threads of different information used in construction into a single operating environment - reducing, and often eliminating, the need for the many types of paper document currently in use.
However to use BIM effectively and for benefit to be unlocked, the quality of communication between different participants in the construction process needs significant improvement. If the information required is available when it is needed and the quality of information is satisfactory, the construction process will itself be significantly improved.
For this to happen, there must be a common understanding of the building processes and of the information that is needed for and results from their execution.
IDM captures (and progressively integrates) business process whilst at the same time providing detailed specifications of the information that a user fulfilling a particular role would need to provide at a particular point within a project. To further support the user information exchange requirements specification, IDM also proposes a set of modular model functions that can be reused in the development of support for further user requirements.
More information can be found under http://www.iai.no/idm
