The IDS standard is designed to improve the process of exchanging requirements in your BIM project. Its purpose is to represent the needs of your project by sharing a list of information requirements that IFC models must meet. These requirements are exchanged between collaborators as a set of specifications. The first step in a successful IDS implementation is to create these specifications. You can do this in your BIMcollab space. As a result, BIMcollab becomes the central location for team members to easily access all the specifications implemented for a given project. Additionally, this workflow ensures that everyone is always working with the correct version of the specifications.
Within the BIMcollab Platform, the IDS standard has been integrated into all stages of your BIM workflow. Key uses of IDS in BIMcollab include:
Helping project leaders to define information requirements for IFC models by creating new specifications in a BIMcollab space.
Improve model refinement by providing access to all project specifications through the IDS palette available in the Revit BCF managers.
Support for automated model checking and the creation of issues detailing the results of specification compliance checks in BIMcollab Zoom.
💡 Tip: Would you like to become a BIMcollab IDS master? Check out the IDS course in the BIMcollab Academy.
📝 Note: An Information Delivery Specification (IDS) is a buildingSMART open standard for specifying and validating information requirements in IFC models. It uses a list of specifications that define how objects, classifications, properties, and even values and units must be delivered and exchanged. IDS is based on the XML schema, ensuring that all specifications match the same structure and can be read by different tools. Read more about the official IDS documentation on the buildingSMART website.
Create a new IDS
In the Checking tab of your project, you'll find a collection of project resources (Specifications, Smart properties, Smart views, Clash rules and lists) that are compatible with BIMcollab Zoom.
Within the Specification tab, you can view and create your project requirements. These added specifications would then be available in BIMcollab Zoom for property checking and in Revit BCF manager to guide property implementation.
⚠️ Attention:
Only project leaders can create and edit specifications.
Once created, specifications can be viewed on the BIMcollab space by all editor team members of the project.
There are three ways to add a new IDS Specification to your BIMcollab project:
Manually
Click on the 'New IDS' button to create an IDS from scratch.
Provide your IDS with a Name, Description, and Purpose that helps your team to quickly identify it.
Import from another project
Click on 'Import'.
Select the source 'from project' and select the project from which you want to import an IDS.
Import from an IDS file
Click on 'Import'.
Select the source 'from file', and select the .IDS file you want to import.
💡 Tip: Get started by using an example IDS created by one of our BIM experts. Download it here
Define your IDS Specifications
After creating an IDS, you can proceed to define all specifications required for your project.
To properly validate your information requirements, the specifications are composed of three sections: description, applicability, and requirements.
Description
Displays the specifications' identity information. Follow the steps below to ensure that your specification contains all of the information needed for recognition.
Enter a specification name. Ensure to always use names that are distinct, simple, and concise.
Write a short description that provides users with information about why the specification is important for your project.
Choose which IFC version is allowed; you can choose IFC 2x3, IFC 4, or both.
Applicability
Represented in BIMcollab interface by Section 1. It allows you to define which elements the specification applies to.
The dropdown menu lets you determine whether those elements are expected to exist in the model. In the IDS standard, this is called cardinality.
You can choose from three options:
Option (Cardinality) | What it means | Exmaple |
All elements of (Optional) | Matching elements are optional. | "The model may include technical equipment" |
At least one element of (Required) | At least one matching element must be found in the model. | "The model must contain at least one fire door." |
No elements of (Prohibited) | Matching elements should not exist in the model. If any are found, the specification fails. | "The model must not contain generic elements (IfcBuildingElementProxy) ." |
📝 Note: In previous versions of BIMcollab IDS, Applicability cardinality was limited to Optional, meaning all specifications were automatically interpreted as All elements of. Existing IDS specifications created in earlier versions will continue to use All elements of unless you edit the specification and select a different cardinality.
After the cardinality has been chosen, continue with creating the selection rules.
Click on the Facet drop-down menu to specify which type of information the specification would apply to.
If required, enter the Predefined Type values available. These depend on the type of 'Facet' selected.
Use operators and values to specify your selections further. Here, you can define which data should be present in your elements to be considered in the IDS rule.
Use the Is operator to define a single exact value.
Use the IsDefined operator to evaluate whether a value exists.
Use the OneOf operators to include a list of multiple possible values.
Use the Contains operator to specify a value that should appear anywhere in the data.
Use the Starts with operator to specify a value that must appear at the beginning of the data.
Use the Ends with operator to specify a value that must appear at the end of the data.
Use the Regex pattern operator to apply advanced pattern matching to your data.
If needed, click on 'Add Item' to create another rule to further specify your specification applicability.
Requirements
Represented in the BIMcollab interface by Section 2 (Should have), the Requirements define what information the selected elements must contain.
Once you've identified the elements to check in the Applicability section, use Requirements to specify the information they should include:
Click on the Facet drop-down menu to specify which type of information the elements must have.
If required, enter the Predefined Type values available. These would depend on the type of Facet selected.
Use operators and values to specify your selection. Here, you can define which data should be present in your elements to approve the IDS rule.
Use the Is operator to define a single exact value.
Use the IsDefined operator to evaluate whether a value exists.
Use the OneOf operators to include a list of multiple possible values.
Use the Contains operator to specify a value that should appear anywhere in the data.
Use the Starts with operator to specify a value that must appear at the beginning of the data.
Use the Ends with operator to specify a value that must appear at the end of the data.
Use the Regex pattern operator to apply advanced pattern matching to your data.
Choose the Requirement type. Each requirement can have its own cardinality, allowing you to define whether the selected information is mandatory, optional, or prohibited.
Required: The information must exist and match the defined value.
Optional: The information is not required, but if it exists, it must match the defined value.
Prohibited: The information must not be present in the model.
If needed, click on 'Add Item' to create another rule to further specify your requirements.
Click on the yellow check mark button next to the specification description to save your specifications.
Apply Regex Pattern
The use of Regex patterns can be very helpful when setting naming conventions or naming schemes. By making use of regular expressions (Regex), users can establish rules in their specifications to look for a set of expected numbers, letters, or any character.
Similar to the way Zoom wildcards work, here you find some examples of Regex patterns.
Pattern | What it means | Matches (✔️) | Doesn’t match (❌) |
AB10 | Exact match, only this value works |
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AB_123 | Exact match, underscore |
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AB. | The |
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AB.. | Two wildcards, so exactly 2 characters after |
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AB.* |
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| Anything not starting with |
.AB. |
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| Anything without |
AB[0-9] | One digit (0–9) after |
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AB[0-9]* | Any number of digits (or none) after |
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AB[0-9]{2} | Exactly 2 digits after |
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💡 Tip: In the links below, you’ll find useful resources to learn and practice your Regex skills:
📝 Note: The IDS standard supports a specific type of Regex rules, which use defined characters to establish the conventions applied to your data. Among the different Regex dialects, XML Regular Expressions are the ones supported in IDS. These are generally simpler and do not include advanced Regex features.
Example
Below is an example of a specification that applies to all walls. All walls require a value for the properties regarding load bearing, external/internal, and fire rating.
All done! Once completed, specifications are available to team members in your BIMcollab project with the role 'project leader' or 'editor'.
Types of Facets
Facets represent a specific type of information from an IFC Element. Within the IDS standard, there are a total of six types of Facets that you can work with:
Entity
Attributes
Properties
Classification
Material
PartOf
💡 Tip: You can combine multiple Facets in either the applicability or requirements section to describe a wide variety of specifications.
In the following table, you can find an example of how Facets and their purpose are interpreted according to where they are employed.
Current IDS limitations
Although we strive to provide comprehensive support for the IDS standard, the following limitations currently apply:
Only the default data type can be exported; selecting specific data types is not yet supported.
Numeric bounds (minimum and maximum values) are not supported.
Value length constraints are not supported.
The Identifier and Instructions metadata fields are not supported.
IFC 4.3 is not currently supported.
URI references are not supported.