What are the key changes to the UK National Annex to BS EN ISO 19650-2?
The UK BIM Framework is the way we implement information management according to the ISO 19650 series. The National Annex to BS EN ISO 19650-2 is part of this framework and contains the UK-specific recommendations for information management on projects. It carries forward many details from BS 1192:2007+A2:2016 that would otherwise have been lost when this standard was withdrawn.
This National Annex was initially prepared at the time ISO 19650-2 was being published in late 2018. Now, the National Annex has been revised to take proper account of issues that had been raised during the 2016-2018 review of PAS 1192-2 and issues raised subsequently. The public consultation on this revision took place in May to July 2020 and was a huge success in that 225 comments on the draft were submitted. However, this also meant that each topic received comments across a very wide spectrum of views.
The purpose of this summary is to explain why the seven main changes in the revised National Annex have been made.
Main change 1: A new table has been created in NA.3.1 to summarise the field codes and their purposes in the information container ID. The field code length recommendations have been removed. This was partly because many users had commented that some fields were not long enough, but also because software should use the delimiter to distinguish between the fields.
Main change 2: The Volume field has been renamed Functional Breakdown. Now that ISO 19650 talks about broader concepts than purely spatial volumes, this field has been refined to support the federation strategy and the information container breakdown structure. This code can now be used for a system-based sub-division of the project, with codes fixed on a project-by-project basis. However, it can still be used for the volume-based sub-division if required.
Main change 3: The Level/location field has been renamed Spatial Breakdown. The new name is more generic, and hence easier to apply to infrastructure projects. The standard codes related to building levels have been removed as there were many comments that these did not allow suitable ordering of information containers in lists. But the previous codes can be reinstated at a project level if necessary.
Main change 4: The Type field has been renamed Form and the standard codes have been replaced with a more succinct list. This is consistent with an existing standard (BS ISO 29845) for forms of information. The previous list contained codes that described file content which could duplicate the classification metadata appended to information containers. The standard list can be extended to generate more precise codes if required at project level.
Main change 5: The Role field has been renamed Discipline, and the list of standard codes has been revised. This is so that Disciplines align with technical activities rather than job titles or contractual designations (such as subcontractor). Again, this list can be expanded if required.
Main change 6: Status codes for the common data environment have been revised. The list of Shared codes has been simplified, with S4 and S5 now aligning with the two-step review that is specified in ISO 19650-2 between Shared state and Published State. S4 is the review by the lead appointed party and S5 is review by the appointing party. The Published status codes (An) still relate to project stages and it has been clarified that the purpose of issue (such as ‘for planning’, ‘for construction’ or ‘as-constructed’) should be defined at project level.
Main change 7: The use of classification has been clarified. Classification codes are used both to apply codes to the information container itself (as metadata specified in ISO 19650-2 clause 5.1.7 item c) and separately to apply codes to the objects contained in the information container. This second use is now spelt out in new clause NA.5.2.
Summary
Although these changes in this new version of the National Annex might be perceived as substantial, most of the fields in the container naming ID can be used with the codes from the previous version provided this is agreed by all concerned on a given project. This should help maximise backward compatibility while still allowing the broader concepts of ISO 19650 to be implemented.
