Articles of Agreement
Individuals, organizations, firms and others understand and agree in principle to the following:
The participant acknowledges and understands that membership in the buildingSMART alliance entails acceptance of the vision, mission, principles, concepts, and objectives set forth by the Alliance in this and other documents produced by the Alliance.
- The vision of the buildingSMART alliance is "A built environment where all participants can readily and transparently share, apply and maintain information about facilities and infrastructure."
- The mission of the buildingSMART alliance is to "Improve all aspects of the facility and infrastructure lifecycle by promoting collaboration, technology and open standards."
From the Charter: The Alliance will raise the resources needed to conduct, coordinate, promote and sponsor research and development activities related to the dynamic information exchange in the building community, establish consortia arrangements, conduct forums and workshops, manage research and research-related projects, disseminate information, and review work performed by others. The Alliance may develop or support the development of and recommend standards, guidelines and conformity assessment programs; stimulate innovation in the industry and reduce constraints upon technology flow in the building process; and promote increased understanding and communications between producers, voluntary standards organizations, users, government agencies and other sectors of the building community. The development of processes, products and services shall be open and involve a wide and well-balanced cross section of the capital facilities industry as defined in the NIBS enabling legislation.
It is critical that the buildingSMART International (formerly the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI)) technical products and technical development continue unfettered while the Alliance, in parallel, creates the necessary business and cultural environment for the benefits of new information technologies to be fully realized. The plan is to build on the existing structure and success of buildingSMART International.
- Do not constrict product development by any entity.
- Promote a holistic approach to improve construction productivity through improved interoperability of information throughout the facility and infrastructure lifecycle
- Build facilities virtually (electronically) prior to building them physically so that detailed analyses can be accomplished, problems worked out, and decisions made earlier and at lower cost.
- Collect data at its point of creation and ensure that the data is entered only once during the lifecycle by the authoritative source.
- Ensure that data entry and data maintenance are part of the business process.
- Detailed information can be summarized, but summary information cannot be broken down into detailed information; therefore, collecting relevant detailed information is a fundamental principle.
- Attaining industry wide, open standards for interoperable information transfer which will be sustainable over the life of the facility or infrastructure.
- Seeking standardization using International Standards for Interoperability products.
- Support an integrated facility life cycle process.
- Seeking collaborative design, construction, and operations to create sustainable, energy efficient and environmentally responsible facilities and infrastructure.
Click here to join the Alliance.
To receive more information contact:
Deke Smith FAIA, Executive Director, buildingSMART alliance™
By Email:
By Phone: (202) 289-7800 / (703) 909-9670
By Address: NIBS – 1090 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005-4950
