Invest in the IFC Validation Service
To accelerate the development of the IFC Validation Service, buildingSMART International is now seeking industry funding for further expansion of the service.
IFC Validation Service
The IFC Validation service is a free-to-use service that allows users to quickly check the quality of their IFC files against the IFC standard before sharing the data with others. It checks to see if any IFC file confirms IFC syntax, IFC schema and any other normative rules before providing a result for the user. The service verifies that IFC data adheres to industry-recognized best practices, helping improve interoperability and providing confidence to users.
The IFC Validation service, developed by buildingSMART International, has already proven its value with highly positive user feedback. The next phase of this service will include some feature enhancements and overall improvements.
Call for Funding
As a not-for-profit organization, bSI is now seeking industry funding for further expansion of the service so that the additional benefits outlined below can be made available. This will require combined funding from the industry that will total €700k over an 18-month period.
What will your financial support achieve?
With investment, the following additional benefits and features will be provided:
Certified Compliance
Demonstrate your files are fully IFC-compliant with a buildingSMART International digital certificate, giving you and your stakeholders confidence in data exchanges.
Digital Certificates
Offline Validation
Validate your files for IFC-compliance without the files leaving your IT network, giving the benefits of validation with maximum control over your data.
Web Assembly
Organisation Dashboards
Receive regular feedback on the quality of IFC files submitted by your organisation, helping you improve your business’s capability, performance and reputation.
Metrics Dashboards
Further Benefits to Sponsors
Leadership and Recognition: As well as helping gain access to these new benefits and features, any sponsor that invests €25k or more is actively demonstrating your organization’s leadership in the digital transformation of our industry, and also gets:
- Their logo displayed on the IFC Validation service Strategic Project web page;
- Their logo displayed on the main Strategic Projects webpage;
- Quarterly development updates; and
- Sponsor recognition at upcoming buildingSMART International Summits.
Additional Value to your Business: Any sponsor that invests €100k or more not only gets visibility as an industry leader and the commensurate recognition above, but also a choice of any five items from the following as a direct return on your investment:
- Their logo prominently displayed on the Validation service platform;
- Configuration support for the web assembly version ahead of its official launch;
- Technical support from bSI of up to 12 hours, on topics of your choice;
- A number of digital certificates included at no cost (the number to be based on the investment level);
- One free private domain in the buildingSMART Data Dictionary (bSDD) service;
- A course on how to use the IFC Translations system;
- A 20 minute presentation slot at a future bSI Summit to describe how your company is making use of the functionality and benefits of the Validation service;
- A webinar arranged through bSI to promote your company’s leadership in openBIM;
- Attendance as a guest at a Strategic Advisory Council meeting between the bSI Board, Executive and Strategic Members; and/or
- Hosting a roundtable on a relevant topic of your choice at a bSI Summit.
Want to be a sponsor?
The IFC Validation Service is a Strategic Project supported by:
Strategic Project Lead
Evandro Alfieri
Frequently Asked Questions
bSI exists to improve digital interoperability and long-term access to data across the global built environment. In turn, this drives productivity, profitability and sustainability improvements throughout the sector. bSI was established by a collaboration of AECO and BIM software companies, and operates as a not-for-profit, vendor-neutral organization. Today, it has over 70 member organizations supporting its work at the international level and has established national Chapters with their own local members in 35 countries across six continents.
bSI has created a neutral specification for BIM, known as the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard. This has gained accreditation as ISO standard 16739. IFC provides a standardized approach for the communication of BIM data between different software applications and gives users long-term data access without being locked-in with an individual software vendor.
Along with IFC, bSI provides a suite of supporting standards and services to help the industry maximize the benefits of open digital workflows. This suite of tools is known collectively as openBIM® and includes the IFC Validation service. This free-to-use service allows users to quickly check the quality of their IFC files against the IFC standard before sharing the data with others. This important quality check increases confidence in data exchanges.
The service today has the following features:
Compliance Checks
- IFC Compliance: Checks the uploaded IFC data for compliance with the full IFC specification, helping ensure compliance with the standard.
- Industry Best Practices Check: Verifies that the IFC data adheres to industry-recognized best practices, helping improve interoperability.
Reporting & Feedback
- Compliance Reporting: Generates detailed reports highlighting compliance status and any issues found, enabling corrective actions and quality assurance.
- Vendor Feedback: Software vendors are using the IFC Validation service as a QA/QC tool to test and improve the performance and accuracy of their software applications before releasing new versions of their tools.
- Global Certification: Aggregated results from the IFC Validation service provide the foundation for scorecards that will result in the certification of compliant software.
Structure & Approach
- 100% Open-source: All source code has been developed and published under an open-source license, allowing for transparency and flexibility.
In order to develop these advanced features, bSI is seeking a total funding of €700k to deliver these developments and make them available to the industry. This funding will cover the cost of developers, technical support and investment in technology, as laid out on the IFC Validation service Strategic Project web page. With full funding these features can be made available within an 18 month period. Investors will also have the opportunity for earlier access to beta-versions of the features if desired.
Explore other buildingSMART Standards and Services
