General Assembly Technical Developments

At any single moment, there are many different developments going on within buildingSMART Activities and projects. Different versions of IFC are being developed, released or updated. Other standards like BCF, IDS and the portfolio of API standards are developed and updated as well. Every release has a release manager that coordinates the work.

During the year, multiple 'IFC Development meetings', Implementer Forums and Project meetings take place. Development groups of BCF, IDS and others are following their own agenda and pace. The developments in bSDD, validation service and even PCERT are also impacting software implementations.  In the weeks before every summit, the technical community comes together in the 'General Assembly'.

The Implementer Assembly is the successor of the well known Implementer Support Group (ISG).

The mission of the general assembly technical meetings is to work on progress, implementation and integration of buildingSMART Standards and Solutions. This includes the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), the BIM Collaboration Format (BCF), the Information Delivery Specification (IDS) and the buildingSMART Data Dictionary (bSDD). It often also includes topics like Software Certification (and the related Validation Service) and PCERT.

Parts of the meetings are recorded and recordings are shared. Some parts of the meeting are not recorded. All sessions are under a Safe Harbour statement to facilitate a real open debate and to allow representatives of commercial companies to openly speculate on future developments.

Attending the Implementer Assembly is open to all software implementers (commercial, academic/research, open source, proprietary, large, and small) that are members of the international, regional, or national chapters/alliances of buildingSMART. If in doubt, please email technical@buildingsmart.org for more information.

Some meetings have additional requirements to attend (like homework, an online course, or something else). This is published separately for every meeting.

Format

The Implementer Assembly are  a biannual, in-person meetings (Spring and Autumn), at locations hosted by members (software vendors) on a rotating basis. Usually the meetings take place a few weeks before the buildingSMART International summits.

The agenda of the General Assembly is set by buildingSMART International, based on input from Software vendors and project teams. It usually gives time for:

  • Coordinating interoperability between standards like IFC, BCF, IDS and the API standards;
  • Supporting and coordinating implementation of buildingSMART standards and technologies between software implementers in all markets;
  • Providing a peer-based forum to exchange experiences, discuss technical issues, and resolve non-compliance with requirements;
  • Promoting software implementation through demonstrations and prototyping of new ideas and upcoming requirements;
  • Setting requirements for the Software Certification;

Reports

Reports of these meetings are published here: https://www.buildingsmart.org/general-assembly-of-implementers/