Release teams

IFC versions are published and maintained by Release Teams. Every IFC release has a release team, and every important version or update has a dedicated release manager. Bigger releases of IFC, like the upcoming IFC 4.3.x can also have a program board that oversees the release process.

The release team consists of a person responsible for:

• the quality, completeness and consistency of the IFC schema;
• the interoperability between MVDs;
• coordination with implementors;
• publication into the buildingSMART Data Dictionary;
• integration with the Translations Framework;
• coordination with ISO (for versions that are published to ISO);
• coordination with the Software Certification team;
• setting up a sustainable process for updates;
• continuous work to maintain and improve the IFC schema documentation;
• maintain an issue resolution database used to track miscellaneous issues with documentation or schema constructs, by commenting on reported issues and resolving them at the next appropriate IFC schema release;
• coordinate with project to ensure the necessary technical documentation - implementation guides, examples, and tutorials - to developers looking to support bSI standards in their products;
• Make sure implementation agreements are created and published;
• coordinate with release managers and teams of other IFC versions and other standards.

In general, the current main objective of every release team is to continuously develop, improve, and maintain the an IFC version and its documentation, as well as supporting its implementation in software.

Other standards

In the near future standards like BCF, IDS and the API family will also have release managers, or release teams for bigger versions.

All release teams come together twice a year during the 'General Assembly'.