PAS1192-2 Section 9.2 provides a complete overview of the Common data environment (CDE) as detailed below:-

At the heart of the CDE as defined in BS1192:2007 are four functional areas with “gates”, or sign-off procedures, that allow data/information to pass between the sections:

1) Work In Progress (WIP)

The “WIP” section of the CDE is used to store unapproved information such as non-verified design data for each organisational role such as architecture. To pass through the Approval Gate (Gate 1) a check, review and approval process shall be carried out before being issue to the Shared area.

2) Shared

The “Shared” section of the CDE is used to store Information which has been approved for sharing with other organisations to use as reference material for their own design development. When the design has been completed, the information shall be placed for authorisation in the Client Shared Area. To pass through the Authorised Gate (Gate 2) in the information in the Client Shared Area shall be authorised by the employer or their representative.

3) Published Documentation

The “Published Documentation” section of the CDE shall be used to hold published information such as co-ordination and validated design outputs for use by the total project team e.g. production information suitable for tender or construction. This section concludes with the Verified Gate 3 which represents the transition to “archive”.

4) Archive

The “Archive” section of the CDE shall store a record of the project history including all transaction and change orders. 

The PAS notes that these “gates”, or sign-off procedures, that allow data/information to pass between the sections are an extremely important aspect of a successful CDE as are the strict adherence to file and layer naming conventions. Suppliers should be able to demonstrate within their BIM Execution Plan (BEP), their proposals (tools & methodology) for verification, both of geometry/data and validation against the EIR as information moves between areas of the CDE. 

A template scoping document when procuring a Common Data Environment can be found at the following link.