Seamless integration of common data environment access into BIM authoring applications: The BIM integration framework

In today's construction industry collaborative processes have received increasing attention due to new digital methods such as Building Information Modeling (BIM). This method bases on the application of digital 3D building models enriched by semantic information. Since a construction project is a composition of several collaborating processes executed by many project participants, a federated model approach has emerged as the most practical solution. It is widely recognized, that for the implementation of this approach and the related collaborative processes digital platforms are required. The Common Data Environment (CDE) is defined as a common digital project space, which provides well-defined access areas for the project stakeholders combined with clear status definitions and a robust workflow description for sharing and approval processes. Since most of today's software solutions lack direct accessibility and integration, we introduce a framework that allows for seamless integration of CDE access and management functionality into standard BIM authoring and analysis applications.