Before thinking about any BIM model, your organization must look in the mirror and ask itself “Who am I? What do I really want from my buildings?”. It’s like doing a corporate DNA test… only instead of chromosomes, we’re looking for the data that will make the difference between success and yet another “nice but useless” project.
It was 2019 when I began to understand that Building Information Modeling was not just a matter of software and geometric coordinates. The real game-changer was in a document with a seemingly innocuous acronym: OIR – Organizational Information Requirements. The Organizational Information Requirements according to ISO 19650-1, clause 5.2. A document that, according to the standard, should translate high-level strategic objectives into concrete and actionable information needs.
But what does it really mean in the daily practice of those who commission a hospital, a university, or a skyscraper? Here is what I have learned from my years in the field.
The Digital DNA of Your Organization
Imagine you are the general director of the Technical University of Tuscany – just like Prof. Elena Marchetti from our case study “City of the Future”. You have 45 buildings spread across 3 campuses, 3,000 students arriving at the new sustainable campus, and a budget of 120 million euros. The question is not “what kind of BIM models do we want?” but rather “what information do we need to make strategic decisions over the next 10 years?”
The OIR is exactly this: the moment when the organization stops, reflects on its mission, and translates long-term vision and objectives into tangible information requirements. It is not a document for a single project – that will be the Project Information Requirements (PIR) – but the strategic compass that will guide all future projects.
The beauty of the ISO 19650 approach lies precisely in this top-down hierarchy: everything starts from the OIR. Like a digital cascade, the Organizational Information Requirements feed the Asset Information Requirements (AIR), which in turn generate the PIR, up to the Exchange Information Requirements (EIR) – the operational document that finally tells the designers “here’s what you need to deliver to me, and in what format”.
When the Hospital Meets the University: OIR in Comparison
Allow me to tell you two parallel stories that perfectly illustrate how different organizations have completely different information needs.
Scenario 1: “San Marco” Regional Hospital
The health director has clear objectives: reduce patient length of stay by 15% by 2027, optimize emergency flows, and demonstrate regulatory compliance for regional accreditation. The hospital’s OIR will therefore focus on:
- Traceability of care pathways (from which room does the patient arrive in surgery?)
- Emergency management (where are the quickest access points to the operating rooms?)
- Predictive maintenance of critical equipment (when will the CT scanner need the next maintenance?)
- Environmental control (temperature, humidity, pressurization of sterile rooms)
Scenario 2: Technical University of Tuscany
Prof. Marchetti, on the other hand, has objectives related to educational excellence: attracting the best European professors, ensuring flexible study spaces for innovative teaching methodologies, achieving LEED Platinum certification to attract sustainable funding. The university’s OIR will focus on:
- Flexibility of spaces (can this classroom be reconfigured for group work?)
- Energy performance (are we meeting sustainability targets?)
- Utilization of spaces (which laboratories are underutilized?)
- Technological integration (does fiber optic reach all buildings on campus?)
See the difference? Same ISO 19650 principles, completely different objectives, radically different OIR.
The Connection with KPIs: From Dreams to Numbers
Here lies the true trick of a well-done OIR: each information requirement must be traceable to a measurable company Key Performance Indicator. It’s not enough to say “we want efficient energy management” – you need to specify “we want to reduce energy consumption by 20% by 2028, with intermediate targets of -8% annually”.
In the case of the “City of the Future” Campus, the university has defined precise KPIs:
- Energy efficiency: < 15 kWh/m²/year (NZEB target)
- Classroom occupancy rate: > 85% during peak hours
- Average maintenance response time: < 4 hours for critical failures
- Student satisfaction: > 4.5/5 in space evaluation questionnaires
Each KPI generates specific information requirements. To monitor energy efficiency, I will need IoT sensors, integrated Building Automation systems, and real-time dashboards. To optimize classroom occupancy, I will need presence sensors, intelligent booking systems, and predictive analytics on usage patterns.
The Art of Structured OKRs: From Vague to Verifiable
One of the most common mistakes encountered is confusing IROs with a list of good intentions. “We want efficient maintenance” is not an information requirement – it’s a wish. An IRO structured according to best practices instead specifies:
For each maintainable asset of the ‘HVAC System’ type, populate the following properties in the Asset Information Model:
- MaintenanceCodeMTV (text, format MTVxxxx)
- MaintenanceFrequencyMonths (integer, range 1-60)
- LastMaintenanceDate (format DD/MM/YYYY)
- ScheduledMaintenanceCostEuro (decimal number, 2 digits)
This precision is not pedantry – it’s the difference between a usable AIM (Asset Information Model) and a useless digital repository. Structured requirements allow for automatic checks, reduce errors, and ensure that the information is immediately usable by the client’s management systems.
The Relationship with Existing Standards: OIR Is Not an Island
One of the most interesting observations that emerges from the analysis of real cases is how the OIR naturally interfaces with existing management systems in the organization. The University of Tuscany, for example, had already implemented:
- ISO 9001:2015 Quality System for training processes
- Asset Management ISO 55000 for real estate assets
- Environmental Management ISO 14001 for sustainability objectives
The OIR does not replace these systems – it feeds them with structured information from BIM models. It is the bridge between the business strategy (already defined) and the digital implementation (to be built). A sort of “translator” that takes objectives such as “continuous improvement of customer satisfaction” (typical ISO 9001) and transforms them into “average resolution time for air conditioning faults < 2 hours during the teaching period”.
Lessons from the Field: What the Manuals Don’t Tell You
After seeing and discussing with OIR colleagues in different contexts, I have learned some lessons that you will hardly find in the official manuals.
Lesson 1: The Client Paradox
ISO 19650 clearly assigns responsibility for the OIR to the Appointing Party. It makes sense – only the organization knows its own strategic objectives. The problem? Most clients, while experts in their own business, do not have the skills to translate business strategies into structured information requirements. It’s like asking a great chef to program in Python – they may cook divinely, but coding is another profession.
Lesson 2: Timing Is Everything
The OIR must be the first document in the process, not the last. Many times, organizations start with the project, realize they need structured data, and only at the end try to write the OIR to “justify” what they have already done. It’s like deciding the destination of the trip after having already left.
Lesson 3: The OIR Lives and Evolves
An OIR is not set in stone – it is a living document that is refined with experience. The University of Tuscany, for example, has already planned an OIR review every 24 months, incorporating learnings from the initial pilot projects.
The Next Steps: From Tomorrow, What Can You Do?
If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably wondering: “Okay, I understand the concept. But where do I actually start?”
Step 1: Audit of Objectives
Collect all the strategic documents of your organization from the last 3 years: business plans, budgets, sustainability reports, maintenance plans. Identify 5-7 recurring objectives that could benefit from structured information coming from the real estate assets.
Step 2: The Stakeholder Workshop
Organize a morning work session with the key decision makers: general manager, facility manager, IT manager, sustainability manager. Use the “5 whys” technique for each strategic objective, until you arrive at the concrete information that would be needed to measure its success.
Step 3: The OIR Prototype
Don’t start with a 50-page document. Write 2-3 pages describing 1-2 priority strategic objectives and the related information requirements. Test it on a small, non-critical pilot project.
Step 4: The Strategic Partnership
Identify a BIM consultant who truly understands the business (not just the geometry). The OIR is too important to be improvised – it’s better to invest in the right skills from the start.
The Future Lies in Well-Made OIRs
We are living a unique moment in the AEC sector: for the first time, we have international standards (ISO 19650), mature technologies (BIM, IoT, AI), and a generation of clients who are starting to understand the strategic potential of structured data.
The OIR is the keystone of this change. It is not a bureaucratic document to be filled out to make the BIM consultant happy – it is the tool that transforms BIM from a “three-dimensional CAD” to the “digital nervous system” of the organization.
The “City of the Future” Campus of the University of Tuscany, with its 120 million budget and ambitious goals, will be an important test to verify if this approach really works on a real scale. In three years, we will know if the OIR of Prof. Marchetti has succeeded in translating the university’s strategic vision into a campus that truly “speaks” through its data.
Meanwhile, one thing is certain: organizations that start thinking today in terms of well-structured OIRs will have a significant competitive advantage over those who continue to treat BIM as a mere design tool.
The organization has started to talk about itself. The question is: are you listening
