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A client can write perfect requirements and a perfect information standard and still have no way to insist on them. What gives them force is the appointment. The information protocol is the part of each appointment that turns the information management resources into obligations, in both directions.
An information protocol typically covers:
- what each party must do to manage and produce information under the appointment;
- the documents that apply: requirements, information standard, methods and procedures, BEP, delivery plans;
- how information may be used and licensed, and any security requirements;
- what happens when those documents change.
ISO 19650-2 calls it the project’s information protocol; the operational-phase part calls it the asset information protocol. The purpose is the same.
In every appointment, at every level
The appointing party establishes the protocol for the project and includes it in every invitation to tender, so bidders know their obligations before they price. It then goes into every appointment. And every lead appointed party that appoints others, such as a contractor appointing subcontractors, passes it on in their appointments too.
The chain breaks at MEP subcontractor → Ductwork supplier. The party above is still bound to deliver to the standard, but cannot require it from the party below.
The client’s protocol binds the main contractor. Each party that appoints another must pass the same protocol on, filled in for that appointment, or it promises something it cannot enforce.
The contractor’s subcontract with the ductwork supplier is a standard purchase order. The supplier delivers fabrication models in its own format, with its own names, and no product data. The contractor owes the client asset data for every duct and has no clause to ask the supplier for it.
The contractor attaches the project protocol to every package that produces information, filled in for that package: its TIDP, the information standard, the BEP. The supplier prices the data in its bid and delivers it with the models.
The front page does the work
A protocol is usually a standard text plus a front page of particulars: which documents apply to this appointment, and where to find them. The same text can be used between client and contractor, contractor and subcontractor, and further down; only the particulars change. Documents that do not apply to a particular appointment are marked not applicable, rather than left in.
Only as good as what it points to
A complete, well-incorporated protocol cannot fix a thin information standard or vague requirements. It gives the other documents force; it does not replace them.
Key takeaways
- The information protocol sets out each party’s rights and obligations for managing and producing information in that appointment.
- The appointing party writes it for the project and includes it in every tender and every appointment; each appointing party down the chain passes it on.
- Its front page lists the documents that apply to this appointment (EIR, BEP, MIDP, standard…) and marks the others not applicable.
- Without it, an EIR or a BEP may have no contractual force at all. It is not legal advice: involve the people who draft the contracts.
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Write the client’s exchange information requirements as a register and check the BEP answers each one.
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