Organizational information requirements (OIR)
Also: Organisational information requirements
Quick definition: The information an organization needs to meet its high-level business, strategic and regulatory objectives in relation to its built assets.
Explanation
Beginner explanation
Before asking for any model, an owner should know why it needs information. OIR answers that at the organization level: "To manage our portfolio we need to know every building's floor area, condition and energy use." Project and asset requirements are then derived from it.
Technical explanation
In the ISO 19650 framework, OIR sit at the top of the requirements hierarchy. They are owned by the appointing party (the organization), not by a single project. OIR inform the Asset information requirements (what the organization needs about assets in operation) and the Project information requirements (what it needs to make decisions during delivery). Typical drivers include portfolio planning, regulatory reporting, maintenance strategy, insurance, sustainability reporting and capital planning.
Practical example
A provincial health authority defines OIR covering bed capacity reporting, infection-control zoning, medical-gas system compliance and energy benchmarking across 40 sites. Every capital project inherits requirements derived from these, so new facilities arrive with data the authority already knows how to use.
Why it matters
Without OIR, project teams guess what the owner needs, and owners receive large models that do not answer their actual questions. OIR make information requests traceable to business purpose.
Common confusion
OIR are not project-specific. They should not contain modelling instructions; those belong in the Exchange information requirements.
Standards and references
- ISO 19650-1:2018 — Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM) — Information management using building information modelling — Part 1: Concepts and principles. ISO, 2018. Clause 3 and Clause 5 (information requirements).Original VDC Stack.io wording, based on the standard
Supports: Definition and position of OIR in the requirements hierarchy · Status: Stage 90.92 (to be revised). Revision ISO/DIS 19650-1 at stage 40.93 on 2026-08-18 (decision for new DIS ballot). - Guidance Part 2: Processes for Project Delivery. UK BIM Framework (UK BIM Alliance, BSI, CDBB), 2020.Widely accepted professional interpretation
Supports: Practical relationships between OIR, AIR, PIR and EIR
VDC Stack.io writes its own explanations and does not reproduce copyrighted standards text. Consult the cited standard for normative wording.
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VDC Stack.io. (2026). Organizational information requirements (OIR). In VDC Stack.io Knowledge Dictionary. Retrieved from https://vdcstack.io/dictionary/organizational-information-requirements/