Understanding TIDP and MIDP: Key BIM Docs for ISO 19650 Projects

Building information modeling has successfully transformed the way construction projects are created and executed, with ISO 19650 being one of the most prominent international standards in regards to data management in such environments. Effective information management is the heart of any successful BIM implementation, and there are two important documents that we would like to cover here:

• Task information delivery plan, or TIDP
• Master information delivery plan, or MIDP

A clear understanding of how such documents are created, managed, and implemented is instrumental in ensuring compliance with ISO 19650 while creating a better project realization environment with improved collaboration, higher efficiency, and so on.

The goal of this article is to explore both of these documents in detail, with all their relationships, goals, and implementation challenges in modern construction. This knowledge should prove beneficial to any business that strives to deliver better project results while maintaining compliance with international requirements for the construction industry.

What is a TIDP in a BIM project?

Definition of task information delivery plan (TIDP)

A task information delivery plan is a complex document with the primary goal of outlining the task information for each discipline or project team in a construction project. Technically speaking, a TIDP can be considered an extremely detailed schedule, considering how it is supposed to identify what kind of information must be created, how soon it must be completed, and who is responsible for these actions. A TIDP is a collaborative planning tool which makes sure that project participants have a clear understanding of what they are responsible for in the context of the ISO 19650 regulatory framework.

Importance of TIDP in construction projects

TIDPs play a substantial role in modern construction due to their ability to provide a more standardized and structured approach to information management in complex projects. TIDPs can help reduce coordination errors and prevent information bottlenecks, ensuring that the efficiency of the teamwork in the project remains high. The TIDP’s clear definition of responsibilities and delivery dates can also result in the easier identification of delays and better resource allocation system-wide.

Other advantages of TIDPs include risk management support, making all information dependencies easier to see and track. A clear understanding of how deliverables affect the work of others can help teams prioritize tasks and maintain general project momentum. Tracking the progress of project milestones and maintaining accountability are both significant advantages of TIDPs as well.

A deliverable in this context can refer to practically any information asset that must be produced and shared during the project’s lifecycle, including design documentation, model files, technical reports, asset data, coordination outputs, calculations, simulations, construction documents, and many others.

How to create a TIDP effectively

The creation of an effective TIDP involves the careful consideration of the existing project requirements and team capabilities. The first step is always to try to break down the existing project information requirements into smaller, manageable tasks with clear deadlines and deliverables. Aside from that, teams must also consider:

• Dependency mapping – the process of identifying all relationships between information deliverables in order to establish a task sequence that does not disrupt any of these relationships.
• Analysis of information requirements – the process of reviewing all existing exchange information requirements to identify the deliverables that are necessary for each of the project’s disciplines.
• Resource assessment – the process of evaluating the current team’s capabilities to ensure that the project delivery dates remain realistic.

The complexity of TIDPs usually requires the existence of a standardized template of sorts that is either outsourced or created in the company beforehand. This template must include all of the essential fields, at the very least: delivery dates, file formats, responsible parties, task descriptions, and so on. The issue of TIDP templates is explored further later in the article.

How does the MIDP relate to the TIDP?

Understanding the master information delivery plan (MIDP)

The master information delivery plan is another comprehensive document, but it works as a consolidated version of all the TIDPs from the project teams in a single massive schedule. MIDPs offer a high-level view of information deliverables for the entire duration of the project lifecycle, making sure that all of the interdependencies between disciplines are aligned and managed with the project’s timeline in mind.

The goal of the MIDP is to work as the primary information management tool of the project, assisting with the entirety of the information delivery process from a single place. It can coordinate a large selection of parameters for information production among all project stakeholders, including contractors, specialists, engineers, architects, and many others.

Differences between MIDP and TIDP

It should be relatively easy to see how TIDPs and MIDPs have their own distinct purposes in the project realization process, despite being closely related to each other. The most noteworthy differences between the two are:

1. Differences in integration. MIDPs integrate several TIDPs into a single environment while resolving potential conflicts in delivery schedules, while TIDPs can exist independently for each team or stakeholder before the merger.
2. Differences in management level. The MIDP is usually managed at the project level by the project manager or the information manager, allowing for an overarching coordination process that covers all project teams, while TIDPs are managed at the level of the task team that creates it, making it possible to track the specific deliverables of that one team.
3. Differences in detail and scope. MIDPs present a project-wide perspective on a multitude of deliverables and the way they are supposed to work together, while TIDPs are focused on their specific tasks within the scope of the team or discipline.

Role of MIDP in BIM execution plans

The MIDP plays a very important role in the BIM execution plan (BEP), acting as a detailed roadmap for information delivery in different phases of project realization. The MIDP ensures that all of the strategic objectives of the BEP are supported by information delivery from all project participants with a reasonable level of coordination between them all.

In the context of the BIM execution plan, MIDPs specifically offer:

• Project-wide measures in the area of quality control for information deliverables
• Correct alignment between project milestones and information delivery processes
• Distinct lines of responsibility for the approval and information production processes
• Defined integration points between teams and project stages
• Standardization of the information exchange process

MIDPs also support the implementation of the project’s information protocol to make sure that all teams follow the previously agreed-upon standards and procedures in regards to information management as outlined in the BEP.

No MIDP can work in isolation. It must function as a part of the broader ecosystem with other project documents. In addition to the BEP, it can also be integrated with several other project documents that are of incredible importance to project success, such as the master schedule, risk management plans, and work breakdown structure. The task breakdown that the MIDP provides should reflect the work breakdown structure of the environment for better consistency, and its milestones and delivery dates should be aligned with the master project schedule at all times.

Other notable mentions in this section include change management protocols, quality assurance documentation, and design responsibility matrices. That way, information delivery processes can maintain clear accountability throughout the entire project lifecycle while aligning itself with contractual obligations and supporting design development sequences when necessary.

The integration of the MIDP with all these documents creates a comprehensive information framework to support effective project delivery without disrupting any of the compliance matters in regard to ISO 19650.

What are the information requirements for TIDPs and MIDPs?

Exchange information requirements explained

The exchange information requirements (EIR) that we mentioned earlier are the foundation for developing both TIDPs and MIDPs. The EIR specifies the information that is necessary for each project milestone, providing additional context in the form of level of detail, intended use, and even data format. The EIR is the framework that teams can use to gain a better understanding of what needs to be delivered and how it will be useful to other project stakeholders.

EIRs can cover multiple aspects of information delivery (management, technical, or commercial) in order to verify that all information produced serves its purpose and adds some sort of value to the project. Such a structured approach assists with reducing unnecessary work while confirming that information deliverables are still aligned with overarching project objectives.

Employer’s information requirements in BIM

EIRs in BIM drive the overall information delivery strategy for the entire project by establishing the specific needs and objectives of the client (which cascade down into the development of TIDPs and MIDPs afterward). The most common elements of EIR in this context are:

• QA expectations
• Formats and standards for deliverables
• Access requirements
• Information security
• Asset management information
• Key decision points
• Project milestones

It would be very difficult to develop a highly effective TIDP or MIDP without having a clear understanding of all these requirements, considering how much both delivery plans rely on high-quality information to truly serve the project’s needs and goals.

How to identify project information needs

To correctly identify the needs for project information, companies must take a systematic approach that covers both long-term asset management goals and immediate project requirements. This is a somewhat complex process that includes:

• Past project reviews to acquire and capitalize upon lessons learned.
• Mapping information dependency analysis between disciplines and project phases.
• Project scope analysis in order to understand critical information requirements.
• Consultation of key stakeholders to gather information about their specific needs.

Teams have a much easier time developing both TIDPs and MIDPs when they have a good understanding of the project information needs. The primary goal of this process is always to ensure that all information produced has a clear purpose while providing ample support for project delivery efforts.

How to implement TIDPs and an MIDP in your project

The implementation process for both MIDPs and TIDPs must follow a clear timeline throughout the lifecycle of a project. The initial versions of the documents should be developed as early as the project’s mobilization phase, where the first TIDPs are created by individual teams and subsequently consolidated into an MIDP before project execution is initiated. Neither of these documents should be static, either: regular updates at predetermined intervals are practically mandatory to keep everything aligned with overarching project milestones or more grounded monthly review cycles.

Clear definition of responsibilities and roles in the environment is also important for the implementation sequence. In many cases, task team managers must oversee the development and maintenance of their respective TIDPs, while the information manager’s goal is to control the development of the MIDP. The overall accountability over the information delivery process remains on the shoulders of the project manager, assisted by the efforts of the BIM manager, who must ensure technical compliance.

All project roles in this context have specific ranges of responsibilities for approving, reviewing, or even creating these documents, which makes for a clear and defined chain of accountability for the entire information delivery process.

Steps to collate your TIDP

Careful planning and coordination is a requirement for the creation of a detailed TIDP. The first step should always be the process of reviewing the information requirements of the project, breaking them down into smaller tasks that are easier to manage.

Clear ownership, deadlines, and quality indicators should be assigned to every single task. The basic collection of steps that can be used to collate a TIDP are:

1. Locate all the necessary information deliverables for a discipline or a task.
2. Determine the most realistic timelines that also account for internal reviews.
3. Define a clear set of criteria for accepting a deliverable.
4. See if there are any dependencies on other teams’ deliverables in the current TIDP and document them.
5. Add plenty of buffer time, which might be necessary when waiting for approvals or making revisions.

Basic task information delivery plan template

It should be noted that practically any actual TIDP must be customized to a certain degree in order to be more relevant to the requirements of specific projects or teams. However, we can still offer a very standardized template of one such document.

The first section of any TIDP should always include basic project information:

• Project name
• Project number
• Task team
• Version
• Date

The next segment is the table itself, with several important fields:

As you can see, we have completed one of the fields to provide a more specific example of how such a table can be enriched. As for the descriptions of the fields, most of them are somewhat self-explanatory, including:

1. Task ID – a unique identifier for each task in a specific format.
2. Description – a short but concise description of the task.
3. LOD/LOI – the level of detail or level of information need, depending on what construction elements are worked on.
4. Format – necessary data formats, which should also be aligned with the requirements of the BEP.
5. Responsibility – one or several roles responsible for performing the task.
6. Begin – the start date of the task, aligned with the project master schedule and a buffer for review/approval.
7. End – the completion date of the task, aligned with the project master schedule and a buffer for review/approval.
8. Dependencies – a list of tasks that must be completed beforehand.
9. Status – the current state of the task, which often uses standardized options (not initiated, in progress, under review, finished, etc.).

There is also one more section of the document left to complete, and that is Notes. All information that could not be shared beforehand is introduced in this section. The most noteworthy examples are: update frequency, reference projects, date alignment, person responsible for collecting status updates, etc.

Managing deliverables with the MIDP

Deliverable management with the MIDP relies on a high level of coordination for all project teams. Active management of the MIDP is the only way for it to be able to reflect any changes or progress in the project’s lifecycle to begin with. The most noteworthy aspects of deliverable management include:

• Management of change requests, as well as the impact of delivery timelines.
• Delivery date and dependency reviews performed on a regular basis.
• Coordination of information exchange between project teams.
• Regular comparison of planned deliverables and actual progress.

Collaborative approaches for effective information management

The successful implementation of these documents is heavily dependent on active collaboration between any and all project participants. This includes not only regular coordination meetings and clear communication channels, but also a certain number of standardized processes that can handle information exchange routines. Joint delivery schedule reviews and collaborative problem-solving are also extremely important to overarching project success.

It is heavily recommended to establish some sort of feedback loop in similar environments to make it possible to continuously improve the information delivery process as time goes on. This way, all the lessons learned can be incorporated into both the planning and execution of future actions, improving project quality as a result.

What is the role of the common data environment in TIDP and MIDP?

Benefits of using a common data environment

A common data environment (CDE) is a digital hub of sorts that provides a single source of information for everything related to a specific project. It is an invaluable tool for the execution of TIDPs and MIDPs due to its ability to offer a structured digital environment for sharing and managing project information. The primary advantages of using a CDE in a modern environment are:

• Version control capabilities with detailed audit trails.
• Automated workflows that replace manual review or approval processes.
• Project information centralization.
• Real-time tracking capabilities for certain categories of data.
• Set of standards for naming conventions and file structures.

How a CDE supports information delivery

A CDE is a massive supporter for information delivery tasks due to its technical infrastructure, which makes information management much more efficient. It offers information status tracking capabilities and structured workflows that align with delivery schedules. Additionally, it also has automated notifications, controlled access to sensitive information, and seamless integration with project management tools for improved progress monitoring.

Aside from all that, a CDE can also serve as a motivator for improved collaboration, offering a secure and powerful platform for data sharing, review coordination, and approval management performed according to existing delivery plans.

Integrating a CDE with ISO 19650 standards

The integration of the CDE with ISO 19650 standards in mind entails the alignment of  all information management processes with international best practices, including:

• Support for defined approval workflows.
• Capabilities for information exchange between project stakeholders.
• Standardized states for tasks, including archived, shared, published, and WIP.
• Proper metadata maintenance for every single information container.
• Defined security and access controls.

The CDE should be configured to support all the requirements outlined in the BEP while maintaining compliance with ISO 19650 principles for information management, which can be a delicate balance that is worth discussing in more detail below.

How to ensure compliance with ISO 19650 standards

Key compliance requirements for TIDPs and MIDPs

Compliance with ISO 19650 standards relies on adherence to specific requirements for TIDPs and MIDPs, with quality controls being especially important at this stage. The most important parts of this compliance process are:

• Use of defined metadata requirements and status codes.
• Documentation of review and approval process.
• Adherence to standardized naming conventions.
• Maintenance of audit trails for any information exchange.
• Regular verification of completeness and quality of information.

Each team must also make sure that its information delivery workflows are aligned with the overarching quality assurance procedures, such as systematic checks of deliverables against existing standards.

Common challenges and solutions in ISO 19650 compliance

Challenges are unfortunately common when it comes to compliance with ISO 19650 in the field of information management. A few examples of this are:

1. Inconsistent classification of information. This can be resolved by implementing a standardized classification environment along with team training on how to use the system in an efficient manner.
2. Team coordination issues. These can be avoided by conducting regular coordination meetings, which help align deliverables and resolve conflicts.
3. Timeline management challenges. The effect of these can be mitigated to a certain degree with an established workflow consisting of review cycles and buffer times in delivery schedules.

Best practices for maintaining compliance during project lifecycle

Compliance is always an ongoing process rather than a one-time effort, which is why proactive management and ongoing attention to the issue are practically mandatory. Here, we can recommend a number of best practices to help maintain compliance, including:

• Continuous monitoring and verification of delivery progress against project schedule.
• Training and support for team members on a regular basis.
• Relatively frequent updates to information delivery plans that reflect project changes.
• Detailed documentation of all changes and decisions that affect information delivery.
• Systematic quality checks at every major stage of project realization.

The establishment of clear metrics for the measurement of compliance also assists greatly with tracking compliance progress and looking for areas to improve upon in the future.

Conclusion

Both task information delivery plans and master information delivery plans are important components of the successful delivery of a BIM project in the context of international standards such as ISO 19650. These documents not only satisfy compliance requirements but also provide a structured framework for clear communication, efficient project delivery, and effective collaboration.

The relationship between the two shows how individual team responsibilities can contribute to broader project objectives, helping navigate the complexities of modern construction projects with enough accountability and responsibility. The ability for integration with other project documentation also helps with the creation of a comprehensive data management environment that covers the entire project lifecycle from start to finish.

The successful implementation of TIDPs and MIDPs relies on commitment from all project teams, as well as a clear understanding of both their roles and responsibilities. As construction projects continue to grow in complexity and evolve, the importance of information delivery in a concise and structured manner is at an all-time high. Following the guidance in this article should make it easier to create a powerful information management process capable of supporting project success and maintaining compliance with different international standards.

It is important to note once again that effective information management is more than just the process of creating documents. It is an entire cultural environment with a focus on collaboration and communication that can support entire project teams and help them achieve their shared objectives with ease.

Frequently asked questions

What should happen if a TIDP deadline is missed?

Any situation in which a team member misses a TIDP deadline should be reported to both the information manager and task team manager in order to assess the impact of the mistake and correct the MIDP accordingly.

A recovery plan should also be developed to remedy such a mistake, including the adjustment of dependent task schedules, the reallocation of resources to expedite the delayed deliverable, the implementation of mitigation measures in an effort to prevent similar issues, and thorough documentation of the delay and its resolution for the sake of general project records.

How do information requirements affect subcontractors that join the project during its realization?

Late-joining subcontractors can still be integrated into the information delivery framework using dedicated training, clear communication, the creation of separate TIDPs, integration into existing workflows, and a thorough review of all TIDP/MIDP documentation with these subcontractors.

Is there any difference between level of development and level of information need?

The two terms are often confused for one another, but we can explain their differences in a concise fashion:

• LOD is a measure that describes the degree of geometry and attached information for BIM elements.
• LOI covers the quality, quantity, and granularity of information for specific purposes and is exclusive to ISO 19650 requirements.