COBie fundamentals
What is COBie?
COBie is a structured method for exchanging information about facilities, spaces, systems, and maintainable assets from a project team to an owner or operator.
COBie organizes non-graphical building information so it can be checked, transferred, and loaded into facilities-management systems without retyping an entire handover package.
It is data, not a drawing
Building models show geometry. COBie focuses on the information operations teams need to identify spaces and assets, locate equipment, find supporting documents, understand warranties, and prepare maintenance work.
The familiar spreadsheet is one representation of that structured information. Thinking of the workbook as a small relational database makes its references and quality rules easier to understand.
What COBie is not
- It is not a replacement for BIM or IFC.
- It is not automatically useful just because a file passes structural checks.
- It is not one universal edition with identical regional rules.
- It is not best left until the final weeks before handover.
From Revit model to COBie workbook
Project teams often have much of the underlying evidence in Revit, but turning that evidence into a maintainable workbook still requires asset scope, parameter mappings, references, validation, and ongoing review. BIMRelay manages that COBie 2.4 workflow while keeping generated model evidence and project-controlled values together.
Where to go next
Choose the edition relevant to your project, understand its workbook relationships, then define when and how model evidence becomes accepted handover information.
This independent explanation links readers to official publications for normative requirements. Edition-specific details are kept in separate reference sections.
National Institute of Building Sciences: COBie 2.4