COBie 2.4 · Supporting guide
Impact
Stores health, safety, economic, or environmental impacts associated with delivered information.
Which whole-life impacts must remain attached to an asset or activity?
Attach measurable impacts to COBie records
Impact stores health, safety, economic, environmental, or other quantified consequences associated with facility information. Each row names the impact and points to another worksheet and row, allowing a value to remain attached to the Type, Component, Job, or other record it describes rather than becoming an isolated project total.
ImpactType identifies the kind of measure, while ImpactStage places it within a life-cycle period such as production, installation, use, maintenance, replacement, or reuse. Value and ImpactUnit must be interpreted together. A number without a clear unit and stage cannot support a reliable comparison or whole-life calculation.
Define boundaries and evidence before calculating
An Impact row is only as useful as its calculation boundary and source. Cost, carbon dioxide equivalent, primary energy, health, and safety measures use different methods and data quality assumptions. Description should explain what is included, and the project should retain the underlying assessment, environmental declaration, estimate, or calculation as supporting evidence. Impact is defined in COBie 2.4 but is not listed in the publication's design or construction-handover QC coverage tables.
LeadInTime, Duration, and LeadOutTime can describe when the impact begins, how long it persists, and when a cycle resumes. These fields should be used only when the contract or receiving process has a defined interpretation. Consistent units and stages matter more than filling every optional cell.
Combine model quantities with governed impact data
Revit can contribute quantities, product identity, and spatial context, but it rarely contains the complete verified factors needed for life-cycle impact assessment. Product declarations, cost plans, energy analysis, and owner rules must be joined to the correct COBie records through a controlled method.
BIMRelay can preserve project-authored Impact rows and validate their SheetName and RowName references as model-backed records change. This keeps calculations and their asset context together while preventing a fresh Revit extraction from presenting an unverified model parameter as a complete impact assessment.
Key relationships
Can reference several worksheet types
May use custom units and assessment stages
Practical quality checks
- State the assessment stage
- Use explicit units
- Document the source of calculated values
Impact worksheet FAQ
- What is the COBie Impact worksheet?
- Impact associates a quantified health, safety, economic, environmental, or similar measure with another COBie record and identifies its type, life-cycle stage, value, and unit.
- What can Impact.ImpactStage describe?
- It can place a measure in stages such as production, installation, use, maintenance, replacement, or reuse, subject to the project's agreed values and method.
- Can carbon or cost values come directly from Revit?
- Model quantities may contribute, but verified factors, assessment boundaries, units, and calculation methods normally come from additional governed sources.
- How does BIMRelay protect Impact relationships?
- BIMRelay can retain project-managed Impact rows and revalidate their references to active workbook records when Revit-derived evidence is regenerated.
This is an independent practical summary, not a reproduction of the COBie specification. Refer to the official standard for normative definitions and field requirements.
Reviewed against the official NIBS COBie 2.4 publication and Annex A worksheet schemas.
Where the official documents, contract-issued workbook, and project validator differ, follow the contract requirements and accepted validation process.
Open the official COBie 2.4 publicationOpen the official COBie 2.4 Annex A worksheet schemas