Building information modelling (BIM) provides methods for describing and displaying information required in the design, construction and operation of constructed facilities. It can bring together the diverse sets of information used in construction into a common information environment - reducing, and often eliminating, the need for the many types of paper document currently in use.

To get the full benefit from using BIM, the quality of communication between different participants in the construction process needs to be improved. If the information required is available when it is needed and the quality of information is satisfactory, the construction processitself will be greatly improved. For this to happen, there should be a common understanding of the building processes and of the information that is needed for and results from their execution.

The Information Delivery Manual (IDM) provides an approach to providing an integrated reference for process and data required by BIM. It describes how to identify and describe the processes undertaken within construction, the information required for their execution and the results. It also describes how the information can be further detailed to support solutions provided by building information system providers in a form that enables its reuse and how it can be configured to meet national, local and project needs.

In doing so, the intent is to provide a basis for reliable information exchange for users so that they can be confident that the information they are receiving is accurate and sufficient for the activities they need to perform.

Basic IDM methods for defining business process and specifying information exchange requirements are independent of any information model. However, IDM also has technical solution components that do use specific information models. For building construction, it uses the capabilities of the IFC model and the extended property definitions declared in the IFD dictionary.