InfoTown™
Sam's journey · Winning the work (tender) · Lesson 8

Signed, sealed

Before you start

In the story

Twelve subcontracts, and not one of them mentions information.

Back to the story

The right way

Before enquiries

Sam gives Bev and Kofi the information pack: the requirements, the standard, the methods and the plan.

Every subcontract

The firms see the pack when they price, so their price includes it, and it goes into every appointment, with the plan under change control.

DesignDesign: Month four…
Month four

Sam: It's in your contract.

M&E firm: "Is it? Oh, bugger." Naming sorted by Friday.

Standard termsTwelve firms, no information rules, and a variation for every fix.
In every appointmentThe pack goes out with the enquiry, so it's priced and it's signed.
Think like Sam

Check what goes out with the enquiries, before they go. If the information requirements aren't in the enquiry, they won't be in the price, and they won't be in the subcontract.

You won the work. Now deliver it

On the job, Story 1: Which one's the real one?

The client has a Common Data Environment (CDE). So do we. So does Alex's firm. Nobody decided which one counts.
The right way, explained

The right way, explained

Every firm moving into town signs up to its rules, or it isn't the same town. A rule nobody signed is a suggestion.

If you're the client

If you're the client

You won't see the subcontracts, but you can ask how your requirements were passed down, and to whom.

In the town See it in the town: every firm, one signed line each. What's written on it?

Sam's view: every firm doing the work, joined to ours by a signed line that includes the information rules.

Who works for whom The project team as a town. Client Town sits in the middle. Around it are lead firms: your firm, the Tier 1 leading the work, another lead firm, and space for more. Each lead firm has its own firms working for it, such as Designer Town, a groundworks subcontractor and a supplier, and each of those has small task teams. Your firm and its firms are shaded together as your delivery team. Solid lines show requirements and information exchange; dotted lines between the lead firms show coordination. Rex, Sam and Dave are in your firm, Alex is in Designer Town, and the Clerk of Works is in Client Town. THE WHOLE PROJECT TEAMYOUR DELIVERY TEAMCLIENT TOWNwho the work is forYOUR FIRMthe Tier 1 leading the workANOTHER LEAD FIRMits own appointment…as many more as the job needsDESIGNER TOWNAlex's firmGROUNDWORKSa subcontractorSUPPLIERDESIGNERSUBCONTRACTORa task team DaveSamRexAlexClerk of Works
Solid lines. What's needed, and the information that comes back.
Dotted lines. Lead firms coordinating with each other.
Pick a groupWho works for whom

The client

In the picture
ISO 19650 calls it
Watch out for

These are the Appointment documents!

The information rules, signed into every firm's contract.

For the audit What the auditor will ask
  • Show me how the information requirements went into each appointment.
  • How are changes to the plan controlled?
For the audit What good evidence looks like
  • Appointments that include the requirements, the standard and the plan.
  • A change log for the plan.
From the standard
ISO 19650 What goes into every appointment

ISO 19650 expects the information side of the job to be part of every appointment, from the client's down to each firm in the team, so that everyone has agreed to it.

In each appointmentIn plain words
The information requirementsWhat that firm has to deliver
The standard, methods and proceduresHow they have to produce and share it
The plan and the delivery scheduleWhat's due when, kept up to date under change control
The information protocolThe contract terms about information: who owns it, who can use it, and for what

Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 is © ISO and BSI. You'll hear the same language across the industry. Read more for free in the Information Management Initiative (IMI) Framework guidance from BSI and nima. For the full requirements, use the standard itself.