Common data environment
and CDE manager

The common data environment (CDE; in Italian ACDat) is the single place where an asset's information containers are collected, checked and exchanged: models, drawings, documents and data.

It is not just a file store. Every container has a coded name, a version, a state (work in progress, shared, published, archived) and an owner; changes of state happen only after a check or an approval and are logged. It is defined by the UNI 11337 series, in particular parts 1 and 5, and by the UNI EN ISO 19650 series.

Access

Rights by role and stage: who can upload, view, approve.

Versions

Every change creates a new version; earlier ones remain available.

States

Work in progress, shared, published, archived: data change value with their state.

Traceability

Transmittals, approvals and access are logged and can be relied upon in disputes.

Since 1 January 2025 contracting authorities and concession-granting bodies adopt digital information management methods and tools for new construction and for works on existing buildings with an estimated works cost above €2 million (Legislative Decree 36/2023, art. 43(1)); below that threshold they may adopt them, in compliance with Annex I.9 (art. 43(2)). The tools use interoperable platforms and open, non-proprietary formats (art. 43(3)).

Annex I.9, as replaced by Legislative Decree 209/2024, sets out what the contracting authority must do before and during adoption:

• a staff training plan, a plan for acquiring and maintaining hardware and software, and an organisational act describing roles, responsibilities, information flows and standards (art. 1(2));
• definition of the project's information requirements, starting from strategic objectives (art. 1(2-bis));
• appointment of a CDE manager, at least one digital process manager and, for each project, an information flow coordinator (art. 1(3));
• for architecture and engineering services, information requirements attached to the tender, which also describe the CDE, ownership, access and validity conditions, and data security and confidentiality (art. 1(8)(c));
• the bidders' information management offer and the successful bidder's information management plan (art. 1(10)(b) and (c));
• at acceptance, delivery of models updated to the as-built condition and of a report on information modelling (art. 1(11)).

Where models and drawings or documents are shown to be inconsistent, the drawings and documents prevail contractually (art. 1(10)(h)).

The CDE manager sets up and administers the environment: folder structure, naming rules, access rights, check and approval workflows, data retention and security. They work with the digital process manager, who governs the authority's information processes, and with the information flow coordinator appointed for each project within the team supporting the single project manager.

The knowledge, skills and competences of these roles are described by UNI 11337-7:2018; UNI/PdR 78:2020 governs their conformity assessment. The roles require adequate, documented competence; where the authority cannot find them internally, it outsources the functions as provided by the code (Annex I.9, art. 1(3)).

CDE manager

Environment, access, rules, security.

Digital process manager

The authority's information processes and procedures.

Information flow coordinator

Information flows of the single project.

1. Organisational actRoles, responsibilities, processes and standards, integrated with any quality system.
2. Common data environmentChoice of platform, structure, access and naming rules, security and retention.
3. RolesAppointment of the CDE manager, digital process manager and information flow coordinators, internal or outsourced.
4. TrainingStaff training plan by role.
5. Information requirementsInformation requirements, levels of information need, CDE and interoperability specifications.
6. Tender and executionAssessment of the information management offer, approval of the plan, model checks through to acceptance.

We bring to the authority the same method we apply to our own projects, described in the GSVDESIGN BIM Standard.

• Drafting the organisational act and the CDE rules: structure, naming, states, access rights, approval workflows.
• Setting up and launching the platform chosen by the authority, tested on the first projects.
• Acting as CDE manager or information flow coordinator when the authority outsources these functions.
• Drafting the information requirements and the criteria for assessing the information management offer.
• Checking the information management offer and plan, the delivered models and the information modelling report at acceptance.
• Training support for technical and administrative staff.

We do not perform management or checking functions on projects where we are designers, works supervisors or otherwise interested, in compliance with the rules on conflicts of interest (Legislative Decree 36/2023, art. 16).

How data flow in the cloud platform The GSVDESIGN BIM Standard For public authorities