Management of model requirements across projects : an ontology and IDM / MVD-based approach across lifecycles

Digitalisation is transforming the way the construction industry handles regulations and project data. While recent research using ontologies and standardised frameworks have advanced rule-checking, they often focus on single projects and fall short when sharing knowledge across multiple or ongoing projects. This paper presents a practical, lifecycle-oriented approach that combines ontologies, Information Delivery Manuals (IDM), and Model View Definitions (MVD) to help structure, check, and pass on project requirements through different planning stages. A prototype developed for road infrastructure planning shows how project data can be validated using digital rules, exchanged through familiar formats like CSV and XML, and formalised using mvdXML for later use in design tools. The approach can also be applied across disciplines, such as technical building services, where similar challenges exist. The results highlight how structured, rule-based information management can make planning more reliable, transparent, and reusable, ultimately supporting better decisions across projects.