ABSTRACT
Traditional methods of modelling information often suffer from a need to make compromises in order to reconcile the differing information requirements of various users of the information. In the construction industry itself, a number of very carefully thought out information models (e.g. the Common Arrangement, SfB, and others described in earlier chapters of this book) have nevertheless suffered in the attempt to make them all things to all persons. The ICON project is concerned with the creation of a generic information model for the construction industry which, aided by object-oriented modelling techniques, will allow the individual perspectives of different disciplines to be accommodated within a single information model. It is also important to recognize that the models produced do not simply describe computer-based information and processes, since a total information system generally contains some computerbased parts and some non-computer-based parts. Indeed, the models should be completely independent of any particular implementation method. This chapter describes the philosophy behind the modelling methods being applied in ICON.
