Together with the regulations for building models, the FDK defines the cross-project data requirements of the BIM method at SBB. It ensures that the structure and semantics of the models are standardised across all projects and that the models contain all the information required by SBB.

The FDK creates foundations and structure.

The FDK defines all object types (elements, installations, etc.) and their properties that SBB can require in the various discipline-specific models as part of a project. The FDK also contains further information such as the structure of the property sets and the mapping of the object types to the IFC schema, to the specialist models defined in the BIM regulations for building models and to the element-based construction cost panel (eBKP).

SBB updates the FDK in regular releases and publishes it online as a website and as an Excel file. SBB defines the project-specific data requirements (PDA) based on the FDK. These are presented in the openBIM format IDS and are included in the tender documents for planner submissions for BIM projects.