How long does a pilot take?

Plan for four to six weeks on one project with three or four suppliers: enough for each supplier to deliver two or three times.

Do suppliers need to install anything?

No. They receive a link, check their IFC in the browser and send it. No account.

What should I measure?

Share of deliveries accepted the first time, days from delivery to decision, and how many returns end in a phone call.

Can I see it before a pilot?

Yes: the guided demo in the workspace walks through the eight steps with sample data, in your browser.

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Delivery & ISO 19650 · 2026-11-13 · 7 min

Piloting IFC Model Reception on One Project: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough

Before changing how a whole company receives models, try it on one project. The steps of a reception pilot, as we ran them on the Hotel Vela test project with real IFC files: what to set up, what to measure and what to expect in the first weeks.

Reception inbox of the Hotel Vela test project with seven deliveries and the first step of the guided demo: a supplier delivers a model

Nobody changes how a whole company receives models in one go. The sensible way is one project, three or four suppliers, a few weeks. These are the steps, as we ran them on our Hotel Vela test project with real IFC files from the architecture, structure and MEP models.

Key takeaways

One project, three or four suppliers, four to six weeks.
Agree the requirements and the naming before the first delivery, not after.
Measure three numbers: accepted the first time, days to decide, calls per return.
Switch on automations only once the manual decisions look right.

A supplier delivers an IFC to the project inbox

Click through the real screens of the paid workspace, here in the article. Nothing to install and no account. Sample data. These tools are in preview and not open yet.

Step 1: the requirements

Create the project with a minimum score, your rules and the ISO 19650 naming convention: in our test, project code HVL, minimum 80, delivery due on Thursdays at 12:00. If you are not sure what to require, start with IFC acceptance criteria. Test the rules before anyone receives them: writing and testing your own rules shows how.

Step 2: invite the suppliers

Each supplier gets a link of their own, shown once. Send it the way you already talk to them. In our test there were four: architecture, structure, MEP and façades.

Step 3: the first deliveries

Suppliers check in their browser and send. What arrives in your inbox is already validated: score against the minimum, name check, accepted or returned. In our test, six real files arrived; a ZIP renamed as .ifc was returned before validation. The supplier side is described in an upload page for suppliers without an account.

Reception inbox with seven IFC deliveries from four suppliers: score against the minimum, ISO 19650 name check and whether each was accepted or returned — Local test of the workspace on our own server with the Hotel Vela test models (real IFC files), Spanish interface. Not open yet.

Expect the name check to fail a lot in the first week. In our test every early file used the old project code; only the delivery made through the link with the agreed name passed. That is the point of the pilot: the convention gets fixed once, not argued about at every delivery.

Step 4: decide, with reasons

Open a delivery, compare it with the previous version, accept or return it with a reason. The reason goes back to the supplier's page; the decision is sealed with the file's fingerprint.

Step 5: the log

Every delivery and decision is logged and chained. At the end of the pilot, export it: it is the record of what each supplier delivered, and when. Why that matters is in who sees which model in a delivery CDE.

Step 6: automations, last

Once the manual decisions look right, let the routine ones run alone. In our test, a rule that watches for deliveries under 95 placed an email for the site manager in the outgoing queue each time it matched. The queue never sends anything until sending is switched on.

Two automations on supplier deliveries and their latest runs: each one left an email for the site manager in the queue — Local test of the workspace on our own server with the Hotel Vela test models (real IFC files), Spanish interface. Not open yet.

What to measure

Measure	How	What a good pilot shows
Accepted the first time	Share of deliveries accepted without a return	It rises from the first to the third delivery of each supplier
Days to decide	Median from delivery to decision	Decisions in the same week, not at the next meeting
Calls per return	Count the calls that follow a return	Fewer: the reason and the fix travel with the return

The workspace computes the first two; the third you count yourself.

What the pilot will not show yet

Emails to suppliers and to the client wait in the queue; sending is switched off.
Watched folders on SharePoint or Google Drive are tested with a stand-in, not yet with real accounts.
The weekly report for site management still uses sample data.

Run it with us

If you receive models from several suppliers and want to try this on one project, talk to us about a pilot. If you would rather look first, open the guided demo or the page for contractors.

References

Guidance Part C: Facilitating the common data environment — UK BIM Framework. Describes the review and acceptance of information by the party that receives it. Read on 13 November 2026.
IFC Viewer Online plans — IFC Viewer Online. Planned prices of the paid plans, which are not open yet.

Piloting IFC Model Reception on One Project: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough