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CSI 3-Part Specifications
The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) is an organization that
maintains and advances the standardization of construction language as pertains
to building specifications. CSI provides structured guidelines for specification
writing in their Project Resource Manual, (formerly called the Manual of
Practice (MOP)).
CSI authored MasterFormat, which is an indexing system for organizing
construction data, particularly construction specifications. For many years
MasterFormat consisted of 16 Divisions of construction, such as Masonry,
Electrical, Finishes, or Mechanical. In November 2004, MasterFormat was expanded
to 50 Divisions, reflecting the growing complexity of the construction industry,
as well as the need to incorporate facility life cycle and maintenance
information into the building knowledge base. In this way, MasterFormat will
eventually help facilitate Building Information Modeling (BIM) to contain
project specifications.
However, current technology is unable to handle specifications to the degree
drawing information is able to be referenced, displayed, quantified and other
benefits of BIM. For example integrated systems, industry standards and methods
that may not be shown in the drawings (because they are typically explained in
the specifications) do not fit neatly within current BIM libraries.
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