I. What is ISM?

Bentley's Integrated Structural Model (ISM) is a technology for sharing structural engineering project information among structural modeling, analysis, design, drafting, and detailing applications. ISM is similar to Building Information Modeling (BIM), but focuses on the information that is important in the design, construction, and modification of the load bearing components of buildings, bridges, and other structures.

I. Purpose of ISM

There are two related purposes for ISM:

The transfer of structural information between applications.
The coordination of structural information between applications.

To provide for the first purpose (transferring information), ISM provides a means of defining, storing, reading and querying ISM models.

To provide for the second purpose (coordination of information), ISM additionally provides capabilities to detect differences between ISM models and to selectively (based on user selection) update either an ISM repository or an application's data to provide a user-controlled level of consistency between the two data sets.

I. ISM and Application Data

ISM is not intended to store all of the information that all of its client applications contain. Rather, it is intended to store and communicate a consensus view of data that is common to two or more of its client applications, such as STAAD.Pro.

STAAD.Pro continues to hold and maintain its own private copy of project data. Some of the application data will duplicate that of the associated ISM repository. The application data may even conflict with that in the ISM repository. STAAD.Pro (or the user) may decide that a conflict gives the best data for the different uses in STAAD.Pro versus ISM.