COBie is successful when all project stakeholders are involved. These include the architects, engineers, contractors, suppliers, tradespeople, commissioning agents, and the facility owner. Each has a role in providing – in the COBie standardized digital format – information related to the maintainable assets of that facility during the project. This data is delivered at specified milestones in the project, culminating in a full delivery at project handover.

COBie has typically been used for building design and construction projects but can also be used for infrastructure projects or to transfer facility ownership from one party to another. Throughout this document, facility is used to include both building and infrastructure assets.