The BIM Execution Plan for the project should specify which phases a COBie deliverable is wanted, and who will be responsible for updating each field within the deliverable. The National BIM Standard-United States® (NBIMS-US™) includes a section on BIM Execution Planning. For some larger, more complex projects, a COBie Execution Plan may be needed to define all the owner requirements for COBie deliverables, including the roles and responsibilities for data management.

Sub-phases/milestones may also be specified such as “Construction Documents - 2” or a number of days prior to substantial completion. For example, specifying that the designer is responsible for updating the name, type, and location of equipment during the Design Phase at CD-2, while the constructor is responsible for updating the manufacturer, model number, and serial number information during the Implementation Phase at 120 days prior to substantial completion. In this scenario, the constructor will use the COBie data created by the designer to develop the deliverable for the Implementation Phase. Therefore, also specify the transfer of responsibility of the COBie data from one person to another for each phase of the construction life cycle (primarily, what fields the person must keep up to date during the duration of their responsibility). Transfers of responsibility could be designer-to-owner, designer-to-constructor, owner-to-constructor, constructor-to-operator, operator-to-operator, owner-to-owner, owner-to-designer, etc. The transfers will vary depending on the category of projects such as new construction, renovations, operations and maintenance, or demolition. For example, a new construction project may generate COBie data for the first time, so the first transfer may be designer-to-constructor. For renovation projects, the owner may provide existing COBie data to the designer, which is owner-to-designer.