Novant

Guide Specification • Independent Data Layer • Section 25 15 00

Specify who owns the data, not just who installs the controls.

A complete, issuable guide spec for an Independent Data Layer: one structure for building data that survives a change of controls vendor, service provider, or analytics platform. Free to use, edit, and publish as your own.

21 pages ∙ editable .docx CSI three-part format v0.5 ∙ July 2026
Guide specification: Section 25 15 00, Independent Data Layer, published by Novant

The head-end was never the owner's.

Most projects specify controls thoroughly and data not at all. The BAS supervisory platform arrives, it passes closeout, and everyone reasonably assumes the data question is handled. Then five years later the owner wants analytics, or a different service provider, or simply a list of every AHU across eight campuses — and finds the data is structured around one manufacturer's product, in one manufacturer's database, exportable on one manufacturer's terms.

That isn't a controls problem, and it can't be fixed in operations. It's a specification problem, and the only free moment to fix it is before the documents are issued.

Straight into your project manual.

Full three-part CSI format, plus coordinating language to paste into the related sections in Divisions 23 and 01.

Part 1
General – summary, definitions, owner objectives, basis of design and substitutions, submittals, quality assurance, ownership and data rights, subscription and warranty
Part 2
Products – required IDL capabilities, edge node installation, network and cybersecurity, naming and tagging standard
Part 3
Execution – coordination, installation, data modeling, point selection, verification and commissioning, training, closeout and turnover
App. A
Coordinating language to paste into 23 09 00, 01 33 00, and 01 77 00
App. B
Pre-issue checklist

Ownership, for the Owner.

Clauses that keep the Owner's data theirs, portable, and usable by whatever they choose to run on top of it.

1.2.D
A BAS supervisory platform, operator workstation, head-end, or manufacturer-hosted portal does not satisfy this Section.
1.4.B
All data acquired under the Contract is the exclusive property of the Owner. The contractor acquires no license, right, or interest in it.
1.4.C
Data must be servable to any third-party application the Owner chooses – with no additional license fee, gateway hardware, or engineering labor payable to the IDL contractor.
1.4.D
The Owner can export the complete data model and full trend history, in a documented machine-readable format, at any time, without contractor assistance.

Who this is for.

Consulting and MEP engineers

You're writing this section anyway, and you'd rather start from something rigorous than from the last project's copy. Take what's useful into your office master. If the owner keeps all controls in Division 23, the document tells you where the section goes instead.

Owners, campuses, and portfolio teams

You set the standard your design teams build to. This is the language that keeps your data portable across every facility and every controls system you'll ever own – including the ones you haven't bought yet.

It's yours.
No attribution, no strings.

Permission is granted free of charge to use, copy, modify, adapt, publish, and distribute this document, in whole or in part, for any purpose including commercial use. Without restriction and without crediting Novant. Republish it under your own firm's name if that's what's useful.

  1. Delete the red

    Front matter and specifier notes are guidance, marked for removal before issue.

  2. Fill in the blue

    Bracketed items are owner decisions – a value to set or an option to choose. Each has a note explaining the trade-off.

  3. Run Appendix B

    Pre-issue checklist, including confirming every required capability is generally available in at least one acceptable product.

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