The design goals of IIDEAS include:

• integration of data defined by models that are specified in different modelling languages;
• definition of a methodology for integration and mapping that is independent of the language(s) in which specific application models or integration models are defined;
• creation (and possible standardization) of integration models described in several different modelling languages.

The SC4 Data Architecture PWI focused on models that are defined in ISO 10303-11 EXPRESS and has also identified requirements for modelling language(s) that are more suitable for integration than EXPRESS. These requirements have been used as the basis for an experimental language called EXIST (EXpression of Information based on logic and Set Theory).