CDIF标准系列主要用于描述CASE工具之间的信息传输机制。当导入和导出工具的作者除了符合CDIF的协议之外没有任何共同点时，它有助于成功转移。为传输格式定义的语言也适用于从存储库导入导出的通用语言。为CASE定义的CDIF集成元模型也具有适用性，作为存储库中使用的标准定义的基础。

The CDIF Family of Standards is primarily designed to be used as a description of a mechanism for transferring information between CASE tools. It facilitates a successful transfer when the authors of the importing and exporting tools have nothing in common except an agreement to conform to CDIF. The language that is defined for the Transfer Format also has applicability as a general language for ImportExport from repositories. The CDIF Integrated Meta-model defined for CASE also has applicability as the basis of standard definitions for use in repositories.