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英国索尔福德大学软件工程管理硕士课程论文MSc IT Management in Construction
Module: IT Implementation and Innovation
IT Implementation and Innovation
Impact of IT Applications on Construction Performance
Dr Bingunath Ingirige
University of Salford
© Salford University, Salford 2005
MSc IT Management in Construction
Module: IT Implementation and Innovation
Table of Contents
1.0 Preamble....................................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Learning Package Information 1
2.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................................1
2.1 The Impact of IT on Construction 1
3.0 Technology-Push v Demand-Pull Mechanisms......................................................................................2
3.1 Technology Innovations and Development 3
3.2 Web-based Developments for Project Collaboration 4
3.3 Data Exchange: Applications, Organisations and Industry 6
3.4 Web-Based Developments (Case Studies) 8
3.5 Mobile Computing 13
3.6 E-Business 17
3.7 Business to Business Applications 18
3.8 Enterprise Resource Planning 21
3.9 Enterprise Application Integration 22
4.0 Summary and Conclusions....................................................................................................................26
MSc IT Management in Construction
Module: IT Implementation and Innovation
1.0 Preamble
1.1 Learning Package Information
This module requires learners to participate in three core areas of activity – see Figure 1.1
Figure 1.1 Study Activities
Where:
Reading – acquires knowledge and understanding the key issues
Case Studies – develops further understanding (context)
Problem Solving – demonstrates understanding
2.0 Introduction
This module deals with the impact of IT on construction performance. It gives an overview of the strategic context currently affecting construction performance. Technology-push v demand-pull mechanisms are discussed, along with technological innovations and initiatives e.g. Web-based developments, mobile computing, e-business, collaborative working, B2B, enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise application integration (EAI), etc.
2.1 The Impact of IT on Construction
The turnover of the construction industry represents about 10% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of most countries (Olomolaiye et al, 1998). The construction industry is therefore a vital element of the economy in most countries and has a significant effect on the efficiency and productivity of other industry sectors. The challenge to improve performance and reduce costs has prompted developments in a number of areas, and IT applications as a whole play a major role in performance improvement in construction. For example, Marsh and Flanagan (2000: 423) state that “developments in electronic commerce offer the potential to radically change the structure of the construction industry, and the way information is passed between organisations”. However, although the potential to improve performance exists, efforts are often hampered due to the construction industry’s structure, fragmented supply chain, and under capitalisation (Anderson et al, 2000). Furthermore, construction is considered an information intensive industry; in this context, the current state in terms of information storage, retrieval and transfer, often lacks an integrated and a coordinated approach. Therefore, the industry accepts that transformation is a major challenge that needs to be addressed, the nuance of which often has a steep learning curve.#p#分页标题#e#
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For example, Soibelman and Caldas (2000: 863) state:
“When a construction manager wants to find all available information about one construction activity, the drawings are in a CAD file, the specifications are in a text document, the cost estimates in a spreadsheet, the schedule is in a particular application format, the contracts in a text document, and price quotes in different websites, the major task will be how to index, retrieve and integrate information from these different media. Also to make it more complicated, these data may be stored in different organisations, with different data formats”.
This identifies the importance of application integration, information standardisation, and its added value within the construction industry. Due to the emphasis on information integration, recent IT developments within the construction industry have been built around the Internet as the common platform for both the project as well as firm level. This has helped to drive the performance agenda in construction to a large extent.
The impact of IT on firm performance has long been a subject of intensive research. The issues studied range from measurement of the impact, to the conditions necessary to realise any impact. The realised impact in the form of actual improvement in the firm’s performance represents the value of the IT system to the organisation. However, the value created is not clear cut, and can not be easily traced back to the IT system that was implemented. While some of the problems of ascertaining this value often relates to the measurement systems adopted, there are other issues concerning the complexities of isolating the IT effect from factors such as external economic influences. Another issue to consider is that some IT investments may only produce benefits after a certain time period, but evidence increased operating costs in the short run (Powell, 1992). This thereby causes difficulties in identifying the impact of IT applications on any firm’s performance. Although this difficulty has been pointed out, the objective of this section of the module is not just to quantify the benefits of IT applications, but to introduce the various IT applications that are increasingly becoming pervasive strategic 英国论文tools used by many firms in the construction industry in particular.
The next section discusses how the various IT applications have created mechanisms to leverage and achieve performance improvement in the construction industry.
3.0 Technology-Push v Demand-Pull Mechanisms
Mechanisms to achieve improved performance in construction can be subdivided into demand-pull and technology-push paradigms. Demand-pull mechanisms respond to the needs of the market place, whereas technology-push mechanisms provide new opportunities that can lead to new innovations. Under demand-pull, innovation progress is achieved by relying on strong market need alone. The market need would in turn demand manufacture, development, and ultimately, fundamental research funding.#p#分页标题#e#
It is therefore difficult to achieve innovation by relying on demand-pull mechanisms alone, and it might also result in very long lead times, thereby resulting in new innovations appearing in the market place a long time after the demand was recognised. Therefore, technology-push mechanisms play a major role in driving innovation. Two classical opposing theories on this are: that companies are led to innovate by consumer demand (Schmookler, 1966), or that companies and entrepreneurs continually innovate and create new products for an initially neutral market place (Schumpeter, 1934). Both highlight black and white, opposing viewpoints that one exists virtually in a vacuum from each other. In reality, in most cases, technology-push and demand-pull exists in a complex fluctuating mix, depending on where you are in the product life cycle. It is therefore impossible to generalise that all industries experience the same push-pull factors.
Small firms and projects are the mainstream commodity in the construction industry, with 90% of companies employing less than 10 members of staff. This does not actively promote radical change to
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take place at firm level. The construction industry is also generally suffering from the deeper issue of lack of an industry-pull for innovation. The few large firms in the construction industry that consist of both UK and international firms have introduced several IT applications to construction, which have been successful in other industries. Therefore, technology-push mechanisms are increasingly gathering momentum, and such initiatives are being led by some of the few large construction firms. In this context, the biggest challenge is to integrate these technologies within existing construction processes. Barrett and Sexton (1999), drawing from Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), suggest that a knowledge based approach to transfer out of industry knowledge into construction is a way forward. They identified knowledge as the central resource of the firm, and emphasised the appropriate integration of organisational direction and capability, inter-organisational networks, and knowledge characteristics of technology, in integrating IT into existing construction processes.
The next section discusses the strategic and pervasive use of IT applications that are becoming widely used in the construction industry. A brief background is provided on the various IT developments that have taken place recently. This is supported by case studies, with details of how to obtain more information on the relevant areas.
3.1 Technology Innovations and Development
New technologies have been developed to address some of the increasing needs of more effective and efficient communications. Foremost of these new technologies is the continual advancement of Internet-based technologies. Many businesses throughout the world use this technology as a channel to communicate or to exchange information. The Internet has also embraced the construction industry, and is used as an efficient tool for communication, bringing together the widely dispersed project participants and multinational project teams. On one hand, there is a perception that the Internet provides an automatic solution to the fractured communication system in construction, in that they (the stakeholders) can adopt a “plug and play” attitude towards the use of the Internet. This perception naturally over-emphasises the role of technology, and ignores other important processes that need to be taken into consideration in making the overall communication process more effective and efficient. Another reason for the Internet’s popularity is driven by its influence on improving measures of business performance. Various business models have also evolved, which draw upon links between the use of the Internet to perform project management, and how to improve an organisation’s internal processes in their road to achieving excellence.#p#分页标题#e#
The rest of this workbook discusses the various IT developments that have had an impact on performance, particularly, how these have been used to achieve transformation in the construction industry. The developments of the Internet are explored, and how this has triggered improvements in project collaboration. Furthermore, as construction often involves mobile resources, such as people, plant and materials; improvements related to mobile computing are identified, including e-tagging, e-commerce, business-to-business applications. The final sections deal with IT applications within a firm, e.g. Enterprise Resources Planning and Enterprise Application Integration.
Figure 2 contextualises the various IT applications discussed in the workbook.
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DeveloperContractorDesignerQSWeb-enabled Project management software at a project levelCustomerSupplierPlant HirerseCommerce, B2BEAI, ERPeCommerce, B2BCollaborative working at project levelRFID taggingRFID taggingeCommerce, B2BRFID taggingDeveloperContractorDesignerQSWeb-tagging
Figure 2: IT Applications Covered
3.2 Web-based Developments for Project Collaboration
This section addresses how web based developments have had an impact on project collaboration within the construction industry. According to the computer weekly project collaboration has been well received in the construction industry, as it has long suffered from complex supply chains involving architects, builders, designers and engineers. Therefore, a lot of web-based service providers in the construction industry have focused their attention on developing this area of competence in this area. This section builds up the business case for web-based collaboration, and discusses the impact of this development in terms of the currently available collaborative software.
Alshawi and Ingirige (2003) addressed the area of web-based development, noting that communication plays a vital role in solving problems in construction project management. Scanlin (1998) also pointed out that communication consumes about 75% to 90% of a project manager’s time, therefore, information needs to be current, and available ‘on demand’. Biggs (1997) also lists communication as the root cause of most project failures, but highlighted that the latest web-based solutions can link with email, or collaborative software which can reduce the incidence of people-related issues. Deng et al (2001) point out that the extensive physical distance between project participants extended over national boundaries is the main cause which can lead to delays in decision-making. Wide communication problems, ranging from delays, through to distortion of the message, can result in cost and time overruns in projects. Furthermore, the dismissive nature of expenditure on making long distance telephone calls, facsimile transmissions etc, have made the project management community in construction look for more viable alternatives.#p#分页标题#e#
The Gartner group identified that the highest level of interaction across organisations generally occurs between the middle level managers in an organisation. The middle level managers are thus known as ‘knowledge workers’. The interactions between the knowledge workers who are working with the available collaboration tools, are therefore in the best position to be able generate the highest potential Return on Investment (ROI) for the project. Their argument of the interactions at various levels is denoted in Figure 3.
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Board to Board
Executive to Executive
Operational Managers
Knowledge
Workers
Highest potential
ROI
Operation
s
Figure 3: Human Interactions at Various Levels Between Two Organisations (Alshawi and Ingirige, 2003)
Although there are limited contacts between the top executives, it is the knowledge workers who collaborate more regularly on day-to-day running of the project. The Gartner group found that most of the collaborative IT tools, such as email and web-based tools etc. are widely being used by the knowledge workers. As a result of this emphasis on communication, new technologies have been developed for networking, information sharing, database management systems, etc. However, in contrast to the manufacturing and retail industries (where most of the new developments have taken place), the overall construction industry has shown a relatively slow up-take of web-based technologies to improve its practices (Building, 2001). This situation is changing however, as more and more firms in the construction industry are starting to realise the benefits of improving communications between project participants - which can lead to improved cost efficiency, better quality and improved competitive advantage.
It is expected that the Internet will be used to leverage even greater potential to project managers over the next five years. The Internet is increasingly providing a conduit for rapid information transfer, so messages not only can reach the recipients more speedily and accurately, but are also traceable to the sender (which is increasingly being used for contractual reasons). This ease of transmission can also save money for construction companies, especially when having to communicate with overseas construction entities, as the cost of providing and maintaining Internet provision is often much less than couriering documents or continual international direct dial (IDD) telephone usage. Internet provision also provides other benefits, especially when high data volumes are expected, as it does not have restrictions on locations, time or different computer operating systems.
The rapid evolution of communications technologies is making distributed projects increasingly more viable (Ly, 1997). Project participants are often widely dispersed, yet they can be coordinated by sophisticated tools. The increasing availability and the usage of the Internet by small to very large-scale construction organisations has enabled project management to be performed over the web.#p#分页标题#e#
There are many technological advances which have enabled companies to adopt project management over the web. Virtual meetings and tele/audio-conferencing are such developments, which have been adopted by some of the project management software. Ellis cite that the technologies for teleconferencing in the past often fell short of being fully effective as a result of the very high initial costs and transmission charges. However, with today’s availability of the Internet, higher central processing unit (CPU) speeds of computers, faster modem speeds (broadband), it is possible to connect one boardroom to another seamlessly, anywhere in the world.
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All parts of the project can become one community using teleconferencing and other collaborative tools. Tele and audio-conferencing can bring the widely dispersed project team together. However, the Internet’s ability, as a technology to bring the diverse participants of a construction project in an effective collaborative environment is often constrained i.e. the Internet alone cannot create an environment of interoperability among the various participants (Alshawi, 2000). This is mainly attributed to the type and format of the exchanged data/documents, as well as to the different hardware and software systems in organisations.
3.3 Data Exchange: Applications, Organisations and Industry
The type of information which can be exchanged between applications can be categorised into two primary groups; the document group (categorised as electronic document management or EDM, and the element / object (categorised as the project model). Information transferred at a document level is normally considered as an image, which can only be viewed, shared and annotated by users. Information transferred at the element or object level is normally detailed, and can have an impact on the outcome of the application. For example, information about a beam or a column can be exchanged between two design packages. Any changes to this type of information will automatically have an impact the other information, which exist in the other application.
Exchanging information at the element or object level is far more difficult to manage compared to exchanging information at the document level. The former needs compatible hardware and software, where information can be read and freely transferred between the applications. It also often requires common standards, which enable information to be transferred freely between applications, such as the industry foundation classes (IFC). The document level uses standards such as the Internet to transfer documents as attachments to a Web-based application. Most existing web-based project management software is now based on exchanging and sharing documents (and data). Information is exchanged as documents, which can be stored in a single database, whereby users can view, track and manipulate this and when required.#p#分页标题#e#
Currently, there are many commercially available software programs to cater for different types of document-based data exchange; they all come under the umbrella of web-based developments. This software encompass the application needs of the different stages of the project life cycle; i.e. the tender stage (where tender documents are exchanged between clients, contractors, subcontractors, etc.), the design and construction stages, (where drawings and other documents are exchanged between project partners, and where buying and selling of building materials can take place over the Internet).
Some believe that information technology has made communication within this extended enterprise worse rather than better. This is because incompatible systems used by individual disciplines can create artificial barriers that did not exist before. Within the separate domains of the design, construction, and operations of buildings; computer tools have been applied to automating specific tasks rather than addressing the overall building process. For example, the design team may use computer-aid design (CAD) to produce the drawings and other documentation required for bidding and construction, but these digital products are not necessarily useful for the tasks performed by the contractor: vis-à-vis costing and scheduling. To make matters worse, the propensity and diversity of different file formats used by most CAD programs can still not always be read by some project management software. As a result, much exchange of information is still reduced to paper, even when the work was originally produced on a computer. The floor area of a building, for example, which the architect’s CAD program can easily calculate, will often be recalculated and re-entered by an estimator simply because the CAD program can not easily exchange data with the estimating program. Similarly, the contractor’s software can not often easily exchange data with tools for energy analysis or facilities management. This means that so much more additional time and effort is needlessly expended in re-entering data into new systems. Furthermore, whenever information handoffs occur, the opportunity for delay and error is much greater. The building process would be much better served if the entire chain of information from design to construction to operations could remain in one seamless digital
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format. This is in line with the earlier comments concerning information fragmentation which is hampering the goals of achieving improved performance at both project and firm level.
Over the past few years, the construction industry has witnessed the emergence of a number of powerful web-enabled software tools which can monitor, control, manipulate and store project information. This also has an added benefit of making project information available to all participants. Many of these software tools cover a wide range of facilities and functionalities, the attributes of which have made the management process of construction projects more cost effective and efficient. Some of the software offer more comprehensive solutions for the entire life cycle of the project than others. In this context, abridged examples of commercially available software are presented in Table 1, along with their website addresses, so that their capabilities for collaboration through a project can be reviewed.#p#分页标题#e#
Project Management Software
Website Address
ProjectsOnline,
MSc IT Management in Construction#p#分页标题#e#
Module: IT Implementation and Innovation
3.4 Web-Based Developments (Case Studies)
There have been many success stories where web-enabled project management has been implemented in the Construction Industry. This section reviews a few documented case studies (Alshawi and Ingirige, 2003). The references to the acronyms of each case appear in the Appendix (but the contributors’ identities have been concealed for confidentiality reasons).
Case Study 1: ALCOA (Source:Http://www.newgrange.org/tools_for_the_virtual_project_ma.htm)
Background
The main objective of the project was to make computer connectivity available to every ALCOA location worldwide so that the team could collaborate over the web. The project team consisted of ALCOA (a major aluminium company in the USA), Microsoft, and Hewlett Packard (HP) and the suppliers and distributors of ALCOA. The project team decided to pursue a web solution, although not explicitly stated in their terms of reference. The approach meets the monthly reporting requirements and also attempts to delight users with point and click navigation capabilities. In some respects it was an over-delivery of client expectations with the intent being to reduce monthly reporting costs and simplify a repetitive process.
Benefits
1. Elimination of paper reports as all the information was sent on electronic form via the web.
2. The team was able to leverage exiting firewall solutions to prevent unauthorised access to the web server.
3. Automate repetitive routine processes
4. Data sharing among all support entities.
5. Integrated communication process promoting more accurate information transfer.
Problems
1. The need to upgrade the firewall protection from time to time
2. The need for a project manager with IT infrastructure knowledge
3. Having to treat the web server as a full scale IT project, entailing:
• Appropriate funding
• Appropriate staffing
• Utilisation of project management knowledge
4. Need to understand the corporate culture to prevent clashes.
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Case Study 2: INMANCO Background
This case is concerned with an electronic document management system that is capable of facilitating, reviewing and updating of project drawings and specifications over the Web using the Project Information Channel (PIC) of the Building Information Warehouse. The cost savings mainly arise from not having to print drawings and specifications from time to time and the capability to track changes electronically.
Benefits
The case study shows a £58,130 saving on a £5 million, thirty-week retail construction project, involving an international firm of management and construction consultants (INMANCO). The detail breakdown of the cost saving is as follows: Printing costs for project drawings £46,112#p#分页标题#e#
Postage costs for project drawings £1,584
Copying costs and project specifications £10,215
Postage costs and project specifications £219
------------
£58,130
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These are only the identified direct cost savings. Potentially much greater savings were achieved through reduction in mistakes and re-works and by avoiding unnecessary project delays. In the same study, the company estimated these additional indirect savings to be in the region of £300,000, which is 6% of the overall project costs. They were able to achieve this saving through the following means:
1. Delays are avoided because team members do not have to wait for the arrival of updated drawings and comments and requests for information are immediately delivered to the headlines page of the relevant team members.
2. Visits to site and travelling time to meetings can be reduced because the most up to date progress photographs are always available for viewing on the system.
3. Mistakes are avoided because all drawings and documents are always up to date and instantly available. There is no longer any risk that team members are acting on information that is out of date, or incomplete.
4. Money spent on disputes are minimised as the system creates a full audit trail containing all the minutes of meetings.
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Case Study 3: CATHQUARTER Background
The case study is concerned with the use of a project collaborative tool; ProjectsOnline, which is Web-enabled and has the capability to enhance cooperation and coordination of team members across several countries to achieve strict deadlines of projects. The Cathedral Quarter project involved collaboration between a Dublin based architect and developer, and a Northern Ireland structural engineer, services engineer and quantity surveyor.
As the architect firm issues drawings they are uploaded onto the project website, members of the project team in Belfast are notified automatically and can retrieve these documents immediately, regardless of their location. Comments can then be posted online, thus reducing the turnaround time on documents and drawings from days to minutes. ProjectsOnline manages the team members’ access rights, ensuring that members have access only to the data relevant to their roles so that they cannot do unauthorised alterations. New information that is posted in the website is alerted to all team members. Any member can access or submit drawings, documents etc., and view all project information on one secure location.
Benefits
1. Substantial increase in the speed of communication, resulting in shorter lead-time on tasks.
2. Increased accuracy of communications and therefore reduced errors and rework costs.
3. Dramatic reductions in travel costs.
4. Reduced cost of hardcopy production, distribution and storage.#p#分页标题#e#
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Case Study 4: TOTINS (Deng et al, 2001)
Background
The objective of the Total Information Transfer System (TOTINS) was to help information transfer more effectively during the construction process, between head office and its overseas construction sites. TOTINS uses a Linux (Unix based) and MS Windows 95 (PC based) for setting up the information transfer system. Logging to the remote host is achieved through telnet and transfer of files through File Transfer protocol (FTP). Telnet protocol allows an Internet user to log into a remote host from his/her local host computer. Due to its direct connection to the remote system, the system can provide a cheap and efficient method to get information compared to facsimiles, phone or snail mail. FTP is a way of sending files across the Internet. This function enables file transfer from one computer to another irrespective of their operating systems. Security of the server information is provided through password access. Email and Internet chat is enhanced with on screen images, pictures or drawings can simulate telephone conversations and meetings. TOTINS was applied for project monitoring in a small scale residential project in China.
The main reason for adopting TOTINS was due to the extensive geographic separation of the head office and the site, which resulted in a very high cost being incurred for the existing project information system. Therefore an Internet based project information system was devised for data retrieval and processing by intelligent HTML and Java programming. The project information system focuses on information generation (data input at site), information transfer (web-based communication) and information retrieval (intelligent graphical view on the web). The data is submitted through a standardised form and it is saved in a text format in the head office web server. The java applets specifically programmed to handle the data in text format refreshes the parameters in the web server. Performance at the project site can be compared with the schedule / estimated performance. The schedule and the actual progress is automatically plotted graphically to get a clear picture of the site progress.
Benefits
1. Improved efficiency brought about by speedy and accurate transfer of information between head office and sites.
2. Better management and decision-making
3. Savings on communication through the Internet as against traditional methods such as IDD phone calls and courier services.
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Case Study 5: “3COM” (Building Centre Trust, 1999a)
Background
The project involves construction of office space/laboratory space for 3COM, which is an American computer networking company with offices in 45 countries around the world. Design began in July 1996 and the buildings were completed in February 1998. The client emphasised on using a partnering approach within the team to execute the project. The case explains how collaboration was achieved among the team members through electronic means via email. Drawings were issued electronically as email attachments to each member of the team and requests for approvals and confirmations were also accepted via the same medium. 3COM provided the network file server and group working software (lotus notes) and backup facilities.#p#分页标题#e#
Communication was achieved via ordinary telecommunication links with the central file server. Design consultants were only responsible for issuing an electronic drawing file to the file server and for issuing a single printed copy to the other members of the project team. The contractor was responsible for duplicating the drawings at site, which were distributed to the site team and sub contractors.
Benefits
1. The speed of communicating drawings increased (sending drawings by post or courier compared with the email attachment, which takes a few minutes to download)
2. Due to the increased speed the team was able to agree an additional one million pounds worth of work without a time overrun on the project (About six weeks of time overrun was saved)
3. Traditional monthly site meetings were converted to “information required meetings” so that all the team members need not participate in them. The contractor produced an electronic report and distributed to the team members.
4. Reduction of delivery and copying costs that resulted from the contractor being more focussed on the precise requirements for drawing copies resulted in an overall saving for the project. (Approximately £25,000).
5. Reduction in storage space for paper work as a result of more and more electronic storage.
Problems
1. Costs of overcoming incompatibilities
2. Team members possessed different degrees of IT sophistication. Therefore some members had to go back to earlier versions of the software to be in line with the rest of the team. The M & E contractor preferred to use the traditional draughting system, which needed to be input into a CAD based system elsewhere and transferred back to site.
3. Technical issues such as inability to deal with large file sizes and various security issues had to be overcome. Printing of drawings at site was not straight forward as it was reported that backgrounds had to be assembled and some layers were lost in the file transfer.
4. Although the system worked well with the principal members of the team, some sub contractors found it difficult to match the technology.
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Problem Exercise
Questions from the case studies:
1. IT has created more problems than ever before” Discuss this statement in relation to case studies 1 and 2.
2. What additional advantages will be there for the different participants in the construction project if drawings were distributed in the element / object level in case study 2? Discuss what constraints will be faced by the team in achieving object level transfer of information / drawings.
3. Case study 3 lists only benefits. What problems do you anticipate when team members have access rights only on specific domains of the drawings being transmitted to them?
4. One of the benefits not listed under case study 4 is project visualisation. How does project visualisation impact on project performance.#p#分页标题#e#
5. What improvements can you envisage within case study 5 that will improve the benefits further?
Discuss your thoughts about this exercise with your co-students and the module tutor using the online discussion board and weekly tutorials.
3.5 Mobile Computing
The previous section looked at leveraging the power of the web on enabling more efficient communication. This section goes a step further in addressing the needs of people on the move. Mobile computing is a technology that allows transmission of data via a computer without having to be connected to a fixed physical link.
Mobile voice communication is widely established throughout the world and has had a very rapid increase in the number of subscribers to the various cellular networks over the last few years. An extension of this technology is the ability to send and receive data across these cellular networks (in data packets). This is the principle of mobile computing.
Mobile data communication has become a very important and rapidly evolving technology, as it allows users to transmit and receive data to and from fixed or remote locations. This proves to be the solution to the biggest problem of business people on the move. Over the next few years, powerful computing devices the size of contemporary calculators will become ubiquitous in the office and home environments, and are being evidenced now e.g. personal digital assistants (PDA’s), smartphones etc.
MSc IT Management in Construction
Module: IT Implementation and Innovation
Mobile computing is often characterised as having four primary constraints.
• Mobile elements are resource poor, relative to static elements
For a given cost and level of technology, considerations of weight, power, size and ergonomics will exact a penalty in computational resources, such as processor speed, memory size and disk capacity. While mobile elements will improve in absolute ability, they will always be resource poor, relative to the static elements.
• Security risks
There is an imminent threat of burglary of mobile devices.
• Mobile connectivity is highly variable in performance and reliability
Some buildings may offer reliable, high-bandwidth wireless connectivity, while others may only offer low-bandwidth connectivity outdoors.
• Mobile elements rely on a finite energy source
While battery technology will undoubtedly improve over time, the need to be sensitive to power consumption will not diminish. Concern for power consumption must span many levels of hardware and software.
Mobile Computing Applications
1. Remote Monitoring of Patients in Healthcare
One of the important application areas of mobile computing is for remote monitoring of patients in a healthcare setting. New technologies are likely to induce revolutionary changes in the delivery of medical care. It is expected that interactive multimedia communication will make diagnostic and therapeutical services of specialised centres available to patients in peripheral areas, at sea, at the scene of an accident, in rural medical stations, at home, on the battlefield etc.#p#分页标题#e#
It is evident that, apart from the hardware communication infrastructure needed to support these services, there is a need to develop the software environments and applications for exchanging medical information and animated images in a secure way. This is especially so for carrying out remote diagnosis, remote supervision, and remote monitoring of patients. Developments in mobile computing and mobile communication have paved the way to enable this new trend in healthcare.
Recommended sites for further information:
University of Washington
2. Use of e-Tagging in Construction
One of the very important application areas of mobile computing for the construction industry is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagging. FIATECH (Fully Integrated and Automated Technology), a construction industry consortium jointly funded by the Construction Industries Institute (CII) in the USA and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) in USA, is looking at chip technology to make work sites safer and more productive
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Module: IT Implementation and Innovation
RFID was designed and manufactured by SAT Corporation. With RFID technology, no line of sight or direct contact is required between the reader and the tag. Since RFID does not rely on optics, it is ideal for dirty, oily, wet or harsh environments. RFID is an automatic identification technology, similar to bar code technology, with positive identification and automatic data transfer between a tagged object and a reader (see Figure 4.). Since the RFID tags are read by radio waves, instead of light waves (as with bar-codes) they can communicate through non-metallic materials such as paint, plastic, grease, dirt etc, and are often impervious to vibration, light, water, and heat up to 1000C in most cases.
Figure 4: RFID Handheld Reader used by Piping Technology and Products Inc. at the Bechtel Red Hills Power Plant (Source: Construction Engineering and Management, Purdue University, A RFID system consists of two major components (reader and the tag) which work together to provide the user with a non-contact solution to uniquely identify people, assets, and locations. The reader performs several functions, one of which is to produce a low-level radio frequency (RF) magnetic field. The RF magnetic field services as a ‘carrier’ of power from the reader to the passive (no battery required) RFID tag. When a tag is brought into the magnetic field produced by the reader, the recovered energy powers the integrated circuit in the tag, and the memory contents are transmitted back to the reader. Once the reader has checked for errors and validated the received data, the data is decoded and restructured for transmission to a user in the format required by the host computer system. The RFID tags currently used today are both readable and writable. This capability enables information to be written back to the tag for enhanced asset management. RFID tags do not require a line of sight for identification, and readability is not affected by bright lighting situations.#p#分页标题#e#
RFID tags provide:
• error-free data gathering
• eliminate delays and errors of manual data collection
• automatically identify locations and tracks assets
• no line-of-site required for reading tags
• use in more extreme harsh environments with no loss of information or data
• read & write to the tag in the field many times
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RFID can be used in the areas of bulk materials tracking, plant equipment tracking, site safety and security, automatic warehousing (tool and materials control) and construction equipment use. The reasons for bulk materials and plant equipment tracking are not much different from any other supply chain application. They do however, have a few additional potential benefits. Receiving, is one area where RFID would be used. Ideally, an entire truckload of material could be ‘received’ electronically, as it drives onto the work site. As material is put in storage locations, it could be located through its global positioning system (GPS) location. Material retrieval would therefore be speeded up by being able to go directly to a specific GPS location, validated by a portable RFID reader to identify the correct material. RFID tags can also be used as a way for fabricators and manufacturers to communicate directly to workers. A fabricator might write special instructions on the tag that would help make sure that the material is properly installed. For example, this could be specific welding or painting instructions. Equipment manufacturers might include special set up or wiring directions directly with the equipment. This would provide two benefits: first, the material itself could alert workers to the fact that there are special requirements; second, personnel would not have to hunt for paperwork containing these instructions. It is also envisioned that materials released from trailers or storage facilities could be identified as they are released, so that replenishment could be automatically scheduled (Automated Warehouse).
RFID access control would also improve job site security and safety. RFID could be used to account for all employees at the end of a shift or in emergency situations. RFID tags with sensors could also be used to monitor construction equipment use and maintenance. Hours of operation, critical operating data (such as temperature or oil pressure), maintenance schedules, maintenance history and other relevant data could also be gathered and stored on the tag for use by safety and maintenance personnel. Furthermore, as one of the problems that off-site manufacturers face is with the installation of the wrong components in a building. To prevent costly disputes, tags incorporated into the components could store information on the exact location where they are to be installed in the building, thus minimising or eliminating this problem.
Potential barriers are:
• Lack of standardisation: it is not currently possible for one manufacturer's tag to be read by another company's reader.#p#分页标题#e#
• Metal can hamper the RFID tag operation by blocking and cancelling signals: it would not be possible to read a tag through a steel beam for example.
• Active tags will most likely require a battery management program to ensure that batteries with sufficient energy are powering the tags.
• A truck might have several hundred tightly bundled pipes in one load. Attaching the tags so that they could be used after installation while still making them readable on receiving would be a challenge.
• There are also some severe environmental conditions on work sites - from contaminants and chemicals, to temperature and weather extremes. Handling during construction also poses potential hazards to RFID tags.
• Among the potential locations where RFID might be used, would be offshore oil platforms. This location would have additional environmental requirements.
In order for RFID’s to be widely adopted within the construction industry, it must be thought of as part of an overall system, working alongside existing methods and technologies. New systems must be integrated smoothly within existing practices, making it important for barcode and RFID technology to become partners within single systems. Once RFID technology becomes more widely adopted, the benefits will be seen right across the construction industry.
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Case Study 6: e-Tagging (Source: Construction Excellence)
This case study demonstrates the business benefits of e-tagging. In the US, investment in RFID by retailers, for example, is expected to increase tenfold to more than $1 billion over the next three years. In the UK, Tesco has told its suppliers they will have to include RFID in all pallets and deliveries from 2007. Once RFID takes off in other industries, the cost of the tags will fall from a current 60p to £1.50 each to more like 5p to 10p. The hope is that this will make RFID cost-effective in construction, triggering a host of potential benefits for the industry. The UK is well placed to lead the field in construction thanks to research and demonstration projects that are already underway.
BRE, Constructing Excellence and the Construction Products Association are undertaking several Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and BRE Trust (formerly known as Foundation for the Built Environment) projects looking at the uses of RFID in manufacturing, asset tracking and maintenance within the construction sector.
For more details see Problem Exercise
Visit the details given in eTagging in the construction excellence website, and set out the problems involved in utilising this technology in construction (compared to the manufacturing industry).
Discuss your thoughts about this exercise with your co-students and the module tutor using the online discussion board and weekly tutorials.#p#分页标题#e#
3.6 E-Business
Collaborative commerce via the Web has spawned a new generation of virtual chains of commerce (integrated demand and supply chains). Ubiquitous and simplified technology has created tightly coupled supply chains that thrive on specialisation and flexibility. The ability of the virtual chains to reach new levels of efficiency, combined with buyers’ ability to discover market alternatives, easily causes significant market-share shifts.
The application of electronic commerce has led to many changes in the way business is conducted. By definition, electronic commerce (or e-commerce) is the purchasing or selling of goods or services and the transfer of funds in any way using the electronic communications in inter-company and intra-company business activities. There are two types of e-commerce: business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce involving companies selling products or services to individuals; and business-to-business e-commerce (B2B), in which companies sell to other businesses.
MSc IT Management in Construction
Module: IT Implementation and Innovation
E-business is an umbrella term that includes e-commerce and refers to the use of the Internet and private intranets to transform a company’s value chain (i.e. internal processes, supplier and partner interactions, and customer relationships) with the ultimate goal of creating value for customers. A firm with an effective e-business strategy therefore develops the capabilities needed to improve the flow of information and business intelligence among partners, suppliers, employees and customers. It also aims to solve problems for all parties that comprise its extended value chain.
In coming years, B2B e-commerce is expected to increase dramatically, accounting for an ever-greater share of total e-commerce activity. The use of e-commerce is mainly supported by advancements in IT, which makes the commerce possible.
E-commerce is however much more than just the procurement of products and services online. It is changing the business processes of the construction and real estate industries by delivering information technology solutions to an industry that still relies heavily on paper-reliant processes. E-commerce is also not just about customer payments, partner payments, or online inventory queries. Furthermore, as companies transform themselves into e-businesses, they are beginning to manage procurement, supply chains and partner networks on-line (Moran, 2000).
Web-based electronic commerce is an important, strategic business tool that is poised to significantly alter the way the construction industry does business, and it is developing faster than anyone could have imagined. Using the Internet provides companies enormous advantages in deepening and securing relationships with any and all of its customers and suppliers. Advantages include being more accessible, providing a better service, and locking in key relationships. Furthermore, using the power of the Web enables entire teams to have the ability to manage complex construction processes concurrently.#p#分页标题#e#
3.7 Business to Business Applications
This section addresses how IT can influence business to business applications. It discusses how the utility of the Internet has impacted B2B applications by replacing the traditional relationships between businesses and their customers and the wider supply chains.
Using the Internet to facilitate business-to-business commerce promises many benefits, such as dramatic cost reductions and greater access to buyers and sellers (Wise and Morrison, 2000). According to Alonso et al (2004), the Internet and the proliferation of inexpensive computing power in the form of clusters of work stations or personal computers (PC’s) has significantly reduced the investment required to deploy the necessary B2B technology. B2B eCommerce is now affordable for many enterprises which can collaborate by using the Internet to link their information processing systems. B2B market places enhance the simple one-to-one relationships between customers and vendors to a complex raft of relationships. Figure 5 depicts the direct communication model and the B2B model where mediated communications are facilitated between customers and suppliers utilising appropriate software and the Internet as the common platform.
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B2B MP
Direct Communications between m suppliers and n customers = n * m mappings
Mediated communications between m suppliers and n customers = n + m mappings
Figure 5: Preventing Exponential Growth in the Number of Mappings (adapted from Omelayenko and Fensel, 2001)
In web-based systems, the potential to reduce search costs and coordination costs is great, and it affects every B2B transaction. The Internet also allows organisations to choose from different procurement models. Many studies have looked at different pieces of the B2B puzzle, such as supplier selection (Bakos and Brynjolfsson, 1993) and the impact of electronic markets (Bakos, 1998; Gurbaxani and Whang, 1991). B2B e-commerce is rapidly transforming how organisations structure and coordinate their business relationships. A Web-based procurement system provides enhanced search capabilities, faster and more accurate processing, real-time and rich-media information support, and low communication and coordination costs (Buxmann and Gebauer, 1999). A Web-based procurement system provides enhanced search capabilities, faster and more accurate processing, real-time and rich-media information support, and low communication and coordination costs. From the buying enterprise’s point of view, the use of a Web-based system affects four major categories of B2B operations, i.e. search, order processing, monitoring and control, and coordination. These issues are discussed as follows:
Search
Search costs are incurred by a buyer in locating a preferred seller and purchasing a product (Bakos, 1997). In procurement, search costs are incurred when a professional buyer looks for a supplier to contract purchases, and when an individual user in an organisation looks for an appropriate product to order. In both cases, the Web and associated search engines significantly lower the costs of search. Web-enabled search engines help users to search using multiple methods to ensure that they can find the right product even with limited available information. The system’s ‘user-friendliness’ reduces the ‘premium buys’, where the user goes around the procurement system and incurs higher processing and product costs (Kalakota and Robinson, 1999).#p#分页标题#e#
Order Processing
Web-based procurement systems involve electronic document routing and information flow, thus reducing the labour costs incurred on manual processing. They can automatically route product requests for the necessary approvals and order placements with suppliers. This reduces the transaction cycle time, and gets the materials to the user much faster. As the system requires only minimal data inputs during the information-processing cycle, many former sources of errors are eliminated. Thus, Web-based procurement processing reduces the cycle time, minimises errors, and lowers processing costs.
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Monitoring and Control
Organisations can achieve the twin objectives of responding effectively to user needs and leveraging their combined buying power. Users can search the catalogue to identify the most cost effective supplier to place their orders. Corporate B2B managers can aggregate the demand for a product so as to negotiate a more competitive price, and then make the product available to the various business units of the enterprise (irrespective of their size or location). Centralised control, combined with the availability of an increased range of items on the electronic catalogue, motivates more users to order through the e-procurement system, thereby reducing the number of premium buys. Thus, Web-based monitoring and control reduce both the average product price and the incidence of premium buys.
Coordination
One of the major advances of a Web-based Inter organisational system (IOS) over a traditional IOS is its ability to support increased and more complex coordination. When fulfilling an order, procurement personnel often need to communicate and exchange information with suppliers and users. A Web-based procurement system provides real-time information flow, and is less costly to coordinate with suppliers and users. This leads to faster resolution of problems and shortens order cycle time. The low communication costs of the Web and the shorter time spent by the procurement staff for coordination therefore often results in lower transaction costs.
Business to business communication is also enhanced with the use of Extensible Markup Language (XML) tags. This makes it easier to search information within a web page due to the content description. While hypertext markup language (HTML) describes how data should be presented, XML describes the data itself. A number of industries and scientific disciplines such as medical records and newspaper publishing are already using XML to exchange information across platforms and applications. XML can be tailored to describe virtually any kind of information in a form that the recipient of the information can use in a variety of ways. It is specifically designed to support information exchange between systems that use fundamentally different forms of data representation, as for example, in the construction industry: information sharing between CAD and scheduling applications. The success of XML to enable the kind of open information sharing that is needed to integrate the building process hinges on finding a way to standardise architecture engineering construction (AEC) terminology. At present, different players within the AEC industry use the same term in somewhat different ways. For example, a door can be, depending on context: (1) an opening in a wall; (2) an assembly consisting of a frame, a leaf, and hardware; (3) a scheduling item; (4) a cost item; (5) a product to be manufactured and delivered; or (6) a building asset to be tracked and managed. An industry-specific implementation of XML will need to be precise enough to clarify these different usages and be flexible enough to grow over time.#p#分页标题#e#
In the construction industry, computer weekly (2001) reported that the availability of B2B market places have often failed to alter the working practices. As a demand-pull mechanism, B2B systems have not attracted construction companies. The main reason for this is that the collaboration within construction is needed at the project level, rather than at the firm level. This has fuelled the marketability of systems for web enabled project collaboration, rather than B2B tools.
Sources for more information on business to business applications:
1. Computer weekly in their issue of 25th June 2001 gives a sectoral comparison of B2B implementations. (see for more details)
3. Wise, R. and Morrison, D. (2000), “Harvard Business Review”, 78, 6, pp 86-96
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4. Omelayenko, B and Fensel, D. (2001), “A Two-Layered Integration Approach for Product Information in B2B E-commerce”, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Electronic Commerce and Web Technologies (EC WEB-2001), LNCS 2115, Munich, Germany, September 4-6, 2001, pp. 226-239.
3.8 Enterprise Resource Planning
The previous section dealt with business to business applications. This section looks at the perspective of a single firm and its application which integrate into its supply chain.
An enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is an integrated enterprise computing system which automates the flow of material, information and financial resources among all functions within an enterprise on a common database. A wrong ERP system therefore, would either fail the project or weaken the system to an adverse impact on company performance. Due to limitations in available resources, the complexity of ERP systems, and the diversity of alternatives selecting an ERP project is a time consuming task. Several methods have been proposed for selecting a suitable ERP project or management information system. The scoring method based on predetermined criteria for assessment is one of the most popular methods.
ERP systems have advanced from the Material Resources Planning (MRP) systems in the 1970’s and the Material Requirements Planning (MRP II) systems in the 1980’s. The shortcomings of the MRP II led to the development of total integrated solutions in the emerging ERP. ERP attempts to integrate the supply chain within the manufacturing environment of an organisation.
Total quality management (TQM) and business process reengineering (BPR) movements are believed to be among the contributing factors to the heightened attention of the deployment of IT in key business functions (Solimon, 1998). Several researchers point to the linkages between ERP and BPR where the former is considered a driving technology of BPR. ERP systems are seen to be effective in tying the business functional units with the various organisational information systems and their associated databases; which, in the end, can support the strategic aims of modern organisations (Soliman and Youssef, 1998). One of the modern challenges in ERP adoption is flexibility assurance. Organisations will always need to integrate newly acquired business functionalities into its data processing systems with the minimum time possible (Gupta, 2000). The flexibility of ERP systems refers to the extent to which an ERP system may be dynamically reconfigurable to define new business models and processes (Stedman, 1999). However, one of the major drivers of implementing ERP systems is their competence in being designed based on best practices, and their ability to standardise business processes and systems (Cook and Peterson, 1998; Keller and Teufel, 1998). Organisations view ERP enabled standardisation as a vital means to integrate dispersed organisational systems. This extends to include seamless access to information organisation wide, in order to make informed decisions on strategic and daily business matters (Osterle et al, 2000). However, standardisation in an ERP context is not without certain shortcomings, as this might be achieved at the cost of flexibility, which is another important business requirement for organisations to accommodate vis-à-vis emerging changes in business processes and IT systems (Osterlie et al, 2000). Furthermore, it is in the ERP package selection phase, that a balance between standardisation and flexibility should be considered, based on a careful determination of industrial and organisational demands (Keller and Teufel, 1998). Attention to other important factors is also important to ensure a balanced implementation approach.#p#分页标题#e#
The adoption of ERP system in an organisation therefore requires intense efforts, focusing on both technological and business themes of implementation. Critical to the success of these efforts is the adequate organisational preparedness for embarking on ERP. Traditionally ERP systems have been used by large firms operating within capital intensive industries. Accordingly, large firms within the manufacturing, aerospace, defence and construction industries have all used ERP in the past (Al-Mashari, 2002). Huin (2004) also confirms this view that ERP projects have been the domain of the larger organisations. Features and business process flow have therefore been designed based on
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practices in the large organisations. Therefore, small to medium enterprises (SME’s) should be cautious in undertaking ERP activity due to the heavy investment and the timescale of the gains in the business improvement cycle.
Benefits of ERP
Supply chain capabilities of ERP can increase efficiency and productivity for their users. By linking supply chain applications with other business systems, users can reduce cycle times and inventory costs. According to Davenport (1998), enterprise systems also have a direct impact on a company’s organisation and culture. On the one hand, by providing universal, real time access to operating and financial data, the systems allow companies to streamline their management structures, creating flatter more flexible and more democratic organisations. However, ERP systems also involve the centralisation of control over information and the standardisation of processes, which are qualities more consistent with hierarchical, command and control organisations with uniform cultures.
Gupta (2000) finds that successful implementation of ERP relates to securing top management commitment. This forms a cross functional task force which can link project management with business units, but requires carrying an assessment exercise of hardware requirements, making deployment incremental, rather than all at once. This naturally means starting planning early on user training and support, streamlining decision making to move implementation quickly, and being patient, as ERP implementation often takes considerable time to reap benefits. Cissna (1998) finds that factors relating to top management support require the assignment of key personnel, using implementation teams and a strong involvement of people from the field (which is important in reducing the resistance to change) involved in ERP implementation.
There is an element of cautiousness being employed in implementing ERP in the construction industry, where more than 90% of the firms are currently SME’s. This is predominantly because it involves a huge investment in terms of time, money and other resources. Therefore, the focus has been on large client organisations, engineering and design firms. The goal of an ERP system within construction firms is to promote a single point of entry for information, and to make it available to all the participants within the organisation.#p#分页标题#e#
ERP systems could be used in the construction industry for the following purposes:
• improve responsibilities in relation to customers
• strengthen supply chain partnerships
• enhance organisational flexibility
• improve decision-making capabilities
• reduce project completion time and cost
Connor and Dodd (2000) introduce “R/3” as software that deals with ERP within the construction industry. The results of this study are: A common satisfaction point about the R/3 software is its systems conducted a survey to evaluate the functionality and adequacy of the R/3 software in the construction industry. Some integration, within materials management, procurement, fixed assets, resource planning, budgeting/availability control, project management, and asset accounting. Specific areas of dissatisfaction with R/3 project execution functional areas included too many accounting settlement rules, an inability to forecast additional cost, lack of engineering work request functionality, cash flow planning deficiencies, awkward confirmation process and determination of percentage complete based on physical progress.
3.9 Enterprise Application Integration
Enterprise application integration (EAI) is about integrating the various enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management (SCM), customer relationship management (CRM) and electronic commerce (EC) systems to enable organisations to improve their focus of using information systems
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(IS) to support their operational and financial goals. As mentioned earlier, enterprise systems promise seamless integration of all the information flowing through a company, such as financial, accounting, human resources information, supply chain information, and customer information. Davenport (1998) reports that businesses around the world are spending over 10 billion dollars per annum on enterprise systems. As EAI is designed to address problems of information fragmentation in large organisations, small firms need to express cautiousness in investing on EAI systems. At its core, is a single comprehensive database that integrates all the applications. The database collects data from, and feeds data into modular applications, supporting virtually all of a company’s business activities.
During the 1990s, companies bought packaged software solutions such as SAP, Oracle ERP, PeopleSoft, J. D Edwards, Siebel, Clarify, and so on. Although such packaged software solutions worked well individually, they created information islands. In most cases, each system produced redundant information (like customer information). As a result, when common data changed, employees manually updated the associated information in each system, a process that quickly became cumbersome. Eventually, some of the data across systems became inconsistent. When people noticed the resulting double data entry, inconsistent data, and data isolation problems, they decided to find ways to integrate the systems. From that search, enterprise application integration emerged. EAI combines separate applications into a cooperating federation of applications. Two logical integration architectures for integrating applications exist: Direct point-to-point connections, and middleware-based integration.#p#分页标题#e#
Point-to-point integration
EAI developers pursue point-to-point integration because they find it easy to understand, and is quick to implement when they only have just a few systems to integrate. A point-to-point integration example: One application makes a direct JDBC (Java Database Connection) call to another application's database tables. Initially, when you integrate two applications, the point-to-point integration solution seems like the right choice; however, as you integrate additional applications, you get a situation shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6. Later Stages of Point-to-Point Integration
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Considering this dilemma, point-to-point integration's infrastructure proves to be brittle. Each application is tightly coupled with the other applications through their point-to-point links. Changes in one application may break the applications integrated with it. Another disadvantage to note is the number of integration points that require support. If you have five applications integrated with each other, you will need 10 different integration points, as Figure 7 illustrates. As such, each additional application becomes harder to integrate and maintain.
Figure 7. Number of Point-to-Point Connections
To avoid this problem, an intermediate layer is needed which can isolate changes in one application from the others.
Middleware-based Integration
Middleware has stepped up to the task of providing a mediation point between applications. Middleware provides a generic interface, with which, all integrated applications pass messages to each other. Each interface defines a business process provided by an application. Figure 8 shows a logical depiction of the service-oriented architecture using middleware.
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Figure 8: Middleware-based Integration
A service-oriented architecture lets users add or replace applications without affecting the other applications. If you have five applications to integrate, you will have just five integration points. Compared to the point-to-point solution, middleware-based solutions can more easily support numerous integrated applications (and require less maintenance).
Integration Methods
Once the EAI architecture has been selected, the integration method needs to be selected. EAI has five common integration methods:
• Data-level integration
• User interface (UI)-level integration
• Application-level integration
• Method-level integration
For more details on the different integration methods refer the following:
Puschmann, T. Alt, R., (2001), „Enterprise application integration: the case of the Robert Bosch Group“, Proceedings of the 34th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Maui, Hawaii, USA.
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4.0 Summary and Conclusions
This workbook discussed various IT applications that have made an impact on construction industry performance. Due to the fragmented nature of the industry, construction IT uptake has been happening at a relatively slow pace, but is steadily growing. Web enabled IT applications as a whole is continuously growing within all facets of the construction supply chain and project life cycle. Evidence suggests that more and more projects will utilise web enabled collaborative software in the next few years due to the need to collaborate among a multitude of project partners. However, business to business and business to customer applications over the web have mainly focused on supply chain relationships with e-procurement and cataloguing applications becoming more prominent. As the majority of construction firms (more than 90%) consist of small to medium scale enterprises, ERP and EAI systems have received very little consideration. A technology that is becoming popular within construction in the recent years is mobile and wireless-based IT applications. In this context, RFID tagging and other wireless applications have a major scope for development within construction. This workbook covered some of the existing applications within construction that use this technology. However, a majority of the innovations in the construction industry are still stifled due to fragmentation and lack of interoperability. Therefore, technology-push innovations need to be driven in the industry, supported by collaborative research projects.
Please endeavour to follow up the web addresses and reading material supplied in the references workbook.
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