Integrating product and process information in the construction sector
| Date | 01 April 2004 |
| Published date | 01 April 2004 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/02635570410525771 |
| Pages | 218-233 |
| Author | D. Bouchlaghem,A.G. Kimmance,C.J. Anumba |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
Integrating product and
process information in
the construction sector
D. Bouchlaghem
A.G. Kimmance and
C.J. Anumba
1. Introduction
A building evolves over a project's life cycle
through several stages from design and
construction to operation, maintenance and
demolition, and many tasks during the life
cycle, typically require the collaboration of a
multi-disciplinary team. The parties involved
during these stages, particularly with regard to
information management during design and
construction, include a variety of actors such as
clients, architects, contractors, consultants,
specialists, suppliers, and construction
managers, all exchanging large quantities of
complex information at different times and
locations, and each responsible for certain
aspects of the project. The type of information
and extent of detail would clearly be related to
the project and the parties involved but would
generally include the management of time, cost,
quality, health and safety, environmental
impact, and the exchange of information and
communications (i.e. administrative, technical,
financial or legal information, and the systems
and procedures that they use). Ideally, the
information management approach used during
the design and construction stages would
eliminate re-entering data, encourage design
and construction integration, enable the
systematic collection of paper based and
electronic information, and provide the
construction manager with the information
structure necessary to successfully construct a
building.
However, what is happening in the
construction industry as a whole is also
happening on the construction sites. In general,
the majority of operations and tasks contain the
basic work processes and are supported by
information technologies, but most systems are
far from being fully integrated. Different
professions also use their own unique processes
to carry out these operations and tasks, but
often have to rely on information supplied by
others. Communication therefore is largely
conducted by traditional means, mainly
formalised on paper, although the use of
electronic methods (such as e-mail, computer
CD-ROMs and the internet) is growing
(Kimmance et al., 2002). Different computer
applications support construction management
tasks at each stage of the process. However, a
The authors
D. Bouchlaghem is Reader in Architectural Engineering and
Design Management, A.G. Kimmance is Construction
Managing Director and C.J. Anumba is Professor of
Construction Engineering and Informatics, all in the
Department of Civil and Building Engineering, Loughborough
University, Loughborough, Leicester, UK.
Keywords
Operations and product management, Modelling,
Integration, Construction industry
Abstract
Collaborative working in construction projects is becoming
very important as many activities are usually performed
involving actors based in different geographical locations.
Recent years have seen the emergence and development of
a plethora of visual software modelling tools, modelling
standards, methods for wide enterprise concurrent
engineering, and techniques for exchanging and sharing
construction information between software applications.
This paper describes an integrated product and process
information modelling system developed to manage
information essential to construction managers. The
integrated conceptual model is based on information and
functional requirements and was developed to model both
product and process information in a hierarchical manner.
The also shows how the model relates to practice, and
presents the benefits that are gained from structuring
information using this approach.
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218
Industrial Management & Data Systems
Volume 104 .Number 3 .2004 .pp. 218-233
#Emerald Group Publishing Limited .ISSN 0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/02635570410525771
coherent and integrated information modelling
system is needed to better transfer construction
product and process information between the
design and construction stages, and between
members of the construction team. Many
product and process models, proposed to
integrate construction information, provide
guidelines to represent information flows that
form the basis for implementing computer
systems. Researchers are working on
information exchange and representations
standards, so that construction information can
be integrated and freely exchanged by different
computer information systems.
Recent research work in this area has focused
on enabling business process flexibility and
workflow integration to improve competitive
advantage (Sommer, 2003; Lau et al., 2003).
Here, many organisations are implementing
business process management solutions that are
enabled by enterprise resource planning (ERP)
systems with mixed results (Sommer, 2003;
Nikolopoulos et al., 2003). However and faced
with the financial and technical barriers of using
traditional information exchange techniques
such as EDI (Jun and Cai, 2003) and the
process integrations problems when
augmenting ERP systems with customer and
supplier extensions, many organisations in the
manufacturing sector are adopting flexible
e-business solutions based on Web technologies
(Sommer, 2003).
1.2 Problems with the construction
industry
The fragmented nature of the construction
industry is well known, with a typical project
involving up to six or more different
professional disciplines. This has led to
numerous problems including, inter alia:an
adversarial culture; the fragmentation of design
and construction information with data
generated at one stage not being automatically
available for re-use downstream; and the lack of
real life cycle analysis of projects (Anumba and
Evbuomwan, 1997). It is now recognised that
the adoption of new business processes based
on concurrent engineering (CE) principles will
provide a means of overcoming these problems,
and improve the competitiveness of the
construction industry. Among other things, this
requires the development of an integrated
product and process information system that
offers the potential for improved collaborative
working, with all members of the project team
working together at the early stages of a project
to resolve key ``downstream'' issues, with shared
ownership of design rationale and decision
making (Anumba et al., 1998).
Previous studies have focused on modelling
either the product or the process, without
adequate consideration of the implications of
one on the other (Kimmance et al., 2003).
Indeed many research projects (some based on
European initiatives) have been devoted to the
description of the product to be designed or
achieved with the aim of providing an
``automated way'' of archiving and exchanging
data (Dubois et al., 1995). However, this
description has proved inadequate since,
although enabling a good implementation of
software tools, it neither provides visibility of
the roles of the actors involved in the
construction process nor improves information
exchange. Furthermore, the modelling of
processes necessary to generate the product are
largely ignored. Therefore, what is needed is a
system that is capable of integrating product
and process information, visualising graphical
modelling data, and provides links to other
various heterogeneous information sources
within the AEC industry.
This paper describes a prototype system for
the integration of product and process
information in construction projects. Although
we recognise that this concept is not new, we
see its application in the construction sector as a
novel development.
2. An integrated information system
2.1 Functional requirements for the
integrated information system
The initial aim of improving collaboration and
communications between construction team
members, clients, and other organisations
providing specialised services provided a
powerful justification for the work described in
this paper. The need for integrated information
modelling systems capable of accommodating
both product and process information is
becoming vital for construction companies in
acquiring, structuring, manipulating, and
219
Integrating product and process information in the construction sector
D. Bouchlaghem, A.G. Kimmance and C.J. Anumba
Industrial Management & Data Systems
Volume 104 .Number 3 .2004 .218-233
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