A rational approach to computer integration in construction

In the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction fraternities, it is believed that effective design-management functions conducted during the early stages of a project have a significantly greater effect on project success than efforts taken during the actual project implementation. The quest for improvements in project performance is now moving from the site to the office, and the integration of proliferated construction design-management systems is therefore heralded as a possible means of improving efficiency in the industry. However, earlier attempts to integrate application software in design-management, just linked systems but ignored the flaws in the processes which include lack of consideration of the participants requirements, the type of information needed, as well as the means to co-ordinate and communicate information within the design-management domain. Furthermore, these systems have been developed to mirror the proliferation of complex and fragmented functions, disparate processes, and sub-processes characterised of the UK construction industry. Other shortcomings of the processes in construction include wasteful activities, duplication of functions, rework and the "rediscovery" of information, which make the sharing of common information in this domain very difficult. Currently, the use of object models to co-ordinate and communicate information is heralded as the new approach to support information sharing in construction. However, the separate views and interests of professionals in design-management lead each participant to investigate and communicate with others by using alternative or separate models for each discipline. Interpreting, extracting and re-entering the relevant information from one discipline to another and from one medium to another can be error prone, and also time consuming. This research is therefore focused on the development of a rational integrated framework for design-management activities, where a developed Unified Classification Scheme is super-imposed on object models to facilitate co-ordination and communication of information in the processes. The prerequisite of this approach, is the use of Business Process Re-engineering Methodology to tackle the arbitrariness in design-management processes, which militate against integration. As a means of demonstrating convincingly the rational integration concept, the research further develops an integrated framework and architecture, using suitable software packages such as MicroStation and a Triforma object-based project modelling add-on module to generate the design information. This information was aggregated into planning elements and then into bill items, where MS Access was used as the DBMS server in a Window NT environment. The evaluation of every facet of the integrated framework as well as the developed Unified Classification Scheme to co-ordinate and communicate information across disciplines in design-management was carried out on a live project which took the form of pilot studies and a case study. In addition to combining the use of a developed innovative framework with the interaction between processes and data to remove the identified flaws in design-management, the approach has also provided the means for the innovated processes to reflect the product generated. Apart from improving the productivity of design-management processes, the use of the cross-fertilisation between the developed Unified Classification Scheme and object models provided the means to achieve a more co-ordinated and effective communication of information across disciplines in design-management. It also provided consistent, speedy and efficient information management in this domain.