Micro- and macro-level context-aware information delivery for construction programme managers

The growth of mobile communications in recent years has transformed the way in which people and organisations communicate and interact. lt has revolutionised the construction industry in the way in which information is exchanged and viewed. Moreover, the use of various mobile project management tools and enterprise project management systems in construction management has been on the increase. The construction industry has greatly benefited from the advances in mobile communication technologies. However, the existing mobile applications in construction management only support the delivery of static modes of information (such as project data, technical drawings, risk assessment etc), it is pre-programmed and thus not able to take into account the workers' changing context, the dynamic project conditions and the level of project information. Mobile applications could be made responsive to users' wishes if they were context-aware. This is done by using technology that is capable of understanding the users' intentions by taking into account any relevant supporting information supplied for the purpose. This research adopted various research methods to achieve its objectives. A literature review on construction programme management and mobile context-aware computing was undertaken, followed by user requirements studies to provide detailed information requirements and identify the user needs. The information was analysed and resulted in the formulation of the system design goals and a conceptual model, which led to the development of the functional specification, system architecture and prototype development. The prototype system was demonstrated and evaluated interactively by construction programme managers, both in the UK and Malaysia. The main achievement of the research includes the analysis of the needs for a context-aware information system, the development of functional specifications and the interactive demonstration and validation of the concept by practising construction programme managers. The research concludes that the concept is achievable and that a mobile, context-aware, information system has huge potential to provide support for construction programme managers in making informed decisions in real time. Further recommendations have also been made to enable the realisation of the concept and to facilitate its adoption in the construction industry.