Creation of a new design management system based on process optimization and proactive strategy

There are numerous designers involved in building design, and the various parties need information from each other as a basis for their design decisions. The design co-ordinator cannot be an expert on all information needs of every design discipline. The various designers, again, focus on their current work only, and neglect the planning of forthcoming design activities. This results in a lack of information, guess-work, idling and delays in the self-steering process. The end result is extensive redesign and problems in the construction stage. This article describes a design management system developed to minimize these problems. The system includes operational systematics to be followed by all the actors involved in the design process. Another part of the solution is a reference model on typical information needs by different designers in various stages and tasks of the design process. The system was developed as part of two actual building design processes.