Knowledge management in development projects

The effective management of knowledge is now recognised as a vehicle through which the construction industry can address its need for innovation and improved business performance. The failure to capture and transfer project knowledge, which is usually buried in unread reports and arcane filing systems, or lost because people move on, leads to the increased risk of ‘reinventing the wheel’, wasted activity, and impaired project performance. Knowledge is therefore considered vital in creating competitive advantage in the new economy. Much of the growth in many global firms has been credited to knowledge, as new technologies and innovations are applied to the market and workplace. Knowledge management is therefore increasingly seen as an integral part of an organization’s competitive strategy as it facilitates continuous improvement through learning and innovation. This is now increasingly recognised by most sectors of industry, with many organisations appointing a Knowledge Manager or Business Improvement Manager, with responsibility for articulating and implementing the organisation’s knowledge management strategy. This paper argues that knowledge management is equally important in development projects and advocates the application of knowledge management practices to these projects. It introduces the key phases in knowledge management (creation, storage, sharing, modification, etc.) and explores how these can be implemented in development projects. The application of knowledge management to development projects is expected to result in numerous benefits including the transfer of lessons learned from one project to another, improved transfer of knowledge between developed countries and developing countries, and better management of human resources. This paper starts with a review of key knowledge management concepts, and outlines some of the characteristics of development projects. It then discusses the potential for knowledge management in development projects and concludes with a summary of the practical benefits to be gained

Industry perspectives of IT and e-commerce

In recent years several new IT-based technologies such as e-commerce have been developed, which if applied to the construction industry can prove beneficial. Before the implementation of new technologies and applications, it is essential to identify the factors that the industry perceives as being the enablers and barriers to the uptake of these applications for greater effectiveness. This paper presents the results of a survey undertaken to establish the views of industry practitioners on the uptake of IT (and ecommerce in particular) within the UK construction sector. The survey explored attitudes, current usage, barriers and enablers amongst other things. The findings of the survey are briefly discussed and outline ideas for more effective deployment of IT and e-commerce in construction organisations presented. The paper also tries to outline some future prospects for using e-commerce in the UK construction industry, based on responses to the survey

Case study of knowledge management implementation in a medium-sized construction sector firm

The transient nature of project teams and the competitive environment in which construction organizations operate require an effective mechanism to manage and reuse the knowledge created in the projects without straining its resources. A methodology for “live” capture and reuse of project knowledge was developed for the purpose and encapsulated into a software tool. A study was conducted of a medium-sized UK-based construction sector firm to investigate the use the software tool as the central strand of its knowledge management (KM) framework. The tool was subsequently designed to integrate with a staff profile system and an e-forum. The new system was intended to bridge the communication gap between the company’s geographically dispersed offices by connecting the people together and, hence, facilitating the timely sharing of both tacit and explicit knowledge. Top management’s commitment was found vital in the successful implementation of knowledge management and the nurturing of the desired supportive knowledge-sharing culture. To get the most through the implementation of knowledge management, the various knowledge management practices and relevant information systems of a construction organization need to be strategically integrated to improve the location, capture, and sharing of critical knowledge

The need for the creation of knowledge chains in construction

Performance improvement has been the subject of recent initiatives in the UK construction industry as a result of complex internal and external factors. These include demands from clients, investors and stakeholders for improvement and changes in market conditions. The need for performance improvement has led to the implementation of industry-specific key performance indicators (KPIs) and greater awareness of the benefits of measurement in construction engineering organisations. This paper presents and discusses findings based on the practical experiences of leading construction engineering organisations in the UK. A significant proportion of organisations are now using a range of financial and non-financial measures to assess business performance, and a growing number are adopting the Excellence Model and the Balanced Scorecard to facilitate a structured approach to implementing continuous improvement strategies. The paper concludes with some practical considerations for implementing performance measurement models

Preliminary case studies of knowledge flow in construction supply chains

A critical issue in Construction Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the effective management of knowledge through the whole project lifecycle. This issue involves the enhancements of the flow of knowledge within and between different sectors of construction supply chain as well as the accumulation, coding, and storage of knowledge in the organizations. A typical construction project is one-of-a-kind, temporary, and involves different tasks which are held by different professional and trade disciplines of construction supply chains. These different disciplines of the supply chain have to work closely in an intense environment over a period of months or even years. The information shared between these organizations varies from technical drawings and legal contracts to purchase orders, project reports, and schedules. Moreover, project knowledge which has to be shared within and between the organizations is interconnected and includes all the knowledge about the end product. Within such a complex environment, the efficient flow of project knowledge between all the sectors of construction supply chain will directly improve all the SCM efforts. This paper presents the findings of preliminary case studies on knowledge flow in construction supply chains. The supply chain management approach and the main problems regarding the supply chain and the knowledge management practices in two supply chains are discussed. It also presents the research method to identify the knowledge requirements of different sectors of the construction supply chains. It concludes that the application of a systematic approach to knowledge management in construction supply chains will bring enhance knowledge flow and enable these supply chains to become construction knowledge chains

Architecture for implementing IFC-based online construction product libraries

Construction product information providers have responded to the demand for electronic delivery by providing online access, CD-ROMs and DVDs but these solutions have limited usability and are generally incapable of supporting prevalent and emerging industry practices. The product library implementations attempt to replicate the functionalities of the paper versions, which serve for independent specification and procurement but gives little thought to teams and tools integration through support for automated information exchange and sharing. The IFC standard provides common terminologies, technologies, syntax and semantics necessary to address present and future compatibility and integration issues, hence IFC-based implementation of product libraries have good prospect for meeting the industry requirements. This paper reviews current product information delivery methods and examines the applicability of the IFC and other standards. The requirements for IFC-based construction product libraries are identified and an architecture for realising the requirements was presented

Towards implementing integrated building product libraries

Electronic product catalogues and brochures are gaining popularity but there is little agreement on content, format and searching methods. This limits their usability and integration with existing construction software tools. This paper examines a productmodelling approach to delivering building product information and describes a proposed multi-tier client-server environment. ISO/STEP and IAI/IFC building product models are considered to facilitate representation, exchange and sharing of product information. The proposed architecture incorporates scalability with middleware components that would provide single or few points of entry to integrated product information. This paper is part of a research project, which builds on the results of related projects including ConstructIT Strategy, PROCAT-GEN, Active Catalog, COMBINE and ARROW, towards implementing the required software components

Integrated use of technologies and techniques for construction knowledge management

The last two decades have witnessed a significant increase in discussions about the different dimensions of knowledge and knowledge management (KM). This is especially true in the construction context. Many factors have contributed to this growing interest including globalisation, increased competition, diffusion of new ICTs (information and communication technologies), and new procurement routes, among others. There are a range of techniques and technologies that can be used for knowledge management (KM) in construction organisations. The use of techniques for KM is not new, but many technologies for KM are fairly new and still evolving. This paper begins with a review of different KM techniques and technologies and then reports the findings of case studies of selected UK construction organisations, carried out with the aim of establishing what tools are currently being used in UK construction organisations to support knowledge processes. Case study findings indicate that most organisations do not adopt a structured approach for selecting KM technologies and techniques. The use of KM techniques is more evident compared to KM technologies. There is also reluctance among construction companies to invest in highly specialised KM technologies. The high costs of specialist KM technologies are viewed as the barrier to their adoption. In conclusion, the paper advocates integrated use of KM techniques and technologies in construction organisations

Improving performance measurement practices in construction organisations

Performance measurement (PM) is being practised by a variety of construction organisations and many are aware of its importance to them. It is necessary for organisations intending to extend businesses locally or globally and as an important ingredient for the strategy development process. The paper contributes to a growing body of knowledge on PM and describes a maturity model to help organisations to structure and organise the PM practices. In particular, it explores the importance of PM and potential tools such as the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) and the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model. These two tools are widely known and the most used in all sectors including construction to measure organisations’ performance. This paper focuses on current PM practices in two countries, UK and Malaysia. Information on knowledge and understanding of PM, PM processes, criteria, tools and models used and challenges in implementing PM was gathered using semi-structured interviews with twelve large construction organisations. The purpose of interviews was to seek the organisations’ views on how they approach and conduct PM and derive benefits from it. Results indicate that organisations understand what they can gain from implementing PM. It is being practised in organisations to help improve business and gain more profits. Involvement of all staff, managerial level to bottom level, is important either directly or indirectly in the PM process. Furthermore, all organisations agreed that the appropriate use of tools and models to measure performance simplifies the process and indicates how organisations can move in future. Financial and non-financial aspects are evaluated and measured for assessing organisations’ performance. However, PM for organisations remains a challenge. It is seen that organisations face difficulties not only in understanding the PM process but also where appropriate data for measuring performance can be sourced. A critical analysis of the literature reviewed and the interview results lead to ways of helping organisations to target relevant performance measures, based on their maturity level

Using historic cases to formulate appropriate sustainable building refurbishment strategy

Existing buildings are indispensable in a society and they will continue to exist until they reach the end of their service or economic life. While it is crucial to upkeep existing buildings, enhancing their sustainability is equally important as the energy performance of some older properties is usually less than satisfactory. Despite that, it is never easy for citizens to establish which is the most suitable sustainable refurbishment strategy for their properties. If historic cases can be captured and represented systematically, owners and occupants living in properties of similar types can review the outcomes of these cases to decide whether some sustainable building refurbishment solutions adopted by the others before are applicable to their property. In the paper, a prototype case-based reasoning model for sustainable building refurbishment is proposed. This paper demonstrates how to make use of the proposed model to retrieve and reuse previous cases to derive suitable sustainable building refurbishment strategies for existing buildings