61 research outputs found
Business process implications of e-commerce in construction organisations
The need for construction to change its traditional working practices has been
repeatedly expressed in government, industry, and academic publications. The Internet
has been a major catalyst for change in most industry sectors, including the
construction sector. The implementation of Internet-based technologies, such as ecommerce
for achieving business targets, bring about changes in an organisation, its
current practices, systems, processes and workflows. It is therefore important to
evaluate the business process implications of adopting e-commerce in construction
organisations. This was the focus of this study.
The early stages of the research established the possible benefits, barriers, and
drivers for the adoption of e-commerce technologies within construction. This was done
by conducting an industry-wide survey that explored attitudes, current usage, barriers
and enablers of IT and e-commerce within the UK construction sector. Survey results
indicated that the exact benefits of using e-commerce within the construction industry
were not known and more needed to be done to establish the effects of incorporating
e-commerce applications into construction business processes and to demonstrate the
opportunities of e-commerce for construction.
To address this need a typical business process model that used the principles of
business process re-engineering and demonstrated opportunities for e-commerce, was
developed. Using this model it was possible to illustrate how, with the use of ecommerce
applications, different members of the construction supply chain could
derive business benefits and overcome traditional process inefficiencies. In order to
effectively adopt e-commerce technologies in construction, companies may have to reengineer
their current working methods, which could lead to a step change in current
work practices. To facilitate such a step change it was essential to study and document
the impact of specific e-commerce applications on their current end-user business
processes. Case studies were conducted for this purpose. The case study findings
showed that the end-user companies had accrued several business benefits from using
e-commerce tools. Issues related to management buy-in and organisational culture
were the main barriers to the wider use of e-commerce within the construction industry.
The case studies and earlier findings indicated that e-commerce is âhere to stayâ and it
will not be long before it becomes an industry norm.
Taking this into account, construction companies who are currently using, and
those who have yet to use, e-commerce tools need to take measures to successfully
adopt and benefit from these tools. It is important for companies that seek to adopt ecommerce
to assess their âe-readinessâ for adopting e-commerce tools to ensure a
productive and beneficial implementation of these tools. To address this need an ereadiness
model for construction organisations and a prototype application, VERDICT,
that assess e-readiness were developed and implemented. The model is based on the
premise that for any company to be e-ready, its management, people, process and
technology have to be e-ready in order to derive maximum business benefits.
The research findings indicate that the use of e-commerce is still in its infancy
within the construction industry. The current use of e-commerce has resulted in
process automation, however, there is no evidence of process re-engineering. Such
practices, although beneficial in the short-term, can have long-term implications in that
the end-users are not necessarily making full use of the technology and hence not
deriving full benefits from it. The model and e-readiness assessment prototype
developed as part of this study will enable construction organisations to successfully
adopt e-commerce and exploit its potential
Disseminating project learning in contracting firms
The construction industry is highly competitive with its clients demanding continuous improvement and highly innovative construction projects that are delivered to key performance indicators such as less time, reduced costs, high quality and fewer accidents. Capturing and disseminating lessons learned is one way of fostering project learning which in turn can contribute positively to continuous improvement. This paper proposes a roadmap that can foster project learning by addressing the challenges of capturing useful lessons learned and disseminating these in an effective manner.
The data collection was done in three stages. Firstly a questionnaire survey was sent to the top 122 UK construction contractors to understand current lessons learned practices; this included what the processes were, why they were used, how they were carried out, their usefulness and the perceived barriers to dissemination. Secondly, nine interviews were undertaken to gain a more detailed understanding of companiesâ lessons learned practices and the challenges experienced. The interviewees consisted of individuals based in the head offices of construction contractor organisations with responsibility for lessons learned practices. These respondents therefore provided the corporate view of what the organisations did. Thirdly, three focus group interviews where held with site based project teams. This provided a comparison between the corporate views and what happened on construction sites.
The roadmap proposed addresses the needs of both corporate and site teams for (1) identifying what is relevant, (2) the processes that should be adopted, (3) the content and format of lessons learned, (4) the types of repositories, (5) the dissemination mechanisms and (6) the feedback loops. Each of these stages is accompanied by checklists to provide examples of typical tools
3DIR: three-dimensional information retrieval from 3D building information modelling environments.
More and more information is being packed into Building Information Models (BIMs), with the 3D geometrical model serving as the central index to lead users to the many other types of building information. The Three-Dimensional Information Retrieval (3DIR) project investigates information retrieval from such environments, where information or documents are linked to a 3D artefact. In these situations, the 3D visualisation or 3D geometry of the building can be exploited when formulating information retrieval queries, computing the relevance of information items to the query, or visualising search results. Following reviews of literature in BIM/CAD and information retrieval, a clear gap was identified in the practice of information retrieval from BIM/CAD systems. End users were consulted to ascertain the precise user requirements in such an information retrieval system. Scenario-based design was adopted to design a software prototype. The 3DIR system was developed as an add-in under the Autodesk Revit BIM platform. The 3DIR prototype creates an index of all text data attached to the 3D model. The user is able to search for information by selecting specific 3D objects, by keyword and by specifying particular 3D regions of the model. Relationships between 3D objects are also used to rank search results. Search results are displayed by highlighting 3D objects in the 3D model. Findings from the evaluation of the prototype demonstrate its usefulness but suggest directions for future development. It is concluded that a tight coupling between text-based retrieval and the 3D model is extremely effective in 3D BIM environments
BIM-enabled âDigital by Defaultâ vision for fire safety
In England and
Wales, building regulations apply to the design and construction of new
buildings, extensions and changes of use. Regulation 38 (BRE, 2019) is a
requirement to provide fire safety information to the responsible person at the
completion of a project, or where the building or extension is first occupied.
Regulations require as-built Fire Safety Information to be handed over by the
design and construction teams to the responsible person to maintain and operate
a building with reasonable safety. The responsible person is the owner,
occupier, or manager of the building. The information would typically include;
a fire safety strategy of the building that accurately reflects the fire safety
precautions; and design and construction information, services information; and
information about fixtures, fittings and equipment. Unfortunately, Regulation
38 has been far from successful and the required information is rarely
communicated to the dutyholders in a manner that meets the intention of the
authors. There is no requirement for the information to be presented to either
the Fire Service or the Building Control Body for assessment. The requirement
is merely for the person carrying out the work to confirm that the required
information has been passed over (CIC, 2017). The guiding philosophy of
legislation requires organisations to assess the potential risks associated
with their work activities and to introduce effective measures to control
risks. However, in reality the current regulations set the bar too low, with
the industry looking to satisfy the minimum standards by the cheapest means
possible, magnified by a lack of approval scrutiny.
In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 that
killed 72 people, the UK Government commissioned the Hackitt Review (2018) of
building regulations and fire safety. The Hackitt Review calls for radical
change in culture in the construction industry and the regulatory system that
assigns responsibility and holds people accountable. It also states that the
Government should mandate a digital standard of record-keeping for design,
construction and occupation of new Higher Risk Residential Buildings (HRRB) and
refurbishments within HRRBs. A BIM-driven dataset is suggested, which requires
duty-holders to generate a suitable evidence-base through which to deliver
their responsibilities and maintain safety and integrity throughout the
lifecycle of a building. This paper will examine the requirements set out in
the Hackitt review and explores the need for a digital record of lifecycle
building information. It examines examine the role of BIM as an enabler of the
digital building information record and presents a conceptual framework that
enables rapid realisation of the digital by default vision, via a Safe by
Default Asset Delivery framework. It outlines the potential outcomes of the
safe by default approach and discusses the potential opportunities and
challenges likely to be considered if the BIM enabled âdigital by default"
vision was to be realised. <br
When will we learn? Improving lessons learned practice in construction
Purpose:
The aim of the research is to improve lessons learned practices within construction contractor organisations. This will result in contractors' project teams having access to the most relevant lessons at the most appropriate time, in the most appropriate format.
Scope:
The research was based on the responses of 41 large UK contractor organisations to a questionnaire survey, detailed interviews with nine companies and three focus groups. The respondents were senior and middle managers variously involved in business improvement, knowledge management, and technical services.
Results:
The questionnaire survey identified methods, tools and processes used to collect lessons learned. The interviews and the focus groups uncovered the diverging requirements of corporate vs. site-based staff. The data contributed to the development of a project learning model and a conceptual model from which a Project Learning Roadmap was derived to support business leaders to improve their project lessons learned processes. This will enable organisations to develop individual solutions tailored to stakeholders' needs
BIM for the management of building services information during building design and use
BIM for the management of building services information during building design and us
Facilitating BIM-based sustainability analysis and communication in building design process
Population growth and resource scarcity has created unprecedented demand of sustainable buildings around the world. During design and construction processes, meeting this demand is considered an extremely challenging task, at least due to following several reasons. Firstly, the long-term sustainability of a building is difficult to define, let alone assess. Although there are standard assessment methods (e.g. BREEAM, LEED) and specific client requirements, each participant of the process may have different views and approaches to sustainability owing to their disciplinary practices and experiences. Secondly, although the most critical time to make decisions on a buildingâs sustainable features is during the early stages of design, building performance analysis (for relatively easy to agree and accurately predict performance criteria, such as energy efficiency) is usually performed after the design and construction documents are produced. This practice results in lost opportunities to maximise the sustainability of building design and technology options. Thirdly, it is widely documented that the sustainability progress in the AEC/FM industry has been hampered by fragmentation, low innovation, adversarial relationships and slow adoption of Information Communication Technologies. The emergence of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has promised an accelerated progress of sustainable building development. BIM promotes integration among building professionals and improves design goals by allowing multi-disciplinary information to be integrated within a single model. This creates an opportunity to conduct the analysis throughout the design process, concurrently with the production of the design documents. Despite these expected benefits, the practice of using BIM for sustainability has not been widely embedded within the AEC/FM industry. In order to achieve a step change in current processes for optimal results, there is a need to define requirements of the process, tools, systems and stakeholders responsibilities of conducting sustainability assessment during the design stages of a building. To align with the industry practice, this should be based on the recently developed BIM Overlay to the RIBA Outline Plan of Work which offers a response to the UK Governmentâs commitment to have all projects utilising BIM from 2016. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review along with a conceptual model based on the RIBA Plan of Work 2013. The model describes the main stages of the sustainability design process and the key inputs and outputs of each stage
LOD object content specification for manufacturers within the UK using the IDM standard
UK manufacturers are gradually embracing the adoption of Level 2 Building Information Modelling (BIM) standards (3D models and embedded data) within their product model elements. However, these are not always well defined due to inaccuracies related to the scope and the content of the model attributes. Product Data Templates (PDTs) are currently being created as a solution to provide structured model element data to manufacturerâs clients. However, defining PDTs data has been particularly challenging for manufacturers, as there is a scarcity of content knowledge which includes BIM uses (i.e. electrical design) and processes (i.e. cable tray sizing) that support clientâs lifecycle processes. Similarly, few studies have investigated the Level of Development (LOD) that manufacturers should use to create their model element product data. In this paper, we therefore propose a generic industry approach to create and maintain model element product data at different LODs using the Information Delivery Manual (IDM) and we evaluate it for future improvement. The IDM can capture processes at the informational (i.e. attributes), behavioural (i.e. project stage), organisational (i.e. actor), and functional (i.e. business rules) level. A case study on Made to Stock Products for the Design use has been created to drawn recommendations for the behavioural and informational IDM perspective. In order implement the LOD on an industry basis and for its ease of use, we recommend matching the IDM Exchange models to a LOD graphical standard and keeping the BPMN free of stage bindings. This issue should be further studied for standardisation purposes. The benefit of this approach is that manufacturers could use the IDM to create product model element data in relation to their clientâs processes at different LODs for its inclusion within BIM Information Systems (IS)
Strategic e-business framework: a holistic approach for organisations in the construction industry
Strategic consideration and actions are crucial for organisations in the construction industry to
implement e-business successfully and have continuous improvement. However, only focusing on one concept is
not sufficient for construction companies to formulate their e-business strategy because of the fragmented needs
and requirements within the organisations. To address the industryâs specific needs and requirements, an ebusiness
strategy should include multiple elements rather than one element, and collaboration of partners
should lie at the heart of the e-business strategy. Also, the strategic approaches currently available for ebusiness
implementation are mainly âreactiveâ and lack a long-term consideration or vision. To improve ebusiness
implementation, it is important for organisations in the industry to create a positive organisational
culture and consider both the emergent and long-term needs across organisation boundaries. This paper
presents a Strategic e-Business Framework for organisations in the construction industry. The Framework
provides a holistic approach for e-business strategy formulation and implementation. Organisations in the
industry can work out a comprehension business solution for their e-business implementation using the
Framework. The recommendations are also presented to illustrate how the Framework can benefit organisations
in the construction industry potentially
Three-dimensional information retrieval (3DIR): A graph theoretic formulation for exploiting 3D geometry and model topology in information retrieval
The 3DIR project investigated the use of 3D visualization to formulate queries,
compute the relevance of information items, and visualize search results. Workshops identified the user needs. Based on these, a graph theoretic formulation was created to inform the emerging system architecture. A prototype was developed. This enabled relationships between 3D objects to be used to widen a search. An evaluation of the prototype demonstrated that a tight coupling between text-based retrieval and 3D models could enhance information retrieval but add an extra layer of complexity
- âŠ