Summary: |
"Recently there are few big building construction projects in Japan, and it is accordingly a very important matter for general contractors how to get more efficiency in small-medium scale projects. The target of IT tool developments for construction project management has been shifted gradually form big projects to small-medium projects. Targeting at the project management of small-medium scale building construction, This paper describes the objectives, a methodology of IT-enabled process innovation.From an IT viewpoint, this paper discusses the following present states of small-medium construction projects in Japan; the problems that project managers are facing, and the characteristics of construction process. And this paper presents two case studies at construction sites to investigate the applicability of IT to construction processes. In the first case study, implementation of IT tools in construction processes is promoted. IT tools refer to the followings; several in-house management software, graphic software, 3D-CAD, e-mail, www, digital camera, web-camera, wireless LAN and so on. From this try, the methodology of categorization of project information is considered. The author himself worked as one of project managers in this construction project, consequently he had two roles both as a development staff and as a user of IT tools. So some empirical approach is included in this consideration. In the second case study, focusing on logistics, an Extranet is constructed among a general contactor and sub-contractors in order to share project data (ex. drawings or schedule .etc), to check on work progress with jobsite web-cameras from remote offices, to adjust schedules of incoming building materials. Through this experiment, possibility of IT-enabled process innovation is explored.In conclusion, this paper proposes a methodology of IT-enabled process innovation that derived from above studies, and describes the concept and the system composition of an Extranet saver for project management based on it." |