Summary: |
Construction projects are becoming more and more sophisticated, as a result of increased client requirements, tighter budget and time frames, larger number of participants and more complex work processes. However, especially in the area of construction project management (CPM) these growing requirements are not yet sufficiently addressed by today's IT. Even though several systems integrating CAD, ERP and CPM tools have been developed and brought to market over the last years, there is still lack of efficient data and process interoperability for the purposes of CPM. Also, solutions are mostly proprietary, taking little account of established standards for the improvement of the quality of the product and the management processes. In this paper we analyse CPM processes in terms of the needed applications and on the basis of generalised industry requirements. We describe the construction management life cycle model and suggest an IT framework for an integrated CPM system that can bring together design, ERP and CPM tools on the basis of standardised shared data (IFC) and standardised quality management procedures (ISO 9001). Reported is work that started at the Istanbul Technical University on more practical terms and is now continued, generalised and expanded at the TU Dresden in the frames of a PhD study. |