Computer integration and the construction industry

Abstract

The construction industry is rich in information and involves the communication of this information between a large number of participants as well as across various phases of a construction project. The present method of transferring information from one participant to another is through the paper-based exchange of documents. This is extremely inefficient because of the frequent interpretation and re-entry of information that is required. Also, the information can be old, inaccurate, or unavailable when needed. It will be shown that here is a need to be able to directly link participants together through the use of system integration, standard protocols, and a central project database. Graphical models have been developed to represent the transfer of information within the construction industry given various technological scenarios. The models are then compared against the reference model (which is the way in which information transfer occurs presently). An industry survey was then conducted to supplement the models and to determine what impacts participants feel a central project database would have on the industry. The final product of this research is a set of refined graphical models to represent the transfer of information with the use of system integration, standard protocols, and a central project database.