Developing construction assistant experience management system using people-based maps

Abstract

Experience management encompasses the processes governing creation, storage, reuse, maintenance, dissemination and evaluation of experience relevant to a particular situation or problem-solving context. In the construction industry, experience can be reapplied and shared among engineers and participants to enhance construction processes and minimize costs and problem-solving time. This study presents a novel people-based maps (PBMs) approach that captures and represents engineer experience and project knowledge. This approach enables users to survey and access engineer and expert experience from similar projects and assess their tacit and explicit experience. This study applies experience management principles to the construction phase of construction projects and develops a construction assistant people-based map experience management (APMEM) system for contractors. The APMEM system is then applied to a Taiwan high-tech construction project to verify the efficacy of the proposed methodology and demonstrate the effectiveness of sharing experience during the construction phase. Experience can be captured and reused to benefit future projects by effectively utilizing PBMs and web technology during the construction phase of a project. Combined experimental results of this study indicate that an APMEM system provides an effective experience management platform for other construction projects by adopting a PBMs approach.