Investigation of Electronic Document Management Applications in the Construction Projects: Case Study in Jordan

Abstract

Document Management System (DMS) is always known to be vital for management of the complexity of construction projects. This study aims at investigating the opinions of DMS practitioners regarding the use of an Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) in construction projects. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 91 respondents involved in the construction projects. The respondents were asked to evaluate the extent, motivations and challenges of applying EDMS in the construction projects in Jordan. According to the survey results, only 8.8% of the respondents described the document system in their construction projects as mostly electronic, while 38.5% described their document system as using an almost similar percentage of electronic and paper-based documents. The results also showed that the top motivation to the application of EDMS in the construction projects is the improvement of search and retrieval of information, while the top challenge is the high expected financial cost of EDMS. This study helps to evaluate the existing DMS, and investigate the motivations, challenges and opportunities to improve EDMS implementation and application in the construction projects.KeywordsDocument managementConstruction managementConstruction projectsElectronic document management system