Potential positive impacts of digitalization of construction-phase information management for project owners

Qais K. Jahanger,Catarina Pestana,David Trejo,Joseph Louis

doi:10.36680/j.itcon.2021.001

Abstract

Productivity in the US construction industry has been widely reported to be on the decline and among several causes identified, the lack of innovation in project management practices has been described as having led to lost productivity, especially in the face of growing project complexity and the increasing need for enhanced stakeholder collaboration. Digitalization has the potential to improve project management and thus help in reversing this decline in productivity. However, several public agencies have not fully adopted construction or document management software, known herein as digital construction-phase information management (DCIM) systems. This paper identifies the potential positive impacts that stem from the use of such technologies towards project management with the goal of incentivizing their use. Eighteen such potential positive impacts of DCIM systems on project management for public owners were identified and verified using a systematic literature review and statistical analysis of survey responses from industry professionals. Furthermore, a comparison between two representative types of public owners was performed to identify how owner preferences vary in the industry. The results show an overall agreement amongst end-users regarding the identified potential positive impacts of DCIM systems. The result further identified the top five potential positive impacts with a significant strong agreement. The analysis also identified differences in what impacts were most significant to the two types of tested sub-populations. These findings can enhance project owners’ understanding of the potential positive impacts brought using digitalization in the project administration and delivery process. This research can also enhance DCIM systems developers’ understanding of the needs of end-users, particularly project owners, and guide the development of future solutions for project administration and delivery.

Highlights

Construction is a broad and fragmented industry that has been noted to struggle to meet project requirements in terms of cost, time, and productivity (Woetzel et al, 2017, Teicholz, 2013)
Since project owners are involved in the administration, inspection, and commissioning of construction projects, it is necessary to obtain their perspective on digital construction-phase information management (DCIM) systems to increase overall industry productivity. In light of these knowledge gaps regarding DCIM systems, the goal of this paper is to identify and assess potential positive impacts of digitalization of construction-phase information management for project owners with the larger goal of increasing and facilitating its adoption, especially by public agencies
To achieve the research goal and fill gaps in the literature regarding owners’ perceptions of Potential Positive Impact (PPI) of DCIM systems, the methodology created by the authors and shown in Fig. 3 is followed to answer the following research questions (1 and 2) that are associated with Objectives 2 and 3 respectively

Summary

Introduction

Construction is a broad and fragmented industry that has been noted to struggle to meet project requirements in terms of cost, time, and productivity (Woetzel et al, 2017, Teicholz, 2013). State departments of transportation (DOTs) are mostly responsible for infrastructure such as highways and bridges, while public universities (PUs) are usually responsible for facilities such as educational buildings and research laboratories They act as owners to capital-intensive infrastructure or facilities development projects. E-Construction is the only digitalization effort that will be presented in this literature review, its concepts and methods are representative of and applicable to other public agencies such as PUs, departments of public works, and water resources departments. This is because the US public agencies are, in general, similar in their organizational structures or in how they obtain public funding and deliver projects. Digital management of all construction documentation in a secure environment allowing distribution to all project stakeholders through mobile devices (Center for Accelerating Innovation, 2016)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion