Abstract
Centralized digital information management is used to support project
management, management and distribution of project information, and to
promote cooperation in the building process. Today, a common interface
to centralized information storage is an Internet-based, project team
collaboration application developed for document and project management
and provided by application service providers (ASPs). Commercial
applications have been taken into use at a remarkable volume and in
recent years the construction industry has recognized the need for
assessment of benefits of them as well as benefits of ICT in more
general.This paper presents results of VTT’s ProCE research (Project
Management and Organization in the Concurrent Engineering Environment)
carried out 2000-2002. One objective of the Finnish-American research
project was to measure the impact of different Concurrent Engineering
(CE) environment features in multi-partner projects, showing the
available benefits. A framework for measuring the benefit of using the
CE-environment was created to evaluate benefits in case study projects.
With respect to related research carried out earlier, a specific
development is the qualitative benefit measurement. The model was
developed and tested mainly in the first analyzed case study, which, in
August 2000, was completed and handed over to the client in Finland.
Additionally, the framework was used in three other case studies, in
Sweden, Great Britain, and the USA. A fundamental conclusion of the
study is that by using digital information exchange and a modern CE
environment, significant qualitative benefits can be reached in a
multi-partner project. The CE environment makes it possible to change
the traditional information flow, thereby radically improving it at the
design and construction stages. In addition to qualitative benefits,
benefits measured in terms of time and money can be reached. However,
the study showed that indirect cost savings are difficult to
quantitatively measure in practice.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 35-63 |
| Journal | Journal of information technology in construction |
| Volume | 9 |
| Publication status | Published - 2004 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |