The Implementation of information technology (IT) towards web-based project management in construction

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the past, Project Management meant the usage of traditional scheduling tools so as to calculate the critical path, level resources, distribute costs and ultimately produce the project schedule. In the world of today, project management has come a long way; projects have become complex affairs where various parties to the project are continuously generating information which needs to be efficiently documented, sorted and transmitted. In this regard there is clearly a need arising to effectively handle the communicative, collaborative and managerial aspects of projects so as to combine them into a whole where all project stakeholders work together in an integrated manner. In the recent past, communication of information between parties and stakeholders traditionally relied on the use of paper to convey information and graphic material and to maintain contact with the participating parties. With the usage of Information Systems, storage and distribution of this information by electronic means became an obvious success story; but it has only been recently that 'real' integration of all aspects of the project life-cycle and all participants in a project could be seen as achievable. The advent of web technology has provided an answer to handling project data in new, dynamic and interactive ways while at the same time accomodating for asynchronous collaboration among all involved in the project work. Development of web-based project management frameworks may now allow for integration of disjointed information and automate information flow throughout the project life-cycle so that an organisation's project processes are streamlined and communication constraints are overcome. Additionally, with intranet web-technology disjointed tool information may be brought to a common platform and used in such a way as to be available to all relevant participants located geographically apart. For instance, in the construction sector, multiple data types, such as CAD drawings, work schedules and accounts, may be brought together in an automated web-based environment so as to enable participants to remain well informed and successfully track project progress, in real time as changes occur, so that resource allocation may be timely done. In this way, effective decisions may be taken and project management processes are accordingly augmented.Web-enabled project management thus adds value due to being cost-effective, geographically indifferent, platform independent and technically extensible. It is fast becoming a source of productivity improvement to organisations the world over. An automative web-based project management environment takes advantage of sharing project multiple knowledge assets so that team communication and integration is enhanced 'virtually'.