Types of
Project Information
Construction projects inevitably generate enormous
and complex sets of information. Effectively managing this bulk of information
to insure its availability and accuracy is an important managerial task. Poor
or missing information can readily lead to project delays, uneconomical
decisions, or even the complete failure of the desired facility. Pity the owner
and project manager who suddenly discover on the expected delivery date that
important facility components have not yet been fabricated and cannot be
delivered for six months! With better information, the problem could have been
identified earlier, so that alternative suppliers might have been located or
schedules arranged. Both project design and control are crucially dependent
upon accurate and timely information, as well as the ability to use this
information effectively. At the same time, too much unorganized information
presented to managers can result in confusion and paralysis of decision making.
As a project proceeds, the types and extent of the
information used by the various organizations involved will change. A listing
of the most important information sets would include:
z cash flow and procurement accounts for each organization, z
intermediate analysis results during planning and design, z design documents,
including drawings and specifications, z construction schedules and cost
estimates,
z quality control and assurance
records,
z chronological files of project correspondence and
memorandum, z construction field activity and inspection logs,
z legal contracts and regulatory
documents.
Some of these sets of information evolve as the
project proceeds. The financial accounts of payments over the entire course of
the project is an example of overall growth. The passage of time results in
steady additions in these accounts, whereas the addition of a new actor such as
a contractor leads to a sudden jump in the number of accounts. Some information
sets are important at one stage of the process but may then be ignored. Common
examples include planning or structural analysis databases which are not
ordinarily used during construction or operation. However, it may be necessary
at later stages in the project to re-do analyses to consider desired changes.
In this case, archival information storage and retrieval become important. Even
after the completion of construction, an historical record may be important for
use during operation, to assess responsibilities in case of facility failures
or for planning similar projects elsewhere.
The control and flow of information is also
important for collaborative work environments, where many professionals are
working on different aspects of a project and
sharing information. Collaborative work environments provide
facilities for sharing datafiles, tracing decisions, and communication via
electronic mail or video conferencing. The datastores in these collaborative
work environments may become very large.
Based on
several construction projects, Maged Abdelsayed of Tardif, Murray & Assoc
(Quebec, Canada) estimated the following average figures for a typical project
of
US$10
million:
z Number of participants (companies): 420 (including all
suppliers and sub-sub-contractors) z Number of participants (individuals): 850
z Number of different types of documents generated: 50 z
Number of pages of documents: 56,000
z Number of bankers boxes to hold project documents: 25 z
Number of 4 drawers filing cabinets: 6
z Number of 20inch diameter, 20 year old, 50 feet high, trees
used to generate this volume of paper: 6
z Equivalent number of Mega Bytes of electronic data to hold
this volume of paper (scanned): 3,000 MB
z Equivalent number of compact
discs (CDs): 6
While there may be substantial costs due to inaccurate or
missing information, there are also significant costs associated with the
generation, storage, transfer, retrieval and other manipulation of information.
In addition to the costs of clerical work and providing aids such as computers,
the organization and review of information command an inordinate amount of the
attention of project managers, which may be the scarcest resource on any
construction project. It is useful, therefore, to understand the scope and
alternatives for organizing project information.
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