The role of information technologies to address data handling in construction project management

Abstract

Construction is an extremely information-dependent industry in which a project's success largely depends on good access to and management of data. Effective project management requires the characterization of its challenging issues and the use of appropriate tools for data handling. For this purpose, the construction industry is increasingly adopting the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in recent years. Given the acknowledged potential of ICT to bring about improvements in other industries, many initiatives have been undertaken to develop appropriate tools to support various tasks during the construction project lifecycle. This paper focuses on the proposals that use ICT to provide access to the data and take advantage of this access to manage crucial issues within project management such as costs, planning, risks, safety, progress monitoring, and quality control. The authors will demonstrate that suitable data handling facilitates and improves the decision-making process and helps to carry out successful project management. © 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.