Information Management for Collaboration in Construction
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This item was submitted to Loughborough’s Institutional Repository (https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/) by the author and is made available under the following Creative Commons Licence conditions. For the full text of this licence, please go to: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ Improvements in the Effectiveness of Information Management in Construction Organisations Abdullahi Sheriff Buro Happold Consulting Engineers Centre for Innovative and Collaborative Engineering Lower Bristol Road, Department of Civil & Building Engineering Bath. Loughborough University BA2 3DQ Loughborough Leicestershire, LE11 3TU IMPROVEMENTS IN THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION ORGANISATIONS. By Abdullahi Sheriff A dissertation thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree Doctor of Engineering (EngD), at Loughborough University [May 2011] © BY ABDULLAHI SHERIFF 2011 Buro Happold Consulting Engineers Centre for Innovative and Collaborative Engineering Lower Bristol Road, Department of Civil & Building Engineering Bath. Loughborough University BA2 3DQ Loughborough Leicestershire, LE11 3TU ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT To begin with, I give all praise to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, the creator of the heavens, the earth and everything in them. My Lord, my King and the one I call on in the brightness of the day and in the darkness of the night; in public and in private; in misery and in joy; in sickness and in health. An endeavour of this magnitude requires the support of many and indeed many have contributed to make it possible. My sincere gratitude goes to Prof. Dino Bouchlaghem, Dr Steven Yeomans and Dr Ashraf El-Hamalawi for their unwavering support, guidance and time reading through numerous papers, reports and multiple drafts of this thesis. Particularly, I thank Dino Bouchlaghem for inspiring me to pursue the EngD and Steve Yeomans for his exceptional support first as my Industrial supervisor and then as my Academic Supervisor. I also owe a depth of gratitude to my industrial sponsor, Buro Happold and the many great people it employs without whom none of this would have been possible. Special thanks to the CEO and chief collaboration champion Gavin Thompson for his inspiration and guidance as well as my industrial supervisor Shaun Mundy for his mentorship, support and sponsorship through the EngD process. I also extend my warm gratitude to the many individuals and institutions with whom I collaborated through this research, including the many academics at Loughborough University, Bath University, Penn State University (USA), Harvard Business School (USA) and the many company and industry experts – too numerous to mention - who supported this journey. To my exceptional family, my dear parents Mr and Mrs M.A. Sheriff, brothers and sisters, Ali, Aisha, Abubakar, Yusuf and Fatima, thank you for the unending prayers and for your patience. My loving thanks also go to my beloved wife Aisha, whose phenomenal support, particularly in the difficult final few months helped me to see it through. Finally, I extend my warm gratitude to you - the reader - for taking the time to read and study this work. I hope and pray that you find it interesting, thought provoking, enlightening and of immense benefit. Alhamdulillah, Abdullahi Sheriff i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT ABSTRACT Managing information effectively is crucial for improving processes within organisations. To this end, a more holistic approach is required which aligns the organisations information and technology needs with its people, processes and business model. This should shift the emphasis from collaborating on individual projects to a long term view of how best to support an organisation’s business strategy. It also shifts the emphasis from managing information (storing information to exploit it) to managing with information (harnessing information to gain competitive advantage across the organisation). This thesis is the culmination of a four year EngD research critically investigating improvements in the effectiveness of Information Management (IM) in construction industry based organisations. It begins with an introduction to the research, its aims and objectives, and then presents a detailed review of related literature about the subject matter and the methodology employed in conducting the research. The eight research tasks carried out using extensive, varied and appropriate methods including literature reviews, case studies, interviews, surveys and workshops are then explained based upon which a number of key recommendations are drawn. The findings define IM as distinct from Information Technology (IT) and Information Systems (IS) and provide a critical insight into IM in construction industry based organisations including its strategic drivers, key influencers and barriers. It further highlights the four components of a holistic approach to IM as: • The Content Model - the nature and structure of the content including metadata; • The Enterprise Model - operational structure of the company including its business processes and information dependent activities; • Systems and Technology - the most appropriate technological solutions in light of the defined content and enterprise models; and • Implementation and Change Management - support for people and managing the transition into improved ways of working. The findings show that a clear alignment between an organisations information needs and its operational processes is key to developing and implementing an effective IM strategy. It shows that a unified approach is more appropriate for organisations than a single approach as certain multi-dimensional context specific factors exist which influence the nature of each organisations needs and therefore most suitable solutions to address them. The findings also demonstrate the importance of metadata in integrating organisations and enabling a holistic IM Strategy. A standard IM framework is developed and validated which provides a structured and systematic approach for organisations seeking to develop suitable metadata standards to meet their needs. The holistic approach applied to a number of case studies provides novel insights into the use of metadata in information retrieval; the development of aligned information architecture and the creation of holistic strategies for improving knowledge sharing and innovation. The thesis concludes with a critical review of the research and a number of key recommendations for organisations, IM research and the wider construction industry. All the findings and insights have been and continue to be disseminated through a number of peer reviewed publications. iii ABSTRACT KEY WORDS Information Management; Collaboration; Metadata; Strategy and Operations. iv PREFACE PREFACE The research presented within this thesis was commenced in 2007 and completed in 2011 in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Engineering Doctorate (EngD) at the Centre for Innovative and Collaborative Engineering (CICE), Loughborough University. The research was conducted within an industrial context and sponsored by Global Multidisciplinary Consultancy, Buro Happold. The EngD is examined on the basis of a discourse (i.e. the thesis) supported by a minimum of three peer reviewed publications and technical reports. Presented within the appendix section of this thesis are three journal papers (1 accepted and 2 currently in review) and two conference papers all of which were authored by the candidate. The main body of the text provides an in-depth overview of all the work undertaken, the findings and its implications. Specific details are explained within the papers included in the appendix section, each of which is duly referenced within the text by a paper Number (3 - 7) and the appendix number (1.0 – 5.0). The papers are an integral part of the thesis and should be read in conjunction with it. v vi TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................... I ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................................................... III KEY WORDS ...................................................................................................................................................... IV PREFACE .............................................................................................................................................................. V TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................................. VII LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................ XI LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................................ XII ACRONYMS / ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................ XIII LIST OF PAPERS ............................................................................................................................................. XV 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 17 1.1 BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................................