BENEFITS OF COLLABORATIVE ICT ADOPTION FOR BUILDING PRIJECT MANAGEMENT

The Authors
Vanita Ahuja, New Delhi, India
Jay Yang, Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Ravi Shankar, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India

Abstract
Purpose – Effective flow of data and communication at every stage of a construction project is essential for achieving required coordination and collaboration between the project participants, leading to successful management of the projects. In present scenario, when project participants are geographically separated, adoption of information communication technology (ICT) enables such effective communication. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to focus on ICT adoption for building project management. Design/methodology/approach – It is difficult to quantitatively evaluate the benefits of ICT adoption in the multiple enterprise scenario of building project management. It requires qualitative analysis based on the perceptions of the construction professionals. The paper utilizes interpretive structural modeling (ISM) technique to assess importance of perceived benefits and their driving power and dependence on other benefits. Findings – The developed ISM model shows that all the categories of benefits, i.e. benefits related to projects, team management, technology, and organization are inter-related and cannot be achieved in isolation. But, organization- and technology-related benefits have high-driving power and these are “strategic benefits” for the project team organizations. Thus, organizations are required to give more attention on strategically increasing these benefits from application of ICT. Originality/value – This analysis provides a road map to managers or project management organizations to decide that if they are planning ICT adoption for achieving certain benefits then which are the other driving benefits that should be achieved prior to that and also which are the dependent benefits that would be achieved by default.

Introduction
Construction projects require effective collaboration and coordination among the diverse project participants. It can be achieved by effective communication between all the project participants. Such co-ordination and effective communication is crucial in order to achieve quality standards and to reduce the cost of production effectively (Villagarcia and Cardoso, 1999).
Construction projects are managed by designated project managers, architects, or contractors on behalf of the client or by the clients themselves depending upon the contract and the project type. Effective communication is important to monitor and control projects' activities according to the project plans and for achieving project goals. Thus, the effectiveness of the project manager to communicate, evaluate, and feedback to the rest of the project team during each stage of the project life-cycle determines how efficiently a project's goals will be achieved (Alshawi and Ingirige, 2002).
Communication or data handling often takes about 75-90 percent of project managers' time in the construction industry (Fisher and Li Yin, 1992; Alshawi and Ingirige, 2002). Information communication technology (ICT) is required not only to free up project managers for more decision-making tasks but also to deliver the required levels of “consistency and reliability” of information in the construction supply chains because use of incorrect or incomplete data can compromise the scheduled completion of a project and lead to wastage of resources (Sturges and Bates, 2001). Multi-enterprise scenario of construction projects requires collaborative use of ICT by all the project team organizations, i.e. extent of ICT adoption for managing a project is to be planned before the start of the project, leading to uniform ICT adoption by all the project team organizations.
ICT is being adopted for construction project management. But to date, a methodology has not been developed for the construction industry to examine the potential contributions of information management strategies in efforts to reduce overall project schedule and cost (Back and Moreau, 2000). This inability to quantify process improvements and uncertainty of benefits from process and cultural changes is one of the primary barriers for effective implementation of ICT for construction project management. As a result, the benefits of ICT adoption are primarily perception based and not quantifiable and these perceived benefits define the extent of ICT adoption by the construction industry. Certain benefits drive other benefits and certain benefits are dependent on some benefits. Construction professionals require understanding of this driving power and dependence relationship between the benefits to plan strategic adoption of ICT for building project management.
Research methodology
Construction projects can be categorized under building construction projects and engineering or infrastructure projects. Requirement is to study ICT adoption for both the categories of projects separately, as the characteristics of supply chain issues, management procedures, and contract conditions are different for both the categories of projects. In this research study, research variables are the perceived benefits of ICT adoption for building project management. Authors have identified 31 important perceived benefits from literature and after discussion with the experts from the industry and academics. Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) technique has been used to analyze the relation between these benefits and to understand the dependence and driving power of each benefit with respect to other benefits. This analysis will help the managers to decide that, if they are planning ICT adoption for achieving certain benefits then what are the other driving benefits that should be achieved prior to that, and also, what are the dependent benefits that would be achieved by default. It requires examination of direct and indirect relationships between the benefits of ICT adoption rather than considering these benefits in isolation.
ISM analysis led to the development of a model represented in the form of a diagram, showing the relationship between the studied variables. A questionnaire survey was conducted in the Indian construction industry to assess the importance of each identified benefit as perceived by the organizations involved in managing building projects. Results of ISM analysis were validated by comparison with the analysis of the responses received through the questionnaire survey.
ISM has been used by researchers for understanding direct and indirect relationships among various variables in different industries. It has been used to study higher education program planning (Hawthorne and Sage, 1975), energy conservation in Indian cement industry (Saxena and Sushil, 1992), vendor selection criteria (Mandal and Deshmukh, 1994), important elements for the implementation of knowledge management in Indian industries (Singh et al., 2003), strategic decision making in managerial groups (Bolaños and Nenclares, 2005) and barriers of reverse logistics (Ravi and Shankar, 2005).
However, in the literature, no evidence was found of use of ISM methodology for construction-related research. Watson (1978) has specifically discussed about ISM as an appropriate tool for technology deployment assessment and thus ISM was considered appropriate for studying benefits of ICT adoption for building project management.
Benefits of ICT adoption for building project management
Benefits of ICT adoption for managing building projects and improving overall organizational efficiency have been discussed in the literature. Some of the identified benefits are: richer information to aid decision making, project information obtained quicker, improved communication, closer relationships, improved information flow, and greater management control (Hendrickson and Au, 1989; Root and Thorpe, 2001; Love et al., 2004).
Egbu et al. (2001) have discussed that in a survey, the majority of interviewees regarded information technology (IT) as speeding up communication and enabling greater dissemination of written data. It was generally agreed that it is important for overall organizational efficiency and for increased motivation among the team members. As per Jaafari and Manivong (1998), effective implementation of IT within projects, as well as the entire industry would improve the communication processes by an order of magnitude. They have further discussed in detail the various benefits of thus improved communication process.
ICT adoption for increased collaboration between project team organizations has been discussed in the literature. As per Villagarcia and Cardoso (1999), inter-company communication methods like electronic data interchange (EDI) improve supplier coordination because they mould the suppliers into a common way of working. Back and Bell (1995) stress that electronic data management technologies create an opportunity to simplify and streamline communication and interdepartmental coordination, thus supporting new modes of teamwork and in many instances total process reengineering.
Benefits of using internet as a communication tool and workspace for managing construction projects have been widely discussed (Alshawi and Ingirige, 2002; Chan and Leung, 2004). Some of the discussed benefits are increased speed of information transfer, cost effectiveness and requirement to transfer high volume of information across sites and the head office and between other firms. Specific internet-based tools have also been discussed and highlighted as effective communication management tools. As per O'Brien (2000), a project web site should provide a centralized, commonly accessible, reliable means of transmitting and storing project information, in theory improving project communication and leading to better projects. Benefits of such web-based systems have been identified as: reduced manual distribution costs, integration of project information, simple management of access rights, document storage and archiving, continuous access to project information, and minimal software requirement. As per Chan et al. (2005), there are also intangible benefits associated with project extranets, such as greater certainty of outcome in terms of cost and time, less risk of disputes due to reduced errors, greater collaboration across project teams, and less-wasted effort in the construction process. Veil et al. (2004) have discussed the benefits of e-conferencing.
The inherent fast-track problem in construction projects is due to poor communication leading to re-work and scrap costs. Improved construction site-fabricator-designer communication through the intranet can produce substantial benefits (Opfer, 1997). Using the internet, building project management teams can share and transfer information electronically at a very low cost as compared with other communication means. Fisher and Li Yin (1992) inform that National Economic Development Office of the UK has argued that adoption of IT and EDI will cut UK building costs by 15-25 percent.
Intranets level the playing field enabling small- and medium-sized contractors to have the same high-tech profile as larger contractors. This can improve client satisfaction (Opfer, 1997).
The above, discussed literature study and discussions with the experts from the industry and academics led to summarization of the identified benefits (Table I). Identified perceived benefits are categorized under four groups. Benefits related to: measures of project success, effective team management, effective use of technology and increased organizational efficiency.
Interpretive structural modeling analysis
ISM is one of the tools of interactive management. ISM transforms unclear, poorly articulated mental models of a system into visible well-defined, hierarchical models. It is a well-known methodology for identifying and summarizing relationships among specific elements, which define an issue or a problem and provides a means by which order can be imposed on the complexity of such elements (Mandal and Deshmukh, 1994). Developed model is portrayed graphically as well as in words.
The ISM methodology is interpretive from the fact that the judgment of the group decides whether and how the variables are related. It is structural too, as on the basis of relationships; an overall structure is extracted from the complex set of variables. It is a modeling technique in which the specific relationships of the variables and the overall structure of the system under consideration are portrayed in a digraph model (Ravi and Shankar, 2005).
There are two concepts which underlie ISM and which are essential to understanding both the ISM process and the product. One is the concept of reachability and the other is the concept of transitive inference (Watson, 1978). Both the concepts are discussed in the later sections of the paper. Through the use of these concepts, the ISM system offers a formal approach to structuring complex systems and is claimed to be more efficient and effective than less formal unassisted approaches (Watson, 1978).
The various steps involved in the ISM technique are as follows:
Step 1. Variables affecting the system under consideration are listed, which can be objectives, actions, individuals, etc.
Step 2. A contextual relationship is established among variables with respect to which pairs of variables would be examined.
Step 3. A structural self-interaction matrix (SSIM) is developed for variables, which indicates pair-wise relationships among variables of the system under consideration.
Step 4. Reachability matrix is developed from the SSIM and the matrix is checked for transitivity, leading to the development of “Final reachability matrix.” The transitivity of the contextual relations is a basic assumption made in ISM. It states that if a variable A is related to B and B is related to C, then A is necessarily related to C.
Step 5. The “Final reachability matrix” obtained in Step 4 is partitioned into different levels. Final reachability matrix is developed in its conical form, i.e. most zero (0) variables in the upper diagonal half of the matrix and most unitary (1) variables in the lower half.
Step 6. Based on the relationships given in the reachability matrix and the determined levels for each variable, a directed graph is drawn and the transitive links are removed.
Step 7. The resultant digraph is converted into an ISM by replacing variable nodes with statements.
Step 8. The developed ISM model is reviewed to check for conceptual inconsistency and necessary modifications are made.
Structural self-interaction matrix
Consultation and discussions with the experts from the industry and academics, helped in identifying the relationships among the identified benefits. For analysis, a contextual relationship of “leads to” type was chosen. This means that one variable leads to another variable. Following four symbols were used to denote the direction of relationship between the benefits (i and j):
V: benefit i will help achieve benefit j.
A: benefit i will be achieved by benefit j.
X: benefits i and j will help achieve each other.
O: benefits i and j are unrelated.
The following description explains the use of relationships V, A, X and O in the SSIM (Table II):
Benefit 11 helps achieve Benefit 27. This means that when “a complete log of all communications is maintained for tracking purposes” it “improves the capability of the system to cross reference to other correspondence.” Thus, the relationship between Benefits 11 and 27 is denoted as “V” in the SSIM.
Benefit 21 can be achieved by Benefit 23. This means “Increased information portability in the ICT environment” helps in “effective joint decision making.” Thus, the relationship between Benefits 21 and 23 is denoted as “A” in the SSIM.
Benefits 20 and 21 help achieve each other. This means “greater management control” helps in achieving “joint decision making” and vice versa. Thus, the relationship between Benefits 20 and 21 is denoted as “X” in the SSIM.
Benefits 1 and 24 are not related. This means that there is no direct relation between “Project completion as per the estimated time” and “reduced hard copy storage of documents/drawings.” Thus, the relationship between Benefits 1 and 24 is denoted as “O” in the SSIM.
Similarly, relationships between all the benefits have been identified and denoted in the SSIM.
Reachability matrix
SSIM is transformed into a binary matrix, called the initial reachability matrix by substituting V, A, X, O relationships by 1 and 0 as per the case. The rules for the substitution of 1 and 0 are as follows:
If (i, j) entry in the SSIM is V, then (i, j) entry in the reachability matrix becomes 1 and the (j, i) entry becomes 0.
If (i, j) entry in the SSIM is A, then (i, j) entry in the reachability matrix becomes 0 and (j, i) entry becomes 1.
If (i, j) entry in the SSIM is X, then both (i, j) and (j, i) entries in the reachability matrix become 1.
If (i, j) entry in the SSIM is O, then both (i, j) and (j, i) entries in the reachability matrix become 0.
The final reachability matrix is obtained by checking for transitivities as explained in the Step 4. Table III shows the “Initial reachability matrix” and Table IV shows the “Final reachability matrix.” Table IV identifies the driving power and dependence of each benefit. The driving power of a benefit is the total number of benefits, which it may help achieve including itself. The dependence of a benefit is the total number of benefits that may help in achieving it.
Level partitions
From the final reachability matrix, reachability and antecedent set (Warfield, 1974) for each benefit are found. The reachability set for a particular variable consists of the variable itself and the variables it drives. The antecedent set consists of the variable itself and the variables on which it depends. Subsequently, the intersection of these sets is derived for all the benefits. The variable(s) for which the reachability and the intersection sets are the same are given the top-level in the ISM hierarchy, as they would not help achieve any other variable above their own level. After the identification of the top-level variables, these are discarded from the other remaining variables (Ravi and Shankar, 2005) and again the process is repeated. From Table V, it is seen that “Project completion as per the estimated time” (Benefit 1), “Project completion as per the estimated budget” (Benefit 2), “Project completion as per the specifications” (Benefit 3), “Effective contract management” (Benefit 13), “Client satisfaction” (Benefit 15) and “Motivation of the workforce” (Benefit 22) were found at Level I. Thus, these benefits are positioned at the top of the ISM model. Table VI shows the levels for each benefit obtained after 11 iterations.
Developing conical matrix
A conical matrix is developed by clustering benefits at the levels achieved, across rows and columns in the final reachability matrix. Table VII shows the final reachability matrix in the conical form. Most zero (0) variables are in the upper diagonal half of the matrix and most unitary (1) variables are in the lower half.
ISM-based model
The identified levels help in building the digraph and the final model of ISM. Based on the conical form of reachability matrix, the initial diagraph including transitive links is obtained. After removing the indirect links, the final diagraph or ISM-based model is obtained. Figure 1 shows the final ISM-based model. It is observed that “Increased information portability in the ICT environment” (Benefit 23) and “ease of retrieval of information” (Benefit 26) form the base of the ISM hierarchy and “client satisfaction” (Benefit 15) and “motivation of workforce” (Benefit 22) are at the top and reflect the effectiveness of all the benefits.
If Benefit 23 is achieved, it leads to “increase in overall organizational efficiency” (Benefit 29) and in “maintaining a complete log of all communications for tracking purposes” (Benefit 11), which further helps in “flow of accurate information” (Benefit 25), “improved capability of the system to cross reference to other correspondence” (Benefit 27) and “less time spent in query and approval process” (Benefit 7).
Benefits 23 and 26 help in achieving “effective communication management” between project team members (Benefit 19). “Effective communication management” leads to “maintaining a complete log of all communications,” “improved capability of the system to cross reference to other correspondence” (Benefit 27) and “flow of accurate information” (Benefit 25). Multilocational availability of information (Benefit 28) and Benefit 19 are interdependent and Benefit 28 also helps in “maintaining a complete log of all communications” and “improved capability of the system to cross reference to other correspondence.”
Benefit 11 helps in “providing clients with a complete one source documentation archive” (Benefit 14), which further helps in “compilation of useful information for other projects” (Benefit 31).
Benefits 25 and 27 are not dependent on each other, but collectively help in “providing richer information to managers for decision making” (Benefit 6), which helps in “improved information assessment and management within the organization” (Benefit 30), which also helps in achieving Benefit 31 and this further leads to Benefit 6 since information from previous similar projects always helps the managers to plan the projects better.
“Effective communication management” helps the project team to “obtain the project information quicker and in real time” (Benefit 5) which further improves the “query and approval process” that is also affected by Benefits 25 and 27. Benefit 5 also affects Benefit 27, but has gone up one level in the ISM model because “improved query and approval process” (Benefit 7) is affected by “improved capability of the system to cross reference to other correspondence” (Benefit 27) but does not affect it even indirectly.
Benefits 5-7 and 19 are interdependent to “effective collaboration and coordination between project team members” (Benefit 18) and are at lower levels in the ISM model because they also collectively help in achieving “better information assessment and management within the organization” (Benefit 30), which further affects Benefit 18.
Benefit 6, 30 and other related benefits help the “managers to spend more time on managerial work” (Benefit 17), which further helps in “effective change management” (Benefit 8) leading to “reduced risk of errors and rework on the projects” (Benefit 9), which is a measure of “effective collaboration and coordination between the project team members” (Benefit 18), but is also helped by it. Benefit 18 and “effective joint decision making” (Benefit 21) are interdependent and help in achieving “greater management control” (Benefit 20). “Effective joint decision making” helps in improving the “query and approval process” (Benefit 7), but is two levels above it in the ISM model, because Benefit 7 affects Benefits 6 and 30 which further help in achieving “effective joint decision making.”
“Effective change management,” “greater management control” and other benefits help in “effective material procurement and management” (Benefit 12), which further helps to complete the project within the estimated time (Benefit 1) and cost (Benefit 2) and “effective contract management” (Benefit 13), which further help in achieving increased “client satisfaction” (Benefit 15). “Effective communication management” (Benefit 19) reduces the “hard copy filing/storage of documents/drawings” (Benefit 24), which further helps in reducing the “administrative cost of document handling and distribution to multiple parties” (Benefit 16) and reducing the project cost (Benefit 2). These two benefits help in achieving increased “client satisfaction.”
“Effective collaboration and coordination” and other benefits help in multiple design alternatives to be assessed leading to “Life cycle concept becoming a competitive factor” (Benefit 4), which helps in completing the project in estimated cost (Benefit 2) and leads to “Client satisfaction.” “Effective change management,” “reduced risk of errors” and other benefits lead to application of “concurrent construction management,” which further helps in completing the “project on time,” “effective contract management,” “increased client satisfaction” and also leads to “motivation of the workforce” (Benefit 22).
“Effective change management,” “reduced risk of errors” and other benefits also lead to completing the project “as per the specifications” (Benefit 3), which “satisfies the client” and “motivates the workforce.” Project completion on time also increases the chances of “Project completion within the estimated cost” and successful project completion is an indication of “effective contract management” and satisfies the client and motivates the workforce for future projects.
MICMAC analysis
The objective of the cross-impact matrix-multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) analysis is to analyze the driving power and the dependence of the variables (Mandal and Deshmukh, 1994). Driving power and dependence of each benefit is shown in the final reachability matrix (Table IV).
The benefits are classified into four clusters (Figure 2). The first cluster consists of the “autonomous benefits” that have weak driving power and weak dependence. These benefits are relatively disconnected from the system, with which they have only few links, which may be strong. Benefits 14 (“one source” documentation archive maintained for clients) and 24 (reduced hard copy storage of documents/drawings) come under this category. Second cluster consists of the dependent benefits that have weak driving power but strong dependence on other benefits. These benefits primarily come at the top of the ISM model. Top-level benefits in the ISM model like “Client satisfaction” (15), “motivation of the workforce” (22), “effective contract management” (13), “project completion as per the estimated time, budget and specifications” (1-3), etc. come under this category. Third cluster has the linkage benefits that have strong driving power and also strong dependence. These benefits are unstable because of the fact that any action on these benefits will have an effect on other benefits and also a feedback on themselves. Primarily, middle-level benefits like “effective collaboration and coordination” (18) and “effective communication management between project team members” (19) come under this category because these benefits are dependent on other benefits but also drive top-level benefits. Fourth cluster includes the independent benefits having strong driving power but weak dependence. These benefits primarily lie at the bottom of the ISM model like “ease of retrieval of information” (26) and “multilocational availability of information” (28).
The benefits, which lie in the third cluster, need special attention and proactive attention from the management, since these have high-driving power but they are also dependent on other benefits.
Discussion
The developed ISM model provides a structure to the complex issue of the importance of perceived benefits of ICT adoption for building project management. It shows that the project-related benefits are primarily at the top of hierarchy, team management-related benefits are primarily in the middle and technology and organization-related benefits are primarily at the bottom of hierarchy. But, organization and technology-related benefits have high-driving power and these are “strategic benefits” for the project team organizations. Thus, organizations are required to give more attention on strategically increasing these benefits from application of ICT and if application of ICT for general administration in the organization is matured, appropriate IT tools are included in the working framework and team management issues are planned at the earlier stages of the project, then project-related benefits would be achieved by default. The four groups of benefits are inter-related and cannot be achieved in isolation. This analysis provides a road map to managers or project management organizations to decide that if they are planning ICT adoption for achieving certain benefits then what are the other driving benefits that should be achieved prior to that and also what are the dependent benefits that would be achieved by default. Thus, it forms an important component of the benefits management plan for the building project management organizations.
Validation of ISM-based model and future scope of work
A questionnaire survey was conducted in the Indian construction industry to assess the use of IT tools and ICT for general administration and building project management by the construction organizations. The questionnaire had different sections, but to remain within the scope and objective of this paper, the section of the questionnaire dealing with benefits of ICT adoption for construction project management is discussed.
This section contained identified 31 perceived benefits as listed in Table I. The respondents were asked to rate the importance of each benefit on a five-point Likert scale. On this scale, 1 and 5 corresponded to “not important” and “most important”, respectively, whereas 3 corresponded to “moderately important.” In total, 149 complete responses were received and analyzed. Responses of this section were tested for reliability by calculating Cronbach's alpha. The value was 0.8, which is acceptable (Carmines and Zeller, 1979 cited in Prahinski and Benton, 2004; Nunnaly, 1978 cited in Santos, 1999).
The scores for each group of benefits were aggregated and Pearson correlation was calculated among the four groups of benefits (Table VIII). Data analysis shows that there are significant correlations among the four groups of benefits.
This validates the results obtained from ISM analysis that all the four groups of benefits are inter-related and cannot be achieved in isolation.
Future scope of work included complete questionnaire survey data analysis for mapping ICT adoption for building project management and studying perceptions of project managers for perceived barriers, enablers, and industry drivers affecting ICT adoption for building project management. ISM analysis discussed in this paper and further data analysis led to the development of a causal model of relationships between factors affecting ICT adoption for building project management. The model was tested through structural equation modeling analysis.
Conclusion
Researchers and building project managers have identified the benefits of adoption of ICT for building project management. But, the measure of these benefits is perception based as it is difficult to quantitatively assess these benefits in the multiple enterprise scenario of the construction industry. Construction professionals require understanding of the driving power and dependence relationship between the benefits to plan the method of ICT adoption in their organizations and for building project management. Paper has utilized ISM analysis as a technique to understand such a relationship between the identified benefits of ICT adoption for building project management and the developed model can form an important component of the benefits management plan of building project management organizations leading to strategic adoption of ICT by these organizations. The developed model shows that organization, and technology-related benefits have high-driving power and these are “strategic benefits” for the project team organizations. Thus, organizations are required to give more attention on strategically increasing these benefits and if application of ICT for general administration in the organization is matured, appropriate IT tools are included in the working framework and team management issues are planned at the earlier stages of the project, then project-related benefits would be achieved by default. Also, the four groups of benefits are inter-related and cannot be achieved in isolation. The results of ISM analysis are further validated through a questionnaire survey data analysis. ISM analysis studies perceptions of Indian construction managers. But, the results can be generalized for other countries after due considerations as the benefits were identified after an extensive literature review.

POSTED BY NORHANA BINTI MUSTAFFA (2008261158)