Competitiveness

Working Group, Phase II

 Information and Communication Technologies

2001-2002,

 Preliminary Report, March 2002

 Background

The Information and Communication Technologies Working Group (IT WG) was formed in late 1998 as a voluntary group from industry bodies to support the development by the Commission of an action plan to increase the competitiveness of the European construction sector.

In its first phase the theme of the IT Working Group was “Information Technology as an Enabling Tool in the Construction Sector”.  The Group defined concrete proposals for action or ideas for action and a four-month timescale was agreed for work to be carried out.  It is clear that the implementation of the new Information Society will require a change of working culture throughout the construction sector.  The group sought to identify economies which could be achieved in the construction process whilst becoming increasingly aware that the small and medium-sized enterprise segment of the sector was lagging behind in awareness and willingness to exploit new technologies.

The conclusions of the final report were published in June 1999.  Once these had been assessed and presented to the 26^th October 2000  Tripartite Meeting of Member States, European Commission and Industry, it was decided that a second phase Working Group should be established.  This would focus on IT application throughout the construction process, with special recommendations for small and medium-sized business.

Terms of Reference and plan of work for IT WG Phase II

The first meeting of the group was held in Berlin and 7^th February 2001, in the context of a major construction industry event.  During this meeting the group discussed and decided upon terms of reference for their activity, which were:

“To evaluate the existing situation in e-construction on the basis of e-commerce technologies, e-collaboration and

knowledge technologies, including e-learning and

 to provide recommendations on how to develop and to exploit it”.

In order to carry out  this evaluation, the group decided that they should carry out a review on the basis of selected themes.  A series of meetings would provide the opportunity to present each core theme.  In contrast to the first phase, in which a considerable contribution was made through canvassing the views of non-specialist industry practitioners, it was decided that in Phase II, industry specialists should be invited to make presentations on developments and applications of the given themes.

The aim was to ensure that recommendations would reflect state-of-the-art implementation to the highest degree.

The key themes for review were:-

• e-collaboration in project centres
• e-learning and knowledge management linked to the construction process
• e-procurement and B2A (Business to Administration)
• B2C and B2B: customer relationship management (end user) and business to business items such as auctions (supply management)
• Life-cycle asset management including the aspects of facility management organisation.

Schedule of Meetings and Themes presented:

 On the agenda for the March 2002 meeting are

Photo from meeting on 18th March 2002. Click on the Icon.

A SNAP-SHOT OF EACH THEME:

1. E-collaboration and project centres - - 23rd April 2001

The meeting reviewed the work being carried out on project centres throughout Europe.  Project centres support the construction process and allow project partners to exchange information in a more harmonised way.

Related presentations were given on/by the following:

• Check-list for the evaluation of project centres -  J. Fassin (BBRI)
• Presentation of the project centre “Projectwise” – Nicolas Tobbackx and Koos Suyker of Bentley
• Presentation of the “As Built” project centre – Geert Kiekens of SWITCH NV, BIAC
• Presentation of the EC-funded project “CONCUR” – David Leonard of Taylor Woodrow, ECCE

Discussions following the meeting indicated agreement that improving the transfer of information in the construction process will provide cost benefits since a substantial percentage of cost overrun is due to errors and miscommunication[1].  It was felt that strict standardisation is required for data.  For software to be taken up across the industry spectrum, it would be preferable for this to be achievable without recourse to specialised training.  Participants believed that next-generation internet, making use of extensible mark-up language (XML) will gain importance.   Essentially, project centres are a step forward but are not the ultimate solution.

2.      E-learning and its significance for the sector – 22^nd June 2001

The group considered the relevance and usefulness of e-learning for the sector, in particular for small and medium-sized businesses.

       Related presentations were given on/by the following:

·        An introductory key-note presentation on e-learning – Professor Jeanne Schreurs, Research Group SMEs and Knowledge Discovery at B-LUC

·        Presentation on IBM Lotus – knowledge discovery server – Geert Dekeyser

·        Presentation by IBM Lotus – Demonstration of “Learning Space” and “Sametime” – Peter de Loof

·        Presentation of SteelCAL – John Moran of the Steel Construction Institute (SCI)

Initial conclusions drawn by the group were that ‘learning fragments’ are closely linked to – and integrated within problem-solving queries.  It is important to ensure that learning fragments are ‘quality assured’.  A possible development from this would be to integrate such ‘learning fragments’ into a complete and consistent e-learning course, divided into appropriate subject-matters.  It appeared clear that e-learning must be managed.  For engineering students, e-learning offers an alternative access  where practical access is denied/not cost-effective e.g. to demonstrations on behaviour of structural materials.

In information technology terms managing learning could be achieved by ensuring that there are interactive elements where the student or construction professional can test his or her knowledge about the subject.  In order to keep abreast with current developments it would be preferable for e-learning to have open systems, be XML-based and able to deal with IFC’s in order to link learning fragments or courses with the objects which make up a construction project.

Next Page >>>>>>>

Back to About Page