Analyzing Enterprise Resource Planning System Implementation Success Factors in the Engineering–Construction Industry

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems offer many benefits to the engineering–construction industry. Many construction firms recognize the benefits of ERP system implementation; however, they still hesitate to adopt these systems due to high cost, uncertainties, and risks. This study identifies and analyzes critical factors that need to be considered to ensure successful ERP system implementation in the construction industry. First, this paper identifies the factors associated with the success and failure of ERP systems, and provides indicators to evaluate the success of such systems. Then, the paper develops an information system success model to analyze the relationships between factors and success indicators. Finally, the paper provides recommendations for successful ERP systems based on the analysis. The derived success factors should help senior managers in construction firms make better decisions and improve their business value by implementing the most effective EPR systems.     

Building Better: Technical Support for Construction

Increasing complexity of many constructed facilities and escalating demands for project performance are driving significant changes in design and construction. Increased project integration and technical support of construction operations provide a promising response to these demands. This paper identifies and describes nine critical activities to increase technical support for construction: integrate early planning; plan for regulatory compliance; consider construction methods and sequences in design; tailor and time technical information to users’ needs; provide materials to support effective construction; identify and provide construction-applied resources; create an environment for safe, productive, and high quality work; technically support efficient construction operations and completion; and transfer experience between projects. The paper’s relevance to industry practitioners includes multiple benefits of completing these activities for firms, projects, and professionals, along with the necessary steps to develop this capability and gain these benefits. Educators and researchers can use the activities to structure course topics related to technical fundamentals of construction and integration with design, along with future investigations of construction process knowledge.     

Integrating ISO 9001 and OHSAS 18001 for Construction

Previous studies comparing OHSAS 18001: 1999 (Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Standard) with the old ISO 9001: 1994 (Quality Assurance Standard) have found compatible requirements that warrant their integration. This study examines the compatibility of the recently released ISO 9001: 2000 (Quality Management Standard) with OHSAS 18001: 1999 for the purpose of integration. A survey of 96 construction firms in Singapore was conducted for this study. Among those who are considering or are already OHSAS 18001: 1999 certified, findings were obtained on the possibility/difficulty and benefits/costs of integration of OHSAS 18001: 1999 and ISO 9001: 2000. Industry concerns relating to potential problems and implementation challenges were discussed. The study concludes that the newly introduced ISO 9001: 2000 standard serves as an opportune platform for construction firms to consider certification to OHSAS 18001: 1999 through an integration exercise.     

Management-Driven Integration

The fragmentation of the architecture∕engineering∕construction (A∕E∕C) industry creates increased demand for coordination and integration of project participants. This paper provides practitioners with an increased understanding of the importance of integration for project and company performance, and the integration mechanisms and barriers. The paper first provides a review of the literature on organizational theory, construction, and manufacturing, and identifies integration mechanisms and potential benefits. Then, the paper presents empirical evidence regarding the integration benefits that managers in construction firms identify, the mechanisms they use, and the reasons that prevent them from utilizing integration mechanisms. Finally, the paper identifies four managerial barriers to integration: need for front-end investments, difficulty to measure and distribute the benefits, reduced ability to utilize integration mechanisms across projects, and lack of skills and organizational culture that promote integration.     

Extended Production Integration for Construction: A Loosely Coupled Project Model for Building Construction

The construction industry is very diverse and consists of businesses that vary in size and ability to adopt information technology. Previous implementations of the project model have been based on information standards that have often adopted closely coupled collaborations. However, it is difficult to take a top down method and require participants to conform to universally accepted standards for the details of their operation. The proposed extended production integration for construction model is a loosely coupled process integration system that allows the participants to maintain a high level of independence as well as the integrity of their existing computer systems. The system is supported by a viable collaboration mechanism. A conceptual model for construction projects is proposed based on the study of events, contract conditions, and their impacts on the collaborations and interactions among participants. Events were identified as the major issue that the system needs to consider in order to conduct the collaboration work. Contract conditions were converted and used as guidelines to create enforceable rules in the system. A prototype system based on the proposed model was developed using Java, CORBA, and UML. A case study involving construction change orders was used to demonstrate the functionality of the prototype system. The factors that impact the efficiency of the system for the case study were determined through sensitivity analyses and comprehensive simulations. The results indicate that the system achieves a high level of efficiency when complicated changes are involved, which cause a higher rejection rate within the system.     

A,B seeing: The role of constructive processes in children's comprehension monitoring.

Using E. M. Markman's (1977, 1979) comprehension-monitoring paradigm, 192 skilled and less skilled readers from 3rd and 6th grade read stories containing inconsistent information. Half of the students constructed a storyboard representation of the story using plastic cutout figures placed on a background storyboard; half only read the text. Storyboard construction enhanced the integration of text propositions and increased inconsistency detection, particularly for less skilled readers. A story recall test also revealed significant effects of storyboard construction on the encoding and recall of critical propositions. These findings were interpreted in terms of the dual effects of storyboard construction on enhanced encoding and memory and its demands on proposition integration. Furthermore, it is proposed that storyboard construction can serve as a basis for effective intervention and training of proposition integration skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tailoring Competitive Advantages Derived from Innovation to the Needs of Construction Firms

Innovation is often classified as a cost intensive investment in the construction industry with indefinite returns. Due to the clients’ tendency to award projects based on the lowest costs, innovation is often seen as an unfeasible strategy toward the competitiveness that construction firms are seeking. This study questions whether it is indeed ineffective for construction firms to develop their competitive advantage through innovation. By the application of statistical data across 18 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and expert interviews in Singapore, innovation systems models are developed for both manufacturing and construction firms, respectively. Through comparison of both models, the results suggest that the peculiarities of the construction industry deem innovation as a poor competitive instrument for direct profits. Instead, construction firms can develop their competitive advantage through manipulating innovations that consumers are willing to pay for and innovations that would reduce construction costs. It is recommended that construction firms first utilize quality improvements to exploit consumers’ willingness to pay for innovative products. This initiative would enable construction firms to improve their finances for innovation and develop their “brand” in construction products. Sustainable competitive advantage could then be firmly established when construction firms engage in productivity improvements that lead to lower construction costs and/or faster completion times. This study concludes that innovation can be a useful competitive tool if construction firms aptly strategize it in according to its competitive environment.     

Theft and Vandalism on Construction Sites

Theft and vandalism on construction sites in the commercial construction industry is a problem that can affect productivity and drain profits. To explore the impact of theft and vandalism in the commercial construction industry, a survey was sent to commercial construction firms to gather information by which the magnitude of the problem of theft and vandalism could be estimated; and to determine what techniques have been successfully used to deter thieves and vandals. The responses were analyzed and several conclusions were developed. Firms engaging in all types of projects are susceptible to theft and vandalism. Theft is more costly to large sized firms ($100 million and over in annual volume of construction work) than smaller firms, but vandalism is more costly for smaller firms. This occurs despite the fact that larger firms use a greater number of measures to combat theft and vandalism on their construction sites. The results should be of particular interest to construction firms that want to reduce the number of theft and vandalism incidents.     

Long-Term Entropy and Profitability Change of United States Public Construction Firms

A firm’s business composition and the sales volume of each business segment are subject to change depending, to a considerable extent, on the firm’s business strategy. These changes were first weighted and represented as a single index, referred to by scholars in strategic management and industrial organization research fields as “firm entropy,” then the impact of firm entropy on firms’ profitability was assessed over 12?years. The performance differences between contractor and noncontractor firms, as well as focused and diversified firms, were compared through a longitudinal data analysis technique within a hierarchical linear modeling framework. Two hypotheses were formulated based on firm diversification theories and previous research findings. These hypotheses were tested according to the modeling outcomes, and implications are presented. The research findings indicate that the entropy changed constantly for both contractor and noncontractor firms. In addition, the level of firms’ long-term profitability supports the argument that the construction industry is highly competitive and mature.     

地质实验测试中异常信息提取与集成的方法分析

随着近年来我国社会经济的快速发展,大部分环境与建筑工程施工前必须全面了解地质情况,避免对施工质量造成影响。而在地质工程中地质实验测试作为其中的重要步骤,根据实验结果可帮助相关人员评估地质状况,并对地基强度以及地质灾害等问题予以有效判断。但在实际测试中不可避免地会出现异常信息,因地质现象通常并不是由单一的一种物质形成,可能会涉及到化学因素或者生物因素的影响,异常信息则隐藏在其中。所以提取与集成这些异常信息对于地质实验测试结果具有一定的参考意义。鉴于此,本文对地质测试异常信息进行简要概述,并在此基础上探讨异常信息在地质实验测试中的提取以及集成方法,旨在保证实验测试结果的准确性与可靠性。     

Performance Evaluation of Construction Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

To successfully evaluate investments related to integrated information management in the construction industry, causal loop diagramming was used to depict the qualitative system dynamics model for the study of the dynamics of construction enterprise resource planning systems (C-ERP). With the aid of system dynamics principles, together with literature review and two case studies, the major variables that influence the successful evaluation of C-ERP in the construction industry were evaluated. The major variables identified were validated with data from a survey. The validation procedure quantified associations between variables and perceived benefits from C-ERP stakeholders of construction-related firms. The model described in this paper aims at providing a holistic understanding of the C-ERP dynamics in construction. With this model, researchers and industry practitioners can develop an insight into C-ERP investments in practice.     

International Expansion Decision for Construction Companies

There exist several reasons for construction firms to expand their business into international markets. But the complex international environment is affected by diverse factors and creates risks that are not well understood by companies that are active mostly in domestic markets. It is therefore essential for construction companies to follow a disciplined and well-informed strategy when deciding whether to enter international markets. Company strengths relative to conducting business in international markets, the threats and opportunities associated with overseas work, and the costs and benefits of undertaking construction projects in specific countries need to be considered in this decision. The interactions between the complex factors can be structured in a model that can help one to make a rational judgment. The International Expansion Decision Model developed in this study is based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) improved by the addition of a Delphi survey. The main objective of this research study is to facilitate the entry decision into foreign markets and to highlight the importance of the factors involved in this decision. This study is of relevance to practitioners as it allows executives of construction companies to test if their company is ready for expansion into international markets in general and into a specific country in particular. It is also of relevance to researchers as it demonstrates the successful use of the combined Delphi and AHP methods.     

Framework to Support the Representations of Semantic Mappings for a Hybrid Integration Strategy

To provide an integrated information system for decision support, many previous studies focused on a strategy of sharing a common semantic model among heterogeneous data sources. Such a strategy has many advantages; however, it works only when it is possible for the heterogeneous data sources to share a common semantic model. For collaborating systems that cannot assume a prior knowledge of heterogeneity among them, a different strategy is needed. This paper, discussing a hybrid integration strategy and its applications to the architecture-engineering-construction industry, is focused on the development of a framework of semantic mappings so that high-level applications can use the mappings for data retrieval and processing. Based on a case study of integrating schedule and cost information, a prototype is developed to demonstrate the use of the framework, as well as to test the framework. Limitations and future studies are also discussed.     

Relationship between Automation and Integration of Construction Information Systems and Labor Productivity

Information technology (IT) has been used to increase automation and integration of information systems on construction projects for over two decades. However, evidence that overall costs have been reduced or project performance has been improved with IT in construction is limited and mostly focused on application specific studies. A comprehensive understanding of the relationship between IT and project performance helps industry practitioners better understand the likely outcomes of implementation of IT application and likewise benefits researchers in improving the effectiveness in their IT development efforts. An opportunity to examine new evidence exists with the emergence of the Construction Industry Institute’s Benchmarking and Metrics database on construction productivity and practices. This article presents an analysis of that data to determine if there is a relationship between labor productivity and level of IT implementation and integration. Data from industrial construction projects are used to measure the relationships between the automation and integration of construction information systems with productivity. Using the independent sample t-test, the relationship was examined between jobsite productivity across four trades (concrete, structural steel, electrical, and piping) and the automation and integration of various work functions on the sampled projects. The results showed that construction labor productivity was positively related to the use of automation and integration on the sampled projects.     

Risk-Based Framework for Safety Investment in Construction Organizations

The costs of construction injuries can have a substantial impact on the financial success of construction organizations and increase the overall costs of construction up to 15%. Following the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, construction firms began to implement a variety of management techniques to reduce the frequency of injuries. Although these strategies decrease the cost of injuries, they consume time and other significant resources. Thus, it is imperative for construction organizations to objectively evaluate the cost-benefit of investments in injury prevention through formal and robust processes. This paper presents a risk-based framework that can be used to evaluate the incremental return on investment of a series of investments in highly effective injury prevention strategies. The framework was developed using foundational risk quantification and analysis techniques and is illustrated using a hypothetical case study that is based on archival data published by United States government agencies. The conclusion of this study is that the optimal investment strategy can be identified through a formal analysis and that optimization depends on the frequency and cost of injuries, the sequence in which the specific injury prevention techniques are implemented, the risk mitigated by each strategy, and the organization’s attitude toward acceptable risk.     

Relationship between Governance Structure and Financial Performance in Construction

Although corporate governance has emerged as an issue of considerable importance in shaping the organizational structure and the vision of the firm, this entity has yet to receive sufficient scrutiny in the construction industry. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent by which the configuration of corporate governance may impact on the financial performance of construction firms. The investigation utilizes 100 companies of differing sizes. The analysis reveals that a critical mass of outside independent directors and the dissociation of the roles of CEO and Chairmanship of the board do translate into superior financial market returns for the firms. Other corporate governance variables have no apparent impact on the financial performance of the firms. These findings are significant to construction firms that are already established or in the process of being formed.     

Exploratory Study on Value of Information Systems to Electrical Construction Companies: Resource-Based View

Many practitioners and researchers believe that the application of information systems in the construction industry lags behind that of other industries such as the manufacturing industry, because the construction industry is mainly composed of small to medium size companies. Besides, to many people, the value of information systems to their business is vague and elusive. Existing studies on the value of information systems are not specifically focused on small to medium size specialty contractors such as electrical contractors. In addition, with an intention to demonstrate the value of information systems to the improvement of operations or business of all relevant companies, those studies typically do not look into the impact of information systems on the competitive advantage of individual companies. This paper argues that such a generalization of the value of information systems, although valuable to both practitioners and researchers, may have overlooked the fact that the value of information systems needs to be reflected through improved competitive advantage of a company and the competitive advantage is company specific. Thus, the examination of different effects of information systems on individual companies can generate useful insight into the value of information systems because such a strategy leads to a better understanding of the relationships between information systems and the competitive advantage of individual companies. With such a perspective, this study applies a case study strategy to study five small to medium size electrical construction companies based on the resource-based view theory. The case studies show that the observed electrical construction companies are well equipped in terms of physical information infrastructure in relation to their business objectives regardless of company size. However, their capabilities of strategically integrating information systems with their business plans and with their external business partners are general lacking, compared with their physical information system infrastructure. This is partly because many electrical contractors do not fully understand that there are many different forms of information systems that have different impacts on gaining and sustaining competitive advantage. This paper then conjectures that the existing imbalanced application of information systems may not lead to the improved competitive advantage of electrical construction companies, which in turn prevent many contractors from clearly seeing the value of the information systems. Thus, the paper further points out that a plan for the systematical implementation of information systems in a company is very important. However, the successful development of such a plan depends on a better understanding of electrical contactors on the concepts of information system capabilities, competitive advantage, and their relationships.     

Integrating ISO 9001 Quality Management System and ISO 14001 Environmental Management System for Contractors

Previous studies between ISO 14001: 1996 Environmental Management Standard and the old ISO 9001: 1994 Quality Assurance Standard have found compatible requirements that warrant their integration. This study examines the compatibility of the revised ISO 9001: 2000 Quality Management Standard with ISO 14001: 1996 for the purpose of integration. A survey of 96 construction firms was conducted for those who were considering or were already ISO 14001: 1996 certified. Findings on the possibility/difficulty and benefits/costs of integration between ISO 14001: 1996 and ISO 9001: 2000 were obtained. Industry concerns relating to potential problems and implementation challenges were discussed. The study concludes that the revised ISO 9001: 2000 serves as an opportune platform for construction firms to consider certification to ISO 14000: 1996 through an integration exercise.     

浅谈矿区整合独立坐标系的建立

矿区整合通常会涉及到跨带的整合，在这过程中由于高程归化和高斯投影变形使改正后的长度与实际距离不等，给地质勘探施工放样带来不便。通过详细介绍露天矿整合独立坐标系的建立方法，较好解决了长度变形影响地质勘探施工产生的问题，给矿区整合提供便利。     

Capturing Knowledge in Construction Projects: Knowledge Platform for Contractors

Managing knowledge effectively is critical to the survival and advance of a company, especially in project-based industries such as construction. However, capturing knowledge in construction projects is a tedious task, as knowledge is usually experience based, tacit, and hard to pass on to others. In this study, a survey was carried out among eight leading Turkish construction contractors that are operating within the international construction market. The specific objectives of this survey are to find out how the tacit and explicit knowledge are captured, stored, shared, and used in forthcoming projects, as well as major drivers and barriers for knowledge management. Based on the survey, it was determined that most of these firms do not have a knowledge management strategy and a systematic way of capturing and storing tacit knowledge. A conceptual framework is proposed to formalize the knowledge-capturing process within construction companies. To demonstrate how the conceptual framework can be implemented in practice, a Web-based system, namely, Knowledge Platform for Contractors (KPfC) is presented. It is hypothesized that KPfC can be used to manage both tacit and explicit knowledge effectively in construction projects.