Evaluating web-based project information management in construction: capturing the long-term value creation process

Abstract

The long-term survival of construction organisations is dependent upon meeting market needs through a long-term value creation process. Information is the cornerstone of any business process. It is not surprising, therefore, for IT to emerge as a key enabler to change the way business is conducted. During the last decade or so, significant productivity improvements experienced by a wide range of industries have been associated with IT implementation. IT has provided these industries with great advantages in speed of operation, consistency of data generation, accessibility and exchange of information. However, construction organisations rarely recognise the value IT adds to the process of project information management because they are too narrowly focused on financial figures and functional level performance such that they fail to capture long-term IT-induced business success. In contrast, the authors recently reported a framework to evaluate the value IT adds to the process of project information management, across five diverse perspectives. This paper builds upon this existing framework, by investigating the interrelationship between the framework perspectives and indicators, in an attempt to validate the link between them. Using information collated from 82 professionals representing large construction contracting and project management organisations located within Australia, results from the study provide support for the proposed framework.