Quantitative Techniques for Decision Making in Construction

11.INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND PROCESS OF DECISION MAKING

11.1 Introductio n The business of construction is information-intensive, dependent on accurate, reliable, up-do-date and timely information. The amount of information can be vast encompassing legal requirements, building codes, specifications an d standards, current and historic data about techniques, cost and schedule . Nowadays constructio n project s ar e increasingly mor e complex, an d a n enormous amount of information need to be processed for effective decisio n making. Succes s of a project i n today' s world i s critically dependen t o n timely and reliable decisions. Effective decision-makin g depend s o n th e availabilit y o f appropriat e information. T o facilitate proper and optimal decision making, availability of th e desire d informatio n a t it s require d leve l o f detai l i s necessary . Information system s provide th e mechanism throug h which informatio n flows to different department s within and from outside an organization. An information system further facilitates interaction among the managers. Thei r understanding and control of what is happening in the project improves and they become effective decision-makers (Tenah, 1984). A n integrated model of an information system and control environment is illustrated in Fig. 11.1. QUANTITATIVE TECHNIQUE FOR DECISION MAKING IN CONSTRUCTION Data Information Organizational Systems (Structure, Policy and Procedures) The Information System $ Cost • Schedule Performanc e 4Plan vs. Actual Management Decisions Fig. 11. 1 Mode l o f integrate d organizationa l an d informatio n syste m 1.2 Flo w o f Informatio n Construction is a dynamic process. There are several identifiable stages within this process, such as preliminary design, conceptual design, detail design/ engineering, and construction . Th e type of work performed durin g eac h stage i s muc h differen t fro m on e another . Thi s i s als o tru e abou t th e information tha t needs to be acquired, generated and processed during the course o f eac h stage . A conceptual flo w o f informatio n i n a typica l construction organization is shown in Fig. 11.2. Reports Income statements, Blance sheets, Business outlook ^ Standards, Budgets, Baseline schedules Archival data, (Past, historic) / \ Information System Field Data, Time Cards, Productivity information Fig. 11. 2 Flo w o f informatio n i n a typical constructio n organizatio n INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND PROCESS OF DECISION MAKING 1 53 It i s important t o recogniz e tha t durin g preliminar y design , no t muc h information is available, although major and critical decisions are made during this stage . Likewise , informatio n durin g th e conceptua l desig n i s als o extremely critical for success of the project since this information i s used to formulate th e project basis . At this stage, too, decisions are made on th e basis of a limited amount of information. A good information system should provide reliable historic and current information for establishing the budget, the cash flow and the baseline schedule. Durin g detail design and engineering, the system should provide information related to the cost and schedule impact of different desig n alternatives so that realistic budgets and schedules can be developed based on detailed drawings and specifications . As soon as construction starts, the amount of available information increase s exponentially since resources have been mobilized. The information syste m should enable the project management tea m to keep track of all resources (labour, materials and equipment) as they are procured and consumed. On e of the major functions o f management is to make sure that the resources are available as and when needed. Managemen t must also monitor any deviations from th e original plan and tak e necessary correctiv e actions if and whe n necessary based on the available information . The quantitative techniques presented in Chapters 1 through 10 of this book can be effectively use d within an integrated information system . 11.3 Relationshi p Betwee n Organizationa l Hierarch y an d Information Syste m The need for information processing depends on the amount of information generated, number of organizational units involved, and interdependenc y among thes e units . Constructio n i s a process wher e a vast amoun t o f information i s generated, processed and exchanged; where a large number of inter...