impact of ict on the integration of construction procurement chain in nigeria

COBRA 2009

The Construction and Building Research Conference of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

Held at the University of Cape Town, 10-11 September 2009 ISBN 978-1-84219-519-2 © RICS 12 Great George Street London SW1P 3AD United Kingdom www.rics.org/cobra September 2009

COBRA 2009

The construction and building research conference of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyorsheld at the University of Cape Town, 10-11 September 2009

The RICS COBRA Conference is held annually. The aim of COBRA is to provide a platform for the disseminationof original research and new developments within the specific disciplines, sub-disciplines or field of study of:

Management of the construction process

• Cost and value management • Building technology • Legal aspects of construction and procurement • Public private partnerships • Health and safety • Procurement • Risk management • Project management

The built asset

• Property investment theory and practice • Indirect property investment • Property market forecasting • Property pricing and appraisal • Law of property, housing and land use planning • Urban development • Planning and property markets • Financial analysis of the property market and property assets • The dynamics of residential property markets • Global comparative analysis of property markets • Building occupation • Sustainability and real estate • Sustainability and environmental law • Building performance

The property industry

• Information technology • Innovation in education and training • Human and organisational aspects of the industry • Alternative dispute resolution and conflict management • Professional education and training

Organising Committee

The Organising Committee for the RICS COBRA 2009 Conference consisted of:

Paul Bowen (Chair) University of Cape TownIan Jay University of Cape TownKeith Cattell University of Cape TownKathy Michell University of Cape TownStephen Brown RICS

Page 5 �

The doctoral students’ session was arranged and conducted by:

Monty Sutrisna University of salford, UKLes Ruddock University of Salford, UK

The CIB W113 Law and dispute resolution session was aranged and conducted by Paul Chynoweth of theUniveristy of Salford, UK

Peer review process

All papers submitted to COBRA were subjected to a double-blind (peer review) refereeing process. Referees weredrawn from an expert panel, representing respected academics from the construction and building research com-munity. The conference organisers wish to extend their appreciation to the following members of the panel fortheir work, which is invaluable to the success of COBRA.

Rifat Akbiyikli Sakarya University, TurkeyJohn Boon UNITEC, New ZealandRichard Burt Auburn University, USAKate Carter Heriot-Watt University, UKKeith Cattell University of Cape Town, South AfricaSai On Cheung City University of Hong KongGrace Ding University of Technology Sydney, AustraliaPeter Edwards RMIT, AustraliaCharles Egbu University of Salford, UKHemanta Doloi University of Melbourne, AustraliaPeter Fenn University of Manchester, UKPeter Fisher University of Northumbria, UKChris Fortune University of Salford, UKRod Gameson University of Wolverhampton, UKTheo Haupt Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South AfricaGodfaurd John University of Central Lancashire, UKKeith Jones University of Greenwich, UKMohammed Kishk Robert Gordon’s University, UKAndrew Knight Nottingham Trent University, UKEsra Kurul Oxford Brookes University, UKJohn Littlewood University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, UKChampika Liyanage University of Central Lancashire, UKGreg Lloyd University of Ulster, UKS M Lo City University of Hong KongMartin Loosemore University of New South Wales, AustraliaTinus Maritz University of Pretoria, South AfricaSteven McCabe Birmingham City University, UKAndrew McCoy Virginia Tech, USAKathy Michell University of Cape Town, South AfricaHenry Odeyinka University of Ulster, UKRobert Pearl University of KwaZulu-Natal, South AfricaKeith Potts University of Wolverhampton, UKMatthijs Prins Delft University of Technology, The NetherlandsRichard Reed Deakin University, AustraliaHerbert Robinson London South Bank University, UKDavid Root University of Cape Town, South Africa

� Page 6

Kathy Roper Georgia Institute of Technology, USASteve Rowlinson University of Hong KongWinston Shakantu Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South AfricaMelanie Smith Leeds Metropolitan University, UKSuresh Subashini University of Wolverhampton, UKMing Sun University of the West of England, UKJoe Tah Oxford Brookes University, UKDerek Thomson Heriot-Watt University, UKBasie Verster University of the Free State, South AfricaJohn Wall Waterford Institute of Technology, IrelandSara Wilkinson Deakin University, AustraliaFrancis Wong Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityIng Liang Wong Glasgow Caledonian Unversity, UKAndrew Wright De Montfort University, UKGeorge Zillante University of South AustraliaSam Zulu Leeds Metropolitan University, UK

In addition to this, the following specialist panel of peer-review experts assessed papers for theCOBRA session arranged by CIB W113, Law and dispute resolution:

John Adriaanse London South Bank University, UKJulie Adshead University of Salford, UKRachelle Alterman Technion, IsraelJane Ball University of Sheffield, UKMichael Brand University of New South Wales, AustraliaPenny Brooker University of Wolverhampton, UKAlice Christudason National University of SingaporePaul Chynoweth University of Salford, UKPhilip Chan National University of SingaporeSai On Cheung City University of Hong KongRon Craig Loughborough University, UKAsanga Gunawansa National University of SingaporeRob Home Anglia Ruskin University, UKPeter Kennedy Glasgow Caledonian University, UKAnthony Lavers Keating Chambers, UKTim McLernon University of Ulster, UKWayne Lord Loughborough University, UKFrits Meijer Delft University of Technology, The NetherlandsJim Mason University of the West of England, UKBrodie McAdam University of Salford, UKTinus Maritz University of Pretoria, South AfricaMark Massyn University of Cape Town, South AfricaIssaka Ndekugri University of Wolverhampton, UKRobert Pearl University of KwaZulu-Natal, South AfricaLinda Thomas-Mobley Georgia Tech, USAYvonne Scannell Trinity College Dublin, IrelandCathy Sherry University of New South Wales, AustraliaHenk Visscher Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Page 7 �

RICS COBRA Research Conference, University of Cape Town, 10-11th September 2009. Akinboade Adejimi, pp 1653-1674

- 1653 -

Impact of ICT on the integration of construction procurement chain in Nigeria

Akinboade Adejimi

Department of Building, University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos,

Nigeria.

Email: [email protected]

Abstract Various researchers have concluded that the construction industry is lagging far behind others in employing modern technology as a major catalyst for improving productivity. While momentum for reversing this trend is being gathered in advanced countries through efforts in Computer Integrated Construction and further researches into ICT penetration of the countries, the developing world still battles with the traditional, discrete and disintegrated construction procurement chains with little efforts in correcting this. Worsened still, there is scanty information on the trend and penetration of ICT in these countries. This study is looking at this problem in Nigeria with a bias to identify the effect of ICT on the integration of the country’s construction procurement chain. The study is adopting IT Barometer survey to evaluate the e-construction capacity in terms of the levels of skill, training, access, experience and depth or type of usage of the e-construction facilities by the key stakeholders. The IT Barometer survey will be slightly modified to suit the local situations. The questionnaires will have a five-point Likert-type scale to measure a range of opinions from “Very weak” to “Very strong”, or “Very low” to “Very high”, etc. as the case may be. The significant agreement or otherwise with the notion being tested will be determined by adopting the mid-point value of the index as the hypothesized mean. The data will be analysed using the percentile method, mean score ranking, correlation analysis and the importance index. A model of process-integration which is meant to add to knowledge has been proposed. And when fully completed, the study will assist in giving direction to ICT capacity development in terms of training, retraining, usage, software/hardware development and acquisition in the country’s construction industry in line with the nation’s vision 2020. Key words: E-Construction, ICT, procurement-chain, construction process integration, virtual reality 1. Introduction. 1.1 Background to the Study. According to Cornick (1996), the world is in a cyclical gyration between integration and disintegration of processes. The age old disintegration of processes caused by the Industrial revolution and its consequences in division of labour has come to a diminishing return. However, the rapid movement towards reintegration of these diverse components of production and manufacturing activities have but left the construction industry behind. Various authors have concluded that after the Master Builders’ era, effective coordination of construction activities has been lost due to the diversity of the construction processes and this


- 1654 -

is even getting dwindling with more daily differentiation and complexities of modern buildings. Professionals are now seen to have lost the focus since most see and manage their different activities from their different perspectives as they do not see it as a whole. According to Laitinen (1998), while other industries have been able to achieve very significant improvements in productivity and quality over the last few decades, the construction industry seems to have been at a standstill. The industry has been sluggish in adopting ICT despite the amenability of its processes to IT operations. This sluggishness can be traced to the industry’s conservativeness, high degree of fragmentation in both the procurement process and production systems, absence of management driven IT strategy (Catridge, 2002) and low capacity building through education (Oyediran, Odusami, 2004); Rebolj & Menzel, 2003). In the same vein, Caballero et al, (2001) lamented that construction is generally believed to be a fragmented industry. However, increased integration and coordination among different processes and parties is considered by many experts as one of the ways that can resolve most of the problems created by this fragmentation. The successful completion of a construction project requires a thorough understanding of all stages and phases of the project, and according to (Thabet 2000), this can be enhanced through integration of design and construction during the pre-construction stage.

According to (Vrijhoef & Ridder 2007), because of the structure and current practice of the construction industry, construction supply chains tend to be relatively fragmented, resulting in a relatively unstable production environment, including negative symptoms such as low efficiency levels, high unpredictability, low profits, and much rework and waste.

The initial vision of researchers working on the field of computer applications for architectural and construction activities had the view of automation of information in mind, but according to Cornick (1996), this has failed. It was envisaged that construction information could be automatically generated from the design information that describes a building’s form and details. This means that when an architect provides a computerized working drawing, the necessary schedules of manpower, materials, machinery, money and market needed would also be produced automatically. According to Kartam (1994), such past efforts have only created “islands of automation” and are far from achieving an acceptable level of integration across disciplines and across the design and construction processes. Also, recent benchmarking reviews of IT use in briefing and design have identified serious shortcomings in the construction industry-(Construct IT, 1996). This is because ICT systems being used in the industry at present are stand-alone, point-to-point applications dealing with parts of the internal operations of participants in the process.

Hope is however rising as the recent developments in information and communication technology (ICT) in advanced countries have provided opportunities to increase the level of the needed integration among different construction processes by improving the flow of information between them. Such advanced ICT usage in the industry is transforming into model based information management techniques (e-construction) which is a deliberate effort at integrating the construction processes with technology. The tendency in the world is to integrate these diverse processes for easier coordination.

This study is therefore an effort to determine (if any) the effects of the usage of computers, ICT, internet, intranet, extranet etc (e-construction) on the integration of the construction activities in the study area as well as understanding their trend, penetration and the direction the industry should go henceforth.


- 1655 -

1.2 Research Problem Statement The construction industry has been disadvantageously disintegrated – (Cornick 1996). .This is because various activities are segregated from each other and each starts at the end of the other without adhesive linkage. According to Lottaz (2000), even though most (construction) engineering tasks require collaboration between many partners, such collaboration tasks are complicated by factors such as time and data losses during information exchange, and misunderstandings because of ill-defined information, and iterative negotiations when subtask activities conflict. Various data from one activity are always re-entered and reprocessed afresh for another stage. Some are lost in-between. What this clearly indicates is that information between different construction processes is discrete in nature, non-continuous, and not beneficial. Because of this, information and communication gaps have become a perennial problem in construction activities and these are said, as above, to have rendered the coordination work of the construction managers difficult.

However, in advanced countries, efforts are being made to use ICT to take over the information management of construction processes and especially in integrating the diverse and discrete design and construction processes. These efforts on ICT are yet to be known to most developing world. In Nigeria, the trend or penetration of ICT of the construction industry is not known as there is scanty research in this area. This is problematic in the sense that a colossal sum of money is involved yearly in construction activities. Cost of construction failure due to information problems has been rated to be the highest among other causes. This is why Tolman et al (2001) emphasised that if cost of (construction) failure is seen in its broadest meaning, failure from information problems exceeds the common failure costs due to construction errors. This research work is therefore an effort at looking into these integration and scanty information problems.

1.3 Research Aim and Objectives 1.3.1 Aim The overall aim of this research work is to study the impact of the modern development in ICT in construction activities (e-construction) on the integration of the various construction procurement processes in Nigeria. With the above, the research will determine the depth of penetration and the rate at which ICT is growing as well as the direction the construction industry should go on the integration and management of the construction processes in the study area. 1.3.2 Objectives The above research goal will be pursued with the following objectives. • To identify the current integration status (layer) of the construction industry. • To evaluate the ICT capacity, driving the existing construction processes in terms of the level of skill, training, experience, access and acquisition of computer systems (hardware and software), as well as the Extent/depth and type of the industry’s usage of ICT for integration purposes and identify the barriers that prevent the industry from its better usage if otherwise. • To determine the prospects for e-integration of the construction chains in the study area • To determine if e-construction has positively or otherwise affected the efficiency of the construction industry in terms of cost reduction, time reduction, waste reduction, less variation, client’s satisfaction, higher profit etc. • To build upon existing construction chain integration models.


- 1656 -

1.4 Research Hypotheses.

To achieve the above objectives and answer the research questions, the following hypotheses are formulated • That the level of e-integration of Nigerian building construction processes is below standard. • That there is no significant relationship between ICT (e-construction) capacity in terms of usage, ownership, accessibility, training, experience and skill on one hand AND the Level of Integration of construction works on the other. • That the level of usage for which the available computer/ICT hardware and software facilities are being employed has no correlation with the level of integration of construction works. • That there is no significant relationship between ICT (e-construction) capacity and the efficiency of the construction manager’s coordination works.

1.5 Significance of the Study.

According to Tolman (2001), certainly if cost of failure is seen in its broadest meaning, failure from information problems exceeds the common failure costs due to construction errors. The 2002 global ICT’s rating by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU, 2003) ranked Nigeria very low as the 27th among 51 African countries and the 153rd among 178 countries in the world. This is a clear indication that Nigeria is being left behind in ICT. Following these rankings, Oladapo (2006) reported that the construction industry in Nigeria has during the past few years increased its use of ICT. However, he continued, ‘very little is known about the impact of the technology on the construction industry and the prospects for its widespread penetration’. This is because very few reports exist of research in ICT in developing countries, including Nigeria, (Pamulu & Bhuta, 2004). In view of these conflicting reports, this study will be needed to follow up arguments on this issue so as to shed light into the areas of ICT usage in the Nigerian construction industry, however, with a bias as to how this has impacted on the integration of the discrete construction processes. Nigeria occupies a very important position in the African sub-region and even in the international communities, and must not be left behind in every aspect of ICT if the country’s vision 2020 is to be a reality.

1.6 Research Scope

This research work is directed to focus on determining how much of technology is being used for integration of construction works in Nigeria. Its main target is the key stakeholders (participants) in the construction industry ranging from the architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, planners, land surveyors, builders/contractors, construction managers, internet service providers to the clients. The study shall be multi-centred with nodes in each of the six geopolitical zones of the study area (Nigeria). Data shall be collected from the various professionals through their professional bodies, educators, firms, ministries, individuals and through the internet.

1.7 Definition of Key Terms. a. E-Construction There have been scanty definitions of E-Construction in literature and this has been described in many ways by different people. While some people call it ‘Electronic Construction’, some call it ‘I-Construction’, and others call it ‘Intelligent Construction’ while some others call it e-construction, smart construction or e-construction.. According to Kinns (2000), essentially


- 1657 -

e-construction describes the methods for electronically sharing, exchanging and managing information produced / acquired during the life of a construction project. The playing field for these tools is in most cases the Internet.

For the purpose of this research study, E-Construction shall be taken to mean ‘construction processes and management enhanced by electronic devices - computers, information and communication technology (digital phones, walkie-talkie, radio phones, the internet, intranet or extranet) as well as artificial intelligence to make information flow seamlessly between participants. b. Integration of construction processes Integration, according to Encarta dictionary means ‘equal access for all: in a group, community, place, or organization, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or social class’. It also means ‘a combination of parts or objects that work together well’. Cornick (1996) stated that integration of construction processes will result in a simultaneous and concurrent working method by the various building disciplines sharing their particular and diverse knowledge in order to arrive at a common solution for all problems that may show up during construction from inception to completion. ‘Integration of construction processes’ for the purpose of this research work is taken to mean ‘a unified and continuous process flow of construction activities through a seamless communication flow from the beginning to the end without breaks or gaps’. In this, every participant has direct access to the construction information and no information is lost but flows freely between different processes as they link and benefit from one another. The level of integration of the construction processes will be determined by the performance of the industry on a scale of ten (10). 1 is the minimum and the least performance of the industry based on Time reduction, Cost reduction, Client’s satisfaction, Management efficiency, and reduction in the number of formal site meetings. Ten (10) which is the highest represents the maximum attainable score on the above integration indices.

c. Building Information Modelling (BIM) Building information modelling is an evolving term generally referring to the broad use of 3D digital building models with linked parametric information to achieve the goal of integrated project data, enhanced visualization, and data sharing and re-use by various members of the building team. As it relates to the optimized construction project, building information modelling is seen as part of the technology that is expected to enable the collaboration and integration that will allow teams to become more productive. Although BIM is an accepted industry term for 3D modelling and integration in the building industry, it can effectively be applied in the manufacturing process as well. d. Nigeria’s Vision 2020 This is a proposal in one of the seven-point agenda of the present administration of Nigerian government that the country should emerge as one of the twenty world leading economies by the year 2020. Committees and plans are in place to achieve this dream.

e. Likert Scale This is a scale developed by Rensis Likert for measuring the degree to which people agree or disagree with a statement, usually on a 3-, 5-, or 7-point scale.


- 1658 -

2. Literature Review 2.1 Concept and Layers of Integration in Construction. Fragmentation of the construction processes has been identified as the major problem facing the industry. Latham (1994) lamented how fragmentation in the construction industry may have caused significantly low productivity, cost and time overruns, conflicts and disputes, resulting in claims and time consuming litigations. Thabet (2000) also reported that because of the structure and current practice of the industry, construction supply chains tend to be relatively fragmented, resulting in a relatively unstable production environment, including negative symptoms such as low efficiency levels, high unpredictability, low profits, and much rework and waste. While it is believed that Construction is a fragmented industry, many experts have however identified ‘de-fragmentation’ or increased integration of the various processes and parties as one of the ways to resolve most of the problems created by this fragmentation. According to Caballero et al (2003), the process inefficiency and a lack of effective quality control in the products of construction are often attributed to this fragmentation. However, increased integration and coordination among different processes and parties is the only way out. Therefore, in efforts to rationalize the industry, the previously separated design information and construction process planning are linked and operated as a single big construction management system. This conceptual progress is considered by (Hasegawa, 2000), as the trigger of construction automation. The internet has finally enhanced these efforts and has brought about a medium of communication network that is necessary for total integration of processes.

2.1.1 Level of Integration in the Construction Industry In view of the recent efforts of rationalizing the industry to integrate planning, design, fabricating, and assembly process like manufacturing industry, many AEC/FM researchers have come up with models and frameworks on information flow between the different construction processes. Cornick (1996) came up with a two layer (four figures) integration models, i.e. (a). Process (Structural) integration and (b). Computer (Technological) integration layers.

A. Two Layer Integration Model i. The Process Integration Layer. The relationship between the different participants and their activities and how the construction team inter-communicate determines what form of process integration is in place. For example, in the traditional simple construction project, the architect is at the center of information. He manually coordinates different activities of others since he initiates the design. However, with more complicated projects, coordination by manual method becomes very difficult, hence poor management handling results. All communication and information flow through the architect as in the arrows shown in Figure 1 below.


- 1659 -

Because of the diversity of the participants’ final views of the same project at the project inception, the end result would not be predetermined or ascertained. and as a result, perfect coordination can not be attained.

ii. Computer integration layer.

The computer (technological) integration layer is the computerization of the various construction activities for their intelligent overlapping, linkage and efficiency of information.

Such intelligent integration is not only the stand-alone computerized activities of the various processes of the project but a deliberate attempt at linking all the participants from inception to the completion seamlessly. When the process integration above is now enhanced with an intelligent computerized integration, the construction work can be said to be totally integrated. See Figure 2 above.

Cornick (1996) emphasized that with the above integrated construction management model, a computer based system will directly and interactively link the graphical data of the building form to the non-graphical data. It will also lead to a computerized methods of clients’ briefing, architect’s and engineer’s design, Qs’ costing, construction manager’s planning work, estate/facility managers’ advice’ and clients/users contributions. This will result in a simultaneous and concurrent working method by the various building disciplines sharing

Figure. 2: Enhanced Computer Integration and Participants’ Common View. Source: Adapted from Cornick (1996)

Client

Architects

C M

Contractor

Subcontractors

Engineers

QS

Information Flow

Architect

CM Contractor

Client

Engineer/QS

Subcontractor

Participants’ Common View

Figure 1: Process Integration Layer and the Participants’ Diverse Views. Source: Adapted from Cornick (1996)

Client

Engineers Architect QS

Contractor Suppliers Subcontractors

Information Flow Questionable Views of the Participants

Client

EngineerArchitect

Contracto

Subcontract

CM

?


- 1660 -

their particular and diverse knowledge in order to arrive at a common solution for all problems that may come up during construction and even there-after. Therefore, instead of having separate drawings, schedules, cost-data, specifications, briefings, calculations, all these graphical and non-graphical information will be grouped into one model and more importantly, will be related.

However, while Cornick’s idea looks simple, feasible and logical, it lacks the necessary details of the platforms the layers will work upon. The architecture of the inputs and outputs of the participants with different software interoperability is missing. However, the contribution is a major break up from the traditional master-builder and the conventional construction management concepts. The model leads the direction the researches in the construction industry should henceforth take. From this, the level of integration of the processes which will be the volume of the processes and professionals that have perfect communication linkage can be deduced. This may not be determinable with the process integration layer.

2.1.2 Trends towards the Development of ICT in Construction

2.1.3 Development of Computers to Aid Design Paper has traditionally been the main tool or medium for working with storing and communicating information in AEC industry. Increasingly, the trend was towards the use of computers and some other communication devices as the main tools and media for working with engineering information – (Froese 2002). According to Reffat (2006), it is almost half a century since computers have been used in building design. Their first use was in structural analysis and construction planning. The use of computers in building design analysis has included extensive developments in the analysis of building structure, HVAC (heat, ventilation and air condition) and environmental performance of buildings. Recently, sophisticated analyses of environmental behaviour and the behaviour of building users have been developed and implemented. Computer graphics was developed initially in the 1960s and formed the basis of computer-aided drafting systems, termed as CAD systems. These systems are used during the development and documentation phases of building design. CAD systems have however been developed beyond simply drafting to modelling the geometry of the building. Today’s commercial CAD systems are used at various stages in the building design process and are integrated with analysis tools.

2.1.4 Computers as tools for efficiency. The rapid adoption of computers as mode of communicating design information has by the late nineties reached the peak in some advanced countries. From a survey conducted in Canada between 1998-1999, (Rivard 2000) reported that only 1% of the professionals indicated that they did not have computers. However, many researchers have concluded that computer was used more for office works like book keeping, invoicing and technical calculations than for project tendering, purchasing, scheduling and material control. The significant benefit of computer usage include better quality of work, fastness, better financial control, better communication, satisfaction to the clients, less use of paper etc. With all these benefits, the above report still laments the continuous demand for computer software and hardware upgrading and know-how, too high investment cost, demand from staff, reduced security etc.

2.1.5 Development of Building Models With the development of 3D CAD in the 1990s. A significant effect of using a 3D CAD resulted into computer-based "building models" for design and communication in building


- 1661 -

projects. According to Froese (2002). The 3D CAD trends introduced a natural progression towards increasing semantic information, i.e., CAD entities modeled as specific building components rather than generic shapes. Currently, a large portion of AEC/FM design and management work is supported by a numerous computer applications. However, only few follow product models that can capture the data and the semantic meaning to allow information to be exchanged throughout the range of applications used in AEC/FM. This requires a “common language” for AEC/FM product models. Because of this, data standards work within AEC/FM has been an active research and development area for decades now.

The last decade, according to Katranuschkov et al (2003), witnessed several research and development projects that showed that Product Data Technology (PDT) can successfully and beneficially replace the traditional document-centred approach to project realisation. Today, with the development of the Industrial Foundation Classes (IFC) project model environment by the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI), the product modelling paradigm is being rapidly introduced in commercial software as well. However, actual PDT application in the AEC domain is still limited to CAD data exchange and some basic project-centred data management facilities. Capacity for electronic information exchange is vastly greater than it was a few years ago.

2.1.6 Indispensability of the Internet. The Internet is finally changing everything. It profoundly influences IT as well as perceptions and attitudes towards IT. According to Testa (2004), automated tools for integrated management of capital projects are emerging. New applications such as Constructware, ProjectNet, and ProjectCenter serve to network project participants. Designers, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers can now use a centralized database. There, they can access project data and information-management tools – improving collaboration and communication. Ideally, the project database will be updated continuously. All participants can use it to immediately obtain current information. This allows better tracking of progress and supports real-time analysis and decision-making. While Internet is being increasingly used as a communication backbone of the construction industry, through web browsers and other standard tools, design and planning communication and information exchange take place. Several dotcom companies are again offering collaboration environments for rent. However, according to Katranuschkov (2001) these environments are closed, project-centred and only provide for file level information exchange in basic document management. 2.2 Problem of Software Interoperability in the Construction Industry. According to Cornick (1996), interoperability of software means ‘compatibility of one software package with another to integrate them. Such integrated software makes possible the common use of data by various departments or sections of a process in different computer systems. It eliminates the problems usually created when computer systems have been independently designed for specific tasks which most of the available packages really are. According to Okedele & Adejimi (2002), data or reports prepared using machines that run software which are not integrated with others can not be retrieved, stored or worked upon on another machine in another software environment. An architect’s prepared CAD drawings for instance may not be retrievable into the client’s Word Processing package or into the QS’s Elite package if they are not integrated. This simply means that reports will have to be manually reentered as raw data into other systems. In an integrated software system, operators can access data in a usable form without the assistance of others.


- 1662 -

According to Froese (2003), Architecture, engineering, construction, and facilities management industry (AEC/FM) is an information intensive industry, and is increasingly dependant upon effective information technologies (IT). Various computer tools are used to support almost all AEC/FM design and management tasks, and the information entered into all of these tools describes the same physical end product. However, this information is passed from one tool to the next by producing paper-based or electronic documents which can only be interpreted by people, who must re-enter relevant information into the next computer tool. This manual data re-interpretation and re-entry (CURT 2006) is a non-value adding activity, can often introduce errors into the project, and inhibits the use of better computational tools.

2.3 Determination of E-Construction Capacity for Integrating Construction Chains. One of the major challenges of modern researches in ICT survey in the construction industry as reported by Samuelson (2002) is the determination of the technical capacity in terms of the professionals’ skill, training, experience, access, usage and willingness to improve on the usage. In view of this, IT Barometer survey was designed and adopted in many advanced countries recently.

2.3.1 IT Barometer Survey The project IT Barometer started in 1997 (Samuelson 2002) as an initiative of the Swedish R&D-program IT Bygg och Fastighet 2002 (IT BoF). The aim of the project was to create a method and perform a survey for measuring the use of IT in the construction industry. The survey should: • be repeatable and comparable over time. • be comparable between countries. • cover all categories of companies in the construction industry. The first survey was performed in Sweden in the autumn of 1997 and the spring of 1998 as a postal questionnaire. The survey was also performed in Denmark and Finland at the same time. The questions were the same in the three countries except for small changes to adapt to local variations. The result from the Swedish survey was presented in the report .IT-Barometer 1998 . Läget för IT-användningen inom byggande och förvaltning i Sverige. (Samuelson, 1998). Comparisons between the countries were also made and presented in two papers, (Howard and Samuelson, 1998) and (Howard et al. 1998). A slightly modified version of the IT Barometer was also performed in Canada in 1999 and was presented in a paper in the electronic journal ITcon (Rivard, 2000).

In the autumn of 2000 the IT Barometer was repeated in Sweden with the purpose partly to measure the use of IT in the year 2000 and partly to make comparisons with the situation in 1998. Denmark and Finland used the same questionnaire and repeated the survey in their countries in the spring of 2001. 2.3.2 Selection of respondents

To make a representative selection of respondents, Statistics Sweden (SCB) was used. SCB keeps a directory containing all companies in Sweden. The directory is updated every 3 months. It is possible to make the selection either on the basis of companies, or on the basis of workplaces. In this survey the selection is made on the basis of workplaces.

By choosing workplaces as a basis for selection, the possibility of getting a more detailed and true description of reality increases. The statistical method chosen was stratified free random


- 1663 -

selection. The free random selection is then used to make the selection of units from these groups. In this selection each unit in the population has the same probability to be part of the selection. This method using two steps is necessary if the survey is to be able to say something about parts of the industry. Otherwise it is only possible to make statements about the industry as a whole. It was decided that the study should be able to make statements partly about the industry as a whole, partly about categories of workplaces and partly about sizes of workplaces, but not the combination of the last two, which would have resulted in a much bigger selection. The selection was therefore stratified with respect to the following 9 strata (5 categories and 4 sizes of workplaces):

• Architects, , • Engineers, • Contractors, • Property managers, • Manufacturers/Trade, • 1-9 employees, • 10-49 employees, • 50-199 employees, • 200+ employees

While IT Barometer survey model has been adopted in many advanced countries and have been found to have adequately tackled the problems of evaluating the e-construction capacity, there is a need for some adjustment to suit the local situations. This is because the construction industries of the developing countries have certain peculiarities which may not allow this model to work well. For example in Nigeria according to Oladapo (2007), the industry is made up of an organised formal sector comprising of 5% of the (mostly foreign) firms but controlling 95% of the construction market and an unorganised informal sector of 95% of the firms but controlling just 5% of the market. In view of this, this study notes that the adoption of the total number of employees to determine the capacity of a workplace may not be very appropriate for Nigerian situation. This is especially in this part of the world where most of the firms are in the informal sector and accurate employment statistics may be inaccurate and the reasons for hiring staff may not be rational. Instead, this research work has adopted the volume (amount) of work done in the past three years and the number of the hired qualified professionals as the only employees to be the factors for determining the weight of the firm.

2.4 Computer Availability and Usage 2.4.1 Computer Availability and Usage in Advanced Countries

From a survey conducted on the computer availability in Canada, only 1% indicated that they did not have computers. Table 1 below shows the average number of desktop and portable computers per employee for the three categories of firms surveyed.

Hence, the drastic reduction in computer prices over the last few years and the increased power, usefulness and popularity of computers have made this tool more ubiquitous within the industry (Industry Canada, 1997). There is an average of 0.8 desktop computer per employee among the companies surveyed that have computers. Architectural firms have more than one desktop computer per employee probably because they keep old computers longer to prepare renderings and walk-through animations. It is clear from table.1 that the main workhorse is the desktop computer since there is only one portable computer per five employees in engineering firms and one per ten employees in architectural firms.

Table 1: Number of Computers per Employee in Canada Source: Bjork (2002)

Categories of Firms Desktop Computers Portable Computers Architects 1.2 0.10 Engineers 0.9 0.18 Contractors 0.3 0.06


- 1664 -

These percentages are very similar to what exists in Scandinavia (Howard et al., 1998). These findings clearly indicate that architects and engineers have come to rely heavily on computers in their work. Contractors, on the other hand, have only less than half these proportions because of the proportion of staff working on site.

The survey also looked at the types of office software used in the industry. The findings show that almost all companies surveyed that have computers use word processors and spreadsheets. On the other hand, database systems and project planning packages were not as prevalent but their use is increasing. It was also discovered that almost every architectural firms (92.9%) and engineering firms (91.2%) surveyed use CAD. On the other hand, only (26.2%) of the contractors used CAD. – (Industry Canada, 1997)

The software available for architectural/engineering design and drawing are CorelDraw, AutoCAD and ArchiCAD. The AutoCAD, used by 73.6% of the firms, is the most common. WinQs (41.5%) is the most common software for quantity surveying measurement It is surprising to see that 30% of the scheduling process is still mostly done manually even though there are cheap and efficient software applications available for this task (e.g., Microsoft Project 98, Time Line Solutions, and Scitor Project Scheduler 7 and their later versions). E-mail has reached an 87% penetration with an additional 8% implementing it. This is in sharp contrast with the results obtained by Industry Canada at the end of 1996 when only 15% of the construction industry were using email (in comparison with 28% across all industries) and 17% were either implementing or considering it (Industry Canada, 1997). A similar penetration was achieved with the World-Wide Web where in 2000, 82% of the industry were using web browsers while only 15% had access to the Web in 1996. With respect to the categories of firms, 43% of the engineering firms, 27% of the architectural firms, and 27% of the contractors surveyed have a home page. In New Zealand, (Doherty2007), even though most people (98%) use computer, however, the current extent of computer use in the New Zealand building and construction industry is not known. 86% claimed that they use computers for Project Documentation whereas only 44% use it for Construction Works. Most (86%) of computer users have a dedicated PC. 58% have a CD drive. 60% have a network connection. 17% have a modem but no network connection. 26% have both a modem and a network connection. It is interesting that such a high number of users have both network connection and modem since there is a duplication of function here.

2.4.2 Computer Availability and Usage in the Nigerian Construction Industry Construction contributes some 7% of the GDP in most OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries and between 12% to 14% in Japan and Korea

Figure 3: Percentage use of office software in the construction industry. Source: Bjork (2000)


- 1665 -

(Gann, 2000), while in developing countries according to Dharwadker (1979), investments in construction projects could be as high as 50-60% of the national budgets. In Nigeria, the construction industry was the dominant contributor to the nation’s GDP in the 1980s, accounting for about 70% of the GDP (National Planning Committee on Construction Policy, 1989). This made the industry very strategic to Nigeria’s development efforts.

Unfortunately, according to Oladapo (2007), the industry has been bedevilled by a combination of low demand, consistent low productivity and poor performance over the years (Aniekwu 1995; Okuwoga 1998; Adeyemi et al 2005). This has reduced its national economy contribution to a mere 1% of the GDP in 2002 (AfDB/OECD, 2004). The industry is made up of an organised formal sector and an unorganised informal sector. The formal sector comprises foreign and indigenous companies, which are classified into small, medium and large scale according to their level of capitalisation and annual turnover. The few large firms (mostly foreign), which constitute just about 5% of the total number of contractors in the formal sector, control about 95% of the construction market, giving the small firms just about 5% share of the market – (Oladapo 2007).

According to Oyediran (2005), the awareness level of ICT by Nigerian AEC educators is moderately high and at par with other industries. However, like in most other developing economies, computers are mostly used for general and popular packages like Word Processing, Excel etc and not much of the industry specific functional specifications. At the same time, it is apparent that the AEC educators lack ICT facilities that can integrate IT culture into the educational system of the industry’s graduates. According to Oladapo (2007), the level of use of computers among the construction professionals in Nigeria is very high (98.5%) even though Nigeria is a developing country. Between the professions, the main use of computers differs along the lines of the core functions of the professions, with architects leading in the computerization of design (followed by engineers), while quantity surveyors lead in costing and contractors lead in accounting and work scheduling. A comparison with more developed countries shows that the use of computers in Nigerian construction industry is still at the rudimentary stage where a basic application like word processing is the most prominent, while in Canada, Sweden and Singapore computer usage has advanced to more technical business applications., electronic cost-data service, videoconferencing and tele-working in the near future.

2.5 Future Prospects with Internet and Building Model Data In spite of the constraints and setbacks experienced in a UK project (the HUT-600 project), according to (Kam 2003), the project team reported that the product modelling approach (e-construction) provided consistent benefits such as higher efficiency and better quality in multiple intra-disciplinary applications. It allowed the project team to quickly perform routine jobs and divert more time and attention to higher value work. The shift from performing routine to high-value work reduced project risks. Higher efficiency, better design and construction quality, and more informative decision supports were evidenced by various benefit examples (e.g., early generation of a reliable budget, valuable client input during the schematic phase, early availability of multidisciplinary analyses, availability of recommendations that cover life cycle performance, maintenance, energy, and environmental factors, etc.). Pertinent decision factors and multiple project alternatives were available early during the schematic design phase, which allowed the owners to make informed decisions with relatively high impact and relatively low costs.


- 1666 -

2.6 E-Construction and Efficiency in Project Management According to Laitinen (1999), while other industries have been able to achieve very significant improvements in productivity and quality over the last few decades, the construction industry seems to have been at a standstill. The industry has not been able to combine high quality with productivity, customer satisfaction and flexibility. Competition remains mainly focused on lowest cost and offering capacity instead of quality, sustainability and customer-perceived value. The construction industry is, in particular, lagging far behind other industries in using modern technology as a major catalyst for improving its processes. However, the employment of ICT in design and construction activities has brought relief into the system. And according to Moum (2006), CAD systems have this far definitely brought benefits, such as the possibility of producing a huge amount of drawings in a limited amount of time, and the possibility of creating highly realistic and professional representations of the design solution. There are also developed computer programmes better suited to support the designers sketching act than the traditional CAD-programmes. For instance SketchUp, which on the software website is described “as the pencil of digital design” (http://www.sketchup.com/). But can CAD support the generation of the design solution itself? Or is the computer what Lawson (2005) calls a draughtsman? Designer skills such as intuition and the “feeling-of” are difficult to describe and map, and until now the computer has been unable to copy these parts of the human intelligence. 3. Research Methods. The main aim of this section is to highlight the methods to be employed in data collection, the components of the variables to adopt for testing the hypotheses and the statistical processing of the data to be collected. It will also refer to those various sequential steps taken in order to effectively address the research topic. These include the study design as well as methods adopted in presenting and subsequently analysing the data of the research.

3.1 Research Design: The survey is designed to determine the current status of electronic or intelligent influence on the integration of building construction processes in Nigeria. It will study the extent of computerization in bringing together the different participants and processes of construction works for efficiency and effective coordination. A purposive, modified IT Barometer survey is therefore proposed for this research work so as to be able to compare the findings with the same studies carried out and/or currently being carried out in many parts of the world. This survey has since been used in different countries, and thus makes comparison among countries possible. Such results have already been published for Scandinavia in (Howard et al., 1998) and (Howard and Samuelson, 1998). 3.2 Data collection This research work will be carried out with two methods of data collection i.e. primary and secondary data.

Primary Data: a. The primary data will be collected through structured questionnaires. b. Direct observation and discussions made with professionals in the construction industry. The target respondents to the questionnaires will be the senior officers of the core activities in the construction firms, i.e. architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, land surveyors, planners,


- 1667 -

estate surveyors, contractors/builders, the clients, and academics in these areas. The questionnaires will be distributed and collected through construction professionals’ institutes, establishments, personal contacts, letters, online groups and e-mails.

Secondary Data: This will comprise of information from the following. a. Opinions of some notable colleagues and professionals. b. Abstracts gathered from related referred journals, International magazines and other literatures. Data will be computer assisted and the pattern that emerges will be used to analyse the findings. 3.3 Study Population and Sampling Techniques. According to Kothari (2004), sample size should be determined by keeping in view the following: • Nature of the universe (homogenous or heterogeneous) • Number of classes proposed. • Nature of study: (intensive/continuous or technical surveys) • Types of samples: • Standard of accuracy and acceptable confidence level required. • Availability of funding. • Human capacity. Sampling design Nigeria is a country with 150 million population. This population however does not spread evenly across the entire country. They form clusters of settlement in zones. Hence the country has been divided into six clusters of settlement which are called geo-political zones. Each of these geo-political zones has a centre in which development is most rapid and in which most construction professionals and firms are concentrated. Because of this, this research work will adopt a clustered but stratified sampling technique. Because of the heterogeneous and stratified nature of this study as well as a high level of accuracy and confidence level required, a large sample size shall be administered. A Country-wide sample size of 600 will be randomly selected from a universe of 1400 questionnaires that will be sent out to the core professionals of construction firms. Knowing that construction firms are not evenly distributed across the country, efforts will be made to ensure that each of the six geo-political zones are well represented. This will be done by randomly selecting averagely equal percentage of samples from the respondents from each of the zones. From Kothari (2004), the determination of the above sample size of six hundred (600) for this study was assumed from n = (z2pqN) / (e2(N-1) + z2pq) (1) where n = sample size = 600 z = confidence level of 95% = 1.96 N = population size of 1400 e = acceptance error of 3% p = sample proportion of success = 0.5 q = 1- p = 0.5


- 1668 -

3.4 Data Analysis: The data to be collected will be analysed through a five-point Likert-type scale to measure a range of opinions from “Very weak” to “Very strong”. The significant agreement or otherwise with the notion being tested will be determined by adopting the mid-point value of the index as the hypothesized mean (Coakes and Steed, 2001). This implies that any result significantly different from this uncommitted or unsure value would be assumed to be either positive or negative to the notion being tested (Pullin and Haidar, 2003). Because of this, many of the questions in the questionnaires used for this study are structured to measure the strength of opinion of respondents on a the Likert-type scale on various aspects of the ICT impact. The data will be analysed using percentile method, mean score ranking, regression analysis, correlation analysis and the importance index. Correlation analysis will be used to show the relationship between ordinal dependent and independent variables (Tabachnick & Fidell, 1996) while regression analysis will be used to predict the consequences of certain variables. The formula for the importance index as given by El-Haram & Horner (2002) is as follows:

where wi is weight given to ith response; i= 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 is response frequency; fx1 = very weak/low, and fx5 = very strong/high and n is total number of responses.

4. Conceptual Framework From the review of literatures above, four factors can be identified as the key solutions to the problems of construction chain integration. These are:

1. De-fragmentation of the construction processes. This involves re-integration of the various discrete construction processes with technology to overlap and benefit from one another.

2. Inter-operability of the various software in construction activities. Compatibility of one software package with another to integrate them. Such integrated software makes possible the common use of data by various departments or sections of a process by different computer systems.

3. Adoption of Building Product Model. Building Product models can capture the data and the semantic meaning to allow information to be exchanged throughout the range of applications used in AEC/FM. This requires a “common language” for AEC/FM product models. e.g., 3D, 4D, Industry Foundation Classes environment (IFC’s)

4. Information Management and Distribution through Internet, Intranet and Extranet. These four factors are the most frequently mentioned in the most current literature and research on construction process integration and e-construction. In general, they constitute the critical success factors for improving efficiency in construction management through information technology. For a successful model of construction procurement chain integration, these four factors must be well addressed. Below in Figure 4a & b is the conceptual model for this study. In this, the traditional means of project communication has been virtually eliminated. There is opportunity to embrace new technology in order to function better as a team while the Internet accessibility will cause a major change in the way the Clients and all participants relate and operate. This is because the model will facilitate

(2)


- 1669 -

collaboration amongst clients, architects, engineers, contractors etc as all have access to the database from anywhere, anytime, not minding what construction stage they traditionally operate. They can all make contributions to the project up and down the database line. The construction manager is at the centre of information as the custodian of the database in a ‘Shared Project model’ which employs IFC and internet and allows interoperability of the various software used. This is envisaged to effectively expedite workflow, exchange and share of information, as well as automate notification system and archiving data. The 3D version of the model in 4b below shows the detail process as it spirally progresses from inception to completion. The traditional level of operation of the different participants does not mean that they can not make contribution at the project inception. Any of them can contribute from their traditional level into the database which is also accessible to all others from anywhere and at any traditional level they operate from in real-time. In this model, it is envisaged that complete integration solution will be met because: • A single data model results • Diverse participants’ views are reconcilable • All communication problems are easily solved by the internet • Paper documents are virtually eliminated • The resulted Integrated Project Database (IPDB) solves information ownership problems • The model represents reality. • Mapping of the project progress is easy • XML and the later versions of modern internet languages solve all semantic and representation problems • CAD forms the centre of the database • Integrated Product Database (IPDB) guarantees co-ordinated and consistent information flow

Internet, Intranet, Extranet links

CMDatabaseProj ModelIFCInternet, VR

Architects

Engineers

QSBuilder/Contractor

SubcontractorsSuppliers

ClientISP/Authority

Fig. 4a: Conceptual Model of the Study in 2D


- 1670 -

Others

Internet Link

Supliers

Internet Service Providers/Authority

CMD/baseIFC

Client

Subcontractors

Builder/Contractor

QS

Architects/Engrs

5. Conclusion and Further Work This research study has learnt from various literatures that most of the modern construction problems associated with low productivity, wastages, as well as time and cost overrun occurring today are due to its fragmented nature. Moreover, its lagging behind in adopting the modern ICT development as a catalyst to enhance performance has resulted into inefficiency. However, various authors have suggested that e-integration of the various segmented processes is the solution to most of these problems. In the same vein, while momentum for reversing this trend is being gathered in many advanced countries, the situation is worse in Nigeria like in most other developing countries which are still battling with the traditional methods of construction procurements. The study has therefore identified four major factors that must be addressed before total construction process integration can be achieved which have been structured and proposed as a model in the conceptual framework of the study. These factors are: 1. De-fragmentation of the construction processes. 2. Inter-operability of the various software in construction activities. 3. Adoption of Building Product Model. 4. Information Management and Distribution through the Internet, Intranet and

Since the study is still ongoing, the model is open to criticism and for an update.


- 1671 -

A purposive but modified IT Barometer survey has been proposed as the research method. This is to make the study comparable with other current studies on ICT penetration of the construction industries going on around the world. It is envisaged that the study when completed will be published to enlighten the construction professionals, educators, government agencies, policy makers, students and act as a pointer to give direction to ICT capacity development in terms of training, retraining, usage, software and hardware acquisition and development in the country’s construction industry and in line with the country’s Vision 2020. 6. References Adeyemi A. Y. Oladapo A. A. and Akindele O. (2005). ‘Balancing globalisation, globalisation and the sustainable development equation in the Nigerian construction industry’, Proceedings of the 3rd Postgraduate Conference, Johannesburg, South Africa, pp 289-302. Aniekwu N. (1995), ‘The business environment of the construction industry in Nigeria’, Construction Management and Economics, CME, Vol 13, 445-455. Aspin R et al (2001), ‘A Conceptual Framework for Multi-Modal Interactive Virtual Workspaces’, ITcon Vol 7 (2001, pp 149 Bennett J. (1991). ‘International Construction Project Management’. Butterworth Heinemann. Oxford. Björk B.-C., (1995) ‘Requirements and information structures for building product data models’, Doctoral dissertation, VTT publication 245, Technical Research centre of Finland, Espoo. Bjork B.C. (1999), ‘Information Technology in construction: domain definition and research Issues’, International Journal of Computer Integrated Design and Construction, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 3-16 Caballero A. A., Ahmed S, Azhar S, and Barcala M (2001), ‘Development of An Information Model To Enhance Integration and Coordination in the Construction Projects’ Florida International University Journal, 10555 W. Flagler Street, Miami, Florida 33174, USA, pp 1-6 Catridgek D (2002), ‘New Aspects of Quantity Surveying Practice’. Oxford Butterworth Heinemam. Coakes, S.J. and Steed, L.G. (2001), ‘SPSS: Analysis without Anguish’. John Wiley & Sons, Milton. Cornick T. (1992a), ‘Computer Integrated Construction Administration and Construction Management. Teaching Company Programme’. Hans Haeniein Architects/University of Reading. Cornick T. (1996), ‘Computer Integrated Building Design’; E & FN Spon, London Construct IT (1996), ‘Benchmarking Best Practice Report: Briefing and Design’, Construct IT Centre of Excellence, University of Salford, UK: University of Salford, ISBN 1-900491-33-8. CURT (2006), ‘Optimizing the Construction Process: An Implementation Strategy’ The Construction Users Roundtable WP 1003 July, 2006. Dharwadker P. P. (1979), ‘Management in construction industr’y, Oxford and I.B.H. Publishing Co.,New Delhi. Froese T (2002),’ Trends in Information Technology for the Construction Industry’. CTCA Symposium.Procedings. Department of Civil Engineering University of British Columbia. Feb/Mar 2002.


- 1672 -

Froese T (2003), ‘Future Directions for IFC-Based Interoperability’. http://www.itcon.org/2003/17., viewed 29/12/2008. vol 8 pg 231 Gann D.M. (2000), ‘Building innovation: complex constructs in a changing world’, Thomas Telford Publishing, London. IAI (1999), ‘An Introduction to the International Alliance for Interoperability and the Industry Foundation Classes, IAI Publ., Oakton, VA, 21 pp. Hasegawa Y. A. (2000), ‘New Wave of Construction Automation and Robotics in Japan’. Proceedings of the 17th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction ISARC 2000. Taipei, Taiwan, pp15–20. Howard B, Kiviniemi A, Samuelson O, (1998), ‘Surveys of IT in the Construction Industry and Experience of the IT Barometer in Scandinavia’. In Bjoerk B-C(ed). ITcon Vol. 3 (1998), pg. 45 Industry Canada (1997), ‘Survey of Technology Diffusion in Service Industries’, Industry Canada, http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG, viewed 05/08/1998 ITU (2003), ‘ITU digital access index: world’s first global ICT ranking’, ITU, http://www.itu.int/newsarchive/press_releases/2003/30.html ITU (2005), ‘World telecommunication indicators database’, ITU, (9th edition), at http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/ , viewed 29/02/2009 Kam C, Fischer M, Hänninen R, Karjalainen A, Laitinen J (2003), ‘The Product Model And Fourth Dimension Project’, ITCON http://www.itcon.org/2003/12 viewed 29/12/2008. pp. 137 Kartam N.A. (1994), ‘ISICAD: Interactive system for integrating CAD and computer-based construction systems’, Microcomputers in civil engineering, Vol. 9, pp.41-51. Katranuschkov P, Scherer R J, Turk, Z. (2001), ‘Intelligent Services and Tools for Concurrent Engineering - An Approach Towards The Next Generation of Collaboration Platforms’.ITCON, www.itcon.org/2001/9, viewed 29/12/2008, pg 111-128. Katranuschkov P, Gehre A, Scherer R. J (2003), ‘An Ontology Framework to Access IFC Model Data’, ITcon, www.itcon.org/2003/29. Date accessed 29/12/2008. pg. 413. Kinns J. (2000), ‘E-Construction Management Of Project Information, Babtie Group [email protected]. The institution of civil engineers. 2000 Latham, M. (1994), ‘Constructing the Team’. London: Her Majesty Stationary Office (HMSO).56-60 Laitinen, J., (1998), ‘Model Based Construction Process Management, Ph.D. thesis, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. Lottaz C, Stouffs R (2000), ‘Increasing Understanding During Collaboration Through Advanced Representations’. In Turk Z (ed), ITcon Vol. 5, pp.1. http://itcon.org/2000/1/ viewed, 23/06/2008. Moum A. (2006), ‘Architectural Design Process’. ITcon Vol. 11 pp. 409. http://itcon.org/2006/30/ National Planning Committee on Construction Policy, (1989), ‘Government White paper on the National Construction Policy. Planning Committee on the National Construction Policy, Nigeria. Okuwoga A.A. (1998), ‘Cost-time performance of public sector housing projects in Nigeria’, Habitat International, vol.22 (4), pp 389-395. Okedele O. S, Adejimi A (2002), ‘Towards Achieving Computer Integrated Architectural Design & Construction’. ARCHEES vol. 2 No 1, pp 22 Oladapo A.A. (2006), ‘The impact of ICT on professional practice in the Nigerian construction industry’, The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries , vol.24(2), pp 1-19.


- 1673 -

Oladapo.A (2007), ‘An Investigation Into Construction Industry’; In: A.Serpell and S. V. Barai Eds, ITcon Vol. 12, pp.261-77 Ouzounis V. (2001), ‘Analysis of Distributed Technologies for the Usage in the Context of Virtual Enterprises’. COVE News 1/2001, ISSN 1645 0582 http://www.uninova.pt/~cove/newsletter.htm. Owolabi A, Anumba Chimay, El-Hamalawi J, A (2003), ‘Architecture for Implementing IFC-Based Online Construction Product Libraries. Available at http://www.itcon.org/2003/15. viewed 29/12/2008. pp 201. Oyediran, O. S, Odusami K. T. (2004), ‘Whither the Nigerian Quantity Surveyors in the Information Technology Age’, An International Journal of Information and Communicaation Technology (ICT) vol. 1 (1 & 2) pp 1-16. Pamulu M.S, Bhuta C. (2004), ‘Strategic Management of Information Technology in Construction Industry: The Indonesian Perspectives’, Proceedings of the Joint CIB-W107 and CIB-TG23 Symposium on Globalisation and Construction, Bangkok, Thailand, pp 521-530. Rebolj, D, Menzel, K(2004), ‘Another Step Towards a Virtual University in Construction IT. Information Technology in Construction’. ITcon 9, pp 257-266. Reffat R. M. (2006), ‘Computing in Architectural Design: Reflections and An Approach To New Generations of Caad’, ITcon Vol. 11 (2006),, pp. www.Itcon.Org/2006/45/ Rezgui Y, Cooper G.(1998), ‘A Proposed Open Infrastructure for Construction Project Document Sharing’, In: Z. Turk (eds), ITcon Vol.3 (1998), , pp. 11 Rivard H. (2000), ‘Computers and IT as Main Tools for Engineering Information’ Concordia University, Canada. Rivard H., Froese T., Waugh L. M., El-Diraby T., Mora R., Torres H., Gill S. M. and O'Reilly T. (2004), ‘Case Studies on the Use of Information Technology in the Canadian Construction Industry’, Journal of Information Technology in Construction, vol. 9, 19-34, pp 277. http://www.itcon.org/2004/2, viewed 12/07/ 2007. Samuelson O. (2002), ‘IT-BAROMETER 2000: The Use of IT in The Nordic Construction Industry’. ITcon,pp 1-26. http://www.itcon.org/2002/1/, viewed 22,11,2008. Sulankivi K. (2004), ‘Benefits of Centralized Digital Information Management in Multi-partner Projects’. ITcon Vol. 9 (2004); pp. 35, http://www.itcon.org/2004/3/ Testa N (2004), ‘Construction’s Future: Info Integration or Bust’. FIATECH_031504, vol 4 No 2. www.fiatech.org/links.htm, viewed 29/12/2008. Tabachnick B. G and Fidell L. S. (1996), ‘Using Multivariate Statistics, HarperCollins College Publishers, New York. Thabet W (2000), ‘White paper on Design/Construction Integration thru Virtual Construction for Improved Constructability’, Virginia Tech, USA Tolman F. et al (2001), ‘Econstruct: Expectations, Solutions and Results’, ITcon, vol. 6 (2001), http://www.itcon.org/2001/13/, viewed 25/02/ 2007, pp. 175 Turk Z., Wasserfuhr R., Katranuschkov P. (2000b), ‘Environment Modelling for Concurrent Engineering’, Int.J. of Computer Integrated Design and Construction /CIDAC/ 2(1), Special Issue on Concurrent Engineering in Construction, SETO, London, UK, pp. 28-36. Vrijhoef R, Ridder H (2007), ‘Supply Chain Integration in Construction : Design And Construction Processes’. Department for Design and Construction Processes,. Delft University of Technology. Paper series 2. Watson J. (2002), ‘Examples from a Contractor’, e-Construction Symposium. PCL Constructors Inc. Weisberg S. (2001), ‘i-Collaboration-State of the Industry’, CADALYST Magazine 9/2001 http://209.208.199.147:85//features/0901icollab/0901icolab.htm viewed 11/12/2008.


- 1674 -

El-Haram, M.A. and Horner, M.W. (2002b): Practical application of RCM to local authority housing: a pilot study. J. of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, 8(2), 135-143. Pullin, L. and Haidar, A. (2003): Managerial values in local government – Victoria, Australia, The International Journal of Public Sector Management, 16(4), 286-302.

impact of ict on the integration of construction procurement chain in nigeria

Documents