Tan, H C (2006) A methodology for the 'live' capture and reuse of project knowledge in construction. PhD thesis, Loughborough University, UK.
Abstract
The importance of capturing and sharing useful knowledge from construction projects has been recognised by the construction industry. However, issues such as the loss of important insights due to the time lapse in capturing the knowledge, the need for sharing the knowledge captured as soon as possible in order to maximise the benefits brought about by reusing the knowledge, and the need to share the knowledge before the opportunities for reusing the knowledge diminish have not been adequately addressed. To address this, it is crucial for knowledge to be captured as soon as possible once it is created or identified (i.e. live) in a collaborative environment, and presented in a format that will facilitate its reuse during and after the project. This research was aimed at developing a methodology that facilitates the live capture and reuse of project knowledge in construction. An extensive literature review was first conducted on the concept of knowledge management and the current practices for managing project knowledge. Subsequently, case studies involving six companies were carried out to investigate the shortcomings of current practice and the end-user requirements for the capture and reuse of project knowledge. These requirements informed the development of the methodology for live capture and reuse of project knowledge. The Web IS Development Methodology employing ASP NET 2.0 was adopted to encapsulate the methodology into a web-based prototype application. The evaluation of the prototype revealed that the methodology can enable project knowledge to be captured and shared live across different organisations without significant additional workload and costs. It is concluded that the live capture and reuse of project knowledge in construction is important in preventing knowledge loss and helping to harness the project knowledge captured. A combination of both KM technologies and techniques is essential for the effective management of tacit and explicit knowledge. The prototype application developed can facilitate the live capture and reuse of project knowledge as shown by the results of the evaluation. There is scope for enhancing this study by exploring the integration of the prototype application with other information systems, and the use of software agents to automatically locate useful knowledge from the Internet and project extranets. The methodology developed will help construction organisation to leverage their knowledge in a timely way to meet the challenge of today’s fast evolving world.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | knowledge capture; information systems; knowledge management; project knowledge; prototype development |
| Index terms: | project knowledge, construction industry, internet, case study, user requirement, construction organization, construction project, methodology, integration, knowledge management, knowledge capture, information system, agent, explicit knowledge, workload, literature review, prototype |
| Subjects: | computing systems, practitioner, user-centered design, organization, data collection methods, knowledge management, data analysis and analytics, modelling and simulation, professional development, production management, research methods, management, information systems, industry analysis, organizational analysis |
| Topics: | Human Resources, Digital Applications, Design Practice, Organizational Design, Information Management, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Roles and Professions, Engineering Principles, Project Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here