MT - Using BIM as a PM Tool: 2.3.1– From documents to Project Integrated Databases

As we have seen, there is a need for better integration of project teams (Manaula 2008), one way to achieve this integration is by the proper use of Inter-Organizational Information Systems [IOIS] (Ibid.).

Figure 2.3 Use of e-business solutions in the EU industries
(adapted from e-business Watch, 2006)

“The construction and facilities industry has historically used a document-based way of working, through drawings and reports, and has communicated through ‘unstructured’ text such as letters and emails” (BSI, 2010, p. 2).

A document based way of working means that through the project life cycle there is an “unstructured stream of text or graphic entities” (BSI, 2010, p. 2). This unstructured stream is a challenge for better integrated practices. The information exchanged at the document level is generally “fuzzy, unformatted or difficult to interpret” (Ajam et. al. 2010: p. 763).

A key aspect is to understand what means “proper use” of the IOIS mentioned in the beginning of this section. Ajam et al. (2010) argue that the proper use is that of going from document sharing practices to share information at the object or element level. The proper use of these IOIS is thus the one that allows the much needed integration of project teams and the switch from the mentioned unstructured stream of entities to an integrated and interrelated use of information, what has been named by several authors as the Project Integrated Database [PID] paradigm.


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