Investigating the Use of PMASP-Based Project Specific Websites as a Project Management Tool in the A/E/C Industry

• Main Author: Firman, Jennifer Lynn
• Other Authors: Civil Engineering
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: Virginia Tech 2014
• Subjects: Application Service Providers; Project Management; Technology Implementation; Project Specific Websites
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/36007; http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-12082002-194737/

The A/E/C industry faces the inability to meet client demands of projects completed on time and on schedule due to the minimal collaboration between parties, communication problems, and mistakes. The present project management system in the industry is paper-based, and requires the owners of information to distribute the knowledge at their discretion. This system has inherent delays in information transmission, which lead to miscommunications, mistakes, and costly rework, which in turn, cause increases in the project schedule and budget. There is a need to fundamentally change the project management philosophy of the industry. Rather than each party maintaining a project management system, there needs to be a single, integrated project-based system. One type of integrated project management systems is project-specific websites. This research focuses specifically on the project-specific websites for project management (PSWS) offered by construction-based project management application service providers (PMASPs). While there are substantial improvements in the project process including cost and time savings by using a PSWS, the industry is reluctant to adopt the new technology. There are numerous barriers to the implementation of PSWS. A large barrier is determining how to implement and use PMASP-Based PSWS. Through a literature review, a project management questionnaire, investigations of the leading construction-based project management application service providers (PMASPs), and implementation case studies, a chapter on implementation considerations and lessons was developed. The Implementation Considerations and Lessons chapter serves to provide companies a basis for PSWS implementation and use. The chapter contains three parts: background, implementation, and sustainability. The background section identifies the benefits of using PSWS, examines the ability of five construction-based project management application service providers to meet the project management need of the parties, and identifies the barriers to implementation users should expect. The second part of the chapter details the steps needed to successfully implement and use the system. The final part describes the sustainability challenges that occur after implementation. === Master of Science