Product data sharing in architecture, engineering and construction : assessment of middleware support and business benefits
Product data sharing is seen as an important means of improving the performance of the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. However, little evidence of its business benefits has been given. At the same time, key middleware technologies supporting the application of product data...
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University of Salford
2009
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| Online Access: | http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.517502 |
| Summary: | Product data sharing is seen as an important means of improving the performance of the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. However, little evidence of its business benefits has been given. At the same time, key middleware technologies supporting the application of product data sharing in the AEC industry have received limited testing. The research reported in this thesis addresses these two gaps in product data sharing research. It examines the application of key product data sharing technologies in practice in order to identify gaps in those technologies or provide further evidence of their suitability. It also assesses the use of product data sharing in improving the performance of construction organisations. A case study of the application of product data sharing in practice was conducted. It examined the use of product data sharing in improving the performance of a partnering arrangement in the development of wastewater treatment plants. It dealt with: (i) the documentation and analysis of the current practice followed by the arrangement; (ii) the use of product data sharing in improving the performance of the arrangement; and (iii) the assessment of the achieved improvement. The main contributions of the research reported in this thesis are: (i) it identifies shortcomings in the Industry Foundation Classes and the need for further research in distributed product data sharing architectures; (ii) it provides evidence for some business benefits of product data sharing, while at the same time finds conflicting evidence for benefits reported in the literature; (iii) it suggests a change notification/propagation scheme for product data sharing environments; and (iv) it examines and demonstrates the application of product data sharing in the wastewater treatment sector. |
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