Process oriented information management in construction

Sammanfattning: The construction industry is often accused of beingfragmented and inefficient in nature due to the lack ofcontinuity and repetitive behaviour in projects. For many yearsinformation technology has been put forward as a solution. But,despite the potentials, little gains have been harvested by thedevelopment of computerised information systems (IS). Theoverall aim of this research is to determine if a moreaccessible and clearly described housing development processcould be enabled by an information system, which in itself,could improve both individual and project (group) performance.Two research questions are being put forward; first, will aprocess-oriented IS positively impact on the performance ofproject managers and in particular on the performance ofproject groups? Second, how important is a process-orientedinformation management process for the success of the IS? Toanswer these questions an action research approach with largeinfluences of survey research has been adopted. The researchconsists of two phases; a process orientation within a largeSwedish housing development company and a survey of projectmanagers¡¦ attitudes towards a new process-orientedIS also including a study of dependencies found among variablesof information system success (ISS). To enable a verificationof the success of the IS an assessment instrument - hypothesismodel - for evaluating ISS was developed. The assessmentinstrument was built on DeLone and McLean's (1992) ISS modeland extended to include measures of information managementprocess quality (process quality). The hypothesis model wasthen tested empirically with a questionnaire survey. Astatistical test was also performed to test the hypothesisedrelationships of the augmented ISS model. In summarising thefindings of the data analysis, it is evident that the new ISreceived unexpected support from the respondents. The findingsalso indicate that the collected and analysed data show supportfor numerous of the hypothesised relationships of ISS.Conclusions are drawn that confirm the presence of a processquality measure for assessing ISS. From a practitioner'sperspective, this research suggests a course of action forprocess oriented organisational development. It also indicatesbeneficiary useof a process focus in IS development.KEYWORDS:Process orientation, information system,information system success, information management, projectmanagement