Deriving an IT-enabled process strategy for construction

This paper demonstrates that to understand the problems and opportunities facing the use of Information Technology (IT) to support process improvement in the construction sector, a dynamic perspective on how transformation takes place in the whole industry is required. Drawing on new process-based management and organisational methods used in manufacturing, an IT-enabled process strategy for the construction industry is derived. This enables the identification of: core and support processes; inhibitors to process flow; and construction-specific process improvements. It allows us to outline a workplan to implement these changes in order to achieve a consistent innovation strategy. The place of IT research within this workplan is specifically identified and compared with the current practice in IT application within the sector. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.