From process-based to technology-driven: a study on functionalities as key elements of collaborative planning methods for construction projects

With the advancement of emerging technologies, significant attempts have been made to develop collaborative planning methods and to involve as many project stakeholders as possible in the construction project planning and control process. However, inadequate consideration has been paid to the characteristics, goals, and principles underlying these methods to meet the needs of collaboration for project planning between project teams. To deal with this, a multi-stage methodology was carried out to achieve the aims of this study. The first step was identifying collaborative planning methods and their functionalities in the construction sector. Further, a quantitative analysis based on Social Network Analysis (SNA) was conducted to determine the most frequently utilized functionalities in collaborative planning methods. The results revealed that process-based collaborative planning methods’ functionalities prioritized process and people-related characteristics such as team trust and promise, as well as social interactions, whereas technology-driven methods highlighted visualization along with collaboration and communication as a key element of collaborative planning. Subsequently, this study contributes to the body of construction project planning and control knowledge from both theoretical and practical perspectives by enhancing the understanding and sensemaking of project stakeholders towards the underlying concepts and objectives of collaborative planning methods.