Lean enterprise web-based information system for construction (LEWIS): a framework

Generating a realistic plan at the beginning of a project and maintaining its reliability throughout the construction is not an easy task. A case study of a 120 million pounds Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project in UK indicates unreliability of the construction plan (Percent Plan Completion (PPC) < 40%) which was caused by the lack of co-ordination among work-face personnel, project planners, and supportive organisations (i.e. designers, suppliers, and subcontractors). In this case, wastes regarding waiting for design information and discrepancy supply of resources are considerable. These wastes, apparently, lower productivity and affect time and cost of the project. Aiming to treat the above problems, this paper identifies an improvement strategy through a synergy of: 1) an innovative construction project management paradigm namely lean construction; and 2) the advanced information technologies namely web-based information management, and 4D visualisation. This has resulted in a developing prototype called “LEWIS – Lean Enterprise Web-based Information System for Construction”. A unique structure of the system is an integration of product model, process model, and information management functions. Not being merely the information warehouse, the system allows planners to perform lookahead analysis, rehearse the plan, and visualise execution constraints in the 4D environment. It is envisaged that this system will facilitate co-ordination among project participants, increase reliability of construction plan, and improve on-site productivity. The focus of this paper is on the overall system architecture, information repository, and web-based interfaces while the 4D constraint-based analysis and visualisation is detailed in a companion paper.