Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect Procedia Engineering 182 (2017) 3 – 9
7th International Conference on Engineering, Project, and Production Management
Investigation of Document Management Systems in Small Size Construction Companies in Jordan Hesham S. Ahmad*, Issa M. Bazlamit, Maha D. Ayoush Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan, P.O. Box: 130 Amman, 11733 Jordan
Abstract For successful management of construction projects and organizations, it is crucial to adopt effective management systems that can handle the various information and documents of project activities. Document Management System (DMS) is the system used to store, control, coordinate, process and/or retrieve documents whether it is in electronic or paper based format. This research aims at investigating existing electronic and paper based DMSs in a sample of small size contracting companies in Jordan. Interviews and questionnaire survey with contractors, contractors’ representatives and practitioners of DMSs in a number of small contracting companies were carried out to investigate and evaluate the components, processes, motivations and challenges of the existing and intended DMSs. Electronic formats of documents and files used in small contracting companies will be also investigated. The results of this research can help contracting companies to enhance their DMSs, and improve efficiency and performance of the processes of construction projects management. © 2016 2016The TheAuthors. Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license © Published by Elsevier Ltd. This (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EPPM2016. Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EPPM2016 Keywords: construction projects management; document management system; interviews; questionnaire survey; small contracting companies
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +9-626-429-1511; fax: +9-626-429-1432. E-mail address:
[email protected]
1877-7058 © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EPPM2016
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2017.03.101
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1. Introduction 3.1. DMS Definition DMS refers to the repository that store documents and allows end-users to retrieve required information. Some literature has combined the meanings of the term document management with other concepts such as communication and knowledge management, and information system [1]. Dictionaries, such as (businessdictionary.com), define DMS as the coordination and control of the flow of electronic and paper based documents in a secure manner to be used efficiently by authorized personnel as and when required. Flow of documents can include storage, retrieval, processing, printing, routing, and distribution of business documents. Furthermore, digital DMS can be defined as the software application that collect documents (paper-based or electronic) for the secure storage, retrieval and archiving of these documents [2]. According to [3], sophisticated electronic DMS may use a central server or repository to store documents, and users can use interfaces using browsers on computer networks to facilitate the management of and the interaction with the stored documents. 3.2. Drivers of DMS With new economy increasingly becoming a more knowledge-based economy, knowledge is becoming the most important asset for organizational success among other assets such as capital, materials, machineries, and properties. Document in construction enterprise contains knowledge, that if managed successfully can improve the whale management process and produce better performance of construction companies [4, 5]. Traditional manual methods of filing construction project documents are more common in the small size construction companies in Jordan because according to the opinions of organizations’ managers these methods are easier and have lower cost to apply. However, these methods are not effective for information retrieval because they need previous knowledge and understanding of document content and require high capabilities and time consumption from the seeker [6]. By using quality digital DMS, organizations should be able to reduce the overall document-related costs, and improve the efficiency of work processes and procedures in order to address the specific business procedures and needs. Many organizations have claimed saving time and efforts, increasing productivity and profitability, and improving coordination and collaboration among end-users [2]. 3.3. Challenges of DMS Research [3] has investigated the use of internet-based DMS in the project-based construction industry. The results showed that the main challenges for applying EDM systems successfully are related to psychological and management issues. Among the challenges discussed are the complexity of contents’ structure, the use of paper documents in parallel with electronic ones and the difficulty of measuring the benefits of applying the system. The complexity, the diversity of work performers, the non-repetitive nature of processes, the time and cost pressure, difficulty of systems’ integration and the need to make changes to the routine procedures of work of construction projects are all critical factors that may stop successful application of electronic systems in the construction projects [6–10]. 2. Aim and Method of Research This research seeks to investigate existing DMS in small size construction companies in Jordan. The research will highlight the use, components, challenges and motivation to apply DMS and their contribution to the organizations. Advantages and opportunities to improve existing systems in the organizations will be studied. Related literature will be reviewed to provide fundamental understanding and strength to the research. The research can be split into 3 phases. This paper presents only the first phase of the study. In this phase, review of available literature that investigate existing DMSs or the development and application of new DMS models was performed. Also, interviews with practitioners of DMS in construction projects were conducted. Interviews with open-
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ended questions help to investigate important aspects of existing DMS in small construction organizations. Furthermore, it helps to collect interviewees’ opinions that help to understand motivations, challenges, important components and characteristics, opportunities and applicability of applying more advanced Electronic Document Management (EDM). Semi-structured approach was adopted by the research interviews to give respondents more flexibility to provide more discussions of useful detailed opinions and ideas. The interviews aim at identifying and discussing important topics that may help to identify important factors for the adoption of successful DMS for construction projects. This also means that questions that are not included in the questions’ list can be asked regarding details and description on things mentioned by the interviewees [11]. A questionnaire survey has been conducted to investigate respondents’ evaluation of existing processes of DMS, and motivations, challenges and importance of applying successful DMS in small construction contracting companies.
Fig. 1. Stages of the study.
3. Literature Review 3.1. Models and Techniques of DMS Aurelia and Ana [1] proposed a model for DMS by using Visual Paradigm for Unified Modeling Language (UML). This environment is used for designing information system object-oriented models and for generating the required code in Java Language. The authors have concluded that the UML language is relatively easy to use, ensures extensibility and formulates specifications independent of a certain programming language and system working processes. Al Qady and Kandil [6] have presented a technique to improve managing knowledge contained in construction documents. Their research attempts to improve document categorization and retrieval by analyzing the contents of documents using natural language processing. Techniques were used to extract semantic knowledge from construction
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contract documents that can be used to improve EDM functions. The researchers have presented a method to overcome the restrictions imposed by the traditional supervised learning text classifiers, which require a comprehensive training set to classify new instance. An unsupervised learning method was used in this research to automatically cluster documents together based on textual similarities. 3.2. Adoption of DMS An empirical research by Backblom et al. [12] studied the usage of EDM systems in the Finnish construction industry. Telephone interviews with key personnel from 100 randomly chosen construction projects were conducted. The results showed that about one third of large projects have already adopted EDM, while only very few small project have adopted this technology. The results have also showed the use of EDM systems is yet incomplete in coverage and only small part of the involved individuals in the project can use the system efficiently. Main barriers to the efficient use of EDM systems include the psychological nature and insufficient training of end-users. In the same previous research project, Bjork [3] has surveyed and investigated individual research efforts in EDM systems for questions including the required specifications, frequency of use, measuring of benefits, barriers to widespread adoption, problems of application, scope for standardization, and evolving of the market of such systems. 4. Interviews The interviews follow semi-structured approach, which means that a procedure will be used in the interviews, but the interviewees will be given to refer to and discuss their opinions and interests in the field. This also means that questions that are not included in the questions’ list can be asked regarding details and description on things mentioned by the interviewees [11]. In this stage of the research, interviews with six people from the construction industry known of having good background in DMS were conducted. All interviewees are site managers with experiences of more than eight years. The responses were filtered to exclude any unnecessary irrelevant outcomes. Results of the interviews showed that most of the contracting companies especially small and medium size companies still lack the adoption of electronic DMS, or any effective management system for their electronic documents. Using paper-based filing systems in construction companies may cause difficulties in storing, categorizing and retrieving required information or documents. In addition, paper-based filing systems may need large storage size and may not be easy to be maintained for more than 3 or 5 years in many of the construction companies, which might cause loss of important data. The interviews have highlighted challenges for applying successful electronic DMS according to the interviewees’ opinions such as, time pressure of construction projects, unwilling of employees to learn new work procedures and processes, lack of management support, lack of required IT infrastructure and difficulty to prove benefits and feasibility. However, the interviews also showed motivations for applying electronic DMS in the construction companies such as, simplifying storing and retrieving data, reducing storage size, increasing storing time of data, and helping in training, decision-making and problem solving. In general, the interviews have showed that the use of paper-based DMS is more common in small and medium contracting companies in Jordan. However, the adoption of such systems may cause delays and difficulties in business processes, and loss of important information and knowledge. Although, many challenges can affect the application of electronic DMS, small and medium contracting companies should adopt techniques and technologies to encourage the implementation and application of successful electronic DMS. 5. Questionnaire Survey The main aim of the research survey is to capture the initiatives and challenges, and investigate the implementation methods of DMS in the construction industry especially the small construction companies in Jordan. The questionnaire was designed to investigate DMS procedures and environmental factors, which are important to shape a more useful and comprehensive, model for successful DMS implementation and application in the construction projects. The questionnaire search opinions from managers and engineers of small construction contractors in Jordan.
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The questionnaire was split into three sections. The first section seeks general information about the respondents and their companies. The second section investigates the respondents’ evaluation of the existing DMSs for paper and electronic-based components. Furthermore, this part asks the respondents to identify motivations and challenges for applying electronic DMS in their organizations. Finally, the third part asks respondents to provide any feedback or opinion about the questionnaire and/or the study subject. Responses from twenty construction companies were collected. Small companies with less than 50 employees consist about 75% of the sample, while 25% of the sample are medium size companies with a number of employees ranging from 50 to 250 [13, 14]. Respondents are general managers, project managers and site engineers with experiences ranging from 8 to 25 years in the construction industry. The first questions ask respondents to evaluate the extent of electronic-based contents in the existing DMS of their organizations and projects. Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 show the results of the evaluation to these questions.
Fig. 2. Respondents’ evaluation of the extent of electronic-based contents in the existing DMSs in: (a) Offices; (b) Projects.
The results from Fig. 2 shows that paper-based DMS is the most commonly used format in small size construction companies than electronic systems. Electronic-based files and documents are more common in the organizations’ offices than in construction projects. Furthermore, Fig. 3 shows that paper-based documents are more organized and categorized than the electronic-based documents that might be a result of the lack of applying effective and successful electronic DMSs.
Fig. 3. Respondents’ evaluation of the organization of the documents in their organizations for: (a) Paper-based; (b) Electronic-based documents.
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Then, the respondents were asked to rank seven motivations and seven challenges for applying electronic DMS in small contracting companies. Equation 1 was used to rank the factors from the most important to the least important according to the respondents’ rankings. The results are shown in Tables 1 and 2. (1) Table 1. Ranking of motivations for electronic DMS according to participants’ opinions. Rank
Motivation
Mark
1
Longer storage time
81
2
Easy search and retrieval of information
76
3
Easy transfer and share of information
72
4
Reduce storage size
48
5
Easier problem solving and decision making
47
6
Comparison among different projects and learning lessons
26
7
Help in learning process and in training junior engineers
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Table 2. Ranking of challenges for applying electronic DMS according to participants’ opinions. Rank
Motivation
Mark
1
Unclear financial returns
67
2
Unwilling to change the routine processes of work
65
3
Limited time in construction projects
61
4
Expected high cost of electronic systems
55
5
Not interested in or lack of knowledge about electronic DMS
47
6
Lack of skilled employees on electronic systems
46
7
Not convinced about its benefits
24
The results in Table 1 shows that according to the respondents’ opinions the most motivating factor for applying electronic DMS is saving important documents and files for longer time than in the existing paper-based systems. The respondents referred that using electronic DMS as a training device for junior engineers is the least important motivation among the seven factors. The results in Table 2 show that the difficulty to prove financial efficiency of electronic DMS is the most important challenge for applying electronic DMS. However, the respondents seem to have knowledge about the advantages for developing the traditional paper-based DMS into electronic system. Finally, in the feedback section, some of the respondents showed their interests in developing the existing traditional paper-based DMS into electronic well-designed system to store higher percentage of the projects’ documents for longer period of time. Furthermore, some of the respondents suggested providing more efforts and time for training on electronic systems, and recruiting users who are more willing to use electronic systems and change the routine procedures of work such as junior engineers and fresh graduates. 6. Conclusion Although most of the documents in the examined organization are in electronic formats, it was noticed that there is still a need for an effective DMS in order to achieve successful results within the organization. However, one of the barriers that may stop construction companies from adopting electronic systems is that implementing and applying these systems may need a major investment of time, effort and money, while benefits may need time to be noticed. Another barrier is that employees may be unwilling to learn the new methods and procedures of applying a new system. This can be mitigated by applying user-friendly systems. Applying effective electronic DMS can help to improve the learning process of the organization.
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Acknowledgements 7th International Conference on Engineering, Project, and Production Management (EPPM2016) was financed in the framework of the contract no. 712/P-DUN/2016 by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education from the funds earmarked for the public understanding of science initiatives. 7th International Conference on Engineering, Project, and Production Management (EPPM2016) finansowana w ramach umowy 712/P-DUN/2016 ze środków Ministra Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego przeznaczonych na działalność upowszechniającą naukę. 7th International Conference on Engineering, Project, and Production Management (EPPM2016) was co-organised by the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture (Poland).
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