Integrated systems for site management

The operation of an efficient and integrated site management system is one of the problems that still requires a considerable amount of attention in most of the construction companies in U.K. This thesis describes the research I have undertaken on this problem and how a computer-aided construction management system can assist in solving the problem. The thesis has been divided into three sections according to the research. The first section describes the research I have undertaken as surveys on; the literature as an existing knowledge of efficient and integrated site management systems; what systems are applied on site and the degree of satisfaction from them; the facilities that can be provided by the available site management software. From the above surveys, the problem has been identified and the objectives established for the research. The second section of the thesis describes my development of a software model to facilitate collecting, processing and analyzing data from the site for producing control data and reports. The section also describes the integration of the model to the other construction management systems (i. e. estimating, planning, cashflow forecasting and valuation), as well as being self-contained. The last section of the thesis describes my research in investigating how well the model achieved the research objectives. This section described a number of case studies based as a demonstration of the model, its functions and mechanism, using slides and on-computer seminars. From this evaluation I have established a list of comments, some of them were used to modify the model or as conclusions and recommendations for any future research in this field.