Resource Planning Systems Incorporation into Building Information Modelling

Resource Planning Systems Incorporation into Building Information Modelling: History

View Latest Version

Please note this is an old version of this entry, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Subjects: Construction & Building Technology

Contributor:

Mukesh Kashyap

The latest industrial revolution 4 enabled significant performance improvement through technological advancements. Simultaneously, the industry is setting high-level expectations for changing business practices toward long-term benefits in all three sustainability dimensions. The concept of sustainability embraces all production and operation processes in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry.

sustainability
BIM
ERP

1. Introduction

There is no doubt that sustainability has become one of the most critical challenges. In the construction industry, sustainability issues have been greatly important due to the emerging concerns about the ecological and societal consequences of construction activities [1]. Construction is a project-based industry and has played a key role in shaping modern project management. Adopting sustainability standards for projects is complicated due to its inherent temporary nature, which seems to contradict stable long-term goals of steady, balanced growth [2].

The industrialization of the AEC industry brought significant improvements in construction process automation. The intent is to concentrate efforts on core value-added activities by automating tedious, error-prone tasks. However, innovation implementation is not as smooth in practice and is associated with many challenges in information sharing and systems integration [3].

Research conducted by The Box [4] indicates that the information economy is significantly more shattered in the construction business compared to the manufacturing, software, media, and entertainment industry. Information flow is increasingly based on digital data transmission. It means that, for instance, paper document-based data transmission is decreasing in numerous industries as digital data transmission is a significantly faster and safer way to share information with other people and organizations [5]. This trend is not as strong in the construction industry as in other industries, and site operations are still strongly based on paper documents [6].

Industry players have attempted to use multiple software for sustainability development in addressing the issue. A significant impact might be achieved through ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and BIM (Building Information Modelling) systems integration. This integration enables effective knowledge transfer by harmonizing multiple isolated departments’ interactions [7]. Many sustainable performance indicators are not measurable [8]. Therefore, understanding ERP and BIM integration’s influence on a company’s sustainable performance will be beneficial for resolving the issues by incorporating sustainability practices into project inherited temporary structures.

2. ERP and Sustainable Performance

2.1. Enterprise of the Future

The rapid pace of technological progress brought digital tenets to the vision of the contemporary enterprise. Driven by digitalization and automation, companies are improving their performance, giving technological advances an essential role in their long-term competitive strategy [12]. Hence, the Enterprise of Future centers on intelligence shared knowledge, and business wisdom to be responsive, innovative, and agile in problem-solving and decision-making based on sustainable considerations. Following the current trends in achieving operational excellence, the construction industry is embracing new platforms in a range of applications for design, scheduling, planning control, etc.

There are no arguments for ERP solution integrity, effectiveness, and efficiency today. Although initially, the main driver was management reports automation [18]. Figure 2 represents the evolution of ERP systems which is a widely acknowledged management solution [9]. It is equipped with up-to-date technologies to meet enterprise technical demands and contribute to corporate competitiveness [19]. It is apt to all organizations’ sizes and business needs.

Figure 2. Evolution of ERP Systems.

Many companies have achieved the necessary capabilities to standardize operations [13]. However, initially developed for the manufacturing [20] and production industry, the ERP system, in addition to common complexities, faced several unique construction industry-related challenges provided in Table 1. These are the challenges that result from fragmented [18,21], unstable [12], project-based [15,22], and geographically dispersed industry nature [21,22], leading to the diversity of stakeholders with different levels of expertise and training [22] and resistance to change, with a lack of investment in new technologies [16].

Table 1. Characteristics of the construction industry.

Industry Characteristic	Literature Source
Fragmented	Çınar and Ozorhon [18]; Underwood et al. [21]; Tatari & Skibniewski [23]; Koeleman et al. [24]
Project-based and decentralized activity	Chung et al. [15]; Barreiros et al. [22]; Koeleman et al. [24]
Require specialized systems for specialized segments	Tambovcevs [12]; Sardroud [25]
Unstable and temporary structure	Hasabe & Hinge [20]; Tambovcevs [12]; Sardroud [25]
Geographically dispersed	Çınar and Ozorhon [18]; Underwood et al. [21]; Barreiros et al. [22]
Diversity of stakeholders with different levels of expertise and training	Barreiros et al. [22]
Highly heterogeneous sector	Mexas et al. [26]
Resistance or reluctance to change;	Çınar and Ozorhon [18]
Lack of investment in new technologies and different periods	Mêda et al. [16]
Transient nature of the process	Mêda et al. [16] Koeleman et al. [24]
Lack of replication	Koeleman et al. [24]

2.2. Real-Time Management Systems

IT enterprise infrastructure comprises technical properties known as real-time data sharing [22], seamless integration, and information processing [23]. According to case studies analyses, Underwood et al. [19] mentioned that ERP solutions play a key role in information centralization. At the same time, a real-time picture facilitates decision-making and addresses routine tasks more efficiently, specifically in terms of project activities, the system controls planning, procurement, production, and logistics subsets [37].

In the context of the construction materials management module of ERP software, the main focus for evaluation. Obtaining up-to-date information on materials management is critical for project execution. That covers materials management, from ordering the right material to timing delivery [9]. For the production and manufacturing industry, materials management is a core module of ERP that provides real-time visibility on material characteristics and availability, having a crucial impact on operations. However, managing material on a construction site is still full of unanticipated challenges [9]. Any discrepancies lead to disruptions in a construction process, schedule fluctuations, cost overruns, and, therefore, delays in project delivery. The most common challenges include supply delays, outlying materials, incorrect storage locations, stolen materials, schedule shifts, gaps in project planning, manual paperwork, and others. The underlying reasons vary from country to country, from poor materials management systems to a lack of commitment. To overcome these obstacles, the supply chain, being an integral part of ERP, fully employs the latest smart technology to add value with the advancement of the fourth industrial revolution [41]. Therefore, ERP enables the automation and digitalization of the planning, scheduling, ordering, shipment, and storage functions, promoting sustainable supply chain management. Based on ERP data, construction practitioners evaluate performance measures to, in a timely manner, identify risks and develop relevant curbing strategies if required.

3. BIM’s Role in the Sustainability Trend

3.1. Sustainable Design

Building construction and operation have one of the most detrimental impacts on the environment in all industries [51]. The project is often evaluated at the end of the construction cycle or even during operation. At this point, any improvement to sustainable performance or reducing the footprints of construction activities is costly, time-consuming, and sometimes unfeasible [52].

All challenges that might occur during project planning or execution raised the paramount importance of the practice of effective data sharing. BIM offers the construction community a platform for effective collaboration to facilitate the design of any complexity level [48] and develop trust [49]. It provides a one-source central hub for effective data-sharing in all project-related domains, such as cost, schedule, safety, and sustainability [46].

Bryde et al. [49] studied BIM within the project management framework and declared positive benefits in cost and time reduction or control; communication and coordination improvement; quality or control; negative risk reduction; scope and organization improvement. Although BIM requirements alongside high-quality personnel resulted in cost and duration increases in several infrastructure projects, the final estimates were recognized as reasonable to ensure the feasibility of the project delivery in a safe manner. Thus, feasibility analyses require a sufficient period to perform in complex infrastructure projects. Therefore, an adequate design timeline shall be allocated for the planning phase. The sustainable design shall be modeled with utmost accuracy and transparency to address multiple social demands [56].

Sustainability enlarges the construction projects to consider such elements as site infrastructure and encourages contaminated site utilization to promote remediation of abandoned places. Strong planning, robust monitoring, and model mandating help evaluate expectations at each milestone and achieve positive results.

BIM addresses problems that usually arise from poor communication, lack of collaboration initiative, and technological organization. It accelerates the design process, improves historical data incorporated into the model, and allows for reduction of the errors that appear from lack of information and knowledge. Therefore, BIM is acknowledged as a valuable tool for facilitating sustainability promotion [62].

3.2. Building Performance and Facility Management

Today, BIM is incrementally advancing to all phases of the construction lifecycle. It is reflected in studies conducted in the BIM sustainability field. In addition to design, construction, and manufacturing [63], the application of BIM in operations and asset management is the next nascent area of BIM research [47]. Al Hattab [64] provided structure rule-based content analysis with the text mining application. They concluded that exploring sustainability under a particular project cycle is one of the directions of studies. Another direction targets BIM functionalities capable of integrating sustainability aspects and stakeholder dimensions.

Generally, the construction industry greatly improves its performance by systematically adopting the innovative methodology. Increasing social demands induce the shift of technological frontiers to respond to stakeholders’ expectations. Furthermore, as advanced technologies enable architectures to create more complex designs, the importance of facility management (FM) in asset maintenance is significantly increasing [65].

Initially applied in the design and construction phases, existing BIM tools can tackle existing problems in FM in all three facets of sustainability known as social, environmental, and economical.

4. Sustainability via ERP and BIM Integration

The researchers clearly defined the potential of systems integration, such as:

addressing the internal conflict of existing enterprise processes conflict for better resource planning [78,79];
alignment of organization procurement processes with project management, hence providing stakeholders with consistent, accurate, and real-time data on project progress [11,80];
better procurement coordination in ordering the right material and the quantity, raising the awareness of stakeholders about any missing items [81];
Improve the transparency of site activities, defining the project’s boundaries, which allows for a reflection of the financial consequences of any decision [3];
error-prone activities avoidance that leads to accuracy improvement, labor cost, and focus shift to value-added tasks [82,83];
cost reduction for onsite activities by incorporating prefabrication and modularization, whereas cost optimization expanded to inventory-associated charges [84];
streamline sustainability from the design phase (BIM capacity) to business processes in the construction phase (ERP domain) [10];
provide a more user-friendly and efficient environment for stakeholders [85].

Although several benefits can be envisaged from system integration, the process is still suspended. Possible reasons for delays are:

Integration standards shall be developed for the integration of ERP and BIM interrelated databases [11];
ERP and BIM are conceptually distinct functionality software, whereas ERP is dedicated to the management, not the technical aspect [81];
Compatibility issues due to different functional structures [10];
Difficulties with potential savings identification, since besides new system implementation cost, legacy systems integration becomes an obstacle [3].

This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/buildings12101761

© Text is available under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.