Page 27 - Civil Engineering Project Management, Fourth Edition

Civil Engineering Project Management
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in the world, so that the recipients’ comments thereon can be returned with-
out delay. Thus specialist engineering guidance centred in one part of an
organization can service the needs of others in distant locations. Computer
aided drafting (CAD) has also become the norm for production of all formal
drawings and to some extent for engineer’s sketches.
A further development has been the integration of the design process with
the requirements for construction. An Intranet can be set up to link people
together within their own organization. Drawings and design information,
specifications and bills of quantities for a construction project can be stored
centrally and accessed by all authorized members of a design team, with only
certain members authorized to alter the details. This means that drawings and
data being used are always current, there are no delays caused by awaiting
information, and the process of making changes can be controlled and audited.
A design change can, for instance, lead to an immediate change in the contract
drawings and the relevant specifications and bills of quantities.
A natural development has been to extend the availability of data to other
parties concerned with a project – such as the employer, the principal con-
tractor, and perhaps to certain specialist suppliers or advisers involved – by
setting up an Extranet using the Internet. Such arrangements can be variously
termed ‘project collaboration’ or ‘project portal’ systems. But greater care then
has to be exercised in the selection of information made available on-line, in
restricting access to it by only certain authorized parties, and in providing
adequate security protection. This type of Extranet collaboration is also useful
between firms when Partnering, Alliancing, or Joint Venture (see Sections 1.9
and 1.15) arrangements are adopted. An Extranet system is usually procured
from a specialist website service provider, and has at least two main divisions –
(i) a data division containing the basic information deemed necessary; and
(ii) a division for recording inter-party communications. Computer software
must be compatible and the set-up cost can be high, so that Extranets are
mostly used for large projects.
Some difficulties can arise with computerized project collaboration. There is
doubt whether a contract instruction from one party to another via such a sys-
tem is legally valid in UK where contracts normally require instructions to be
issued ‘in writing’. There are also potential problems in preserving copyright
of designs. Whereas ‘hard copy’ contract drawings provided to a contractor
must usually be returned to the design engineer on completion of a contract,
there is no equivalent precaution that can be taken when drawings can be
archived on disks.
The fact that the various parties inter-connected can communicate freely
with each other can also tend to blur responsibilities. Care must be taken to
ensure that communications conform to the contractual position each party
holds, so that misunderstandings do not arise. Also the ease with which key
specialist advisers or project managers can be contacted can result in them
being overloaded with requests to assent to some proposed action. The danger
this creates is that, with limited time for the specialist or manager to consider all
the ancillary circumstances applying to the often complex problems arising in