e-Construction: Electronic Project Document Management Systems (Team Page)

Overview of Innovation

Contract and construction management for highway projects requires significant communications and documentation of decisions and events. This has traditionally been accomplished through extensive paper-based documentation systems involving conventional postal delivery, project journals, note taking, design and construction submittals, and physical signatures. A paper-based system requires significant time and monetary resources for preparation, communication, storage, and retrieval, thus contributing to inefficiencies and delays in the project management process. In an era of instant communication, on-the-fly information access, and a tech-savvy workforce, this state of affairs is fast becoming obsolete and untenable. This initiative aims to employ the ubiquitous technology tools available to the transportation community, such as digital data, instant electronic communication, secure file sharing and version control, portable devices, and web-hosted data archival and retrieval systems to improve documentation management. Dubbed e-Construction, this initiative specifically intends to bring electronic document management systems to all phases of construction, from pre-bid documentation (e.g., design plans and specifications) to post-construction project artifacts (as-built records) including financial transactions. This technology initiative covers all forms of project delivery methods.

Implementation Team

Implementation Plan: Working Draft

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