Potential Influencing Factors Related to Digitalization of Construction-Phase Information Management by Project Owners

Abstract

Public agencies or owners that are responsible for the construction and maintenance of built infrastructure or facilities are working toward the digitalization of the project administration and delivery process, especially in the construction phase. However, implementation is still an ongoing effort despite technology availability. While contractors have readily adopted digital systems, owners lag in their implementation. This lag in implementation could be for different reasons, including lack of knowledge regarding challenges and barriers. Therefore, this research identifies and ranks potential influencing factors to enable successful implementation of digital construction-phase information management (DCIM) systems by project owners. Twenty-eight potential influencing factors were identified from the literature and ranked following statistical analysis of survey responses from industry professionals. While the results show that all identified potential influencing factors are important at different levels for the successful implementation of DCIM systems, their ranking enables decision-making based on perceived importance to the owner. Furthermore, responses from the two studied owner subpopulations indicated that there is general agreement on their importance despite significant statistical differences regarding the importance of six factors. The findings of this research can enhance understanding of the challenges and barriers present in the industry, especially at public agencies, to the implementation of digital technologies.