Detecting Information Bottlenecks in Architecture Engineering Construction Projects for Integrative Project Management

Abstract

Information bottlenecks are a central issue in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) projects. It is crucial to detect their occurrence to mitigate their impacts. Existing approaches to detect information bottlenecks use metrics that require estimating the quantity of information published, which is a challenging task in practice. In this paper, building on the literature and recent developments in automation, we introduce a revised model that uses unresolved activities during project delivery and frequency of information publication actions to detect information bottlenecks. We validated our model by applying it to a case study. We compared bottlenecks detected by our model to ground truth obtained in the case study independently using observational data and external verification. We further study how project activities requiring different levels of interactions among project participants with different roles (e.g., designer, contractor) affect our model’s performance. Results support our model and show that it is possible to attain comparable performance by considering only high-interdependency activities. Our research enables teams and project managers to keep a focus on issues that require intense communication among different experts and organizations to avoid bottleneck. Our contribution to the body of knowledge includes a revised model that detects information bottlenecks during project delivery and insights into integrative project management where the focus is on both project activities and collaboration needs across roles to streamline the whole process.