Perceptions of Built-Environment Professionals on Using ISO 19650 Standards for Information Management

Abstract

The meteoric rise in the diffusion of digital practices in the built environment domain, specifically using BIM via governmental mandates, is evident in some countries. Moreover, sustaining these digital practices is based on adequate information management at various construction interfaces. The recent rollout of the information management standards series, such as ISO 19650, has been released to provide a common standard of practice, workflows, and guidelines for all the stakeholders working within the information management domain in the construction supply chain (CSC) at a global level. Although these international standards for information management are in place, many firms either do not implement them or need to improve efficiency in implementation. Therefore, the perceptions of construction players on using these ISO 19650 series standards are essential to understanding the level of engagement, diffusion of digital practices, and information management from the construction supply chain players’ perspectives. This research aids in understanding the implementation benefits, challenges, and impact of ISO 19650 over construction 4.0 and strategies. To this end, this study aims to understand the perceptions of ISO 19650 series standards in realizing benefits, issues, and standardization of their processes while adopting them in construction projects. As this study is exploratory, a qualitative approach with twelve semistructured interviews formed the prime source of data collection. The thematic analysis of the semistructured interviews generated a framework of ISO 19650 standards implementation. This study’s outcome includes the perceptions of CSC players regarding the international information management standards, benefits/diffusion of practice, challenges, and tackling the issues through a six-level framework for adopting ISO 19650 standards. The outcomes from the issues point of view of ISO 19650 implementation were standards interpretation, fixed mindset, systemic problems, and lack of in-depth understanding. This study is one of the niche studies that explored the implementation of ISO 19650 standards for information management practices specific to building information modeling (BIM) for a construction engineering and management audience.