Knowledge management in construction project management

Abstract

The construction industry generates and retains a large amount of information during construction project life cycle. It is a hidden treasure that is buried inside and can become valuable knowledge for the future. Currently, this kind of knowledge accumulated from the past is not well organized and documented. This study presents a Critical Issue knowledge management system to capture the project events by the impact on time, cost, progress and quality. Issues range from Site Instructions, Works Suspensions to works co-ordination clashes. By using the case-based reasoning approach, the cases can be weighted and calculated for similarity with existing records. Meanwhile, the case adaptation resembles the buried knowledge in case base. The Critical Issue therefore, facilitates the project information collection from project management system as a case that can become a precedent for future reference and re-use. This process resembles the essence of human reasoning and simulates the philosophy of knowledge management. The result proves that transforming project data to retrievable knowledge is vital to improve project management and decision-making. Moreover, it is feasible to run together with every project management system already developed.