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This paper aims to identify the challenges of Hong Kong and overseas developers in project management when undertaking real estate projects in China, and then focuses on how to mitigate and solve the problems. The proposed solution is about a concept of using the IT tool “web‐based construction project management system” (WPMS) to help assuring projects success in China. The study reported in this paper focuses on how to implement WPMS to manage construction projects in China considering the overall situation, limitations and Chinese culture.

Case studies and interviews were adopted to identify the main reasons why experienced Hong Kong developers have apparently been outperformed by the capital‐deprived local developers in China. SWOT was applied to analyse project failure factors. Afterwards, 49 web‐based construction project management software systems were reviewed to identify their features, their client expectations, the technology propagation modes, and the most emphasized functions in the construction stage. An in‐depth case study was adopted to test the hypothesis that web‐based construction project system could help Hong Kong developers to properly manage their projects in China.

Cooperation and coordination difficulties among participants caused by long geographical project distance and remote management control were identified to be the main causes of project failure. Web‐based construction project management system was proved to be efficient and effective in cross region project coordination and monitoring. Since property development business is a continuing and non‐one‐off activity, the investment of a tailor made WPMS is really good value for money. Concerning the low readiness of business partners in China, an encouraging pattern with more self‐incentives should be considered for achieving a win‐win‐win situation as an essential tactic as proposed in this paper.

How to evaluate the benefit of using WPMS in quantitative method remains a challenge. Future research could compare the project with WPMS and without WPMS.

The case study of the application of a tailor‐made web‐based project management system (named ICPMS) by one of the major developers in Hong Kong has demonstrated that the headquarters in Hong Kong is able to get timely first hand project information, facilitating timely decisions and ensuring project success. Thus, the adoption of WPMS is a worthwhile investment for overseas developers undertaking real estate development projects in China.

This paper puts forward the concept of overseas developers using WPMS to help assure project success in China. Chinese culture and other limitation factors were considered for the first time in WPMS implementation in the construction industry. How to make the implementation of WPMS to successfully overcome such barriers is illustrated based on this empirical study.

A change order is an order from an employer authorizing a variation. Success in managing change orders results in uninterrupted construction operations and an agreed final project cost as well as duration. One of the methods to manage change orders is to establish good communication and cooperation among project team members. Success of this method can be enhanced by developing and utilizing a web‐based change order management system that supports documentation practice, communication and integration between different team members in the change order workflow. This paper discusses our web‐based project management system, change order management system (COMS), to manage change orders using the Internet. In order to show COMS’ potential benefits, a test case was conducted for comparing the COMS with the conventional practice of change order management.

Large‐scale projects involve many organizations coming from different geographical locations. The task of coordination and information sharing/exchange therefore becomes very challenging. Recently, Web‐based project management systems have been developed and applied in construction project management. Presents an intelligent Web‐based project management system, called VHBuild.com, developed by the authors, which integrates project management, knowledge management and artificial intelligence technologies. First, discusses the advantages of using VHBuild in project management, which is followed by an in‐depth discussion on a number of artificial intelligence techniques. With the intelligent supports embedded in the VHBuild, the decision‐making procedure will no longer appear to be a blind‐searching process and project managers will not only be better informed, but also be given more efficient tools in tackling problems in managing large scale projects.

Web‐based technologies such as project extranets have introduced a new concept for communication and collaboration during construction projects. Project extranets have been used in the industry for some time now to manage information and document flows throughout the lifecycle of construction projects. Very few end‐user companies already using project extranets have documented and disseminated information about the implications of using this technology in terms of the impact on their businesses, benefits incurred and possible drawbacks. This paper aims to present findings from the UK.

The methodology is case studies conducted with end‐users of a leading project extranet application in the UK.

Findings suggest that some of the perceived drawbacks of using project extranets are in fact not viewed as drawbacks by end‐user companies. Also, the benefits incurred appear to outweigh some of the issues. The end‐user organisations believe that an increasing number of organisations will be encouraged to use project extranets when they see “visionaries” and “market leaders” such as themselves, benefiting from the technology and leading the way to its wider adoption.

Wider dissemination of this knowledge will encourage more construction companies to adopt the technology which has a proven record of success on projects for which it has been used. The paper highlights the drivers for the adoption of this technology and its impact on end‐user business processes. It also documents the end‐user viewpoint on the benefits and drawbacks of using project extranets.

The purpose of this paper is to profile various types of Web-based tools to facilitate research collaboration within and across institutions.

Various Web-based tools were tested by the author. Additionally, tutorial videos and guides were reviewed.

There are various free and low-cost tools available to assist in the collaborative research process, and librarians are well-positioned to facilitate their usage.

Librarians and researchers will learn about various types of tools available at free or at low cost to fulfill needs of the collaborative research process.

As the tools highlighted are either free or of low cost, they are also valuable to start-ups and can be recommended for entrepreneurs.

As the realm of Web-based collaborative tools continues to evolve, the options must be continually revisited and reviewed for currency.

Academics and practitioners anticipated that web‐based project management systems (WPMSs) would enhance and revolutionise the way in which construction‐related organisations conduct business. However, widespread adoption and effective use have not reached expected levels partly because of a lack of comprehensive understanding on how to implement WPMSs avoiding pitfalls and failure. This paper aims to investigate the rationale behind WPMS performance deviations in order to suggest ways to effectively employ WPMSs in construction projects.

Three project‐level case studies were undertaken representing a highly successful, a moderately successful, and an unsuccessful WPMS implementation. For each case, WPMS implementation and operational issues were examined, followed by a detailed investigation on the key factors affecting the WPMS application. The findings from the three case studies were then compared and analysed.

The case studies reveal a clear pattern related to WPMS performance in relation to a number of issues. Following this pattern, the study identifies “basic” requirements as well as “important” and “key” factors for a successful WPMS implementation. The conclusions from the case studies suggest ways in which construction project teams can reap greater benefits from using WPMSs in their work.

The findings reported herein will benefit construction practitioners by guiding them to more productive ways of utilising and managing WPMSs, thereby promoting widespread acceptance of such systems in the industry.

Web‐based document management applications serve to store, organize, and manage a collection of documents within the context of a building project. The organization of documents, using mechanisms for indexing and relating these, aims to build an information structure that supports effective searching and browsing. We present a methodology for a stronger integration of project documents of different formats into a rich, highly interrelated, information structure. Specifically, we propose a decomposition of project documents by content in relation to a semantic structure for the categorization of document components. We consider a notion of typologies from architecture as a guide for constructing such a semantic structure. We discuss the application of this methodology to building projects, and propose its use in Web‐based document management applications in the AEC industry. As an illustration of this methodology, we describe a prototype application, as a presentation tool for architectural analyses in an educational context.

Completing construction projects within the planned schedule has widely been considered as one of the major project success factors. This study investigates the use of technologies to address delays in construction projects and aims to address three research questions (1) to identify the adopted technologies and proposed solutions in the literature, (2) to explore the reasons why the delays cannot be prevented despite disruptive technologies and (3) to determine the major strategies to prevent delays in construction projects.

In total, 208 research articles that used innovative technologies, methods, or tools to avoid delays in construction projects were investigated by conducting a comprehensive literature review. An elaborative content analysis was performed to cover the implemented technologies and their transformation, highlighted research fields in relation to selected technologies, focused delay causes and corresponding delay mitigation strategies and emphasized project types with specific delay causes. According to the analysis results, a typological framework with appropriate technological means was proposed.

The findings revealed that several tools such as planning, imaging, geo-spatial data collection, machine learning and optimization have widely been adopted to address specific delay causes. It was also observed that strategies to address various delay causes throughout the life cycle of construction projects have been overlooked in the literature. The findings of the present research underpin the trends and technological advances to address significant delay causes.

Despite the technological advancements in the digitalization era of Industry 4.0, many construction projects still suffer from poor schedule performance. However, the reason of this is questionable and has not been investigated thoroughly.

There has been a significant increase in the use of relationship contracting in the global construction industry, with strategies such as Partnering, Alliancing and Public-Private Partnerships all used. These approaches were introduced to the Australian construction industry in the 1990s in an attempt to overcome the adversarial nature of traditional contracting methods. The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors that influence the successful implementation of Project Alliancing by means of a case study approach focusing on the procurement of a large water treatment plant. The research findings identify critical success factors (CSFs) both from literature and the case study project.

The research traces the origins of Alliancing and identifies CSFs by reviewing literature and analysing a current case study project. The paper first identifies CSFs on a global scale by establishing a theoretical framework of CSFs and then compares this to the case study project. A case study of an Australian Alliance project is investigated whereby a semi-structured interview process, involving senior managers from the six partners from the Alliance, was used in conjunction with a review of project documentation. The findings of the case study project are compared to the literature and any new CSFs are identified.

Alliancing helps to establish and manage the relationships between all parties, remove barriers and encourage maximum contribution to achieve success. Alliancing provides a project delivery method that promotes open communication, equality and a systematic problem resolution process. Team culture focusing on an “open book/no blame” approach is vital to the success of an Alliance. Five CSFs were identified as specifically influencing the success of the case study project: the use of an integrated Alliance office; the staging of project and stretch targets; establishing project specific key performance indicators; facilitating on-going workshops; and the integration of a web-based management programme.

The research findings assist both public and private sectors by identifying factors that are critical for success in Alliancing. Five additional factors were identified as specifically influencing the success of the case study project. Since this research was conducted, Australia has seen a further increase in relationship contracting where the likes of Alliancing is often used as the default approach for certain Public Sector projects. Ongoing research into Alliancing is vital to ensure the development of sustainable procurement models, successful operational viability, fair risk distribution and value for money.

Issues surrounding knowledge management, knowledge transfer and learning within organisations challenge continuity and resilience in the face of changing environments. While initiatives are principally applied within large organisations, there is scope to assess how the processes are handled within small and medium enterprises and consider how they might be enhanced. This paper aims to present an evaluation of practice within an evolving software development unit to determine what has been learned and how the knowledge acquired has been used to further organisational development. These results provide the basis for the design and implementation of a proposed support tool to enhance professional practice.

A small software development unit which has successfully delivered bespoke systems since its establishment a number of years ago was selected for analysis. In-depth interviews were carried out with each member of the unit to elicit an understanding of individual and collective development. Interview data were recorded and transcribed and subjected to qualitative analysis to identify key themes underpinning knowledge acquisition and utilisation. Samples of project documentation were scrutinised to corroborate interview data. After analysing the data, a focus-group meeting was held to validate the results and to generate further insights into learning within the unit.

Qualitative analysis of the data revealed key changes in thinking and practice within the unit, as well as insight into the development of individual and collective contextual knowledge, tacit understanding and learning. This analysis informed the proposal of a bespoke, lightweight, Web-based system to support knowledge capture and organisational learning. This approach has the potential to promote resilience and enhance practice in similar small or start-up enterprises.

Purposeful sampling was used in selecting a small software development unit. This enabled in-depth interviewing of all six members of the organisation. This offered a rich environment from which to derive awareness and understanding of individual and collective knowledge acquisition and learning. Focussing on a single small enterprise limits the extent to which the findings can be generalised. However, the research provides evidence of effective practice and learning and has identified themes for the development of a support tool. This approach can be extended to similar domains to advance research into their learning and development.

Results of the work undertaken so far have generated promising foundations for the proposed support tool. This offers software developers a potentially useful system within which they can reflect upon, and record, key learning events affecting technical, managerial and professional practice.

Small enterprises have limited resources to support organisational learning. The qualitative research undertaken so far has yielded valuable insight into the successful development of a single software development unit. The construction of a support tool to enhance knowledge acquisition and learning has the capacity to consolidate valuable, and potentially scarce, expertise. It also has the potential to facilitate further research to determine how the prototype might be extended or revised to improve its contribution to the unit’s development.