Prioritisation of Construction Tasks for Digitalisation
Thirty-nine key construction tasks under five phases of the construction project are considered for this analysis. A questionnaire survey was conducted at a roundtable event with 82 industry participants and academics from various disciplines, resulting in a response rate of 42%. The questionnaire included the planning to commissioning phases of construction projects. The identified phases of a construction project were planning, design, procurement and management, construction, and handover. Respondents were asked to rank these tasks on a scale of 1 to 5 based on the importance of digitalisation, where 1 denotes the least important and 5 denotes the most important. The results and findings of the questionnaire survey are illustrated below.
In the planning stage, ‘Project estimating and Budgeting (T3)’ is the highest priority, with 97% of respondents agreeing, while ‘Develop stakeholder engagement strategy (T6)’ and ‘Undertake feasibility study (T7)’ are the least prioritised planning tasks to be digitalised. They received the lowest agreement of 77% of respondents.
Planning Stage
In the design phase, most industry professionals (over 81%) agreed with digitalising the given design tasks. The task ‘Develop detailed coordinated drawings (T14)’ was deemed as the most prioritised task to be digitalised, with 97% agreement from respondents. T9 was the least preferred for digitalisation, with 81% agreement from the respondents. Project Team Coordination (demonstrated similar preferences from the professionals to be digitalised, with 84% agreement.
Design Stage
At the procurement phase, most of the respondents (above 74%) agreed on digitalising the procurement tasks in a construction project, while Procurement of material (T18) and Tendering (T19) exhibited priority. However, respondents’ feedback suggests that Resolve construction issues and conflicts (T20) is slightly less likely to be digitalised than other procurement tasks, with 74% agreement.
Procurement Stage
During the construction phase, most of the respondents (73%) agreed that digitalising construction activities is important or extremely important. Notably, they preferred Document management(T28) (93%) to be prioritised, following Manage construction operations (T24) at 90% in digitalising. Site surveys/ Mobilisation (T21) and Subcontractor management (T22) received the lowest agreement on digitalising, with a rate of 77% and 73%, respectively. Quality management (T26) and T28 demonstrate similar preferences from industry professionals for digitalisation; however, the majority of respondents were neutral on digitalising T26.
Construction Stage
At the commissioning and handover phase, most respondents prefer T31-T39 tasks to be digitalised (over 83%). Monitor building performance (T35) stands out with the highest priority, with 93% to be digitalised, followed closely by tasks Handover completed project to the client (T31) and prepare operational and maintenance manuals (T32). Most of the respondents strongly agree that Conduct final inspections and testing (T39) should be digitalised.
Commissioning and
Handover Stage
In summary, most industry professionals are open to digitalising construction tasks. Out of the identified 39 tasks, Project estimating and budgeting (T3), Developing detailed coordinated drawings (T14), Contract Management (T19), document management (T28), and monitoring of building performance (T35) are the tasks that require the highest priority for digitalisation