Inter-organizational Integration in the AEC/FM Industry

Abstract. The process of capturing and modelling buildings has gained increased focus in recent years with the rise of Building Information Modelling (BIM). At the heart of BIM is a process change for the construction and facilities management industries whereby a BIM aids more collaborative working through better information exchange, and as a part of the process Geomatic/Land Surveyors are not immune from the changes. Terrestrial laser scanning has been proscribed as the preferred method for rapidly capturing buildings for BIM geometry. This is a process change from a traditional measured building survey just with a total station and is aided by the increasing acceptance of point cloud data being integrated with parametric building models in BIM tools such as Autodesk Revit or Bentley Architecture. Pilot projects carried out previously by the authors to investigate the geometry capture and modelling of BIM confirmed the view of others that the process of data capture with static laser scan setups is slow and very involved requiring at least two people for efficiency. Indoor Mobile Mapping Systems (IMMS) present a possible solution to these issues especially in time saved. Therefore this paper investigates their application as a capture device for BIM geometry creation over traditional static methods through a fit-for-purpose test.

In the literature on e-government, the focus is predominantly on the organization of the front office and on the interaction among governmental agencies and citizens (Chadwick & May, 2003; Edmiston, 2003; Tat-Kei Ho, 2002). However, in order for e-government initiatives to be successful, back-office streamlining also has to be taken care of (Bekkers & Homburg, 2005; Homburg, 2005a). In a sense, back-office operations are the backbone of any form of e-government, and they may require information exchange and knowledge sharing among various units, departments, or organizations. The e-government phenomenon occasionally has paved the way for stirring rhetoric of technological and institutional change. For example, Wimmer, Traunmüller, and Lenk (2001) predict that “organizational boundaries will fade and give way to innovative organizational design. In this way, cooperation between administrative agencies will span wide: over distances, across organizational boundaries and even across hierarchical echelons” (p. 1). Actual e-government applications, however, show that the practice of e-government may not be as attractive as some of its benevolent proponents might claim. Back offices can be regarded as networks of organizations in which goals necessarily do not overlap and in which interests may collide. In practice, in these networks, information is the primary medium of value and exchange (Davenport, Eccles, & Prusak, 1992), and relatively uncontrolled sharing of such a powerful resource threatens information monopolies and may provide those organizations who receive information with significant power gains (Bekkers, 1998; Homburg, 1999, 2001; Homburg & Bekkers, 2002; Markus, 1983). Consequently, existing dependencies in organizational networks might be affected, and it can be expected that the exchange of information in back offices invokes a complex mixture of cooperation and conflict (Cunningham & Tynan, 1993; Homburg, 1999, 2001; Homburg & Bekkers, 2002; Knights & Murray, 1992; Kumar & van Dissel, 1996). In this article, I address the following research question: What does the nature and dynamics of interorganizational relations mean for the development and implementation of e-government information systems, and what methods and strategies are used to design and implement these systems? The focus in the analysis is on the interorganizational relations that are mobilized through the integration of various back-office systems (Bekkers & Homburg, 2005; Homburg & Bekkers, 2002). In the remainder of this article, I analyze existing e-government initiatives and, more specifically, information relations among various back offices, using a political economy view on information exchange (Homburg, 1999), and I explore methods and strategies of ICT process management in policy networks (de Bruijn, ten Heuvelhof, & In ’t Veld, 2002).

Perhaps you are a doctoral student, mapping out how to parcel your dissertation; perhaps you are a junior scholar, strategizing your research plan; perhaps you are a senior scholar, who is thinking about what you want to say to the field. No matter what stage you are at as a management researcher, you might be looking to the Academy of Management (AOM) journals as a natural home for any and all of these creative research pursuits. However, it might not always be crystal clear how you should craft your work for the AOM journals, what contribution you might make at each journal, and consequently to which journal you should target your intellectual contributions.
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Collaborative Scheduling over the Internet

Knowledge Sharing Strategies for Large Complex Building Projects.

While innovation ecosystems have been proven effective for driving innovation in high-tech industries, their application in construction with cross laminated timber (CLT) products have received limited attention, with most studies adopting a broad perspective on ecosystems, encompassing the entire supply network around individual building projects. This study explores niche innovation ecosystems within the context of construction with CLT products. Data from 15 CLT-based building projects in mid Sweden were collected through observations and interviews and analysed using a method combining existing theory on innovation ecosystem structure with social network analysis. Innovation ecosystem structure was identified within five of the projects, encompassing two unique ecosystems. These ecosystems feature interorganisational links and actor-level expected value capture in two dimensions: value creation within the standard contractual framework of the projects and the innovation ecosystem superimposed on these projects. The novel method bridges the gap between innovation ecosystem research and CLT practices. The findings reveal that niche innovation ecosystems interact with CLT-based building projects through collaborative efforts across multiple projects and partners. These ecosystems feature alignment links that indicate both intra – and inter-project interdependencies, potentially driving innovation in construction. Role extensions within these ecosystems highlight the complexity and adaptability required in the construction industry.

Network analysis of collaboration and information sharing in the management of the Lower Mekong River Basin

PurposeThis paper aims to explore how big data analytics (BDA) collected and stored through specific data software [Construction Operations Building Information Exchange [COBie], integrated workplace management systems [IWMS], computer aided facilities management (CAFM), etc.] can play an essential role in improving the performance management system in the facility management (FM) industry. It defines the big data components and explores the benefit of BDA in any business through an extensive literature review and a pilot case study in the UAE.Design/methodology/approachThe research was carried out based on a qualitative approach. It attempts to identify through a case study how the data collected and the technologies that go along with will increase the functionality and the efficiency of the FM services. The research studies the implementation of a big FM organization, hereafter referred as “M” of software that exports the data collected from COBie and the computer aided facilities management (CAFM) system and shapes them into input to improve the performance of the FM service providers. The study includes two components in anticipation of providing a complete picture: first, five semi-structured interviews with industry experts and company employees representing the hierarchy of the staff, i.e. top, middle and operational levels; one director, two managers and two operational-level employees were interviewed to determine the current situation of the company in terms of BDA; and second, detailed documents and archives records review for the data collected on a randomly chosen sample of facilities for the period 2013-2015. The interviews were designed to achieve two specific objectives. Primarily, they were aimed at collecting empirical evidence on the existing status of big data within the UAE FM context and at investigating the importance of the data collected for performance measurement in the industry as supported in the literature. Second, these interviews sought to identify any critical issues that need to be addressed within the data collection process when devising the big data platform for FM.FindingsThe paper seeks to provide a guideline to the service providers in the FM market to understand the importance of big data to be shared from the design and construction to the operational phase as it improves their operational performance.Originality/valueThis paper studies the impact of big data on the FM performance management, a very recent topic where only few researches were conducted earlier.

Aim: The overall aim for this thesis was to explore continuity of care through patients’, family carers’, and health care personnel’s perceptions, and to develop and evaluate a patient-reported experience measure of continuity of care. Method: This thesis consists of four studies; I have a qualitative explorative design and II have a qualitative descriptive design, whereas III and IV are methodological studies. In studies I and II, data were collected from four geographically disparate areas in Sweden; in studies III and IV, data were collected in one of these areas. Data were collected using individual (I, II, III), focus groups, pair interviews (II), and questionnaires (III, IV). Data were analyzed using constructivist grounded theory (I), conventional content analysis (II), and according to classical test theory (III), and Rasch measurement theory (IV). Results: For patients to experience continuity of care, all aspects were interconnected, as access to tailored information was essential for gaining mutual understanding regardless of who was performing a care task. This required clarity in responsibilities and roles, interprofessional collaboration, and a trusting relationship over time and space between each link in the patient’s care trajectory (I). Further, Study II showed that to achieve continuity of care, professional and cross disciplinary cooperation at micro, meso and macro levels were needed. Continuity of care is dependent on long-term and person-centered relationships, dynamic stability in the organizational structure, and shared responsibility for cohesive care enabling uniform solutions for knowledge and information exchange (II). Studies III and IV resulted in the Patient-Experienced Continuity of care Questionnaire (PECQ). The instrument contains 20 items measuring four dimensions of continuity of care: Information (four items), Relation (six item), Management (five item), and Knowledge (five item). Overall, the PECQ showed satisfactory measurement properties according to classical test theory and Rasch measurement theory (III, IV) regarding factor structure, unidimensional, local independence, response category function, differential item functioning for age and sex, and internal consistency reliability. Conclusion: Continuity of care is perceived as multidimensional, containing several important aspects working in synergy and varying over time. To achieve continuity of care, information and knowledge sharing need to cross disciplinary and organizational boundaries. Collaborative responsibility is needed, vertically through all levels of the system, instead of focusing on personal responsibility horizontally. The PECQ can provide information on different dimensions of continuity, useful for driving quality improvements in the primary care context.

Aim: The overall aim was to explore inter-organizational collaboration and adaptability in care coordination, focusing on seamless care for patients with complex care needs. Methods: This thesis employed diverse qualitative methodologies across four studies. Studies I–III used an ethnographic approach with convergent data collection techniques, including document review, participant observations, and interviews with healthcare and social care professionals. Studies I and II applied the Functional Resonance Analysis Method to explore care transitions and identify vulnerabilities. Study III constructed a grounded theory of inter-organizational collaboration from insights across healthcare and social care domains. Study IV utilized a web-based questionnaire to collect written critical incidents reported by registered nurses in ambulance care. These incidents were analyzed using Critical Incident Technique and Interpretive Description, focusing on adaptation, decision-making, and learning in ambulance care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lastly, findings from all studies were synthesized. Findings: Seamless care for patients with complex needs depends on timing and precision in planning and information exchange across care provider boundaries. Gaps in these processes can increase vulnerabilities (I, II). Effective care coordination relies on bridging professional and organizational divides through established collaboration pathways while stretching across organizational boundaries, rather than dissolving them (III). Continuous learning is central, leveraging lessons learned from adaptations made under pressure to foster resilience and ensure effective care delivery (IV). Coordinating care in organizational borderlands—the spaces where professional roles and organizational boundaries intersect—requires continuous communication, negotiation, and shared decisionmaking. Adaptability enables healthcare professionals to navigate the complexities of real-world care and bridge the gap between protocols and practice by balancing standardized procedures with context-specific, flexible decision-making. Conclusion: Well-defined boundaries, established collaboration pathways, and adaptability are necessary to overcome challenges in fragmented healthcare systems. When maintained with flexibility, boundaries facilitate coordination by defining roles and responsibilities while still allowing healthcare professionals to adapt to emerging situations. Rather than needing to be dissolved, boundaries provide a structure that reduces ambiguity and supports effective collaboration. Striking a balance between stability and adaptability is, therefore, essential for achieving seamless care for patients with complex care needs.

PurposeThis research examines how knowledge and information are managed within two care networks. We develop a conceptual framework drawing on the notion of brokering and the 3T framework, which is used to describe the relative complexity of boundaries (referred to in the framework as syntactic, semantic and pragmatic) as well as capabilities and processes required to exchange information within the network. Previous research on brokering has focused on healthcare managers and professionals, but this research extends to patients and caregivers. Understanding knowledge exchange and brokering practices in healthcare is critical to the delivery of effective services.Design/methodology/approachFor this case research, non-participant observation and experienced-based interviews were undertaken with healthcare professionals, patients and caregivers within two care networks.FindingsThe findings reveal brokering roles occupied by healthcare professionals, patients and caregivers support the transfer, translation and transformation of knowledge and information across functional and organisational boundaries. Enablers and disablers to brokering and the exchange of knowledge and information are also identified.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is limited to two care networks for long-term conditions within the UK. Further research opportunities exist to examine similar care networks that extend across professional and organisational boundaries.Practical implicationsThis research informs healthcare professionals of the brokering capabilities that occur within networks and the enabling and disabling factors to managing knowledge across boundaries.Originality/valueThis paper provides a conceptual framework that categorises how increased levels of knowledge and information exchange and brokering practices are managed within care networks.

Enterprises reach out for collaborations with other organizations in order to offer complex products and services to the market. Such collaboration and coordination between different organizations, for a good share, is facilitated by information technology. The BPMN process choreography is a modeling language for specifying the exchange of information and services between different organizations at the business level. Recently, there is a surging use of the REST architectural style for the provisioning of services on the web, but few systematic engineering approach to design their collaboration. In this paper, we address this gap in a comprehensive way by defining a semi-automatic method for the derivation of RESTful choreographies from process choreographies. The method is based on natural language analysis techniques to derive interactions from the textual information in process choreographies. The proposed method is evaluated in terms of effectiveness resulting in the intervention of a web engineer in only about 10% of all generated RESTful interactions.

Introduction: This study aims to identify structural and cultural factors for collaboration across multi-professional departments in primary care with regard to the implementation of telecare technology, here digital safety alarms in a Norwegian municipality. Collaboration on services to elderly users living at home will often cross organizational and professional boundaries. This is also the case when it comes to digital alarms where the purchaser office, the home care services and the emergency ward were involved. Theory/method: The analysis is based upon an organizational perspective on the process. Furthermore, in the analysis we apply an analytical scheme to identify different forms of co-ordination which can be placed on a scale of intensity from simple to complex forms and finally, theories on profession. Seven managers from different departments were interviewed individually twice. 17 front line staff members were interviews in groups twice. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. The content analysis centres on participants’ descriptions of information, competence and collaboration and proceeded according to the principles of systematic text condensation. Results: Findings suggest that interagency meetings every week or every second week between the purchaser office and the home care services enables collaboration. There are few examples of enablers other than the use of inter-office memoranda that are mostly related to questions on specific users. We find, however, that in general, information flow and information sharing are challenges and barriers to collaboration. This applies to both the implementation of the digital alarms and relating change processes. Employees have, to some extent, an unclear understanding of the division of responsibilities and tasks between the involved departments and their employees. Furthermore, there are few meeting points between the acute ward who respond to set off alarms – and talk to the user and the home care service who attend to the user. Discussion: Exchange of information is the most basic form of collaboration but it is still difficult to achieve across departments. There is a clear demand and will to obtain more knowledge about others’ tasks and area of responsibility. However, the staff swiftly protect their professional boarders and thus demonstrate a strong idea of territory. Conclusion: The introduction of telecare technology does not make collaboration less demanding for improving services. Our analysis suggests that collaboration among multi-professional departments in community service for elderly people is vital in order to exploit the potential service improvement that the technology might offer. Lessons learned: from this study is that, given the organizational perspective, the implementation of telecare technology makes visible the – often already existing – organizational challenges with regard to interdepartmental and interprofessional collaboration. There are certain limitations to the generalizability of this study given it is designed as a single case study. There is a need for further research on organizational change and adaption when telecare support is used within the primary care services, e.g. how the use of technology challenges the way of work.

In recent years business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce has been subject to major rethinking. A paradigm shift from document centric file-based interchange of business information to process-centric and service-based information exchange can be observed. On a business level, a lot of work has been done to capture business models and collaborative business processes of an enterprise. On a technical level, the focus in software development is moving towards service-oriented architectures (SOA). These transitions on both levels promise a market entry at lower costs and an easier adjustment to changing market conditions. Hence, an overwhelming quantity of specifications and approaches emerged in the past targeting the area of B2B - these are partly competing and overlapping. In this paper, we provide a survey of the most promising ones at both levels and classify them using the open-edi reference model standardized by ISO. Furthermore, we discuss how individual specifications on different levels fit together - starting from business models via business processes to artifacts ready for deployment

최근 설계 협업 시스템의 점차 발전됨과 함께, BIM 기반의 정보교환이 차세대 건설 프로젝트의 성공적 수행에 주요 요소로써 작용하고 있다. BIM 협업 중 발생하는 데이터 호환 문제에 대한 해결책을 제시하고 있는 많은 연구들이 수행되고 있지만, 여전히 다양한 BIM 저작도구로부터 생산되는 BIM 데이터의 교환은 디자인과 엔지니어링 분석 단계에서 발생하고 있다. 그리하여 본 논문은 현업 설계 프로세스 내에서 발생하는 데이터 정보 교환에 대한 문제점의 발생 원인을 분석하고 BIM 기반의 설계 협업 환경의 개선을 위한 BIM 정보 교환 프레임워크를 제안하였다. Open-BIM 기반의 정보 교환 환경의 정착을 저해하는 요소를 발견하기 위해서는 현재와 앞으로 수행될 BIM 기반 설계 협업 프로세스 환경변화에 대한 분석이 우선적으로 수행되어야 한다. 협업 설계 프로세스 내 원활한 정보 교환의 저해 요인 분석을 통해 본 연구는 Open-API와 IFC기반의 BIM 협업 지원 시스템을 제안한다. BIM 무결성 피드백 시스템이라 명명된 API 솔루션은 IFC 기반의 데이터 교환에서 발생하는 상호 불일치성을 판별하고 report를 작성해 주는 기능을 수행한다. 또한, 본 연구는 IFC기반의 정보 교환 프레임워크 시스템을 제안하였으며, 앞서 언급한 API를 탑재하고 있으며 BCF 플러그 인을 지원하는 시스템을 통해 BIM 설계 협업 단계 내에서 정보 교환의 유연성을 도모하고 있다.