Management of small construction projects: adding metadata to overcome some electronic messaging limitations

Abstract

This paper focuses on how the information technologies can improve the management of small construction projects. First, the specific situation of the construction industry is presented. Then, two particular issues are detailed: the role of metadata and the handling of the complete set of information flows that occur during a project. Those problems are not tackled in a satisfying manner by the current e-mail technology. Considering that e-mail is the most commonly used communication tool among the SMEs of the construction industry, it is worth trying to improve this tool to tackle the two above-mentioned issues. The paper describes thus a proof-of-concept prototype that implements some answers to these two questions in the context of small construction projects.