Research Proposal: Development of a micro computer for keeping records of progress on construction site

Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie
Published: 4 August 2019

SECTION 1

Introduction

It is important that superintendents, sub-contractors, foremen, and field workers coordinate the activities that are being carried out on the site in order to make sure that these tasks are correctly prioritized, and the work can be productively executed. At present, works are normally coordinated on weekly or bi-weekly planning settings. In any case, once the work has been executed, it becomes impossible for the supervisor to know who is undertaking a given work or what tasks in what location, and the status of the work as measured by the plan on ground. Considering the substantial time lag that exist in issues that occur in the field (such as design, quality, coordination, and so on), and the time the supervisor is made aware of the issues, it become likely that such supervisor might make decisions based on outdated information. Similarly, this lack of clarity in the status of task and the prioritization of task is not an issue that only the supervisor faced. This is based on the notion that being timely communicated about the task scope, methods, materials, and resources, is considered essential when it comes to avoiding rework in the construction site, and this absence of such brings about increase in volume of time, material, and energy  wastes (Mourgues et al., 2012).

On the same line, methodologies have been developed in the field of Project Control, which can be employed by managers to determine how the project is doing in relation to schedule and costs, and a good example is the use of Earned Value Management System (Sears et al., 2010). One of the importances of project control is that it makes it possible to calculate the progress of the work that is being done. On a similar note, the progress of work is also a measure that is consider crucial when it comes to determining the progress of payment for the subcontractors, as well as other metrics attributable to the subcontractors. In the setting of today, it does require a considerable amount of effort and time to monitor these works while they are in progress and have them reconciles to the baseline plan, because, these information are normally compiled in their manual and paper-based form.

Thus, this research is designed to offer a Work Tracking System (WTS) that can be automatically used to manage the flow of information between superintendents, project managers, foremen, and field workers in relation to the assignment, status, work scope, and completion. The WTS will be able to provide the supervisor with information about who is doing what, where it is being done and also about the status of the system in relation to the plan. Considering that workers report their completion of tasks, the WTS will then be able to automatically report the progress of the work in review by having the actual progress compared with the desired or planned progress. On a similar note, the workers will be provided with information about what they need to do and how they can do it effectively and efficiently. Finally, the WTS will be able to create a two-way communication channel between those that use the system in order to ensure that changes and issues can be effectively communication. This WTS will be a micro computer and in order to implement it, three main depart points will be adopted as: Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) concepts like that of 4D visualization and generating the field instructions for the model of product desired (Mourgues et al., 2012; Koo and Fischer, 2000), advanced on mobile cloud computing, and Power to the Edge concepts.

Background of research

Construction activity was defined by Darwiche et al. (1998) to be the action (progress) that is being undertaken on a component (product) by a set of resources (organization). An extension of this definition as offered by Aalami et al. (1998) who viewed it as the incorporation of sequencing constraints in order to generate plans and schedules for construction. In this present study, the definition of construction activity is leveraged by linking the tasks in the construction schedule to specific components that are featured in the product model, and have these components assigned to specific resources (workers). The impact is to make it possible to generate 3D visualization of the actual work that has been performed, and compare it with the original plan.  

In order to track the status of a given task, it is necessary that the WTS be granted access to major data concerning the task, like: the initiation period for the task, when the task was completed, and whether issues were reported in the task. The important of this information is to allow comparison with the actual plan. In order to gather this information in the most efficient way, the principle of Power to the Edge can be leveraged (Alberts amd Hayes, 2005). In accordance with this principle, it is stated that in an environment that has high uncertainty and dynamism, the conventional methods employed in command and control will eventually break down. As such, it is important that highly trained workers be accorded necessary opportunity of synchronizing the actions in line with the intent of the command as established by the manager. A ‘publish and subscribe’ model should be used to build information, one that makes it possible for information to be widely shared and the workers to be able to selectively browse the information they consider useful to them. In order to implement this Power to the Edge principles, inquiry were made about the required information necessary for different participants in a project at a construction site, with the aim of understand how these information flow can be made more efficient. The machine also relied on the task data as supplied by the workers, having the work tracking operations decentralized, which is normally undertaken by the supervisors (foremen or the project engineer).

Implementing the WTS does demand that one leverages the advanced that have been made in cloud computing technologies as it would make it easier to manage the information flows and establish a form of two-way communication between the users and the system. For this research, two major developments are considered key enablers and they are: the emergency of mobile devices and cloud computing. With cloud computing, the application will be able to run in a distributed network. It does come with the advantage of being able to serve numerous concurrent users by leveraging the distributed processing and decreasing the cost of storage in the course of the project’s life cycle.

On the same note, the increased adoption of mobile devices together with the emergence of wearable computers can have strong influence on the field operations as it does bring technology into the field. For the researches conducted on the use of technology in the field, the main focus has been on discovering ways of utilizing the advances in hardware and data exchange protocols. To this extent, Chen and Kamara (2011) formulated a framework that can be used to choose the right hardware and wireless communication protocols needed for providing support to different user roles on-site. Similarly, a theoretical model was developed by Deibert et al. (2009) and it employed the Task-Technology-Fit for the purpose of analyzing the theoretical implication of making use of technology in certain operations. Other researchers have also worked on this; include Wang et al. (2006) that developed a framework that can be used to map the construction task profile with the right technology in order to provide the project with desired support. There are other approaches which have focused on how specific technologies can be utilized in construction. Many of them have linked the use of RFIDs, barcodes, and PDAs to inventory control and material tracking (Tserng et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2007), and also to inspections and tracking of work progress (Wang, 2008; Ghanem and AbdelRazig, 2006). It is now possible to visualize 3D models in mobile devices through the improvements that have been made on hardware and software (Mulloni et al., 2007), and the same improvements have made it possible to share information effectively between different members of a team (Ochoa et al., 2010), and develop augmented reality hardware-software packages like the iHelmet (Yeh et al., 2012). While the focus of past approaches have been on identifying the right technology for providing solution to certain issues, the focus of this approach is on developing micro computer that will be able to track progress at work sites, which would demand an understanding of the flow of information that are required by workers to undertake their daily activities, and embedding the right technological solution in the micro computer to aid identification of issues and faster resolution of the issues as they occur – enhancing the work process effectively.

Problem statement

The focus of emerging commercial mobile solutions has been on tracking punch lists, visualization, and management of timesheets. Some of the software packages such as the Autodesk BIM 360 make it possible for workers to directly create punch lists the construction site while making use of 3D visualization supports and iPads (Autodesk Inc, 2013). There are also other applications that make it possible for users to store floor plan in the cloud and have the same information synchronized between devices (Plan Grid, 2013), or provide the necessary support for creating daily reports with the aid of mobile devices (Construction Centrics LLC, 2013; UDA Construction Online TM, 2013). Also, efforts have been made towards making it possible for field managers to access daily information in their field in relation to their activities (Asta Sitecontrol, 2014). However, the major issues with all these systems is that they are yet to address the use of work tracking at a task level of details and neither have they been able to integrate such with 4D visualization. These issues represent the main problem that this present study aims to solve.

First, it is important to track the progress of work at construction site as discussed earlier because it does aid in easy identification of issues and faster solution to the issues identified. Secondly, with the issues and solutions available, it is important that all members be aware and informed as it would aid overall efficiency and effectiveness of the work process. Finally, such information should be stored in the cloud and developed in 4D visualization to aid easier understanding. These are the main gaps that this present project aims to fill with the development of a micro computer that is capable of tracking work progress in the construction site. The overall motivation is that successful development of such would make the work process more effective and efficient, as well as reduce the rate of accidents and enhance overall quality of outcomes.

Research objective

Based on the discussions above, the objective of this research is to develop a micro computer that will be used to track the progress of work in construction site, one that is capable of employing two-way communication and ensure that all users have synchronized information about the whole work process, making it easier for issues to be identified and resolved, and the work process more effective and efficient.

Justification to conduct the research

In realization of the fact that effective construction records are the crucial movers of the facts and figures necessary for companies to operate successfully in the industry, it is right that every construction personnel be exposed in relation to record keeping and management techniques. As defined by Oloyede (2003) is the process of holding, collecting, guarding, and preserving data or information on a given subject. A working definition was offered by Ekeh-Momoh (2000), which considered record management to be planning, organizing, directing, and controlling how records are created, distributed, maintenance, retained, preserved, retrieved, and disposed. Overall, its importance is far reaching especially in the construction field where records can be the difference between success and failure of a project. Therefore, this research is justified for a number of reasons as discussed below.

On the basis of academia, this research is justified because as highlighted from the introduction and background of study, developments have not been made in terms of systems that can be used to track work progress on construction sites, aid the identification and resolution of issues that are encountered in the construction site. Thus, this gap in research, which will be filled by this present study, makes it justifiable because it will aid in shading extensive light on work management and progress tracking in the construction industry, as well identification and resolution of issues that occur in the construction site.

On the basis of policy making and management, this research is also considered important because it is crucial for construction managers. Information is key in the construction industry and as such, this research is justifiable because it aid at developing a system that will aid the managers in the area of information gathering and utilization, making their work process and outcome better. For the policy makers, the findings from this research can also guide further decisions on how to implement work progress tracking systems in the construction site.

On the basis of general usage, this research is also important to the general public because it will pin point the importance of information availability and utilization on effectiveness and efficiency of work, aid its overall implementation across different disciplines.

Contribution of the findings / outcomes to the research area

To achieve the objective of this research, the study will cover the areas of work tracking in constructions sites; provide generally overview, importance, implication and approaches to bring about the desired results. Therefore, the findings will contribute in many ways in the area of research, which include filling the existing gap of lack of studies on working progress tracking systems in the construction site and its overall importance in making the work process effective and efficient.

SECTION 2

Journal review

A number of journals have looked at the influence of recording keeping on effectiveness and efficiency in the construction site. In view of that, a review of recent studies in this area is performed below.

The first study considered is that of Gangane et al. (2017), which is titled: impact of construction documents and records on sustainable project management: an overview. This research was a secondary data analysis that reviewed past literatures in relation to the subject. In this study, which focused on India, it was pointed out that construction industry is the second largest contributor of India’s GDP and on the same note; globalization and urbanization demand that the construction process be made efficient. This demand for quality in the construction process does require that the projects be continuously monitored and necessary efforts be made towards improvisation. The solution to meet this crucial demand is to have the work done accountably, and this is possible through documentation and record keeping in the construction site. The construction records and documents are considered to be the mirror of projects; as it doesn’t just reflect the state of the project but also go a long way in boosting the quality of work produced and overall quality control measures. Notwithstanding that it is very useful, the research pointed out that there are numerous causes and sources of error in keeping records in the construction site, and its benefits are also bountiful. Additionally, it was pointed out in the study that it shouldn’t be exaggerated to state that the construction documents and records aid in management of sustainable projects. Based on this review of literatures and pilot study, it was concluded in this research that the differences obtainable in construction documents and records can be described at the same time, and with the same phase wise key documents. As such, the complete idea of documents and records in construction industry does result to the role of helping contractors mitigate risks. The independent variable in this case is construction documents and records, while the dependent variable is sustainable project management.

Garcia-Lopez and Fischer (2014) also worked on this subject area with the topic: A system to track work progress at construction sites. In this journal, the authors actually developed a system that can be used for tracking work progress in construction sites. The research started with the introduction that in order to effectively coordinate work in the construction site, it is required that the supervisors know who is doing what, where, and whether the work is progressing in line with the original plan. On the same note, the workers also need to have a clear instruction on what they need in order to effectively execute the work. While weighing on the available current solutions, the research pointed out that they don’t provide support for information-sharing between the different people that participate in a construction site, and the impact of such is that it created bottlenecks in decisions and a higher cost for coordinating the process. Therefore, the paper offered a Work Tracking System (WTS) that can be used in construction sites. The function of this system is to manage the flow of information between project participants and provide better communication about the progress, scope, and completion of the project in question. Work progress is automatically reported to the WTS and this progress is then compared to the original plan, making it possible for the workers and their supervisors to have a common understanding of the status of the project. The research also offered a description of the implementation of the WTS system prototype, which is built to leverage on mobile devices and cloud computing as it brings technology into the field. The researchers also discussed the feedbacks that they obtained from different participants in a mid-rise residential building project where the system was evaluated. The main components of the system that the evaluators loved the most is the 4D visualization of the work performed, and they also enjoyed the ability of the system to facilitate in setting work priorities, and providing necessary support that will aid accelerated decision making. In the feedback received, there was also a stress on the need for filters to be included as such would make it possible for users to sort through information more efficiently and have their tasks managed at different levels of details.

Bakhary et al. (2015) conducted a study titled: A study of construction claim management problems in Malaysia. With the study pointing out that the frequent claims being made in the construction industry are unavoidable as a result of the nature of contracts, their complexity, the number of parties that are involved, the issues of pressure from time constraints in the course of preparing the documentations and realization of work, and the associated risks with the entire project process. On the same note, this increase in number of construction claims is an indication that it is important to implement an effective claim management in the construction sectors. The paper looked into the issues that are experienced by Malaysian contractors in the course of undertaking their construction projects. In order to achieve this, a quantitative study was conducted which involved gathering of questionnaire survey from the contractors (155 responses) and their consultants (49). From this study, the findings indicate that the absence of site staff awareness when it comes to proactive detection of claims, unavailability of inaccessibility of relevant documents, and the conflicts that are brought about in the course of negotiation between the owners of the project and contractors all have critical influence on the process of claim management. The problems that were observed in this research can be used in solving or enhancing contractors’ claim management system. In this study, the independent variables include: staff awareness of proactive detection of claims, availability of necessary documents, and conflicts in negotiation, while the dependent variable is effective construction claim management. While the focus of this research is on construction claim management, it is important to point out that it still highlighted the importance of documents and records on overall outcomes in the construction site. This is because, when the entire processes are documented, the contractors will be able to defend claims and manage overall conflicts in the system effectively and efficiently.

Khan et al. (2017) conducted a study titled: Analysis of maintenance records of construction equipments and their importance in minimizing equipments breakdown during project execution phase to lessen time overrun. It was identified in this study that the ability to win contracts and undertake them at a benefit is reached through two major resources from the contractual workers: individuals and hardware. Although investigations on human capital are considered a very important field on its one, it has also been recognized that machine is essential when it comes to attaining the objectives which the human capital have been defined on. In order to bring about a monetary focus, it is important that the hardware being employed by the temporary workers are aggressive, mechanical and innovative. Based on this, this research conducted a secondary data analysis in order to understand dhow records of construction equipments are important when it comes to minimizing the breakdown of such equipment in the course of executing projects. The research pointed out that gear upkeep and repair is one vital part of hardware administration that need to be executed with the highest degree of extraordinary care in order to bring about the type of gear that is considered most ideal for the conditions necessary to create the desired outcomes from a given project. The research concluded that in order to make this conceivable, the basic is that the contractors should have a very much composed administration data framework, one that furnishes the personnel involved in the project with the necessary data required at deciding on the right choice of hardware. Records are fundamental reports in the administration of data framework and it is as such considered indispensable in the sense that they fittingly outline and put into use the necessary elements required to furnish the essential data as and when they are needed. In conclusion, the research pointed out that hardware support and repair record and upkeep in the course of developing a venture did bring about considerable positive influence on execution of the project because it ushered in a new dimension of modern practices in relation to the significant outcomes obtained.

Focusing on Nigeria, Ayinde (2018) conducted a research titled: An Evaluation of Cost Control Techniques in Nigerian Construction Industry. The study started with the statement that cost control is one of the most vital tools in management within the construction industry. The success of projects are said to be dependent on how such project can attain its objectives, which is all about completing the project within the stipulated budget, specification, and duration that is pre-determined. Irrespective of the availability of numerous software that can be employed as cost control techniques, numerous construction projects are still unable to attain their defined cost objectives. In order to solve this issue, it is essential that contractors employ the practice of cost control techniques. The research was quantitative in nature as it employed a structured questionnaire that was administered among quantity surveyors in Oyo State of Nigeria. In this questionnaire, the respondents were asked to rate the cost control measures that are currently being employed by their contractors as well as the challenges associated with that on a 5-points likert’s rating scale. From the study, it was discovered that five of the most commonly used techniques are: material management, valuation, record keeping, site meetings and work programmes. It was possible to establish in this study that material wastage on site, availability of equipments, and the period required for completion are some of the challenges faced when making use of this cost control measure. Thus, it was concluded that the findings from the study has considerable implication when it comes to the practice of construction. In essence, record keeping and documentation is considered important in the Nigerian construction industry because it helps to bring about efficient cost control outcomes. For this research, the independent variables include: An Evaluation of Cost Control Techniques in Nigerian Construction Industry, while the dependent variable is cost control.

According to the World Economic Forum (2017) report titled: shaping the future of construction – insights to redesign the industry, there are six challenges to the future of construction. The first of these challenges is project delivery – which is all about creating certainty in order to deliver on time and on budget, improvising the productivity, safety and quality of the construction sector. The second challenge is lifecycle performance – which is all about reducing the lifecycle cost of assets and ensuring that its reuse are designed. Thirdly is sustainability – achieving assets that are carbon neutral and reduce wastes in the course of construction. Fourth is affordability – ensuring that the created infrastructures and housing are of high quality and affordable. Fifth is disaster resilience – making the infrastructure and building resilient against changes in climate and occurrence of natural disaster. Finally, the sixth is flexibility / liveability / well-being – which is all about creating buildings and infrastructures that are capable of enhancing the well being of the end-users. Overall, it was pointed out in this report that record keeping and documentation in the construction site is of essence if these issues are to be addressed and a powerful project produced in the end. Although the importance of record keeping and documentation was highlighted with respect to its ability to help address these issues, there were no discussions on how to go about them.

In New Zealand, Liu et al. (2017) conducted another related study titled: The Perceived Benefits of Apps by Construction Professionals in New Zealand. As pointed out in this study, the construction sector represents a major driver of economic growth in New Zealand, but its productivity is still viewed as being on the low side. Based on the past researches that were reviewed in this study, there are suggestions that information and communication technology (ICT) can be used to enhance productivity and efficiency. In any case, little studies have been done in relation to the use of mobile technologies in the construction industry in New Zealand and this was the motivation for the present study. The study was exploratory in nature with the overall objective being to examine the perceived benefits that comes with adopting apps in the construction sector of New Zealand. The study employed self-administered questionnaire survey, and response were gathered from major professional organizations and construction companies in New Zealand. Data gathered in the questionnaire were analyzed with the aid of descriptive, one-sample t-test, structural equation modelling, and spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. From the results, there are indication that the current Smartphone market in New Zealand construction industry is dominated by Android and iPhone. There were wide confirmations of the benefits of mobile apps in the industry by construction professionals. The benefits include better management of client relationship and enhanced satisfaction of the customer, which has substantial correlation with increase in productivity and served as the best predictor of overall enhancement in productivity. The findings from this research serve as the foundation for further studies that are designed towards enhancing the adoption and full leverage of the mobile technologies in order to improve dwindling productivity trend in the construction industry of New Zealand.

In another study, the focus was on Cambodia as Durdyev1 et al. (2017) conducted a study titled: Key Factors Affecting Construction Safety Performance in Developing Countries: Evidence from Cambodia. The research started with the introduction that while proper management of safety of high important in the construction sector, there are anecdotal evidence that indicate that safety is not being adequately considered in the construction sector of many of the developing countries. Therefore, the paper looked at some of the variables that influence safety performance of construction companies with focus on Cambodia. The research was based on empirical questionnaire (quantitative) survey targeting the local construction professionals, and the respondents were invited to offer their view in relation to how they consider 30 different variables identified from seminal literatures as important. Once the data were gathered, they were subjected to factor analysis with the correlation between the variables loaded in the study indicating that there are five underlying challenges that are faced in the local construction industry as: resources, management and organization, site management, cosmetics, and workforce. Further findings in this study show that those representing the construction companies in the top (which comprises of top management and government authorities) need to take necessary actions towards enhancing their safety performance on project sites. It was recommended in the study that technologies can be used to make the construction site safer in Cambodia. The findings and recommendations in the study were also considered important for the professionals that are seeking ways to enhance safety records and performance in developing countries.

Zhang et al. (2017) conducted a study that looked at the application of technology in tracking work process in construction sites and titled: Applying Sensor-Based Technology to Improve Construction Safety Management. In the study, it was pointed out that the construction site is both a dynamic and complicated system. This is because it entails difficulty with respect to the movement of people, goods, and energy and all need to be done in a safe way. As a result of the continued increase in volume of information, the conventional safety management standards that were applicable in the construction industry have been operated under some difficult circumstances. As a result of that, there is a need for an effective way for collecting, identifying and processing information in the construction site, and the sensor-based technology is considered to be capable of offering new generation approaches for advancing safety management in the construction sphere. The reason for this is because it does make the safety management in real-time, aid in overall efficiency and accuracy in rate of reality and it is found to provide solid foundation for facilitating information flow, and modernization. The study continued to point out that in the present construction sphere, there are different sensor-based technologies that are in use for aid safety in the construction industry, and it include sensor-based technologies that are capable of tracing locations, vision-based sending, and wireless sensor networks. The paper was a systematic and comprehensive review of past literatures in relation to the field under study with a number of findings. The review covered studies between 2005 and 2016. In order to offer an objective evaluation of the status of present research and future trends, this research employed a two-stage literature selection method. The primary source was the Web of Science, while the Engineering Index was the supplement, and a total of 93 papers were identified in relation to the research topic, which were then used to form a database. The general finding is that single sensor-based technologies are not being directly employed in the construction industry for safety management purposes, as the technologies being employed require integration of different techniques that are capable of meeting the continued increase in requirement within the industry.

In their study titled: Data acquisition technologies for construction progress tracking, Omar and Nehdi (2016) looked at the importance of using technologies to track progress in construction sites. Their study started by pointing out that falling behind schedule and facing discrepancy between the actual project outcomes and the baseline plan are unfavourable events that can potentially occur in the course of undertaking construction projects. As a result of that, they consider it necessary that real-time progress tracking and monitoring systems be employed in the construction industry as such would be crucial when it comes to project management and critical for attaining the objectives of the project. However, their review of literatures showed that majority of the tracking systems in the industry are manual and they don’t have the necessary level of accuracy for integrating with other interfaces in the construction site. From a different view, if a company is to adopt automatic progress tracking, it can bring about timely detection of potential issues with respect to delay in time and discrepancies, offering direct support to the control of decision-making in the project. In this research, the different technologies employed for automation and collection of data electronically were examined. Particular discoveries were made on enhanced IT, geo-spatial, augmented reality, 3D imaging technologies as having recently seen a number of technological advances in these areas. Each of these technologies were discussed in relation to their advancements and limitations. Comparison of the technologies were also made in order to highlight the different trends about their applicability in the collection and process of real-time data in the construction industry, and the paper also offered recommendations on how they can be suitably applied in different projects. Thus, the research was more of a review of past studies and recommendations on how the technologies can be used better in the construction industry. It is expected that the findings from their study should offer assistance to the construction stakeholders in the course of choosing the right tool that should be used to enhanced cost and time effectiveness and bring about better control as well as more effective decision-making outcomes in the course of construction. There are also hope that this literature review would stimulate more research on and development of these technologies.

Nahangi et al. (2015) conducted a similar research to that of Omar and Nehdi (2016) titled: Automated Progress Tracking of Construction Projects using Sensing and 3D Imaging Technologies. The paper started with the statement that tracking of progress is always one of the most vital issues that contractors and managers are faced with, and among the methods employed in tracking of progress at the construction sites, the manual methods are normally accompanied with a number of errors as well as being hard to implement and apply within the settings of the construction industry. Therefore, the research considered it important to develop an automated approach that will be used to track progress on construction items because such would be beneficial and also aid in preventing the failure of projects being delivered behind schedule. This study described and compared two recent approaches that are used for tracking progress in the construction sites. Both of these approaches were used to track pipeline works as a result of their complex nature and importance in overall industrial projects. For this study, the first approach employed a terrestrial laser scanner, which was used to generate a 3D point cloud of the object, while the second approved was based on a digital photogrammetry that was used to generate a 3D view of objects. In order to evaluate the project schedule in these methods, their current status was compared in Building Information Model (BIM). Results from the study showed that both approaches are sufficiently robust.

The study conducted by Agu (2015) focused on dispute resolution in the Nigerian construction industry and titled: The Role of Effective Contract Documentation in the Administration of Dispute Nigerian Construction Industry. The study started by pointing out that the nature of conflict in the construction industry is complex and if it is not addressed properly, it can bring about reduction in productivity or increase in litigation. The main factor for this is the huge number of people that are involved in the execution of any project. In this study, identifications were made on the factors that are responsible for errors in documentation of contracts with the overall aim of assessing the influence effective contract documentation on the resolution of disputes in the Nigerian construction industry. Primary and secondary data were gathered in this quantitative study. The respondents were from six construction companies in Anambra State, and the statistical measures employed in this research were percentage, frequencies and mean scores. Z test was used to test the data and it was revealed in this study that effective documentation of contracts can offer the right ground for resolution of dispute within the Nigerian construction industry as it makes it easier for the contractor and clients to engage in litigation and arbitration. It was also revealed in this study that effective documentation before and after the contracting stage aided in making the progress of production and project management smooth. Therefore, it was concluded in this study that effective contract documentation is indispensable to record keeping and it forms the basis for resolution during the progress of the project or after the project has been completed. Finally, it was recommended that the Nigerian construction industry should standard its system when it comes to documentation of contracts in construction projects, because it is the basis of dispute resolution in project management.

Davies et al. (2016) offered more insight on the work of Nahangi et al. (2015) on Building Information Model (BIM) in their work titled: A Review of Specialist Role Definitions in BIM Guides and Standards. Their study pointed out that numerous handbooks and guides have been developed with the aim of providing assistance on adoption and implementation of BIM for companies and projects. As such, their work assessed the ways in which the roles and responsibilities of BIM specialists have been defined across an international selection of 36 of such documents. The overall aim of BIM guides were also examined and categorised, with considerations made on the expertise and intension of their developers. Concerns were also raised in relation to the volume and variety of these standards and guides, with the findings showing that while the practice of BIM is considered generally standardized, the roles of BIM specialists in developing still come in uncoordinated manner, even in cases when the companies and individuals view themselves to be working in line with best practices as provided in the guide. The specific shortcomings that were identified include lack of clear definition of client-side roles in the process of BIM, making use of similar titles for roles when describing the different functions within BIM project teams. It is necessary that further attention be accorded to the sue of BIM guides to define project and organizational roles based on the wider professional context of BIM implementation and practice, as such would bring about enhanced BIM practice and reduce overall uncertainty and ambiguity.

Blanco et al. (2016) wrote an article titled: Digital in Engineering and Construction: the Transformative Power of Building Information Modelling. The article pointed out that the Engineering and Construction (E&C) industry is ripe for changes, because there has been stagnation on productivity of labour in the industry for decades, and companies have now started to slowly adapt and innovative. In any case, the industry is about to be transformed by technologies, which has Building Information Modelling (Bim) at its core. The impact would be that the overall life-cycle costs of projects will be reduced significantly by almost 20%, with substantial improvement on the time, quality, and safety of constructions.

The final review in this case is the work of Blanco et al. (2017) titled: The new age of engineering and construction technology. This was an article review and it started by pointing out that new technologies are transforming all stages of the engineering and construction process, and there are a number of things that companies need to known in this new age of transformation. The central key message in their article is that companies should let data lead the way, and the companies that are willing to place the right bets now will be able to create necessary room for them to become leaders in the industry in the nearest future.

Overall, the major talking point from the review of literatures above is that the construction industry is ripe for full implementation of technologies and these technologies are very crucial because they make the entire process effective and efficient, leading to reduction in life-cycle costs of products and delivery of better project outcomes. They also validated the importance of progress tracking in construction site by stating that it provides real-time information which the contractors and managers can utilize to bring about desired work outcomes. However, the major shortcoming of all these reviews is that while they concur on the need for full integration of technologies, none of them demonstrated how these technologies can be developed and integrated. This is the gap that this present study aims to fill. This study will develop and demonstrate how micro computers can be used track task progress in construction sites.

SECTION 3

Variable definition

As pointed out earlier, it is important that superintendents, sub-contractors, foremen, and field workers coordinate the activities that are being carried out on the site in order to make sure that these tasks are correctly prioritized, and the work can be productively executed. At present, works are normally coordinated on weekly or bi-weekly planning settings. In any case, once the work has been executed, it becomes impossible for the supervisor to know who is undertaking a given work or what tasks in what location, and the status of the work as measured by the plan on ground. Considering the substantial time lag that exist in issues that occur in the field (such as design, quality, coordination, and so on), and the time the supervisor is made aware of the issues, it become likely that such supervisor might make decisions based on outdated information. Similarly, this lack of clarity in the status of task and the prioritization of task is not an issue that only the supervisor faced. This is based on the notion that being timely communicated about the task scope, methods, materials, and resources, is considered essential when it comes to avoiding rework in the construction site, and this absence of such brings about increase in volume of time, material, and energy  wastes (Mourgues et al., 2012).

For this study, the independent variable is use of microcomputer, while the depending variable is tracking of work progress in the construction site. That is to say, the ability of the construction personnel to track work progress will be dependent on whether they use the right. The relationship between these variables is demonstrated in the form of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) below.

Figure 1: Relationship between variables

From the figure (1) above, it is demonstrated in this research that micro computers can be used to track the progress at construction sites. On the same note, there are a number of outcomes expected from this relationship. They are that such tracking would: make it easier and faster to identify issues as they occur in the construction site; make it easier and faster to provide solutions to these issues; the tracking will be in real-time; and it would bring about enhanced accountability.

As a result of these outcomes, the final impact would be enhanced efficiency and effectiveness of the project, one that would reduce the life-time loss and costs for the contractors and owners. Thus, this relationship is what this research aims to assess in in-depth and the understanding of which forms the basis for this research.

Hypothesis

Based on the discussions above, the following hypotheses are developed:

Þ    H1: the use of micro computer will make it easier to track progress in construction sites.

Þ    H2: tracking of progress in construction sites will lead to faster identification of issues

Þ    H3: tracking of problem in construction sites will lead to fast development of solutions to the identified issues.

Þ    H4: tracking of progress in construction sites through the aid of micro computer will lead to real-time information on the progress of projects.

Þ    H5: tracking of progress in construction sites will lead to better accountability among the people involved in the project.

Þ    H6: micro computers can be used to enhanced effectiveness and efficiency of projects at construction sites by tracking their progress in real-time.

Þ    H7: tracking of progress with the aid of micro computers can help the construction managers to reduce loss and costs that occurs as a result of their inability to identify issues on time.

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