Improving the design process with information management

This paper presents a method to quantify the time and cost impacts on Engineer, Procure, and Construct (EPC) projects resulting from information management driven process changes to the design process. Many engineering and construction companies have implemented information technologies and other changes, fully expecting to save time and cost, gain competitive advantage, improve productivity, better align project objectives, and improve product quality. Previous efforts to quantify benefits have been function or technology specific. The method described herein illustrates the value of evaluating process improvement strategies at the project level to avoid misleading conclusions regarding the actual benefit of investments. The research results strongly suggest that information management strategies applied to the design process may substantially improve total project performance.