CSCCM-efficient bid preparation for supply chains in the building industry

Describes intermediate results of the European ESPRIT project No. 22828 “CSCCM” (Computer-Supported Cooperative Construction Management), which aims at developing a computerized system that supports the bidding process in small and medium-sized enterprises in the building industry. This sector being strongly characterized by inter-organizational business relationships, the resulting system envisages to provide specific support for cooperative work in supply chains. In order to reach this goal, a supply chain consisting of a tiler company, a wholesaler and a manufacturer of marble and granite cooperate cooperated in a research project with three software houses and an industrial research institute. They jointly developed the CSCCM system and validated it in praxis at the industrial end-user sites. The paper presents the overall CSCCM approach and shows the results of the process analysis phase at Baldauf, one of the CSCCM partners. It outlines the CSCCM software environment architecture that is currently under development. Describing the CSCCM approach in detail, the authors intent is to motivate and enable other companies from the construction industry to discuss and follow this approach