Modeling and analyzing the impact of technology on data capture and transfer processes at construction sites: A case study

A detailed case study conducted at a highway construction project demonstrated that missing and inaccurate data items result in nonvalue adding (NVA) communication loops among the construction personnel. The implications (in terms of time and cost) of extra work associated with deficiencies in manual data collection and transfer are not well quantified. In this paper, a simulation-based framework is used to model information flow processes from a job site to a field office to measure and highlight existing deficiencies, and to model and demonstrate the effect of using automated reality capture technologies (laser scanners and radio frequency identification), in streamlining the data collection process for the same project. The simulation results showed that the NVA times of each agent involved in the information flow can be reduced by utilizing data collection technologies. This framework can be used by researchers and construction practitioners to identify inefficiencies in the current information flow at sites quantitatively and understand the benefits of using automated reality capture technologies to reduce these inefficiencies.