Client Requirements Processing - A First Step Towards Client Satisfaction (original) (raw)
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CLIENT REQUIREMENT MANAGEMENT IN BUILDING PROJECTS
In recent years, concern with value management has increased in construction, mainly due to the increasing demand for quality from clients and to the increasing complexity of construction projects. This has resulted in changes on the roles of construction organizations and professionals. In this context, the success of a project depends strongly on how the requirements are prioritized and communicated to the design team throughout the product development process. This paper describes the main results of a research study that aimed to establish a set of guidelines for managing client requirements in building projects throughout the product development process. Two case studies involving construction companies acting as the product development co-coordinators were carried out. The first was concerned with the development and construction of a house building projects for the lower middle class. The other one was carried out in a fast, uncertain and complex industrial project. For both cases, multidisciplinary product development teams were formed. They were in charge of several tasks throughout the project such as to identify the objective of the project, to plan and control the product development process, to devise the design brief, and to make design decisions, taking into account the production system requirements. The main contributions of the study are concerned with the introduction of systematic client requirements management in product development, and the application of tools for collecting data and supporting decision-making.
Facilities, 2010
Purpose-This paper aims at investigating the prevailing practice of managing client requirements for design and build (D&B) construction projects in Hong Kong. It attempts to evaluate the limitations and addresses the need for a practical framework for facilitating the implementation of client requirements management within the industry. Design/methodology/approach-Two research instruments were used in this paper: semi-structured interviews and case studies. Findings-The study revealed that the limitations of the current practice included the lack of a comprehensive client's project brief, inadequate involvement of client in the briefing process, the lack of impartial agents, the controversy caused by the uncertain legal status of end-users and the improper timing of raising requirements by key project stakeholders. Recommendations are given that an inclusive project brief is necessary in clarifying the goals and covering all-rounded perspectives. A practical framework is needed to improve the client requirements management practice within the construction industry. Research limitation/implications-The D&B procurement system adopted in Hong Kong actually exists in various forms within the construction industry, which differ from This is the Pre-Published Version. the prototype that has long been recognized. Therefore, a more detailed study into D & B projects covering a broader area is necessary in the future. Originality/value-Little research work has been undertaken on the study of client requirements management especially for D&B construction projects. This paper has improved the comprehension of the nature of client requirements and has provided valuable insights into the prevailing problems associated with the management of client requirements.
INCREASING CLIENT CAPABILITIES THROUGH REQUIREMENT ENGINEERING
Studies have demonstrated the relationship between project failure and poor requirement management. Whereas information technology (IT) organizations have adopted requirement engineering or configuration management tools and methodologies to ensure alignment between IT strategy and project outcomes, there is almost no research for the construction industry to develop clients' capabilities to manage their requirements. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for client-driven integrated requirement management. It argues that the client needs to describe and measure project outputs not only in terms of expected end results, but also as requirements to be met. This framework aims to help the client track project performance and alignment with strategic expected outcomes, using requirement metrics. It also seeks to provide industry with the infrastructure to move to performance-based e-procurement. The objective is to get away from traditional and inefficient cost and schedule metrics to move to systematic planning, management and tracking of client requirements for measuring the efficiency of the project team and construction suppliers in generating best value for money.
Toward a Client-Driven Requirement Management Framework for Achieving Best Value for Money
Studies have demonstrated the relationship between project failure and poor requirement management. However, there is almost no research in the construction industry about developing clients' capabilities to manage their requirements. The research objective is to propose a systematic planning, management and tracking of client requirements to improve the efficiency of the project team and construction suppliers' ability to generate best value for money. A constructive approach based on three case studies is used to develop and test a client-driven integrated requirement management framework. Such a framework could drastically leverage project contributions to business strategy using far fewer resources, while reducing cost and schedule.
Client Requirements Management in Low-income House Building Projects in Brazil
This paper describes the main results of a multiple case study concerned with client requirements management in the product development process (PDP) of seven low-income house-building projects, carried out in the South of Brazil. These projects were developed in two different forms of Brazilian housing provision: four in the Residential Leasing Program (Programa de Arrendamento Residencial – PAR) and three in the first phase of the City Entrance Integrated Program (Programa Integrado Entrada da Cidade - PIEC). Both are new forms of housing provision in Brazil and have created different client relationships, which have never been experienced in Brazil before. The main objective was the comprehension of the PDP of both forms of housing provision as well as the identification of a potential client requirements management in public instances, in order to improve the quality of these products without raising costs. This investigation was based on the analysis of design, production control and legal documents, semi-structured interviews carried out with design and production professionals, as well as the evaluation of user’s satisfaction. The main contributions of the study are concerned with the understanding of the relationship between the PDP improvements and the product performance according to the perception of the various clients (users, construction companies, design and budget professionals, financial agents, as well as Municipal and Federal Government professionals) involved in the PDP. The four case studies presented in this paper are part of a larger research project, which is being developed in a network of six Universities in Brazil. The main objective of this larger research project is to propose guidelines for client requirements management in the PDP of low-income house-building projects.
A Conceptual Model for Building Requirements Processing
In a brief, the functional diagram comprises information related to activities and flows at an abstract level. It serves as a basis for architects to develop their architectural concept. Brief is therefore a first requirements processing proposed by the programmer, constraining architects' solution space. The usual issue is that this processing is only described in the brief, spread in the text and difficult to track or update. This research work aims at providing a design artefact to support and formalize the requirements processing summarized in functional diagram. This article describes the concept of meta-space. Meta-space diagram covers more requirements than the functional diagram and provides several analysis viewpoints to the programmers for performing the requirements processing. This contribution is developed from observations made on architectural programming theory and practice on a real construction project. Tools/techniques from other engineering domains are used to design and consolidate the proposal. A preliminary case study illustrates its application on a built multimedia library.
Stakeholders' requirements analysis for a demand-driven construction industry
2009
Construction -and its significant impact on quality of life -has received considerable attention in recent years, however, there is little agreement on how to create an environment that will allow construction to move from a supply-driven industry to a demand-driven industry focusing on delivering extra values such as sustainability, productivity, comfort, flexibility and energy and resource efficiency. Within this context, the Industrialised, Integrated and Intelligent Construction (I3CON) project aims to enable this transformation by bringing together industrialised production technologies, integrated processes and intelligent building systems. In order to achieve this, a key task is to identify and understand stakeholder requirements -what do clients, designers, contractors, end users and communities require from the buildings of the future? In this paper, a comprehensive requirement development methodology is described, by which the state-of-the-art stakeholder requirements from seven defined stakeholder categories across Europe are collected. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the identified results have been interpreted and translated into six key requirement themes that the ongoing work within I3CON will address. A case study on high performance buildings highlights the key requirement themes for developing new space concepts. The results outlined in this paper reflect major concerns for the European construction industry and the expected improvements for both the industry and its stakeholders.