- Major material suppliers like Travis Perkens, Carvers, Plumb Centre/Build Centre and other associated companies all have on-line facilities for ordering materials. Where companies have lead-in times for standard materials, they can use the facilities to arrange the delivery of these materials on time.
- Under normal circumstance this can be very beneficial for construction companies and save a lot of time.
- Under emergency circumstances this may not be possible due items being out of stock, so telephone contact may be used. But planned effectively these facilities can be used to there full potential.
- Due to all manufactures, suppliers, dealers, etc allowing their information to be viewed on-line, this gives contractors and subcontractors a quicker means of viewing what materials they have available and to make price comparisons.
- Payments can be made via the internet from Buildrite to contractors and receiving payments from clients is made easier.
E-Procurement - Pros
- There are numerous advantages to e-commerce that can help Buildrite as a construction industry: -
- Procurement of material via website requests
- Latest product information, and technical data
- Cost analysis and price comparison
- Receiving and delivering of payments via secure on-line methods
- Exposure to new customers and clients
E-Procurement - Cons
- As well as the advantages there are always, disadvantages to a product: -
- Less personal contact between businesses and customers
- Urgent requirements, such as materials, may be unavailable
- Technical breakdown or computer error.
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“The issue is that many goods and services in the construction industry are complex purchases ie, it’s not just the price that’s important.”
- Many products may not be off the shelf products, but more complex, built to fit items that require manufacturing. So a lot more information is transferred between parties during the procuring process.
3 E-Tendering
- E-tender is a relatively new procedure used within the construction industry.
- E-Tendering can provide for: -
- Faster better exchange of information
- Increased security and integrity of tendering
- Automation of the evaluation process
- Amendments can be issued quicker
- The procedure is shying away from the more traditional methods of tendering, i.e. the collation of numerous drawings, pages and books of contract documents and sending numerous different sets to contractors.
- The exchange of information by digital files and electronic communications is beginning to be normal practice within the construction industry. Tender documentation has often been supported by the use of floppy disks, CD-ROMs or even, in some cases, e-Mails. However e-Tendering is more fundamental.
- Due to the internet highway, email and numerous other internet based methods, information can be sent and transferred electronically, and cuts out a lot of paper based work surrounding the procedure.
- Information can be transferred in minutes between clients and customers instead of days through mail services.
- Through the transfer of files and information, contractors can download contract documents instantly.
- The efficiency of the electronic age is a vast improvement to this important system of procuring contracts.
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“Tools available in the current market offer varying levels of sophistication. A simple e-tendering solution may be a space on a web server where electronic documents are posted with basic viewing rules.”
- The benefits of E-Tendering are a tremendous improvement for the construction industry: -
- encourages more competition amongst suppliers
- speeds up the tender-to-contract cycle
- increases end-to-end management information of buyer/supplier relationships
- keeps full control of the process including who to award the contract and when
- generates higher savings than the traditional tendering processes
-
requires no capital outlay, maintenance or IS resource.
4 On-line Project Collaboration
- On-line project collaboration works in the industry in numerous different ways.
- The main feature of on-line collaboration is that it improves communication between people running the construction projects.
- Communication between architects, consultants, contractors, etc right down to even site-based staff is improved. Organisation through methods of emails, conferencing, etc improves the overall projects and the way in which they are executed.
- The industry tries to work as efficiently as possible, therefore, communication between parties is imperative for this to work.
- Due to these electronic methods of communication this can now be done a lot faster. Information can be passed on and spread around within minutes. Relevant people can be notified regarding important decisions and factors immediately.
- Vital information can be store on one server, which can be accessed by different members of the project, passwords maybe required to access the information.
- The Benefits of online project collaboration have a massive effect on the industry: -
- “Dramatically reduce expenses associated with paperwork, postage, printing, travel, telecom and courier services. Instead, you’ll have one fast, reliable central depository for crucial documents — anytime and anywhere.
- Increase security across the board. With full access control and password protection, documents will only reach the people who are intended to see them.
-
Enjoy greater efficiency. You’ll save time for every team member, leveraging
your resources and putting them to better use.”
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For instance, revisions and superseded Information can be updated easily, so that all appropriate parties have the latest information, as soon as it is issued.
5 Recommendations
5.1 Being a contractor, Buildrite could utilise all three methods of technology and any single one would benefit their business.
- On initial thoughts they could utilise the E-Tendering and Online Project Collaboration the best.
- Due to the nature of their firm, the tendering process would be a major part of their daily business. With the implementation of an E-tendering system a lot of time and money would be saved, and their process would be speeded up immensely.
- The tendering process is a lengthy stage to any contractor bidding for projects and problems often arise due to various reasons, such as amendments and revisions of information. Thanks to electronic technology, information can be distributed immediately to all parties involved so they have the latest information.
- The second recommendation for Buildrite is the implementation of an Online Project Collaboration system. This offers one of the major factors to the efficient running of any project.
- Communication between parties is imperative to the running of any project. Lack of communication can have major implications and cause delays and problems that have costly implications.
- An Online Collaboration System would allow instant communication between Buildrite and their consultants, architects, engineers and any sub-contractors working with them.
- With regards to the E-procurement system, Buildrite could introduce one of these systems in the future. Due to the complexity of ordering specialist materials that may not be regularly available, Buildrite may still need to use more traditional methods of ordering these materials, such telecommunications, due to lots of requirements, so that information does not get confused.
- As E-procurement may not be advanced enough to these stages yet, therefore, Buildrite may benefit more from the other two procedures in the immediate future.
Implementation
- With regards to the implementation of these new systems, due to there not being any real tangible items, various software applications may be used and the company will subscribe to an organisation that offers these products.
- These system are usually very user friendly, and very simple to use.
- Although employees may need induction courses into using the systems the majority of staff would pick them up very easy.
6 Summary
6.1 In conclusion to the information found in this report, Buildrite could improve the efficiency of the tendering and construction process profoundly.
- As with any product, system or procedure introduced into a company, there may be a few teething problems at initial stages of the implementation, but these can be sorted out.
- The implementation of these methods would open new doors to Buildrite as a firm. They would be introduced into more relationships within the industry.
- These new systems are being used more and more in the industry due to the evolution of the electronic age.
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“Great as the benefits are, there are many things to beware of, such as the legal issues which arise from communicating electronically.”
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“It is very important for all companies to be aware of the terms of the Data Protection Act (DPA), as it concerns any personal data that you hold on your workforce, customers, suppliers, or any other individual.”
- Although there are many benefits to these systems, there are considerations that must be taken into account.
- Security is a major consideration to firms, as information of projects, costs, even personal information can be stored.
- Security measures are taken to prevent any tampering of this information from people without access.
- There are many legal issues that surround e-business and are similar to conventional contracts between parties.
- The implementation of the system would prove to be beneficial for the company as a whole, bringing them up-to-date and into the electronic environment, opening the doors to new customers, clients and methods of doing things.
7. Bibliography / Referencing
Books
Literature / Publications
- K2 Consultancy Ltd - Consultancy, Management and Technology Solutions for Construction, Building Magazine 21/2/02 – E-procurement
- Local e-gov National e-Procurement Project
Internet
-
, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Small Business and Enterprise, Accessed 18/12/03
Other
Assignment 3 Question, E- Commerce in Construction, Victor Samwinga
IT Construction Best Practice, 2003, http://www.itcbp.org.uk/econstruction/intro.asp?id=75
K2 Consultancy Ltd - Consultancy, Management and Technology Solutions for Construction, Building Magazine 21/2/02 – E-procurement
Local e-gov National e-Procurement Project
http://www.itcbp.org.uk/econstruction/
http://www.itcbp.org.uk/econstruction/intro.asp?id=78