Developing benchmarks for construction information flows

Recent research suggests that the efficient movement of information between project stakeholders is a critical factor in the success or failure of a construction project. Unfortunately, little effort has been made to understand which information flows are important, or to understand how quickly critical information components can be processed. This paper identifies key construction information components, and outlines a means for developing benchmarks for specific information flows. Benchmarking is a well-known system that uses a given standard to improve the efficiency of individual processes. Using historical data from recent construction projects, information process cycles were analyzed to develop a benchmark for a single information flow: the construction submittal process. This benchmark can be used to measure and improve the processing speed of a construction submittal package. More importantly, when benchmarking is applied to other critical information flows, this system can be used to improve the efficiency of the construction communication process.