Document management systems as an essential step towards CIC

Within the context of the construction industry Electronic Document Management (EDM) systems offer the means for rapidly achieving a shallow level of integration by providing process integration and information management on a coarse, document sized level of detail. A question which so far has received little attention is how construction document management (CDM) can provide a smooth transition toward computer-integrated construction, based on full-grown building product data models. An important research question for researchers developing a theoretical basis for CIC is to define hybrid conceptual models which synthesise these two levels of data management and describe accurately in an application independent way the CIC processes where a part of the information is managed by CDM systems and a part using product and project models. As a pre-stage to the definition of formal models of the information manipulated by CDM systems we elaborate the functional requirements that such systems should fulfil. Next we describe a four dimensional CDM modelling space - product dimension (relation to product model and product decomposition), time dimension (document life cycle), organisation dimension and finally presentation dimension. In the end a document classification table which includes generic document properties sorted according to the four dimensions described above is presented and directions for further research are indicated.