DRIVERS AND BARRIERS TO THE ADOPTION OF DATA ANALYTICS FOR LEAN PROJECT MANAGEMENT (LPM)

Abstract

Over the past few decades, there has been a steady increase in the digitalisation of many industries, including the built environment. This steady increase in digitalisation means there is increased amounts of data being generated and analysed at fast rates. However, the Built Environment (BE) sector seems to be having troubles keeping up with the rapid global rates of digitalisation. As a sector that deals with huge amounts of data, it is crucial that the tools and methods to collect, analyse and evaluate the data are up to date. The idea or usage of data analytics (DA) is not a new concept, yet there is limited knowledge and research focused on studying the trends of data analytics, including establishing the driver and barriers of data analytics adoption, in the BE sector. Additionally, the implementation of the concept of lean project management (LPM) in the BE sector is also limited.

This paper, therefore, aims to identify the drivers and barriers for DA in LPM, focusing on Lean Management Principle 7 (LMP7) Visual Management. This study utilised a survey questionnaire to gather responses from 62 BE professionals. The results were then analysed and in-depth interviews were conducted with 4 interviewees to attempt to understand the trends observed in the survey results.

Statistical tests were conducted to identify the top 3 drivers and barriers. The top 3 drivers for DA adoption are: The effectiveness of waste and error minimisation, effective decision making (for maximum benefits) and the ability to store good past data for future references. These 3 drivers highlight the current focus of the BE sector, which is to maximise profits and minimise waste. On the other hand, the top 3 barriers include: Gap in knowledge, difficulty of implementation and the industry’s current state of digitalisation. These barriers seem to form a vicious cycle, where the state of the industry makes it difficult to implement DA and thus results in the gap of knowledge and DA continues to evolve. This cycle needs to be broken.

Upon further research, the benefits that DA brings aligns with some of the Lean principles used in LPM (waste reduction being one of the most obvious common characteristics). By understanding the purposes of DA, the drivers and barriers faced by organisations in the industry, initiatives can be proposed to increase DA adoption in the LPM. This will include various stakeholders, such as the government and the organisations themselves, to be actively involved in this process.