The relationship between

information flow and project success

in multi-disciplinary civil engineering
design
Effi Tribelsky and Rafael Sacks

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

Background

measure and visualize information flow in detailed design

Goal

Examine correlations between information flow and project

outcomes

Method

Compare flow measures and project results

Results
Conclusions

Direct empirical relationship between measures of

information flow and the effectiveness of design
documents

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

Broad research goal

To understand the nature of the relationship
between information flow and project success in
multi-disciplinary civil engineering design
Based on research about developing a model for
understanding, measuring and visualizing the
process and information flow in detailed design
of civil engineering projects
Background

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Goal
Method
Results
Conclusions

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

Information flow in detailed design

Analyzing information flow in organizations using
concepts of fluid mechanics. Fyall (2002)
Modeling collaborative design and information
flow using concepts of electrical current. Ostergaard
Considering the detailed design process to be
similar to production processes. Ballard (2000)
and Summers (2007)

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Background
Goal
Method
Results
Conclusions

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

Production process flow analogy

Design Structure Matrix (DSM)
approach (Steward 1981)
Toyota Product Development
System (Morgan and Liker 2006)
Theory of Constraints (Goldratt 1997)
Lean Design in the Context of Lean
Construction (Freire and Alarcon 2002).
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Background
Goal
Method
Results
Conclusions

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Hypotheses

Tribelsky and Sacks

The phenomena that characterize flow in generic

production systems can be identified in flows of
information in the detailed phase of civil
engineering design
Flow phenomena measurement values are
predictors of design process outcomes
Project teams can improve the
value they deliver by taking
Background
conscious steps to improve the
Goal
Method
flow of information within their
Results
design teams
Conclusions
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

Goals

To develop measures of information flow

efficiency.
To develop a tool for visualizing the flow of
information through the design process
To determine the correlations between the
measures and actual project results

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Background
Goal
Method
Results
Conclusions

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

Overview of the research procedure

Project Sample
14 projects
selected out of
115 projects

Develop
measures of
information flow

Project records
Project records
Project records
Project records
Project records

7 proposed
measures

Background
conditions

Independent
assessment of
success or failure

Independent
assessment of
information flows
Calibration

Calibration

Knowledge of this
relationship
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Calculate
measures of
information flow

Background
Goal
Method
Results
Conclusions

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

Case Study Projects

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N

Number of
file transBuilt area Budget
actions
Project type
(m)
($M)
Residential buildings
5,000
4.5
4,870
Runway
230,000
26.5
3,650
Airplane park
250,000
20.7
13,355
Sewage pumping station
320
1.4
2,457
Control tower
800
4.2
6,515
Communication centre
1,300
3.0
5,627
Infrastructure facilities
NA
22.4
6,879
Office building
1320
4.2
4,409
Workshops
2,500
2.8
3,232
Office building
340
1.1
3,488
Airplane hangar
7,300
8.5
4,734
Fuel delivery pipeline
NA
2.5
4,114
Office building
1,900
3.9
2,470
Residential building
1,700
1.5
4,248
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Time
span
(days)

Number of
design firms/
disciplines

182
545
188
456
303
365
527
226
430
487
462
466
282
182

14
16
15
12
16
16
11
13
16
14
16
11
15
11

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

10

Information flow measures

Index/Measure

Description

Symbol

Activity Frequency

Frequency of usage of a project's information

packages

AFr

Information Package Size

Level of detail of information packages

IPS

Batch Size

Volume of information in a transferred batch

BSz

Batch Rhythm

Rhythm with which the information batches are

transferred

BRy

Information Development
Velocity

Speed and rate of information expansion

IDV

Rework

The amount and nature of design rework

Rew

Bottlenecks

Slowest work station in the process

Bot

Tribelsky, E., and Sacks, R., (2010). Can the flow of information during the detailed design of construction
projects be measured? Research in Engineering Design (doi:10.1007/s00163-009-0084-3).

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

Data collection sources

Daily activity logs (recorded in @view)

Drawings and documents
Project design meetings
Interviews
Design reviews, quality control
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Background
Goal
Method
Results
Conclusions

11

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

Measuring design document effectiveness

Chang, A., and Ibbs, C. W. (1999). "Designing levels for A/E

consultant performance measures." Project Management Journal,
30(4), 42-55.

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Background
Goal
Method
Results
Conclusions

12

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

Information flows and project milestones

Number of actions

05/06

06/06
06/06

07/06
06/06

08/06
06/06

60
2

Design Group meeting

50

Number of data transfers

40

Average number of data transfers

30
20
10
Time line

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Background
Goal
Method
Results
Conclusions

13

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

Information flows and project milestones

ex. Val.
2nd per.

1st per.

100

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Background
Goal
Method
Results
Conclusions

14

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

Information packages size

information packages size

100%
80%
60%
40%
20%

F-A
F-B
F-C

0%

Date

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Background
Goal
Method
Results
Conclusions

15

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

Development of information (%/day)

Development of information in projects

2.00%
1.80%
1.60%
1.40%
1.20%
1.00%
0.80%
0.60%
0.40%
0.20%
0.00%

Date

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Background
Goal
Method
Results
Conclusions

16

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

Development of information batch size

120%
100%

Batch size (%)

80%
60%
40%
20%
0%

Date

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Background
Goal
Method
Results
Conclusions

17

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

18

Results for document effectiveness

Frequency of waste phenomena

10
9

Relationship between
Chang & Ibbs' measure of
the effectiveness of design
documents and the
frequency of occurrence of
information flow waste
phenomena

8
7
6

J
C

1
F

0
50

60

70

80

90

100

Effectiveness of design documents

Chang, A., and Ibbs, C. W. (1999). "Designing levels for A/E consultant
performance measures." Project Management Journal, 30(4), 42-55.

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Background
Goal
Method
Results
Conclusions

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

7
6

M
L J

Frequency of waste phenomena

Frequency of waste phenomena

Results for project outcomes

E

C D

1
0
40%-

G
20%-

0%

20%

40%

Schedule target variation

7
6

5
4

J L
D

3
2
1
0
100%-

C
N
H
F G
0%

100%

Budget target variation

Relationships between variation in meeting schedule and

budget targets and the frequency of information flow
waste phenomena
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

200%

Background
Goal
Method
Results
Conclusions

19

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

Conclusions
This study sought evidence of possible correlation
between the characteristics of information flow
between design team members and the degree of
success achieved in the detailed design phase of
civil engineering projects
The results show a direct empirical
relationship between the objective
measures of information flow and the
measures of the effectiveness of
design documents
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Background
Goal
Method
Results
Conclusions

20

IGLC18

Information flow in multi-disciplinary civil engineering project design teams

Tribelsky and Sacks

Conclusions
Correlation between subjective impressions of a
project's success on the part of its participants,
including the client, and the quality of information
flows, could not be proven conclusively

Thanks for your attention.

Questions?

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Background
Goal
Method
Results
Conclusions

21