Evaluation of CITIS as a collaborative virtual organization for construction project management

The construction industry has suffered from its fragmented structure along the phases of the construction life cycle. The use of information technology (IT) has effectively promoted integration of fragmented information under the scattered construction environment. However, to date, many Internet-based systems for online project collaboration do not sufficiently provide standard formats for transmitting contractual documents and project-related information due to the data compatibility issue. As an alternative, this paper introduces a concept of virtual organization and then examines a CITIS (Contractor Integrated Technical Information Service) system for public construction projects developed in Korea from the viewpoint of a virtual organization concept. The CITIS system suggested here has been applied to local branches of the Korea MOCT (Ministry of Construction and Transportation) and is currently in use. Field evaluation has found that the Korean construction CITIS still lacks collaborative workspace despite its good results on field tests. Finally, the lessons learned from field evaluation are provided to advance the current CITIS toward fully integrated collaborative virtual organization.