Cooperative Software Development and Usability Evaluation: A Web-based Work Management System for Construction Sites

Abstract

In construction work, information systems that use mobile communications are required in order to eliminate the troublesome task of writing and retyping data and to acquire realtime data. The information must be shared effectively. Therefore, we developed a construction site work management system that reduces the burden of input from mobile phones in cooperation with construction companies from the viewpoint of user-centered design. The system's main features are easy data input from mobile phones and functions for authentication, data input, data retrieval, data update/deletion, and graphic representation of work progress reports. Input data is stored in a database over the Internet, enabling the shared data to be used to carry out work smoothly. At an early stage of development after we demonstrated an early version of the system, we circulated a questionnaire to construction companies so that we could incorporate their opinions. Responses from construction workers showed that easy data input is important. Therefore, we devised three methods for reducing the burden of input from mobile phones and two support tools. Furthermore, we evaluated an encoding method and a method using position information.