Social Network Analysis (SNA) has not been used to study design project teams in which the full interactions have become more complex (formal and informal) because the team members are from different companies and there is no collocation. This work proposes a method to understand the interactions in the design teams of construction projects using SNA metrics and the sociograms generated within temporary organizations.This study includes three stages: (1) a literature review of the dimensions of interactions within work teams and the application of SNA to the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry; (2) a proposal of an interaction network method for construction project design teams; and (3) an analysis of a pilot project. Interaction networks were defined in two categories: general interactions and commitment management. For each network, metric indicators were defined for the analysis. The pilot project showed high levels of consistency among team responses. The proposed method allows an analysis of the entire work team and of each individual team member. The

Evidence exists for the application of lean management practices in the design process. However, there is no systematic review of this type of practice that links the design management practices to the lean construction principles. There is no tool to assess the level of use of lean design management practices in construction projects either. Therefore, this paper aims to assess the lean management practices that are performed at the design phase of construction projects. The research was divided into a literature review of design management practices; a validation of lean design management practices with a practice-principle relationship, based on an expert survey; the devolvement of a tool (questionnaire) to evaluate the lean design management practices; and an assessment in 64 construction projects (coherence, reliability, correlation, and descriptive analysis). It is concluded that evidence exists for the implementation of 19 lean design management practices. These practices are grouped into three categories: stakeholder management, planning and control, and problem solving and decision making. Additionally, in the assessment of the 64 projects, it can be observed that the lean design management practices are at initial levels of implementations, so there is a significant development gap. This research proposes a tool to assess management practices in the design phase of construction projects; then, the study identifies implementations gaps, it provides benchmarks with other projects, and it improves the design process through a taxonomy of lean design management practices. been studied to evaluate its performance [7], to implement integrated management systems and visual management tools [8], as well as to optimize this process [6].Technological tools have great potential to improve the performance of projects, particularly in the design phase. However, the problems generated in the design of construction projects cannot be solved with technology alone but require an understanding of the social phenomena related to the processing of individual and collective information [9]. For this reason, certain lean tools can allow higher interactions because they encourage the management of commitment and trust among team members [10][11][12][13].Evidence exists for the application of lean management principles and some of its tools in the design management process [14,15]. For example, Fosse & Ballard [16] presented a case study that demonstrated the change between traditional planning and planning using the last planner ® system (LPS ® ) at the design phase. Although they did not present evidence of the changes in the project s performance, they concluded that the degree of satisfaction of the project s stakeholders increased when the LPS ® was applied during the planning phase of the project. For their part, Knotten et al. [17] emphasized that the use of LPS ® and collaborative planning in the design phase reinforced the trust and commitment among the members of the team, which are both considered fundamental elemen...

The evaluation of BIM capabilities and repeatability enables a company or project to identify its current status and how to improve continuously; this evaluation can be performed with BIM maturity models. However, these maturity models can measure the BIM state but not specifically the application of BIM uses. Likewise, in interorganizational project teams with a diversity of factors from various companies, it is possible to evaluate the capacity at a specified time with specified factors, but it is not possible to evaluate the repeatability unless the client always works with the same project teams. Therefore, despite the existence of various BIM uses in the literature, there is no instrument to evaluate the level of implementation of them in construction projects. This research proposes a BIM Use Assessment (BUA) tool for characterizing the levels of application of the BIM uses in the planning and design phases of building projects. The research methodology was organized into three stages: (1) identification, selection, and definition of BIM uses; (2) proposal of the BUA tool for characterizing the level of BIM use application; and (3) validation of the BUA tool. The tool was validated using 25 construction projects, where high reliability and concordance were observed; hence, the BUA tool complies with the consistency and concordance analysis for assessing uses in the design and planning phases of construction projects. The assessment will enable self-diagnosis, stakeholder qualification/selection, and industry benchmarking.

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In recent years, the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry has broadly expanded the use of Virtual Design and Construction (VDC), particularly Lean Construction methods, to deliver value to their customers. VDC includes the use of Production Management using Lean methods as an integral part of the defining theory and method, and multiple case studies have concluded that the greatest performance improvement is achieved by implementing both initiatives together. This paper reviews extensive literature of VDC and Lean Construction with the intent to show benefits in the application of Lean Construction in the actual practice of VDC and to provide examples of waste and opportunities for improvement in projects if Lean methods are applied. This study found that use of Lean methods can help to reduce waste within the VDC process, in the phase of information flow (process view). Specifically, our main finding from this study was that only five types of waste represent 80% of the referenced occurrence of waste in VDC processes, which suggests that if teams use Lean Methods and focus on elimination of these types of waste (i.e., motion (excess), inventory (excess), overproduction, waiting and employee knowledge (unused)), teams can improve VDC practices dramatically.