WP111: Decision, Decision-Making, Design, Management, Organization Models, Organizational Modeling, Process Modeling, Process Models, Project Management, Rationale, Rationale Clarity Framework, Validation

To address the challenges of producing good quality work instructions for construction laborers, the authors developed a method to produce Field Instructions from Product and Process Models (FIPAPM). However, implementing such a method in a contractorís organization presents implementation challenges and requires guidelines that help the contractor to make decisions about people and procedures to address the implementation barriers. Existing literature identifies several relevant implementation barriers and strategies but it is unknown how these barriers and strategies apply to the specific context of a method to produce good quality work instructions and, more broadly, of methods that integrate formal product information and construction knowledge.

This paper presents a case study where we implemented one of such methods, the FIPAPM method, on a cast-in-place concrete project. We use this study to identify which implementation barriers apply and to understand how they apply to the context of the FIPAPM method. Then, based on strategies to deal with these barriers, we present a guideline to help contractors to implement this method. This guideline identifies seven actors (top management, technology leader, process modeler, product modeler, construction expert group, field management, and laborers), their roles and the steps to implement the method.

The presented guideline is a particular case of guidelines for methods that integrate formal product information and construction knowledge, which will help to integrate the work of designers, planners, and estimators with the work that laborers do in the field. The presented guideline will allow contractors to address the specific challenges of implementing the FIPAPM method. The guideline also enables researchers to perform more detailed implementation studies tracking the use of this guideline by a contractor to provide insights that will help refine the implementation guideline.