Construction quality management - present and future

Abstract

This paper reviews past work in construction quality management by examining its major components in the context of a study framework derived from ISO 9000. Emphasis is placed on determining the state-of-the-art and exploring the roles that information technology already plays as well as could play in improving the quality management function. The authors elaborate on several dimensions of the quality management view of a project in terms of how it would interact with the physical, process, cost, and as-built views of a project, which are essential to the quality management function as well as to other project management functions. This is done in a way that reflects the authors' vision of the kind of support that a computer system could offer for the tasks of identifying, predicting, analyzing, and solving quality problems in a preventive mode.Key words: construction quality management, ISO 9000, problem prevention, problem prediction, computer system.