An Information Model for Subcontractor Resource Allocation

Abstract

Subcontractors perform the majority of the work on commercial construction projects. However, only limited research has focused on subcontractors’ practical needs. In response, this research discovered and documented subcontractor needs through data collections and extended these findings with development of an information model and tool. This research significantly enlarges detailed understanding of subcontractor management practices, in particular around resource allocation across multiple projects. While existing research has shown the importance of multi-project management, exploration of details of this process has largely been limited to overviews of policies. Rich details that allow for specific critiques of existing methods and tools have been missing. This research provides such details, including specific limitations and recommendations to existing information standards, commercial applications, and assignment algorithms. In particular, contributions of this research focus on support for what-if analysis under extreme frequency of resource reallocation, a limitation of existing tools and methods that make them unsuitable for most subcontractors.