Multidisciplinary information management in construction industry, example of facilities management

Information management is mainly dealt as a research problem of information services or as a database management problem of CAD systems. In this paper several approaches to the construction information handling are discussed; information creation, transfer and retrieval. Actually, construction information management is a multidisciplinary task; a mixture of parameters of informatics, technology, and organisation. The CAD system design and the R&D of CAD systems could benefit from the development and problem solving of the problems not only common to it but also from the problem solving of the fields which are related to it.The answer for a specific information request is still best found by various means, also other than those of the ICT. Various aspects, such as 1 the type ICT, 2 the type and form of information, 3 the possibilities to understand the message, 4 information availability and gaps, 5 the purpose of information usage either scientific or industrial, 6 the type of building, for which the information is needed, and even 7 the status of the stakeholder in need of knowledge, all effect on the accessibility of information. Such means as information gateways, new media, electronic libraries, CAD (Computer Aided Design) in VR (Virtual Reality), and IFM (Integrated Facilities Management), as well as modelling of comprehension and information sharing of knowledge transformation from tacit to explicit are working for the common goal, which is to make the access to construction information easier.