Automation in Construction 13 (2004) 241 259

www.elsevier.com/locate/autcon

A process-based quality management information system

Sangyoon Chin a,*, Kyungrai Kim b,1, Yea-Sang Kim a,2
a

Department of Architectural Engineering, SungKyunKwan University, Jang-An Gu, Chun-Chun Dong 300, Suwon 440-746, South Korea
b
Department of Architectural Engineering, Ajou University, Pal-Dal Gu, One-Chun Dong, Suwon 442-749, South Korea
Accepted 15 August 2003

Abstract
This paper presents a process-based quality management information framework to improve the productivity of the quality
system (QS) process based on the new version of ISO 9000 approved in 2000. To apply the new standard into construction
projects, this research built a group of information models and developed a process-based quality management information
system, called ISO 9000 quality management information system (QMIS). The system integrates scheduling with the QS
process covering inspection and testing, nonconformance reporting, and corrective action during the construction phase. ISO
9000 QMIS was validated successfully through a pilot test, and the results and feedback are discussed.
D 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: ISO 9000; Quality management; Quality control; Management information system; Information model

1. Introduction
1.1. Background and objective of research
Since the introduction of the ISO 9000 standards in
1987, more than 510,000 organizations in 161
countries have adopted and implemented the quality
system (QS) embodied in the standards [15]. The
ISO 9000 series standard approved in 1994 (ISO
9000:1994) has provided conceptual guidelines to

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +82-31-290-7568; fax: +82-31290-7570.

E-mail addresses: schin@skku.ac.kr (S. Chin),
kyungrai@ajou.ac.kr (K. Kim), yskim2@skku.ac.kr (Y.-S. Kim).
1
Tel.: +82-31-219-2492; fax: +82-31-219-2945.
2
Tel.: +82-31-290-7561; fax: +82-31-219-7570.
0926-5805/$ - see front matter D 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.autcon.2003.08.010

structure and implement the elements of QS with.

Construction companies have been certified for ISO
9000 to meet needs for efficient QS that can comply
with customers requirements.
In Korea, construction is the largest industry for
ISO 9000 registrations, occupying over 30% of total
certificates as of September, 2002 [24]. A lot of
companies have adopted ISO 9000 not only to improve the quality of their products but also to enhance
their images in the construction industry [9,12]. In
addition, the survey results in Hong Kong [6], Korea
[17], Saudi Arabia [5], Singapore [8,10], and the UK
[19] show that ISO 9000 has provided the basis for
efficient quality system and it is ultimately beneficial
to construction companies for better management and
practice.
However, ISO 9000 QS has not been quite as
effective as expected when it was introduced in the

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S. Chin et al. / Automation in Construction 13 (2004) 241259

construction industry. The implementation of ISO

9000 standards has been difficult due to various
barriers, such as perceived incompatibility with the
construction industry; misunderstanding of the ISO
9000 concepts and methods of implementation; lack
of a standard business process; heavy loads of paperwork for management and extra documentations;
possibility of over bureaucratic; unnecessary checking
and documenting procedures; communication requirements among project participants [5,6,8,9,10,12,17].
In particular, more paperwork and more time spent on
quality management were seen to be one of major
negative outcomes/drawbacks of ISO 9000-certified
quality systems [6].
The advances in information technology could
improve documentation and communication in the
QS process through various technologies such as
the Internet, databases and web-based collaboration
tools. Despite various applications [19,20,25] and
research [4,11] for quality management, there has
been lack of research on how the QS process based
on ISO 9000 can be supported in the computerized
and collaborative environment for better productivity of quality management in the construction
industry.
The objective of this research is to develop a
process-based quality management information
framework to improve the productivity of the QS
process. This research built a group of information
process and data models based on ISO 9000. Then,
this research developed a process-based quality management information system, called ISO 9000 quality
management information system (QMIS), by integrating scheduling with the QS process covering inspection and testing, nonconformance reporting, and
corrective action during the construction phase. ISO
9000 QMIS was validated through a pilot test, and the
results and feedback are discussed.
1.2. Research methodology
Fig. 1 shows the major steps taken in this research.
Literature review and interviews involve analyzing
ISO 9000 documents and their procedures. ISO 9000
documents from three major general contractors in
Korea were analyzed to identify the QS process and
relevant information, and quality managers from the
contractors were interviewed to identify the needs and

Fig. 1. Research methodology.

requirements for the implementation of ISO 9000.

Also the characteristics of the new ISO 9000 standard
approved in 2000 (ISO 9000:2000) were reviewed to
apply the concept in this research. Although the
concept of ISO 9000 is comprehensive enough to
include all the phases of a project life-cycle [2], this
research confines itself to the QS process during the
construction phase on the basis of a general contractors point of view.
The QS process was modeled by using the Integrated Definition for Function 0 (IDEF0) modeling
method [24,29], which is one of the widely used
process modeling methods, particularly for the description of the business process system. A pilot test
and a survey conducted by Lo et al. [9] also show that
a quality manual written in the IDEF0 format is easier
for workers to understand than one written in a
conventional language.
Through the development of the process model,
relevant information that needs to be managed was
identified. Then, the data model was developed based
on various types of information and their mutual

S. Chin et al. / Automation in Construction 13 (2004) 241259

relationships by using the Unified Modeling Language (UML) methods [3].

Based on the process and data models, ISO 9000
QMIS was developed by using Active Server Page,
Microsoft Visual C++, and various technologies under
the Windows environment, and it is a three-tier system
which consists of graphic user-interfaces, application
functions, and databases. The models and the system
developed in this research were validated through a
pilot test.

2. Literature review
2.1. ISO 9000:2000
The emergence of a new ISO 9000 standard
approved in 2000 (ISO 9000:2000) with a processoriented structure gives another opportunity for ISO
9000 QS to become more compatible with the construction business process. To reduce problems and
improve ISO 9000:1994 standards, the ISO
9000:2000 standard has the following characteristics:
(1) the ISO 9001, 9002, and 9003 is unified into ISO
9001; (2) the new standard can be easily applied to all
industries because of the process approach; (3) the
concept of quality management (QM) is added to the
function of quality assurance (QA); (4) ISO 9001
(QA) and ISO 9004 (QM) is unified [2,14].
The ISO 9000:2000 standard emphasizes the process approach of QS, which means that all processes,
their management, and their mutual interactions are
inter-related. The process approach enables interlinks
of processes within QS, where each process runs
based on Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA). That is,
the key processes of QS include management responsibility; resource management; process management;
and measurement, analysis, and improvement. Top
management defines requirements according to the
management responsibility, required resources are
decided and applied by resource management, processes are defined and implemented by process management, and the results are measured, analyzed, and
improved [2,14].
In this research, the process-based quality management means that quality management is based on the
project process, keeping the subsequent processes
interrelated, and that it should support collaboration

243

and communication among project participants

throughout the process.
2.2. Computer-based quality management information systems
Despite various problems encountered in the implementation of ISO 9000, only a few research and
developments have been reported for quality management information systems in the construction domain.
The U.S. Corps of Engineers have utilized CAD and
multimedia technology for quality assurance [11,16].
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration developed
a quality assurance software package for highway
construction projects [22]. BuildEurope [20] and
MH2 [26] are commercialized systems that support
quality inspection in the web-based collaboration
environment.
More overall aspects on ISO 9000 were covered by
Battikas research [4], where a set of quality information based on ISO 9001 standard has been identified
and classified in various aspects such as disciplines,
safety, process stage, roles, and impacting factors on
activities for potential computerized support.
ProjectPointk [19], Citadon CWk [21], and ProjectTalkk [25] are among the web-based collaboration
systems that can give opportunities to improve communications between various project participants. Although they support information management
focusing on the document sharing and exchange over
the Internet, the process-based QS information management has not been included yet. There has been
still lack of research on how the QS process based on
ISO 9000:2000 can be supported more effectively in
the computerized and collaborative environment to
improve the productivity of quality management in
the construction industry.

3. A process model for ISO 9000 QS

A QS process is modeled by using the Integrated
Definition for Function 0 (IDEF0) modeling method
in order to identify the workflow and relevant information of QS. From three general contractors at the
top class in Korea, ISO 9000 documents were collected and analyzed to build the process model,
accompanied by interviews with practitioners. User

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S. Chin et al. / Automation in Construction 13 (2004) 241259

requirements for ISO 9000 QS derived from the

interviews were reflected in the model development.
3.1. Overall process of quality management
Fig. 2 shows the overall process of quality management in construction projects. The first activity,
Customize for a Specific Project, develops a projectspecific quality plan on the basis of company-wide
(i.e. project-independent) standards such as work
plans, inspection and testing plans (ITPs), and checklist items as well as the project characteristics. The
second activity, Activity-Based Quality Manage-

ment, represents quality management based on the

project-specific quality plans and collaboration among
project participants during the construction phase. The
third activity, Update Company-Wide Quality Plan,
contains the process for updating standard quality
information based on the feedback and as-built quality
information collected during the construction phase.
Through this process, QS should support not only
easy incorporation of company standards in quality
management into project-specific quality management
but also feedback from as-built quality information
captured from on-going projects, to keep improving
company-wide quality plans.

Fig. 2. Overall quality management process.

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Fig. 3. Activity-based quality management and collaboration.

S. Chin et al. / Automation in Construction 13 (2004) 241259

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S. Chin et al. / Automation in Construction 13 (2004) 241259

3.2. Activity-based quality management

Fig. 3 shows the detailed model for ActivityBased Quality Management mentioned above,
which focuses on the inspection and testing process
during construction. Based on the project schedule
and work progress, contractor inquires which activities need inspections and then issues an inspection
request to relevant architect/engineers (A/E). Since
each activity contains such information as workspaces, components, and work items, project participants can refer to relevant work plans and ITPs
before inspection. After confirmation of the inspection request, the contractor and A/E are ready to
inspect the corresponding activities, and the result of
inspection can be shared among the owner, A/Es,
and contractors. This research assumes that the

contractor initiates and performs quality inspection,

the A/E reviews the result, and the owner approves
the process, although these roles can be varied
depending on the project delivery method. In general, since the QS process starts from initiation and
goes through review and approval, contractor, A/E,
and owner in the process model can be replaced by
initiator, reviewer, and approver, respectively.
3.3. Quality inspection process
Fig. 4 depicts the detailed process of the inspection
activity in Fig. 3, which consists of inspection and its
successive activities, such as review and approval of
the inspection and testing result, and issue of nonconformance reports (NCRs) for nonconforming work
results. Since this process in the current practice

Fig. 4. Quality inspection process.

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Fig. 5. Three stages of inspection and testing.

S. Chin et al. / Automation in Construction 13 (2004) 241259

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Fig. 6. Nonconformance reporting process.

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includes heavy paperwork and communications

among participants, an efficient information management system could improve the productivity of the
process, especially in the case where an inspection
requires a third party witness, such as A/Es or owners
representatives.
Quality inspection can be conducted at three different stages for each activity [1,13], as shown in Fig.
5. The first stage is inspection and testing of material
received or work prepared before the activity starts;
the second stage is inspection and testing of work-inprocess; and the third is for the final product or work
result after the activity is finished. If nonconformance

249

is detected, it should be reported along with a plan for

corrective action. Then, the result of the corrective
action is reviewed and approval is given to proceed
with successive activities. In this process, the information on nonconformances and their corrective
actions needs to be shared among participants
throughout the company in a timely and accurate
manner to prevent their recurrence. Fig. 6 represents
a detailed process for nonconformance reporting.
As shown in Figs. 3 6, all the relevant information, such as activity, ITP, work plan, checklist result,
and NCR should be managed so that practitioners can
easily keep track of quality inspection results and their

Fig. 7. Inspection request package.

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S. Chin et al. / Automation in Construction 13 (2004) 241259

causes. This is why quality management needs to be

process-oriented. Furthermore, quality management
should collect as-built quality records and provide
feedback to refine company-wide standard quality
information and corporate knowledge.

4. A data model for ISO 9000 QS

Through the development of the QS process model, various types of information and their mutual
relationships are identified and modeled as classes
and their relationships by using the UML method.
While the process model provides the basis for the
workflow of ISO 9000 QMIS developed in this
research, the data model becomes the basis for database structures of the system.
Since a data model consists of many classes and
relationships, they need to be grouped into packages
for ease of use, maintainability, and reusability. The
same class can be presented in several packages

because packages are logical views of the data model.

In this paper, four packages are presented with focusing on the process for quality management and
collaboration among project participants during the
construction phase, and they are (1) inspection request, (2) inspection, (3) nonconformance reporting,
and (4) status of inspection process. More details of
each package are discussed below.
4.1. Inspection request package
Fig. 7 presents the logical view of initiation and
confirmation of quality inspection. For quality inspection, the initiator determines what activity and which
component are to be inspected and tested, and where.
This is represented by the Activity class associated
with Component, Space, and WorkItem Classification classes to contain information on relevant component, activity location, and work type of the
corresponding activity, respectively. How the activity
should be prepared, processed, and completed is

Fig. 8. Quality inspection package.

S. Chin et al. / Automation in Construction 13 (2004) 241259

represented through the associations with Work Plan

and ITP.
The InspectionRequestStatus class supports the
workflow of initiation and confirmation of an inspection request for a specific activity. This class is also
presented in Fig. 8 because of its relationships with
CheckListSet and CheckListSetResult classes.
4.2. Quality inspection package
Fig. 8 presents the logical view of inspection and
testing. While activity information that needs inspection and testing is handled by the relationship between
the InspectionRequestStatus and Activity classes
shown in Fig. 7, a CheckListSet instance contains a
group of check items for that activity through association with the Inspection and Testing CheckItem
class and the InspectionRequestStatus class. Also,

251

the CheckListSet instance is classified by the WorkItem Classification and Component instances, which
means that the same type of works for the same type
of components can have identical checklist items
regardless of location.
In addition, the Inspection and Testing CheckItem class, which contains checklist items, is specialized into Receiving CheckItem, In-Process
CheckItem, and Final CheckItem classes depending
on the checkpoints that are specified in ISO 9000.
While the CheckListSet instances have a group of
check items according to the work and component
types, the CheckResultSet instances contain only the
results of check items along with the work type,
relevant component types, and its location to represent
a specific activity jointly. This is possible since the
InspectionRequestStatus has a relationship with the
Activity class, which in turn has associations with

Fig. 9. NCR package.

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Space, Component, and WorkItem Classification

classes as shown in Fig. 7.
Furthermore, the CheckResultSet class has the
aggregation relationship with CheckResultMultimedia, CheckItemResult, and CheckResultStatus classes. The CheckResultMultimedia class enables
attachment of construction photos and scanned images
to the inspection result so that practitioners can easily
understand the state at the time of inspection and
testing, while the CheckItemResult class contains the
result of each check item. The CheckResultStatus
class represents the state of review and approval by
other project participants for the quality inspection
result.
4.3. NCR package
Fig. 9 shows the class diagram to support the NCR
process. The CheckResultSet class has a relationship
with the NCR class to keep track of which activity
and check items caused the current nonconformance,
and the NCR class can be classified by the NCRTypeofCause class, which describes types of cause of
nonconformances.
The NCR class represents three aspects of nonconformances, such as NCRMultimedia that contains
the images of the current state; CorrectiveActionMethod that represents the corrective action plan; and
FinalResultDescription that represents the final re-

sult of the corrective action. The last class also

contains images of the final result through NCRFinalMultimedia so that users can compare the state
before corrective action with the state after corrective
action for a specific nonconformance.
4.4. Status package
Fig. 10 shows the status package which represents
the status of inspection request, inspection, and NCR
processes. The roles of initiator, reviewer, and
approver can be assigned to participants in one
organization or three different organizations such as
general contractor, architect/engineer, and owner. The
Status class has attributes to represent relevant participants and their roles, and it is specialized (through
the inheritance relationship) into InspectionRequestStatus, CheckResultStatus, NCRRequestStatus,
and FinalResultStatus to represent various QS process status.

5. A quality management information system for

ISO 9000
Based on the process analysis and the data model
described previously, Internet-based ISO 9000 QMIS
was developed to keep the subsequent processes
interrelated in the inspection process and to support

Fig. 10. Status package.

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253

Fig. 11. System architecture.

collaboration and communication among project participants throughout the process.

The system architecture of ISO 9000 QMIS is
based on the three-tier design, which consists of three
separate components, such as user-interfaces, application functions, and databases as shown in Fig. 11.
This three-tier design enables more efficient system
development by modularizing tiers and separating the
application from the database, since this makes it
easier to modify one tier without affecting the other
tiers [27].
5.1. User-interfaces and application functions
The tier 1 is user-interfaces that are designed by
using Active Server Page (ASP) on the basis of the
process model and various document forms of ISO

9000. The tier 2 is application functions, which

consists of components to support the workflow of
QS among various participants and communication
between user-interfaces and databases. The application functions support (1) management and customization of standard information, (2) management of
quality records, and (3) feedback and analysis of
quality information, where each of them has separate
databases.
Table 1 shows the functional framework at the
current version of ISO 9000 QMIS. The functions
were developed by using Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0
with ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) 3.0, and Object
Linking and Embedding Database (OLE DB). Application functions run under the Windows 2000
server and Internet Information Server (IIS) 5.0
environment.

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S. Chin et al. / Automation in Construction 13 (2004) 241259

Table 1
Functional framework of ISO 9000 QMIS
Application
functions

Functions

Descriptions

Manage
standard
quality
information

Management of
work item
classifications
Management of
work plans

Create, delete, and update

classification for work
items
Create, delete, and update
HTML files sorted by
work items
Create, delete, and update
HTML files sorted by
work items
Create, delete, and update
checklist items sorted by
work items
Create, delete, and update
types of nonconformances
Create, delete, and update
types of corrective actions
for nonconformances
Manage project general,
site personnel information,
company information
Search activity
Fill out inspection request
form
Inquire inspection request
Fill out quality inspection
checklist
Fill out nonconformance
report
Inquire quality manual
Update quality plans

Management of
inspection and
testing plans
Management of
checklist items
Management of
NCR types
Management of
action type
Manage
project
quality
information

Management
of project
information
Quality
management

Quality manuals
Management of
quality plans
Board
Feedback

Quality
feedback

Analysis of
nonconformances

Read and write on

discussion board
Send nonconformance
information to quality
feedback database
Statistics by disciplines
Statistics by NCR types
Statistics by projects
Statistics by work items

5.2. Databases
Based on the class diagrams shown from Figs. 7
10, the databases, which are the tier 3, were developed
by using Microsoft SQL Server 2000. ISO 9000
QMIS includes three types of databases, such as
standard database, project database, and feedback
database. The standard database, managed at the
company level, includes standard quality information,

such as work plans, ITPs, checklist items, and work

type classifications. These kinds of information are to
be reused or customized to fit to the characteristics of
the current project. The project database, which is
generated project by project, contains all the information represented in Figs. 7 10. The quality feedback
database gets feedback on nonconformance reports
from the project database to be shared company-wide.
The project schedule and work progress are maintained by using Microsoft Project, which enables
direct management of activity information in the
project database via Open Database Connectivity
(ODBC). Through this, users can initiate quality
management according to the project schedule and
progress, and subsequent inspection processes and
their results represent the status of each activity. More
details are described in the pilot test.

6. Pilot test
To validate the information models and the system
developed in this research, a pilot test was conducted
in a condominium project in Seoul, Korea. This project
has two 25-story buildings of reinforced concrete
structure with 304 condominium units. The project
organization at the site consists of the owners representative, an A/E firm, and three general contractors.
ISO 9000:2000 is compatible with the local standard, which is KSA 9001:2001. By the law on
Construction Technology Management in Korea, the
quality plans, ITPs, checklists should be prepared
based on KSA 9001:2001. Therefore, ISO 9000
QMIS was implemented in this project to verify
whether the system can support the process-based
quality management that links various management
processes such as inspection requests for appropriate
activities, inspection and testing, nonconformance
recording, corrective action, and the final result. This
implementation also tested whether the system could
support communication and collaboration among
project participants at the site.
6.1. Implementation of ISO 9000 QMIS
In this project, the contract requires that the general
contractor should submit requests for inspection to A/
Es, and should acquire review and approval of the

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Fig. 12. Inspection initiation process.

S. Chin et al. / Automation in Construction 13 (2004) 241259

S. Chin et al. / Automation in Construction 13 (2004) 241259

Fig. 13. Quality inspection using checklist.

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S. Chin et al. / Automation in Construction 13 (2004) 241259

inspection result from A/Es and the owners representatives. ISO 9000 QMIS starts from inquiring
activities as shown in Fig. 12. It shows the inspection
request process initiated by the general contractor and
presents the concepts of inspection request shown in
Fig. 7.
After the A/E confirms the inspection schedule,
the contractor and A/E can inspect in-process work
for Cast wall and slab at Bldg 101, F17 to verify
whether each checklist item complies with the criteria
shown in Fig. 13, which presents the concepts of
quality inspection described in Fig. 8. The left
window in Fig. 13 presents the inspection result for
the activity (the CheckResultSet class) which
includes the results of checklist items (CheckItemResult), relevant multimedia (CheckResultMultimedia), and the process status (CheckResultStatus).
Following the quality management policy in the
project, the results of checklist items are classified

257

into pass, minor fail, and fail, among which

minor fail was introduced to resolve the nonconformances through work order rather than issue of a
NCR. Along with the inspection results, a number of
as-built photos can be imported to the ISO 9000
QMIS along with photo titles and descriptions for
record management purposes. This feature integrates
the site photo management and the quality management into one operation. Not only the imported
photos but also scanned document images such as
statistical analysis of test results can be associated
with the inspection results, and can be shared among
the participants through the Internet.
If there were any items declared as failures, a NCR
should be issued to ensure corrective action along
with proper documentation and to prevent recurrences
[2,14]. Fig. 14 shows an NCR report (the NCR class
shown in Fig. 9) that contains the relevant photo
images (NCRMultimedia) for the current state of

Fig. 14. Nonconformance recording.

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S. Chin et al. / Automation in Construction 13 (2004) 241259

the nonconformance. The user (the general contractor

in this project) fills out the failure type and causes
(NCRTypeofCause), description, corrective action
plan and expected quality conformance cost (CorrectiveActionMethod). After approval by the A/E and
owner (NCRRequestStatus), the corrective action
can be taken and the result is reported and approved.
Since the result (FinalResultDescription) can also
contain as-built photos (NCRFinalMultimedia) as
shown in Fig. 14, users can easily keep track of
nonconformance, corrective action, and its result as
well as the original inspection result in a consistent
and accurate manner.
6.2. Results and lessons learned
The test implementation at the condominium project validated the ISO 9000 QMIS and information
models developed in this research, and provided the
following results and lessons.
First, the construction practitioners agreed that the
concept and models developed in this research are
feasible for application to construction projects such
as housing and office projects in Korea. Second, they
were assured that the processes in ISO 9000 QMIS
such as the selection of an activity based on the
project progress, the inspection process, and the
nonconformance reporting process are linked so that
users can keep track of quality results and their causes
easily. The primary focus of ISO 9000 QMIS is on the
QS process of the general contractors; however, other
project participants such as the owner and A/Es are
able to share and communicate quality information
effectively through the system. Third, the integration
of as-built information including photos and scanned
images with quality records can reduce workloads and
improve the productivity of the as-built documentation. Finally, keeping track of quality inspection,
NCRs, corrective action, and final result along with
project progress can greatly improve the quality and
progress control at a construction site with efficient
reusability of as-built information.

7. Conclusions
With focusing on quality management during the
construction phase of a building project, including

requests for quality inspection, inspection and testing, nonconformance reporting, and its corrective
action, this research aims at meeting the new standard of ISO 9000:2000 by pursuing process-based
quality management, and enhancing collaboration
and communication among project participants. To
meet these aims, information models and system,
ISO 9000 QMIS, were developed. ISO 9000 QMIS
has a three-tier architecture that consists of Internetbased user interfaces, application functions for quality management processing, and quality information
databases.
Through the test of ISO 9000 QMIS at a condominium project, it is shown that the information
model and management system are valid and helpful
in facilitating collaboration and communication
among participants, efficient documentation and recording of quality information along with photo and
scanned images, tracing of the whole quality control
process, and the accumulation of as-built information.
ISO 9000 QMIS is under development for possible commercialization, and the authors believe that
the information model or management system developed in this research can easily be incorporated into
the existing commercial web-based project management systems [19,21,25] as a component for quality
management.
In addition, further research is ongoing for the
development of an intelligent system to support the
automatic customization process of company-wide
quality standards such as work plans, ITPs, and
checklists for reuse in a specific project; and to
support the feedback of as-built information into a
quality knowledgebase at the corporate level, using
concepts that have been briefly shown in the system
architecture of the ISO 9000 QMIS.

Acknowledgements
This research was financially supported jointly by
the Ministry of Construction and Transportation of
the Korean government, the Korea Institute of
Construction Technology, and Yoo IL Architects
and Engineering. The authors gratefully acknowledge the construction practitioners at the KIT
condominium project for their interviews, participation in system operations, and feedback despite their

S. Chin et al. / Automation in Construction 13 (2004) 241259

heavy workloads. The programming works conducted by Mr. Tae-Hong Shin are also gratefully
acknowledged.

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