Knowledge in Construction Processes

The growing complexity of the construction sector – due to the proliferation of products, techniques, and needs related to side, not secondary, aspects of objects (environmental impact, energy efficiency, durability, safety, etc.) – means that the current management styles in construction processes are no longer appropriate to their context. Therefore, the construction sector faces an inevitable process of growth in which knowledge is an indispensable resource. The purpose of this paper is to show how knowledge associated with construction processes can be represented using Knowledge Management techniques. The analysis of such knowledge uses a mixed top-down and bottom-up approach, which can formalize it and make it ready for easy access and search. The underlying goal is the rational organization of large amounts of data using the knowledge that characterizes the various stages of a construction process. Elementary Products could be the core concepts that can group the objects associated with such process, guiding the management of relevant information and knowledge involved in construction processes. The formalization was used to define a prototype implementation of the Knowledge Management System using DSpace.