Cooperative Software Development and Usability Evaluation: A Web-based Work Management System for Construction Sites

摘要

In construction work, information systems thatuse mobile communications are required in order to eliminatethe troublesome task of writing and retyping data andto acquire realtime data. The information must be sharedeffectively. Therefore, we developed a construction site workmanagement system that reduces the burden of input frommobile phones in cooperation with construction companiesfrom the viewpoint of user-centered design. The system’smain features are easy data input from mobile phonesand functions for authentication, data input, data retrieval,data update/deletion, and graphic representation of workprogress reports. Input data is stored in a database over theInternet, enabling the shared data to be used to carry outwork smoothly. At an early stage of development after wedemonstrated an early version of the system, we circulateda questionnaire to construction companies so that we couldincorporate their opinions. Responses from constructionworkers showed that easy data input is important. Therefore,we devised three methods for reducing the burden of inputfrom mobile phones and two support tools. Furthermore, weevaluated an encoding method and a method using positioninformation.