What is the future role of traditional specifications?

In the description of the problem (chapter 2), a conclusion was that increasing the industry's information and knowledge sharing capacity seems to help change the current static nature of the process into a more dynamic structure that is much more tolerant of change and does not require early agreement about all details that cannot be over-seen beforehand. In a dynamic system, shortening and strengthening the feedback loop is instrumental in improving the efficiency of the whole system.

Chapter 3 concluded that Classification and Specification systems are in wide-spread use and seem to fulfill an important information-ordering role in the BC industry. Another conclusion was that one single Classification system is not enough (section 3.2.1), a more ICT-based approach might be able to present multiple Classification views to the same information, using Classification as a user-friendly view on the data.

Because of their importance and their central role in the information process, traditionally between the design phase and the construction phase, and having a large number of links to other information sources, Specifications are well suited to demonstrate the new instrumentation.

A more dynamic BC means for example more interaction between the design phase and the construction phase; phases that lose their strict boundaries. This might both threaten and strengthen the Specification's position and thus seems a worthwhile research subject.

At the same time, research on the Specification's role might shed some light on the future of BC as a whole when BC's processes are renewed. How will the future of the BC industry look like if the market picks up the ideas forwarded in this thesis and what will be the consequences for all parties involved?

Reinout van Rees 2006-12-13