Development of Improved Information Management Processes for FDOT Dispute Review Board System

摘要

Often disputes may arise between owners and contractors during the execution of a construction project. Construction disputes typically cause monetary and time losses. Disagreements often result in litigation that is both time-consuming and expensive. A dispute review board (DRB) provides a valuable and proven alternative method of dispute resolution. Currently, the Florida department of Transportation (FDOT) stores DRB reports in portable document format (PDF) with limited search capability. Improving information retrieval of DRB documents and providing a certain level of integration of DRB reports with relevant but heterogeneous data and documents are key to enhancing the current FDOT DRB system. Therefore, an improved DRB information management system is desirable to satisfy the needs of AFDTO engineers. The objective of the study is to develop a software system and set a foundation for future improvements of DRB report management. Improvements to the existing Web-based DRB report listing include using data and metadata models that share lessons learned, implementing advanced text-based search mechanisms, and integrating DRB reports with member data and other relevant documents. The objective of the study is achieved by implementing a system that uses Oracle-based Web technologies and provides key features including metadata generation, an integrated review process, a simple issue description, member information management, and versatile information retrieval.