Quality procedures for construction project collaboration extranets

All participants of a construction project team up in different combinations for different projects. Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) firms typically have far less optimized work processes, and they have invested far less in computer technology. However, the final product (a building or a plant) requires ongoing management that is affected by the quality of the information provided to run it. Internet collaboration tools like extranets can affect a significant paradigm shift in AEC by unifying the disparate project teams of architecture, construction and owner/operator for the first time ever. Nowadays there are many Virtual Enterprises or tools for the management of construction projects via extranet. In addition, as in all business, Quality Management is a very important issue to take into consideration. It is obvious that collaboration tools like a construction extranet need Quality Management Procedures to assure the good functioning of the business which in this case is formed by different partners: the customer, the designers, the contractors, etc. In this paper we are presenting a project to create Quality Management Systems to assure the quality of the management of projects in extranets taking into consideration all the participants in the construction project.