B5-Uses of databases in construction firms

       Construction firms need to integrate a large number of complex sets of information for a construction project, and for most situations, construction firm have to follow up several construction projects at same time. It is very important for them to effectively manage this information to insure its availability and accuracy. “Poor or missing information can readily lead to project delays, uneconomical decisions, or even the complete failure of the desired facility”. [1] It is essential for construction firms to formal organize the bulk of information associated to construction projects to avoid chaos.

       With the advent of micro-computer database managers, the formal, computerized databases for cost account and other data is possible to be used in regardless of large or small firms and projects. The significant advantages for database include rapid retrieval therefor the information can be used immediately, and lower overall costs. For instance, the computerized specifications writing systems have record common specification phrases for specific project applications to speed up the writing process.

       “Formally, a database is a collection of stored operational information used by the management and application systems of some particular enterprise”. This information has specific associations, and these relationships themselves are considered as a part of the database. Figure 1 includes some typical elements in a database. Internal model is used for story data. It consists the strings of “bits” and be storied in computer’s memory. “The DBM (Database Manager Program) is the software program that directs the storage, maintenance, manipulation and retrieval of data”. With DBM, manager don’t have to concern about details, because DBM can story data according to user’s request. Different users can ask for different request to DBM from the same database. DBM has the ability to story data and insure the integrity and security of data. With these capabilities, DBM can be easily used in project management applications.

Figure 1 Illustration of a Database Management System Architecture

       Centralized database management system has certain advantages relative to commonly employed special purpose datafiles. Relational information between items and between records can not be accessed by other application systems. For instance, the accounting system or corporate planners are not able to check the time scheduled that is manipulated by project scheduling system.

[1] Hendrickson, C. (2008). Project management for construction: Fundamental concepts for owners, engineers, architects, and builders.

Eken, Gorkem. “A Lessons Learned Database Structure for Construction Companies.” NeuroImage, Academic Press, 27 Oct. 2015,www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877

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Comments:

Christian, it’s great to get an overall understanding about SQL. The ease of learning could be the most powerful strength to become the standard programing language, as long as its defects are getting revised in the progress.

Jenny, you clearly defined object-oriented database and let me know the most powerful advantage of object oriented database is saving time and space during processing to reduce the risk of information delay.

Alec, I agree with you that databases become more popular nowadays, they appear in everywhere around us. Databases have advantages on story data and share information which are good to use in project management.