With all the planning, communication and work that goes into the lifecycle of a construction project, managing information is an important aspect to get right to keep things compliant and on track. The current information management mandate is being revised, and we were joined by Dr Anne Kemp OBE, Chair of nima and Director and Fellow at AtkinsRéalis and Alex Backhouse, Senior Programme Manager at AtkinsRéalis in a recent webinar to discuss their approach to it and how this will benefit the wider industry going forward.
We’ve summarised the key points raised in the webinar, but you can watch the full recording on demand below:
Why is the information management mandate being reviewed?
In a nutshell, the current mandate doesn’t support the industry well enough in its current form, which means it’s not as effective as it could be. It sits within the transforming infrastructure performance report 2030 roadmap, which means it doesn’t have the right visibility, and there are some people who might not even be aware of it.
Anne delves into this in a lot more depth, but the five main points are:
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The current mandate wasn’t formally mandated or enforced through procurement, planning, regulation, or operations and maintenance.
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It focuses on information, not ‘data and information’, which doesn’t provide a complete picture.
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All of the phases of the built and managed environment aren’t covered by the mandate. While the intent is there, this needs to be communicated better to improve understanding.
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Digital adoption is still in the early stages. According to the latest NBS digital construction report, 46% of the industry is in the process of adopting, while 36% are only in the early stages or are yet to start.
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The mandate isn’t specific enough to cover how to apply it to the various personas in the built and managed environment, so there is a lot that’s left open for interpretation.
What’s involved in the mandate revision 3.0?
One key thing to note is that this revision is still a work in progress. At present, it’s just an approach, as it’s still going to require government buy-in which will be dependent on the next general election.
A big part of their approach to this mandate revision is to take on board what came before, look at the lessons that have been learned and build on this to improve things for the industry. It’s about embracing all aspects of the built and managed environment and supporting every individual involved in it.
A task group has been set up through the Construction Leadership Council to consult with people in the industry. If you’d like to get involved in the conversation you can complete an expression of interest form to have your say.
Where email management comes in
Email management tends to be the part of information management that gets neglected. It’s the most commonly used tool to communicate and holds a wealth of important information, yet it’s often the only thing in an organization that isn’t managed on a project-basis. Thinking of the day-to-day, this means you can’t always find or access the information you need but on a larger scale, this can be a risk factor when it comes to disputes, which are continuing to rise every year:
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The top two causes of disputes are changes to project scope and chasing payments
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The average global value of construction disputes in 2022 was $2.6 million, and this is continuing to rise
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The average length of disputes has risen to 15.4 months
Having a single place where all your project information and communications is stored means you can always see the complete picture of that project and be able to source key information when it’s needed. This is key to avoiding or mitigating disputes and for ensuring projects run as smoothly as possible.
Find out more about the benefits of email management and why it’s essential to project success.
