Inter-organizational Integration in the AEC/FM Industry : Exploring the “Addressed” and “Unaddressed” Information Exchange Needs Between Stakeholders

Abstract

This paper explores how the needs to exchange information across organizational boundaries in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction, and Facilities Management industry in Finland have been satisfied by means of stakeholder integration at the technical, business and socio-organizational levels. We interviewed practitioners about their motivations and goals for inter-organizational integration and observed different discourses. The information exchange needs in the context of individual building projects were often described as “addressed”. These needs focused mainly on managing complex stakeholder relations or handling the variable conditions with other building projects. In the scope of the whole built environment lifecycle, the needs were rather portrayed as ongoing problems still “unaddressed”. Existing information sources remained inadequate when the benefits of inter-organizational integration had not yet been clarified. The process workflow discontinuities demanded better understanding of the value of information beyond design as well as better coordination. The uncertainty of how much data to collect and for what purposes can be mitigated by defining “useful minimum” information exchange between stakeholders.