 ELECTRI Council Meeting  Information Technology Assessment for Line Electrical Contractors Vanessa Valentin, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Civil Engineering University of New Mexico

 ELECTRI Council Meeting Background  Information technology – involves the development, maintenance, and use of computer systems, software, and networks for storing, processing and distributing data ▫ e.g., accounting, contractual documents, safety incidents, information exchange, production records, equipment records, cost records, real-time project monitoring  Productivity and performance improvement.  Slow pace adoption in the construction industry. ▫ Difficult to determine the benefits

 ELECTRI Council Meeting Motivation  Challenges faced by line contractors: ▫ Repair and expand the electric grid ▫ Make the grid more productive, cost-effective and smarter ▫ Renewable-energy sources (Ferry 2009) ▫ Unique working conditions  Information technology systems – importance and challenges ▫ Data Management/sharing ▫ Integration ▫ Update

 ELECTRI Council Meeting Objectives  Goal: To identify the requirements of innovative and efficient information technology systems for line contractors.  Objectives: ▫ Identify implementation of IT ▫ Evaluate the efficiency of IT  Importance and satisfaction ratings ▫ Identify issues associated to IT and potential solutions

 ELECTRI Council Meeting  Expected Outcomes  Dissemination through an article for the Electrical Contractor (EC) Magazine  Report ▫ descriptive statistics of electrical contractors surveyed, (e.g., company size, years of experience, geographic zone, etc.), ▫ expected impact on project performance, ▫ current issues with information technology, ▫ prioritization of IT needs ▫ cost information, and,  Recommendations for future research and implementation paths based on the results.

 ELECTRI Council Meeting Methods  Initial input from 5 line electrical contractors ▫ Identify categories of IT systems  Development and deployment of survey: ▫ The contractor’s experience with IT ▫ IT implementation process ▫ Effect of the usage of IT on projects ▫ Issues associated with IT implementation ▫ Importance and satisfaction ratings  Survey deployed to line electrical contractors. (Matzler 2004)

 ELECTRI Council Meeting  Main activities and dates of completion  Background (09/2013)  Survey development and testing through interviews (10/11/2013)  Survey deployment and data collection (01/2014)  Summary of results and data analysis (04/2014)  Preparation and submission of final report and articles (05/2014)  Expenditures ▫ 2 undergraduate students ▫ Principal Investigator salary ▫ Supplies

 ELECTRI Council Meeting  Benefit to industry  Prioritization of IT needs considering challenges of line contractors.  Comparison of different features of IT Systems.  Inform industry of current best practices, challenges and industry trends.  Application of method for evaluating and prioritize industry needs.  Product dissemination.

 ELECTRI Council Meeting  Information Technology Assessment for Line Electrical Contractors Vanessa Valentin, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Civil Engineering University of New Mexico