Anforderungen und Selektionsmethodik von Engineering Data Management Systemen im Bauprozess

There is a common development in building projects going on: The demands on documentation, communication and the amount of information to be handled are steadily increasing. The documents generated and distributed by project participants can´t be managed without electronic aids. In parallel there is a rising need for electronical support of the building process to be observed. Systems offered by software developers are hardly serving the special requirements of the project participants.

Nonetheless professionally selected and evaluated electronic systems for project related document management, called “Engineering Data Management Systems” (EDMS), are widely required for the design and construction of building projects. There are various vendors of such systems, which makes it difficult to find a suitable product. Numerous terms and definitions – not all of them consistent and often even incomprehensible – have been developed during the last few years. This article not only offers an attempt to get the terms into a systematic order, but also provides an insight into the user-based necessities in the ACE business and offers the reader a systematic way to select a product that suits his needs. Finally, the article provides an overview of the benefits of such systems.