Development of web services to help risk management of construction projects

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Risk management and response to unforeseen events are nowadays seen as assets in construction projects. Unforeseen events and communication failures often cause delays and increased costs, so there is the need to solve them swiftly. The development of information and communication technologies, promoted the emergence of new ways of risk management, i.e., management support software connected to the internet. The use of the internet allows for communication speed between distant participants on a construction project to have a drastic increase. Therefore the purpose of this work is to design and implement a computational infrastructure to manage risks, events and to plan construction projects. It intends to improve communication between participants on site (foremen) and the office workers (contractors and project managers). There is also the goal to provide better visibility and control over the works’ progress, as well as to speed up the ability to decide in view of unforeseen events and, by consequence, potentiate the increase of productivity and quality in construction projects.