Information systems in construction ''Proliance'' - Term Paper Example

In the modern era of complex infrastructure development, organizations are required to be competitive, innovative and efficient in order to remain profitable and ensure sustainability. Success in infrastructure management is government by the extent of flexibility and dynamism that the organization can demonstrate. Such organizations strive constantly towards growth and develop strategies that facilitate both horizontal and vertical expansion. A typical construction company owns thousands of assets ranging from many kinds of equipment and operational facilities to steel and cable installations.

All these assets operate in a highly networked environment as part of numerous workflows through several interconnections. In this complex and highly evolving scenario, managing something so large and complex is fairly difficult even for a large team of skilled engineers and construction managers. The concept of Infrastructure Lifecycle Management (ILM) deals with this issue and is an integral component of any modern construction strategy (Gupta, 2009). Numerous software companies have developed relevant information systems to provide a system-driven management of construction projects and to facilitate some automation and optimization in some of the inherent tasks.

‘Proliance’ is one such software platform from Meridian Systems that is used for the purpose of Infrastructure Lifecycle Management (ILM). Proliance allows firms to optimize and manage project lifecycles using the popular ‘Plan-Build-Operate’ methodology (Karlsson, 2008). As such, Proliance can be used in any capital and infrastructure-driven projects including construction and real estate. The Proliance suite is useful for construction projects during all phases ranging from preliminary design, construction and operational management.

All along, the system helps monitor expenses, ensures control through a number of rules and constraints and consists of mechanisms to ensure the optimization of the infrastructure both from the inside and outside perspectives. Thus, the system is useful for a holistic management of construction projects and surpasses traditional limitations of specific capabilities (Amekudzi, 2007). For example, Proliance can manage the utilization of any related resources like equipment and wiring. The system can be operated from a centralized platform and is capable of handling all aspects of ILM.

This paper discusses the numerous features of the Proliance system and their applicability to the construction industry within the context of ILM. Besides highlighting the strategic value that Proliance is capable of adding to infrastructure projects, this paper also describes the numerous ways in which the management and use of assets can be optimized through this