Potentials of data warehouse technology to support case sensitive information representation on mobile devices

Construction managers often need frequent access to various types of information such as drawings, manuals, or work schedules in the office but also on the construction site. They must frequently acquire, modify, and access information about various construction processes, resource management, etc. Today, much time is lost by obtaining access to this information, for example by phone or by going back to the office. Paper based information might even be forgotten or get lost. To establish a more efficient process field personnel need support for entering and accessing information as they perform their tasks in the field. For this reason, construction managers have to be equipped with durable and easy-to-use devices which provide a permanent connection to data sources in the back office and the internet. The building process can be rationalized dramatically by using mobile devices with permanent access to databases and can thus become more efficient. This paper will report about first experience in using wearable devices in the field for managing the construction process. During these first projects we have learned, that one needs robust and flexible information representation methodologies. Furthermore it is necessary to relieve mobile devices from heavy compute tasks. Within this paper the authors propose to use Data Warehouse technology for case-sensitive information management and representation. By using Data Warehouse technology it is possible to extend existing A/E/C- management web-based platforms and migrate to more complex IT-solutions.