Improving megaproject briefing through enhanced collaboration with ICT

Abstract

Aims: The paper reviews the development of information and communication technology in briefing and proposes a collaborative briefing framework to extend key stakeholder engagement, aiming to improve the efficiency and reliability of project briefing for megaprojects. Scope: Authors introduce an innovative collaborative approach to promote stakeholder involvement by enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of managing a large group of stakeholders, harnessing collaboration technology. Drawing parallels with biological neural networks in humans, a conceptual collaborative briefing framework is proposed to demonstrate how briefing team members can work collaboratively as a virtual organisation through a shared digital workspace. This framework has five core elements: integrated briefing team, collaborative briefing job plan, computer supported cooperative work platform, requirements processing models and facilitation models. Conclusion: The proposed framework supplements face-to-face discussion with computer mediated discussion, depending on the type, flexibility and interaction needed for different aspects in briefing. This "hybrid briefing method" would maximise the benefits to costs ratio of expanded stakeholder engagement in project briefing. The framework is expected to promote the accuracy and transparency of 'requirements identification' processing, the effective engagement and appropriate integration of more stakeholder inputs and finally, to improve the efficiency and reliability of briefing outputs. Lastly, some framework limitations are discussed, aimed at further development and a computer prototype. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.