Building Process Models for Design Management

Traditionally, computers have been used as tools to enhance productivity on an individual basis. Integrated process support environments (IPSEs) change this work paradigm. Within an IPSE, the wider business processes of communication, cooperation, collaboration, information exchange, triggering of activities, etc. are enacted within a networked computer environment. Participants become inhabitants in a process that is partly "managed" by the computer environment. In the new paradigm technology is a driver of change rather than an enabler. Consequently, the introduction of process technologies presents organizations with an opportunity to reengineer the way they work. However, the development of methodologies to support process technologies is still immature and underdeveloped. The findings of a study aimed at developing process understanding for design management within two large civil engineering organizations are reported here. The study used the learning cycles of soft systems methodology (SSM) and grounded theory to guide the process. Embedded into these methodologies were the process-centered approaches of walk-through scripts, role developments, and role activity diagrams (RADs). Examples of how these approaches were developed in practice are shown.