Modelling of Networked Construction Operations

Operations in construction and real estate sector are increasingly networked. Practically this appears as a very high share of subcontracting, and recently the outsourcing as a lasting trend has even strengthened this phenomenon. In a major construction project the project manager and the company (s)he is representing can be connected to tens or even several hundred different partners who each are providing services to the project in question. Likewise, the daily business as a whole and its potential for future success is crucially dependent upon the network of partners and potential partners. Monitoring and understanding the status of such networks can be considered as one of the key challenges in modern construction and real estate business. However, the state of the art business process modelling solutions including also project modelling and relating knowledge look rather undeveloped fields from the described viewpoint. This paper reviews first the previous work in relation to modelling of networked companies and business operations. Second, the results shall be presented from case studies in which a tool is being developed for analyzing and visualizing the status of partnering companies around a parent company. In the studied cases the business context is the construction business in Russia and the research object is the networked operations of Finnish companies in this business context.