Digitalisation has been encompassing all areas of work and life in recent years. The construction industry is no exception. Digital transition and digital transformation have been well on their way. Especially new technologies such as 3D printing, 3D scanning, robots, drones, sensors, the Internet of Things and, last but not least, BIM have been promoted as digitalisation. Yet our daily work has testified that these new technologies are not being used to a greater extent and, above all, are not having a significant impact on the construction work and processes.  

This is why we presented the idea to the representatives of the Chamber of Construction and Building Materials Industry of Slovenia (CCBMIS) within the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Slovenia (CCIS). We wanted to define indicators of digitalisation in construction, selecting the functionalities that have a significant impact on the management of construction projects. We wanted to reverse the focus from technologies to functionalities. For example, we are not asking whether to use BIM, but which functionality in construction project management is improved by BIM? The Chamber of Construction and Building Materials Industry of Slovenia CCBMIS has been awarded 60.000 € for the DIG-IN-KPI project in the 2022 Erasmus+ call. The Croatian Chamber of Economy and the Economic Chamber of North Macedonia were invited to join in, thus forming a consortium and giving the project an international scope.   

AXIS’s role in the project is that of a technical content producer. At the same time, the Chambers of Commerce and Industry in respective countries are due to transfer information to respective construction companies in their countries.  

The project aims to show construction companies what the main functionalities in project and business management are and how they can be digitalized. Its objective is to inform construction companies about the available IT tools and methods that contribute to digitalisation and increased control of construction projects.   

An index table of main digitalisation indicators was developed and the levels of digitalisation maturity were described in 2022. The project and the digitalisation index table were revealed to construction companies at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry presentation in January 2023. In the summer, the CCBMIS  selected the provider of an online questionnaire, in which the indicators data were entered. At the end of 2023, we also developed the professional bases for the production of automatically generated reports for those companies which will complete the questionnaire.  

What is DIG-IN-KPI AAT?

The DIG-IN-KPI AAT digital tool automates the process of creating digital maturity assessments for construction companies. The advanced decision model will automatically convert the answers that users/company representatives simply enter via an online questionnaire into a report with an assessment of the company’s digital maturity level. The report will contain a visualisation and in-depth interpretation of the results, as well as personalised recommendations that will provide companies with key information towards identifying the objective state of digitalisation and identifying areas for progress and optimisation of business/production processes.

On 18th April 2024, we presented the DIG IN KPI tool at the MEGRA, an International Fair for Construction in Gornja Radgona, Slovenia. Since the 18th of April, the DIG IN KPI tool has been available to users to Assess the digital maturity of your construction company. The Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Slovenia, Croatia and North Macedonia have started promoting it to construction contractors. Once a company completes the self-assessment, a report is automatically generated which determines the digitalisation level of each company based on the weights of the indicators. This DIG IN KPI assessments will be used to make further recommendations on how to increase digital maturity and suggest tools and methods that can help them achieve new digital maturity levels.

The tool is available to users until 31st May 2024, followed by an analysis of the results, which will be published in an anonymised form.

Source: Screenshot of the Bill of Quantities indicator in the DIG – IN – KPI AAT digital tool 

Author: Bogomir Troha, BSc. C.E., Senior Consultant and Head of Knowledge Database Development at AXIS and external collaborator at the DIG-IN-KPI project 

DIG-IN-KPI partners