Construction Supply Chain Visualization Through Web Services Integration

Abstract: This paper presents SCVisualizer, a real-time information visualization tool for construction supply chain management. SCVisualizer leverages Web Services and computer agents technology for building a virtual construction supply chain. Having real-time information available at any time can increase information transparency, which in turn, makes it easier for project managers to identify potential risks. However, this is not an easy task since this information has to be retrieved from heterogeneous systems. In addition, the process of information retrieval is intractable for practitioners. In order to increase information transparency in construction supply chain management, this paper introduces a prototype system that constructs a virtual supply chain seamlessly. A hybrid approach for combining the existing two technologies is also proposed for ensuring the connectivity and the interoperability of software components over the Web