Analysis of Design Phase Processes with BIM for Blockchain Implementation

Abstract

The increasing digitalization and thus evidently advancing change in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, requires new business models, processes and strategies. Blockchain (BC), smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps) are still underused in AEC. BC and its potential of in-clusion into the communication between project stakeholders has shown that it is not just a technology that is ready to use, but requires a thorough insight into the design process of domain-specific stakeholders, their in-terests and their collaboration workflows for a holistic Building Information Modeling (BIM) and BC-supported solution for the design phase. This paper introduces process modeling of BIM-workflows in the de-sign phase. We propose a conceptual framework for the implementation of a design process with BC based on the integration of three underlying theories: design theory, configuration theory and task-technology fit. The main assumption is, before we can capture processes (1) we need to understand them (design theory) in order to re-engineer them for distributed ledger technologies (DLT) (2) we need to adapt them to changing require-ments (configuration theory), and finally (3) continually re-adjust Information Technology (IT) and processes interdependence (task-technology fit).