Barriers to Electronic Data Exchange in the A/E/C Industry

This report summarizes a nine month CIFE seed research project that focused on A/E/C industry barriers to the increased use of electronic data exchange (EDE) for project related information. Three general areas are explored: barriers to graphic data exchange, barriers to business data exchange and general legal barriers associated with electronic data exchange. An industry survey was conducted to gain a more accurate understanding of current A/E/C industry practice and to determine what the industry feels are the critical barriers to increased EDE. Based on the barriers selected by the survey, research was performed to investigate the scope of the barriers and possible methods for overcoming them. Conclusions and recommendations are made on what steps are needed to increase A/E/C industry use of EDE amongst project team members.