ABSTRACT
IT Systems and in particular Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) have for a long time been touted as the answer to many paper related problems primarily because they seem to offer an opportunity to exercise control over the ways in which current paper based documents are handled and distributed (Raynes, 2002). Before the implementation of IT and in order to maximise the benefits of adoption it is important to gain an understanding of current working processes and procedures and match these processes and procedures to that of the IT system. An IT system brings together the IT application, the appropriate processes and most importantly the people who will make it work. To alleviate the shortcomings of IT and its cost to the construction industry, this chapter provides a simple guide to preparing for the implementation of IT within construction organisations (the use of business cases as support for the implementation is discussed in chapter 10). The current chapter will consider the mistakes commonly made through implementation and will also feature a discussion on the legal aspects of document management with regards to ISO quality standards 15489 and 17799.
