Capturing and Reusing Building Maintenance Knowledge: A Socio-Technical Perspective

Abstract

Knowledge is regarded as the most important asset for sustainable success in today’s knowledge-based economy, and it has become the main competitive tool for many businesses. Proper capture and reuse of knowledge reduces the risk of “reinventing the wheel.” Building surveyors play a major role in building maintenance. Owing to the unique nature of building maintenance, building surveyors need sufficient knowledge and experience to facilitate their decision-making process. Apart from gaining this knowledge and experience by direct participation, learning from others is a sound alternative. However, insufficiencies have been found in the current practice on this aspect, and thus the aim of this chapter is to study whether a proposed Web-based prototype knowledge management system would be a feasible solution for capturing and reusing knowledge and experience in building maintenance. A questionnaire survey was conducted in this research to study the opinions of professional building surveyors on the capture and reuse of knowledge and experience in building maintenance, as well as the requirements of a proposed Web-based prototype system.