Developing cost control information system in the complex project

Traditional cost control information system fails to meet the requirements of the complex construction project, since it requires more interoperability with various managerial works and extensive data integration with other information sources. Those imperative challenges require a new cost control module incorporated with the existing Project Management Information System (PMIS). Based on the real case of EXPO 2010 Shanghai construction project, this paper develops a new project cost control information system with three major functions including cost information integration, cost control analysis, and intelligent reporting. To illustrate this system, the study is structured by three steps. First, the logic relationships among different integrated information objectives are discussed and organized in a static structure diagram described by Unified Modeling Language (UML). Then the sequential data workflow is analyzed based on the optimized communication and collaboration behaviors. Finally, various types of cost analysis reports are generated in light of project owner's specific requirements. This research not only proposes a new methodology to study the cost control system in complex project environment but also provides a successful practical toolkit for the real construction projects.