**3. Research objectives**

This study proposes a novel and practical methodology for capturing and representing the knowledge and project knowledge of engineers by utilizing mind mapping and topic-based maps (TBM) approach. Furthermore, this study develops a construction topic-based Maps Knowledge Management (CWTKM) system for engineers. The CWTKM provides a knowledge exchange and management service in the construction phase of a project for the reuse of domain knowledge and experience (see Fig. 1). Contractors often execute similar projects; accordingly, the problems encountered in like projects can provide a reference for comparable projects in the future. To be competitive, a contractor needs to make innovative use of knowledge, accumulate knowledge through previous projects and apply it in relevant projects. Senior engineers that participate in projects act as knowledge workers; they facilitate the collection and management of knowledge from previous projects.

When completing projects, these engineers and experts typically accumulate domain knowledge and valued knowledge, but share little or no knowledge with others. In view of KM, these significant issues and experiences of construction engineers and experts are particularly valuable due to associated factors such as manpower, significant cost and time. The complicated nature of the construction industry makes it an important field for KM, particularly regarding knowledge gained from experienced engineers. Sharing knowledge between engineers can improve construction management during the construction phases of projects, thus helping avoid mistakes that past projects have already encountered. Transferring construction knowledge between projects can significantly contribute to achieving project objectives such as cost, schedule, quality and safety (Reuss and Tatum, 1993). Learning from experience, also, avoids problem-solving from scratch, i.e., problems that have already been solved need not be solved repeatedly. However, no effective platforms are available to assist engineers or experts in exchanging and sharing their knowhow and experiences when contractors execute construction projects. The inability to share the knowledge of engineers and experts represents a major loss for contractors in the

The primary problems derived from the questionnaire survey of twenty junior and senior engineers from five participating construction building projects, in the sharing and exchanging of knowledge, specifically during the construction phase of projects, are as follows: (1) difficulty in determining which engineers and experts have helpful and relevant knowledge; (2) limited efficiency and quality when using only document-based media for knowledge management; (3) difficulty in finding engineers with relevant knowledge in similar projects; and (4) unease with illustrating knowledge in current commercial information management systems. Documenting and applying knowledge may avoid problem-solving from the outset, i.e., problems already solved need not be solved repeatedly. However, few suitable design platforms have been developed to assist engineers in illustrating and sharing their knowledge when needed. Although enterprises in the A/E/C industry have begun to collect and store explicit information in KM databases, they have not always been successful at retrieving and sharing tacit knowledge (Woo et al., 2004). Sharing and using previous tacit knowledge in construction projects is, therefore, the

This study proposes a novel and practical methodology for capturing and representing the knowledge and project knowledge of engineers by utilizing mind mapping and topic-based maps (TBM) approach. Furthermore, this study develops a construction topic-based Maps Knowledge Management (CWTKM) system for engineers. The CWTKM provides a knowledge exchange and management service in the construction phase of a project for the reuse of domain knowledge and experience (see Fig. 1). Contractors often execute similar projects; accordingly, the problems encountered in like projects can provide a reference for comparable projects in the future. To be competitive, a contractor needs to make innovative use of knowledge, accumulate knowledge through previous projects and apply it in relevant projects. Senior engineers that participate in projects act as knowledge workers; they

facilitate the collection and management of knowledge from previous projects.

**2. Problem statement** 

construction industry.

primary and significant challenge of this study.

**3. Research objectives** 

Fig. 1. The application of CWTKM in construction projects.

This study concentrates on new approaches for managing and reusing past specific knowledge for a construction project framework. With the newly proposed TBM approach and integration of mind mapping techniques, service engineers and practitioners can exchange original ideas, experience, knowledge and commands. By integrating TBM and mind mapping techniques, engineers can obtain problem solutions and experience directly from senior engineers, decreasing the time and reducing the cost of on-the-job training. By exchanging and sharing previous knowledge among engineers, similar and related knowledge used to execute similar projects can clarify domain knowledge and enable the exchange of knowledge through web-based KM platform.

To apply KM to new or other construction projects, the process and content of project knowledge must be collected, recorded and stored effectively in the CWTKM system. To assist the participating engineers in illustrating and managing their own project experience, Topic-based mapping is presented to help them explore their acquired experience. . The main objectives of this study are as follows: (1) enhance the illustration capabilities using the TBM approach and mind mapping techniques of captured experience of engineers and experts related to construction projects; (2) optimize the communication of tacit experience among participating engineers in the exchanging environment; and (3) design an efficient topic-based mapping for users to effectively locate parallel experience from relative engineers. The CWTKM system is then applied in selected case studies of a Taiwan construction building project to verify the proposed approach and demonstrate the value of sharing experience in the construction phase.

Enhancing Knowledge Management for Engineers Using Mind Mapping in Construction 205

Although maps of knowledge representation have been developed for knowledge-based applications, no knowledge map has been developed for knowledge management (KM) in construction. To assist engineers in extracting the knowledge gained from their own experience in projects with which they have been involved, this study proposes a novel topic-based maps (TBM) approach for the application of KM in construction. The TBM help to efficiently illustrate the experiences in the minds of engineers to generate and organize experience within a core topic. The TBM are based on associations flowing outward from a central image in a free-flowing, yet organized, and coherent way. The above content also functions as the experience acquisition tool in the CWTKM system. Furthermore, engineers may access and edit many resources, as attachments, in the system. Hence, the CWTKM system can provide engineers with an experience exchanging environment, as well as a

The proposed TBM are specific approaches to KM in the construction field. Although knowledge and concept maps are easily recognized in knowledge management, the proposed TBM approach is a novel concept and is specific to construction KM. TBM can be defined as a diagrammatic and graphic representation of experience linking relationships between knowledge and attributes of MAP. The TBM mainly provide assistance for easily and effectively obtaining the necessary experience of users. The primary advantages of TBM are as follows: (1) TBM are simply, clearly and dynamically represented in the CWTKM system; (2) users can easily navigate the CWTKM in order to: a) understand and determine which engineers and experts own special experience related to a problem as it arises, and b) edit their experience based on what the situation may require; (3) TBM enable users' ability to expand flexible knowledge illustration and linkage; and (4) TBM enhance the available

TBM are designed to be easily integrated with mind mapping and their construction experience. The key reason for using TBM is the ease with which the combined experience can be understood and reapplied. Figure 2 illustrates an overview and conceptual framework of TBM utilized in construction KM. Like construction project management, KM is based on the concept of undertaking project planning and control activities. Knowledge and experience gained from activities in previous projects can be collected, managed and applied in future projects. Acquired experience from participating engineers can be accessed and saved as map units in categories for efficient collection, management and finally,

Topic-based Maps (TBM) are defined in multiple levels, and constructed from variables which can be broken down by decomposing the knowledge units into smaller map units into which the acquired knowledge is stored. TBM may be comprised of several layers. The project unit is modelled in the first layer. The second-level layers model Map units (drawing illustration). The lower-level layers model knowledge units. Similarly, any map unit in this lower layer can be broken down further to incorporate other components in lower layers. The map contents can be viewed as either a single point or as ranges. The structure of TBM enables users to access stored knowledge through layers based on the

web-based platform for acquiring experience from more experienced engineers.

**5. Methodology** 

**5.1 Concept of topic-based maps** 

visual knowledge illustration in the maps.

retrieval for use in the current projects.

**5.2 Framework of topic-based maps** 
