Applicability of Computer Tools in Malaysia's Construction Industry

Computer tools have been widely used in various civil engineering applications such as for project planning, design and maintenance activities. They have been proven to be able to help engineersin performinf tedious and complicated calculations or smoothen their routine work. Thereby saving the time and cost. However, it is observed that in construction site, computer tools are not being used widely as in other civil engineering activities such as design. The main objective of this study is to investigate the awareness of the availability of computer tools in construction field, level of usage of computer tools in construction filed and the perception on computer
tools in helping the works on site in Malaysia's construction industry. The scope of this project is focusing on the contractor, developer, and professionals that involved in the construction industry in Malaysia.
This research requires the survey method involving preparation and sending questionnaires conducting interviews and analysing the collected data. Pilot survey has been conducted and analyzed. At this stage, all 12 interviews have been conducted and the questionnaires distributed has been collected. The data have been summarized in a simple format and analyzed using statistical tool. The result from the analysis shows that all the respondents aware of the availability of computer tools. More than fifty percent from the respondents use computer tools in completing their projects in 3 yearswhich shows good indication of the level of usage of computer tools. The respondents also show that simplify complicated task is the most popular perception for the advantages of computer tools and the most popular perception of problems chosen by the respondents are expensive and insufficient personnel concerning knowledge of computer tools in industry.