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194 Part Two Information Technology Infrastructure

applications to different authorities, resulting in voluminous paper documents generated,
inefficient manual processing of submissions by the regulatory agencies, insufficient storage
space for all the paper documents and disorganized exchange of project information among
project team members.
How can an IT infrastructure help to improve the submissions process in this situation?
CORENET’s e-submission system provides a virtual one-stop 24/7 counter to facilitate elec-
tronic submission of building plans and documents to multiple regulatory agencies, online
enquiry of submission status, integrated application with fee collection, quicker process-
ing and turnaround time of an application, and elimination of (hardcopy) printing of plans,
documents and application forms. In other words, by allowing industry players to submit
their applications over the Internet, they do not need to make hardcopy prints of the plans
and documents nor travel physically to the premises of the government agencies to submit
them. The element of transparency is also enhanced as all parties involved are able to moni-
tor online the status and progress of the planning applications made.
The Singapore Government ascertains the amount of cost savings derived from the use of
the e-submission system as an estimated S$450 (equivalent to about US$368) for each sub-
mission. The amount is estimated from the reduction in hardcopy prints of plans and docu-
ments, as well as elimination of manual dispatching of documents to the various authorities
concerned. Further results from an industry-wide survey of 754 companies show that the
majority of them (77.1 percent) have found it to be beneficial to their work. This high per-
centage obtained helps to register a relatively firm adoption of the new system, as well as
good success of its implementation.
Sources: Building and Construction Authority, “Construction and Real Estate Network (CORENET)”. Website
visited on November 1, 2012, athttp://www.corenet.gov.sg. Goh, B.H., “e-Government for Construction: The
Case of Singapore’s CORENET Project”. In proceedings of the IFIP TC 8 WG 8.9 International Conference
on Research and Practical Issues of Enterprise Information Systems, Beijing, China, October 14, 2007. Lim,
B.H., “The CORENET Project in Singapore”. Article retrieved on November 1, 2012, from http://www.build-
ingsmartsingapore.org/news/news-docs/20060228_CORENET_case_study.pdf

This case is contributed by Bee Hua Goh, National University of Singapore

he CORENET project illustrates a government’s strategic plan and initiatives to trans-
Tform the building and construction industry from one that is traditional into another
that is more knowledge-based. An IT infrastructure is implemented to allow businesses and
other organizations to collaborate with one another in order to share and exchange common
building project information.
More specifically, it illustrates how the setting up of a G2B (internet-based) infrastructure
can help the industry as a whole to rationalize its practice and processes for building plans
submissions. Significant improvement in turnaround time for each application is evident
which translates into measurable cost savings. In other words, without the IT infrastructure,
the various private and public organizations would have to work in isolation, resulting in
duplication of work, wastage of time and other resources, as well as a lack of integration and
transparency of the application process.
The benefits, in terms of tangible and intangible, are obvious to everyone who participates
in the process of obtaining and granting planning approvals and permits for construction
work. But there is an added advantage for organizations in the construction industry. The
accumulation of project information (or knowledge) that is stored digitally can be easily
retrieved for subsequent use. Knowledge reuse is most valuable in construction projects as
each project contains the relevant best practices that can be repeated in other projects to
ensure better success in them.
Here are some questions to think about: How did CORENET’s e-submission system facili-
tate businesses and other organizations in streamlining their business processes and work-
flow? How are the businesses and other organizations benefiting from CORENET’s G2B
infrastructure for building plans submission?

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