Handling of questions and answers is a central part in administrative work between design andconstruction within turn-key contracts. For the handling to work well, it is important that ittakes place with good traceability and good efficiency. Today, construction contractors usedifferent digital solutions, such as project portals, to better achieve the desired effects whenhandling questions and answers. However, there is little documented knowledge aboutexperiences of implementing and using such solutions in construction projects.

The study has been conducted at a construction contractor who recently implemented a digitalproject portal (Interaxo) to improve communication between design and production. Thethesis examined in which ways the use of a digital project portal can contribute to increasedtraceability and increased efficiency in design and production, as well as to what degree they indesign and production achieve increased traceability and increased efficiency when introducinga digital project portal. The study deals with driving forces associated with introducing a digitalproject portal and challenges with achieving the desired effects.

A literature study was conducted to identify and discuss: (i) driving forces to implementchanges that can contribute to increased traceability and increased efficiency, such asimplementing a digital project portal, and (ii) challenges in achieving the desired effectsthrough the changes. In parallel with the literature study, interviews were conducted with sitemanagers and design managers in three projects (A, B and C) where the project portal was tobe used for handling questions and answers in design and production. Interviews weresupplemented with observations of questions and answers in the digital project portal in thestudied projects. Interviews and observations aimed to capture use of the project portal as wellas experiences around how the implementation of the project portal affected traceability andefficiency in the handling of questions and answers. The results were compared and discussedwith the support of the literature.

The respondents in projects A, B and C agreed that a structure is required in the work toincrease traceability and efficiency. However, there was a difference between how sitemanagers and project managers in the three projects used Interaxo, how they saw that thedigital project portal contributes to and supports the structure, and how the respondents fromthe various projects judged that the portal led to increased traceability and increased efficiencyin the handling of questions and response. There was also a big difference between how therespondents in the three projects described the driving forces and challenges to introducing theplatform. In project A, where they completely switched to Interaxo during both design andproduction, despite difficulties during the implementation, the site manager and projectmanager have experienced increased traceability and increased efficiency in the handling ofquestions and answers. The same applies to the design phase in project C. On the other hand,the site manager and design manager in project B did not experience increased traceability andincreased efficiency. In the event of challenges with Interaxo, they had reverted to handlingmuch of the questions and answers in the same way as before: via telephone, e-mail, andmeeting minutes, which caused difficulties linked to, for example, archiving. The experiencesfrom project B were like those from the production phase in Project C, where the sitemanager stated that they did not continue to use the portal in the same dedicated way whenthe project reached the production phase and then also did not achieve the expected effects.

How one sees traceability and efficiency as effects of digital project portals seems to beassociated with the degree to which one chose to introduce the project portal and how oneapproached the challenges that arose during the implementation. The results are not surprising,but at the same time show the importance of considering how to introduce and make achange. A project portal only creates the conditions to achieve the desired effects, but it is upto those who implement it to actively work with the implementation of the platform toachieve the effects.

Based on the studies result, suggestions for further studies were also discussed in the thesis.