New Era of Agile E - Partner System for Business Partnering in Construction Industry

Abstract

Partnering is a set of actions, from Project Management, that help project teams improve their performance and thus, provide substantial benefits.Business partnering is \"the developmentof successful, longterm, strategic relationships between customers and suppliers, based on achieving bestpractice and sustainable competitive advantage\"(Lendrum,1997).Partneringattributescommitment,trust,mutualobjectives & goals and developing long term relationship with all the stakeholders associated with the project. Stakeholders such as Architect & Designers, Consultants, Contractors & Sub- Contractors and Suppliers & Vendors collaboratively work together under same terms and conditions with similar organizational culture for achieving a successful project. This paper describes a web – based Partnering System with the principle of overcoming the various problems that are associated with the traditional or manual process to achieve complete transparency at every step and at every transaction. Thus, increasing competitiveness of companies/firms by taking advantage of mutually developed relations & opportunities and reducing risks . It is an attempt to bridge the gap between the Builder’s Organization and the various Stakeholders associated with a Project. Analysis and thus, System Development has been done with the objective of identifying a standard operating procedure for successful and strategic partnering relationships. Partnering strategy focuses on developing guidelines which include Partner Registration, Partner Selection & Approvalbased on qualification criteria, Partner Evaluation based on weighted grade point average, Automated Generation of Quotation and Negotiation, forming a Partnering Agreement & setting up mutual goals & objectives and Generating automated Purchase/Work/Serviceorder along with Time & Payment Schedule. Basis for Project Partners is to adopt a “Win - Win” approach to solve problems and develop ‘Synergistic’ team work amongstthem.

Introduction

Partnering in the construction sector fosters successful projects by reducing costs, ensuring timely completion, improving safety, enhancing quality management, and minimizing disputes. Traditionally, relationships in construction are formal and focus on individual benefits, often leading to conflicts. Partnering replaces this with a collaborative approach where all stakeholders—owners, contractors, suppliers—work together toward shared goals through effective teamwork, communication, and strategic planning.

Strategic partnering promotes long-term thinking beyond individual projects, emphasizing trust, respect, and honest communication alongside contractual terms. This shift nurtures cooperation and replaces the adversarial "we vs. them" mindset with a unified "us" mentality.

Research Findings:

The major issues arise from improper selection of partners and poor communication, often causing disputes and litigation. To solve these problems, a web-based partnering system is proposed, which brings transparency, automates partner evaluation, and supports timely decision-making throughout project phases, ultimately saving time and money.

Partner Evaluation Matrix:

Partners are evaluated and categorized (A, B, C) based on weighted criteria including experience, financial stability, technical expertise, certifications, and past performance. This ensures only qualified partners are approved.

Partnering System Workflow:

1. Partner Registration: Collects detailed company info—general, financial, technical, experience, certifications.

2. Evaluation & Sorting: Partners are scored and classified into categories based on qualification criteria.

3. Unique Partner Code & Dashboard: Approved partners get login credentials and a dashboard to track project info, communicate, and manage updates online.

4. Request for Quotation (RFQ): Sent online to at least three qualified partners.

5. Automated Quotation Comparison: Based on owner-set priorities (time, cost, quality) using an algorithm.

6. Negotiations: Revised quotations are requested and compared.

7. Partner Selection: Best qualified and negotiated partner is chosen.

8. Order Generation: Contracts with schedules and payment terms are issued, and partners are bound to fulfill them.

Disadvantages of Traditional Manual Methods:

• Poor communication and lack of proactive interaction.

• Biased or inconsistent partner selection.

• Frequent disputes and change orders due to lack of coordination.

• Strict, adversarial contractual relations leading to litigation.

Advantages of the Software System:

• Supports e-business, e-commerce, e-collaboration, e-payment, and e-communications.

• Enables timely payments and fast, secure communication.

• Reduces paperwork by maintaining digital document databases.

• Provides secure access with password protection and encryption.

• Facilitates quick retrieval of information and detailed reporting.

• Improves accuracy, speed of decisions, and overall project transparency.

Conclusion

Due to the competitive market of the construction industry, partnering has become an alternative way of doing business by encouraging the parties to work together towards shared objectives and achieve win-win outcome. Two individual parties come together to form partnering alliance so thatthey can make use of strengths and weaknesses of eachother for successful outcome of the project. The purpose of this paper was to introduce a software based partnering process model and state its benefits over traditional manual method. 1) Effective communication is achieved with the help of thepartneringprocessthroughonlyonemediumthatis the \'WEB BASED system’. 2) There is complete transparency in all the transactions and dependency over human interactions is reduced considerably. 3) The risks associated are shared mutually and both the parties aim for effective outcomes. 4) There is Quick decision making and responsiveness in all the steps of the process. 5) Only genuine partners are selected due to the qualification criteria set right at the level when any Partner gets involved i.e. at the Registration. 6) Supplier Evaluation as per ISO 9001:2008 – Quality Management System, Clause no. 7.4.1 7) Greaterfocusisonthe endusers. 8) Therearefasterprojectstart-ups. 9) There is reduction in defects during design & construction process and handover. 10) There is better teamwork and stronger strategic relationships are created which attributes trust, commitment and co-operation amongst them. 11) This system aims at Zero claims & Disputes and smooth operation of the Partnering alliance.

References

Due to the competitive market of the construction industry, partnering has become an alternative way of doing business by encouraging the parties to work together towards shared objectives and achieve win-win outcome. Two individual parties come together to form partnering alliance so thatthey can make use of strengths and weaknesses of eachother for successful outcome of the project. The purpose of this paper was to introduce a software based partnering process model and state its benefits over traditional manual method. 1) Effective communication is achieved with the help of thepartneringprocessthroughonlyonemediumthatis the \'WEB BASED system’. 2) There is complete transparency in all the transactions and dependency over human interactions is reduced considerably. 3) The risks associated are shared mutually and both the parties aim for effective outcomes. 4) There is Quick decision making and responsiveness in all the steps of the process. 5) Only genuine partners are selected due to the qualification criteria set right at the level when any Partner gets involved i.e. at the Registration. 6) Supplier Evaluation as per ISO 9001:2008 – Quality Management System, Clause no. 7.4.1 7) Greaterfocusisonthe endusers. 8) Therearefasterprojectstart-ups. 9) There is reduction in defects during design & construction process and handover. 10) There is better teamwork and stronger strategic relationships are created which attributes trust, commitment and co-operation amongst them. 11) This system aims at Zero claims & Disputes and smooth operation of the Partnering alliance.

Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Gaurav Navnit Nagavkar, Prof. Mr. Rahul D. Shinde. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.