A Railway Construction Materials Management Information System

Railway construction in China is currently in a large-scale construction period. The delivery of materials and equipment shall be on right time, with right quantity, and up to right standard quality. Project management becomes a fundamental condition that assures successful implementation of the construction projects. Therefore, research and development of railway construction materials management information system (RCMMIS) is of practical significance to yield an effective management by means of information technology, ensuring the data integration, information sharing and providing decision-making support.This paper focus on the study of theories and methods involved in the development of the railway construction materials management information system:1) introduction of concept and methodology, summarizing concerns and problems in materials and equipment management of railway construction projects; 2) needs analysis research for RCMMIS, including business rules, workflow and data capture; 3) data model study, data relationships, tagging & numbering system, material planning module, material tracking module and supplier credit evaluation module; 4) functional design of RCMMIS; 5) implementation of RCMMIS on Kashgar-Hotan Railway construction project.Site application shows that the implementation of railway construction materials management information system significantly improved the status of information sharing, management efficiency and enhanced support for decision-making system.