Knowledge based approach for productivity adjusted construction schedule

Abstract

The nature of the construction industry always resists the adoption of management techniques that is successful in other disciplines. Unlike the manufacturing industry each construction project presents a unique planning problem to project planners and managers. The construction process is carried out at a new location and materials, labor and equipment are transported to a new job site. The construction is one of few processes in which the product is built in an open environment subject to various weather conditions and other environmental factors which affect labor as well as equipment productivity. This paper presents a knowledge based approach for analysis of different factors that affect construction project duration and generates normal schedules and productivity-adjusted schedules. Project mangers can be greatly aided by such automated system by simulating different factors that reflect anticipated and unanticipated project conditions and perform several schedule alternatives. An analysis of alternative schedules by using the integrated knowledge based system is presented. The knowledge based system interfaces to estimating software, spreadsheet and scheduling soft wares in order to receive data and generate schedule reports. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.