Towards a smart project management information system

This paper investigates “concurrent construction” and its potential application in life cycle management of capital projects The construction industry is under pressure to reduce project delivery times and costs despite increased uncertainties, ambiguities, and complexities that surround today's projects Concurrent construction may well hold the key to success on this front Concurrent construction is based on integrating all project phases into a single phase It starts with the definition of a product model and division of the project into major parts or systems accordingly Each part or system is entrusted to a team consisting of members drawn from the relevant disciplines as well as the contractor The delivery of a specific part is carried out by the relevant team in an integrated fashion in a single phase While the potential benefits of concurrent construction are beyond doubt, current contractual, organizational, and work method barriers militate against realizing these However, there are worka

Concurrent construction and life cycle project management

Traditionally, consultants of office building design often do not have sufficient understanding on maintenance issues for the operation of the building. As a result, there is often a lack of effective solutions for service, upgrade and maintenance problems during the life span of the building. For automated and intelligent buildings, with their wide range of technology adaptation and upgrade capacity, this demand and lack of response is more critical. Previous efforts on integrated consideration for building development phases, particularly between design and maintenance are very rare with only a few related topics exploring ideas. This situation presents a great potential for the development at an integrated decision support system for the communication between and integration of design and maintenance phases during the conception stage. This paper reports a research being conducted at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, which aims at raising the awareness of the importance of integration in the building conception process by addressing a practical issue of design for maintenance. Building Automation Systems (BAS) are major elements of modern office buildings and have major influence on building performance and energy conservation. Within these systems, there are substantial design issues to be considered if an optimal level of service and maintenance can be provided. The paper will discuss key elements of the research and its development such as (1) identifying practical problems in relation to building maintenance as a result of poorly designed BAS (2) establishment of a design guide to effectively cater for maintenance issues for building automation systems (3) development of a computer based decision support system for improving the integration and communication between the two key building development phases: design and maintenance.

The integration between design and maintenance of office building automation : a decision support approach

This paper presents a unique approach to information management within a life-cycle project management model. Focus is shifted from the delivery of the physical facility to the creation of a business to service the project objectives employing concurrent engineering/construction approaches. Typical life-cycle objectives are life-cycle cost and net worth, or cost/worth ratio. The definition and broad design of the facility and its components will be a collective responsibility, discharged by composite teams whose members are drawn from the respective participants. Their inputs are evaluated in real time against the above objectives. The traditional responsibility for detailing and conformity to the relevant codes and standards will still reside with the relevant design professionals. This paper introduces a visual design management system that has been developed to reflect the fundamentals of information and design management within the life-cycle project management paradigm.

Cognizance of Visual Design Management in Life-Cycle Project Management

This paper describes the development, present status and future directions for PMAPM, an object-oriented project model designed to facilitate information sharing along the paths through which work flows between project states or specialists.

Kenji Ito

Papers

Integrated System Environment Using an Object-Oriented Project Model with Multiple-Views