MODEL-BASED CONSTRUCTION PROJECT HISTORIES TO SUPPORT ESTIMATION OF ACTIVITY PRODUCTION RATES

PARTICIPANTS:
Semiha Kiziltas, Burcu Akinci

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:

 
When individuals estimate the production rates of construction activities in a project, they frequently refer to the past production rates achieved in a similar project. Problems in these estimations are

v     the data represented in historical documents and databases do not provide detailed information depicting the conditions under which the activities were executed (i.e. contextual data) at different zones in a given project and in multiple projects.

v     these databases do not enable estimators to easily navigate through the production data observed at multiple levels of details.

v     not having the production rate and site condition related data represented in an integrated way within one project model results in time consuming manual data integration to access and analyze the data in an integrated way.

As a result, currently, estimators rely on their or other estimators’ memory in performing cost estimates.  This situation results in individuals estimating the same production rate differently, contributing to underestimation or overestimation of a project, and consequently cost overruns or missing project opportunities due to overbids.

 

NEED:
To improve decision making of estimators in construction companies, an integrated project history model is proposed to provide the information required by estimators at different levels of details. Creating an integrated project history model requires

v     identifying requirements of estimators from past projects,

v     identifying what constitutes contextual data required for supporting the analysis of production rates of an activity,

v     enabling capturing of these data in a formal way during construction,

v     representing and reasoning about project history, such that it supports estimators’ requirements and decision making.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES:

(1)   identifying requirements of estimators from past projects

(2)   developing a vocabulary for enabling identification and capturing of contextual data representing the factors affecting the production rates

(3)   developing a formalism and reasoning mechanisms that can enable the customization of activity based data collection

(4)   developing a representation schema and reasoning mechanisms for creating integrated project history models supporting estimators’ requirements

OVERVIEW OF THE APPROACH:

 

Figure 1. Overview of the approach

The envisioned approach leverages a given as-planned product and process model and consists of two parts focusing on: (1) enabling formalized and customized data collection during construction, and (2) enabling an integrated storage of the data collected to generate different views required by estimators.

Overview of the approach for part 1 is provided in Figure 2. Contributions are highlighted on relevant sections of the figure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


                               Figure 2. Customization of data collection during construction

 

Overview of the approach for part 2 is provided in Figure 3. Contributions are highlighted on the figure.

Figure 3. Generation of views from integrated project history models

RESULTS TO DATE:

v     Research Objectives 1 and 2:

o       Completed interviews/brainstorming sessions with senior estimators from two construction companies (one civil/infrastructure and one building construction). Interviews targeted to identify estimator requirements and contextual data that will be used to develop a vocabulary.

o       Conducting job observations on a commercial building construction project (7 storey condominium) to identify contextual data that could not be defined by estimators and collecting test case data for validation purposes.

v     Research Objective 4:

o       Defining set of classes and attributes to be represented within the integrated history model.

o       Explored standard representations of Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs). 

o       Completed data collection on an highway construction project to be used as a test case during validation of the approach.

o       Implementing reasoning mechanisms for generation of views using the case study data (currently working on CIP concrete wall and spread footing components. Next step is to work on excavation activity)

 

RELATED PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS: 

Conference Papers:
 
Kiziltas, S., and Akinci, B. (2008). “An Automated Approach for Generating Integrated Model-based Representations of Construction Project Histories” 12th International conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering (ICCCBE-XII), Beijing, China, October 16-18, 2008.

 

Akinci, B., Pradhan A., and Kiziltas S. (2008). "Analyses of Data Sources for Multi-Source Data Fusion to Support Project Management Tasks" Proceedings of 2008 NSF Engineering Research and Innovation Conference, Knoxville, Tennessee, January 7-10, 2008.

 

Kiziltas, S., and Akinci, B. (2008). “An Overview and an Assessment of Construction Data Sources in Terms of Storing Contextual Data”, Proceedings of 5th International Conference on Innovation in Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC), Antalya, Turkey, June 23-25, 2008.

 

Kiziltas, S., Pradhan, A., and Akinci, B. “Fusing Data From Multiple Sources to Support Project Management Tasks” International Workshop on Computing in Civil Engineering, Pittsburgh, USA, July 24-27, 2007.

 

Kiziltas, S., Pradhan, A., Akinci, B. (2006). “Developing Model-Based Project Histories by Leveraging Multisensor Data Fusion”, Joint International Conference on Computing and Decision Making in Civil and Building Engineering, ICCCBE XI, Montreal, Canada, June 14-16, 2006.

 

Kiziltas, S., Akinci, B., Gonzalez, C. (2006), “Understanding Differences in Information Needs of Expert and Novice Estimators from Project Histories” , accepted for publication in the proceedings of Construction Research Congress 2007, Grand Bahama Island, May 6-8, 2007.

 

Kiziltas, S., and Akinci, B. (2005). “The Need For Prompt Schedule Update By Utilizing Reality Capture Technologies: A Case Study”, Construction Research Congress, San Diego, April 5-7, 2005.

 

Journal Papers:

 

Kiziltas, S., and Akinci, B. (2008a). “Identifying Contextual Data Requirements of Cost Estimators from Past Construction Projects” Submitted to Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, ASCE.

 

Kiziltas, S., Akinci, B., and Gonzalez, C. (2008). “Comparison of Expert and Novice Cost Estimators’ Behaviors in Information Pull and Information Push Methods”, Submitted to Journal of Human Factors.

 

Kiziltas, S., Akinci, B., Ergen, E., Tang, P., and Gordon, C. (2008) “Technological Assessment and Process Implications of Field Data Capture Technologies for Construction and Facility/Infrastructure Management” Accepted for publication in special issue on sensors, ITCON,  Special Issue Sensors in Construction and Infrastructure Management, vol 13, 134-154, http://www.itcon.org/2008/10.

 

Akinci, B., Kiziltas, S., Ergen, E., Karaesmen, I. Z, Keceli, F. (2007) “Modeling and Analyzing the Impact of Technology on Data Capture and Transfer Processes at Construction Sites: A Case Study” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 132(11), 1148-1157.

 

 

Book Chapters:

 

Akinci, B., Kiziltas, S., Pradhan, A. (2006). “Capturing and Representing Construction Project Histories for Estimating and Defect Detection”,  13th Intelligent Computing in Engineering and Architecture (EG-ICE) Workshop, 25-30 June 2006,  Ascona, Switzerland. Published in Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Springer.

 

LINKS:

Ateam website

 

created: 09/02/04

updated: 05/21/08