Planning and control technologies for construction

其目标是提高项目采购和施工阶段当前项目和施工管理程序的有效性，方法是更丰富地表示项目的各个方面，并应用最先进的信息技术，以创造计算机化的环境，以改进决策并更深入地了解项目业绩的原因。在追求这一目标时，考虑了建筑行业的现实--例如，人员的教育背景高度不同，项目及其背景的多样性和独特性，大量不同种类的数据，需要一般性而不是非常狭隘的焦点，等等。研究目标和指导性问题是：目标1：使用因果建模和视觉分析来解释建筑数据--经验丰富的建筑人员如何根据为CM职能收集的数据来表达他们对绩效因果关系的判断和经验，以寻找支持证据？而且，如何使用视觉分析来提供对项目绩效的重要见解、改进决策并帮助项目参与者之间的沟通？目标2：为制定和评估替代建设战略创造一个环境：如何将CAD和线性调度结合起来，以允许制定和探索替代建设战略，以提高项目绩效？目标3：为风险识别、影响和缓解分析项目背景--项目背景分析如何有助于为项目制定准确的风险描述？三个相互交叉的构件构成了三个研究目标的基础：(1)表征；(2)知识管理；(3)视觉分析和计算机辅助设计。研究方法的组成部分包括使用大规模数据集，测试在实际项目中开发的概念，建立在他人研究的基础上，以及使用最先进的技术。研究项目涉及3名博士生、2名硕士研究生和2名孟加拉研究生。

The goal is to improve the effectiveness of current project & construction management (CM) processes for a project's procurement and construction phases through the development of richer representations of its dimensions and application of state-of-the-art information technologies to create computerized environments to improve decision making and enhance insights into reasons for project performance. In pursuing this goal, realities of the construction industry are considered - e.g. highly variable educational backgrounds of personnel, diversity & uniqueness of projects & their context, large sets of heterogeneous data, a need for generality as opposed to a very narrow focus, etc. Research objectives and guiding questions are: Objective 1: Interpretation of construction data using causal modeling and visual analytics - How can seasoned construction personnel express their judgement and experience about performance cause-effect relationships in terms of data collected for CM functions to search for supporting evidence? and, How can visual analytics be used to provide important insights into project performance, improve decision making and aid communication amongst project participants? Objective 2: Creating an environment for formulating and evaluating alternative construction strategies: How can CAD and linear scheduling be combined to allow for the formulation and exploration of alternative construction strategies to enhance project performance? Objective 3: Profiling project context for risk identification, impact and mitigation - How can the profiling of project context assist in developing an accurate risk profile for a project? Three intersecting building blocks underpin the three research objectives: (i) representation; (ii) knowledge management; and, (iii) visual analytics and CAD. Research methodology components include use of large scale data sets, testing of concepts developed on actual projects, building on research by others, and use of state-of-the-art technologies. The research program involves 3 PhD students, 2 MASc students, and 2 MEng students.