Data-driven decision support systems for integrated project delivery on structural steel projects

尽管从模块化建筑和非现场预制、建筑信息模型（BIM）到移动计算和传感器技术的现场应用等技术取得了巨大的进步，但建筑工程和项目管理的实践基本没有变化。长期以来，详细的成本估算和粗略的成本控制在粒度水平上的不匹配在大多数建设项目中尚未得到解决。在现实中，从业者仍然依靠经验法则和“直觉”来做出关键决策，而不是数据驱动的定量分析。新技术所带来的设计-施工一体化的诸多好处只在研究论文中得到了证明，但很少在现实世界中实现。提出这个CRD项目的动机是所有这些现实世界的挑战和研究机会呈现给合作伙伴公司和整个加拿大建筑行业。PI和公司管理层不再采用“零敲碎打”的方法，而是采用“综合项目交付”的方法，通过在不同层次和不同时间的评估、计划和项目控制中调整关键决策过程中涉及的人员、系统和数据，来解决建筑工程和管理中相互关联的“部分和包裹”。拟议的CRD将(1)定义合作伙伴公司目前结构不良的问题，(2)根据这些问题设计以数据为中心的基础设施，以及(3)开发有效的分析方法来处理数据，以获得更好的可见性、更好的智能和更好的决策。通过在解决挑战性问题和培养高素质人才方面的互惠互利的学术和行业合作，本研究成果将提高合作伙伴公司在国内和全球范围内的钢结构工程、制造和安装方面的竞争优势，同时为发现知识、推进实践和培养人才做出重大贡献。该CRD项目的最终受益者将包括合作公司的建筑工程师和管理人员以及整个加拿大结构钢行业。

Despite tremendous technological advances from modular construction and offsite prefabrication, Building Information Modeling (BIM), to field application of mobile computing and sensor technologies, the practice of construction engineering and project management has remained much unchanged. The long-standing mismatch in level of granularity between detailed cost estimating and rough cost control is not yet resolved on the majority of construction projects. In reality, practitioners still rely on the rule of thumb and "gut-feelings" to make critical decisions, instead of data-driven, quantitative analytics. The numerous benefits for design-construction integration as supposed to be enabled by new technologies were only demonstrated in research papers but rarely materialized in the real world. Proposing this CRD project is motivated by all those real-world challenges and research opportunities presented to the partner company and the Canadian construction industry at large. Instead of taking a "piecemeal" approach, the PI and the company management have concurred on an "Integrated Project Delivery" approach to tackle the interrelated "parts and parcels" in construction engineering and management, through aligning people, systems and data involved in critical decision-making processes at various levels and at different times in estimating, planning, and project control. The proposed CRD will (1) define currently ill-structured problems in the partner company, (2) design the data-centric infrastructure in line with those problems, and (3) develop effective analytics to process data for better visibility, better intelligence, and better decision. Through the mutually-beneficial, academia-industry collaboration in tackling challenging problems and training highly-qualified personnel, the deliverables of this CRD will sharpen the competitive edge of the partner company in structural steel engineering, fabrication, and erection in both national and global arenas, while significantly contributing to discovering knowledge, advancing practice and growing talent. The ultimate beneficiaries of this CRD project will include construction engineers and managers in the partner company and the Canadian structural steel industry at large.