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Successful management of design changes is critical for the efficient delivery of construction projects. Building information modeling (BIM) is envisioned to play an important role in integrating design, construction and facility management processes through coordinated changes throughout the project life-cycle. BIM currently provides significant benefits in coordinating changes across different views in a single model, and identifying conflicts between different discipline-specific models. However, current BIM tools provide limited support in managing changes across several discipline-specific models. This paper describes an approach to represent, coordinate, and track changes within a collaborative multi-disciplinary BIM environment. This approach was informed by a detailed case study of a large, complex, fast-tracked BIM project where we investigated numerous design changes, analyzed change management processes, and evaluated existing BIM tools. Our approach characterizes design changes in an ontology to represent changed component attributes, dependencies between components, and change impacts. It explores different types of dependencies amongst different design changes and describes how a graph-based approach and dependency matrix could assist with automating the propagation and impact of changes in a BIM-based project delivery process. Key words: building, design management, ontology, dependency matrix, change management, level of development, model evolution, traceability. Il est essentiel de gerer au mieux les modifications de conception pour pouvoir mener efficacement a leur terme les projets de construction. La modelisation des donnees du batiment (Building Information Modeling ou BIM) est destinee a jouer un role important en integrant dans un seul systeme les processus de conception, de construction et de gestion d'installations par l'intermediaire de modifications coordonnees tout au long du cycle de vie d'un projet. La BIM presente de gros avantages, car elle permet de coordonner les modifications par le biais de vues differentes dans un modele unique et de reperer les conflits entre divers modeles propres a des disciplines particulieres. Cependant, les outils BIM actuels apportent peu d'aide a la gestion des modifications dans plusieurs modeles specifiques a des disciplines particulieres. Le present article decrit une methode de representation, de coordination et de suivi des modifications dans un environnement BIM collaboratif et pluridisciplinaire. Cette methode a ete mise au point a l'aide d'une etude de cas approfondie portant sur un projet BIM de grande envergure, complexe, mene de maniere acceleree et au cours duquel nous avons examine un grand nombre de modifications de conception, analyse des processus de gestion des modifications et evalue les outils BIM existants. Notre methode caracterise les modifications de conception sous la forme d'une ontologie visant a representer les attributs des composants modifies, les dependances entre composants et les effets des modifications. Elle explore egalement differents types de dependances parmi diverses modifications de conception et decrit comment une approche graphique et une matrice de dependance pourraient permettre de rendre automatiques la propagation et les effets des modifications dans le cadre d'un processus d'execution de projet base sur la BIM. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: batiment, gestion de la conception, ontologie, matrice de dependance, gestion des modifications, niveau de developpement, evolution de modele, tracabilite., Introduction Changes in design are inevitable due to the iterative and exploratory nature of design. The content and structure of design is not static but subject to continual changes even [...]

Interface management (IM) is a main factor in the success of construction projects. The failure to correctly manage interfaces impacts a project's performance measurements, such as scope control and schedule. Using Alberta's data, collected using a web questionnaire from a large group of experienced industry experts, three phases are conducted in this research. The first identifies the top ten interface problems that affect IM. The second phase includes enhancing project performance by developing and applying multiple regression analysis models between the underlying interface problem factors and the project performance indicators. The last phase includes measuring the severity of the impact of each IM problem to develop an IM risk analysis model. The results of the multiple regression models indicate that the interface problems caused by the 'technical engineering and site issues factor', the 'bidding and contracting factor', and the 'information factor' were the strongest influences on the schedule and cost project performance indicators. The results will assist engineers, architects, and others in analyzing and predicting the project performance. This will in turn serve to minimize project delay and cost and reduce conflict among project participants. Key words: interface management (IM), performance, interface problems, multiple regression analysis, risk analysis, construction projects. La gestion des interfaces entre les principaux intervenants sur les chantiers est l'un des principaux facteurs de succes des projets de construction. Le fait de mal gerer les interfaces a un impact sur les mesures de rendement du projet, telles que le controle de la portee et l'echeancier. En utilisant des donnees de l'Alberta, colligees dans un questionnaire Web aupres d'un grand groupe d'experts de l'industrie, nous avons realise trois phases pour cette recherche. La premiere identifie les dix premiers problemes d'interface qui affecte la gestion des interfaces. La seconde phase comprend l'amelioration du rendement d'un projet par le developpement et l'application de modeles d'analyse par regression multiple entre les facteurs sous-jacents des problemes d'interface et les indicateurs de rendement du projet. La derniere phase comprend la mesure de la gravite de l'impact de chaque probleme de gestion des interfaces afin de developper un modele analytique du risque en gestion des interfaces. Les resultats des modeles a regression multiple indiquent que les problemes d'interface causes par'l'ingenierie et le facteur d'enjeux sur le site ', le ' facteur d'appel d'offres et de passation de contrat ' et le ' facteur d'information ' avaient les plus fortes influences sur l'echeancier et les indicateurs de rendement du cout du projet. Les resultats aideront les ingenieurs, les architectes et autres professionnels a analyser et a predire le rendement d'un projet. Cela servira egalement a minimiser les delais et les couts des projets et a reduire les conflits entre les participants au projet. [Traduit par le Redaction] Mots-cles: gestion des interfaces, rendement, problemes d'interface, analyse regression multiple, l'analyse des risques, projets de construction., Introduction Interface management (IM) is a main basis to the success of construction projects (Morris 1983; Pavitt and Gibb 2003; Nooteboom 2004; Chan et al. 2005; Chua and Godinot 2006; [...]

The decision making for risk allocation problems in public-private partnership (PPP) projects is a vital process that directly affects the timeliness, cost, and quality of the project. Fair risk allocation is a vital factor to achieve success in the implementation of these projects. It is essential for private and public sectors to apply efficient risk allocation approaches to experience a more effective process of agreement arbitration and to reduce the appearance of dispute during the concession period. The aim of this study is to develop an optimization approach to enhance risk allocation process in PPP projects. The shared risks in projects are identified through comprehensive literature review and questionnaire survey obtained from Malaysian professionals involved in PPP projects. Objective functions are then developed to minimize the total time and cost of the project and maximize the quality while satisfying risk threshold constraints. The combinatorial nature of the risk allocation problem describes a multi-objective situation that can be simulated as a knapsack problem (KP). The formulation of the KP is described and solved applying genetic algorithm (GA). Due to the flexibility of GA, the results are Pareto Optimal solutions that describe the combinations of risk percentages for shared risks in PPP projects. Key words: risk allocation, public-private partnership projects, multi-objective, optimization. La prise de decision pour le probleme de repartition des risques dans les projets de partenariat public-prive (PPP) est un processus important qui a un impact direct sur l'echeancier, le cout et la qualite du projet. Une allocation juste des risques est un facteur important pour reussir la mise en ceuvre de ces projets. Il est important que les secteurs prives et publics utilisent des methodes de repartition efficace des risques afin d'obtenir un processus plus efficace d'arbitrage d'entente et ainsi reduire l'apparence de conflits durant la periode de concession. L'objectif de cette etude est de developper une methode d'optimisation pour ameliorer le processus de repartition des risques dans les projets PPP. Les risques partages dans les projets sont identifies par une revue exhaustive de la litterature et un sondage aupres de professionnels de Malaisie impliques dans des projets PPP. Des fonctions objectives sont ensuite developpees afin de minimiser le temps total et le cout du projet et de maximiser la qualite, tout en repondant aux contraintes de seuil de risque acceptable. La nature combinatoire du probleme d'allocation des risques decrit une situation a plusieurs objectifs qui peuvent etre simules en tant que probleme d'empilement. La formulation du probleme d'empilement est decrite et resolue en appliquantun algorithme genetique. En raison de la flexibilite de l'algorithme genetique, les resultats sont des solutions optimales de Pareto qui decrivent des combinaisons de pourcentages de risques pour les risques partages lors de projets en PPP. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: allocation des risques, projets en partenariat public-prive, multiples objectifs, optimization., Introduction Public-private partnership (PPP) is 'a contractual agreement between a private and public sector' whereby a financial resource and the skills of each part are shared to satisfy the public [...]

This article analytically and experimentally investigates how firms can best capture the business value of 1 information technology (IT) investments through IT contract design. Using a small sample of outsourcing [...]

During my 20-plus years as a hands-on engineer and consultant to the plastics industry, I have had the privilege to work on a large number of plastics projects. I formed [...]

On the one hand, the importance of flexibility and adaptiveness in the design and management of human activity systems to deal with complexity is stressed. On the other hand, existing frameworks of procedures, practices and rules often require strict planning, design and implementation. This raises the question how flexibility and adaptiveness comply with these existing frameworks to arrive at effective and efficient project realization. A grounded analysis of the Dutch infrastructure project A2 Passageway Maastricht, instigated by the question how the influence of the management system on the provisional outcomes of the project can be explained, found that it involves system synchronization: combined system fragmentation and integration., Introduction In 2009 the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a report in which the important role of complexity science for public policy and management is stressed. Other [...]

In this project, we took on the challenge of involving students (up to K-12) in a holistic sensorial experience beyond the usual point-click-watch activity associated with the computer interface. Instead […], In this paper we present Geodromo, a prototype of an educational multimedia system, part of the Portuguese Ciencia Viva (Live Science) educational program, which is aimed at young people and designed with innovative characteristics. The project is based on a robotic multimedia simulator and an online puzzle game aimed at the exploratory learning of geology, climate, biology, and archeology associated with a Portuguese National Park. The development of the prototype was challenging, as it involved the interweaving of advanced technology and multimedia content with online resources, based on research that promotes the design of emotional and cognitive factors in educational communications. Independent of the scientific relevance of the topics and the inherent technocultural appeal of the project, the aim was to bring students closer to an "undercover" reality, as authentic as it gets with digital media representations, and allow them to convey emotions naturally. We found these to be major success factors in the establishment of an effective relationship between the technology and the pedagogy required to study those particular topics. (Keywords: Educational multimedia, exploratory learning, simulator platform, educational games)

In some cut-slope projects landslide is a common problem during construction due to unfavorable geomorphological and geomechanical conditions. It is necessary to do a quantitative assessment of the risk posed by landslide before determining the budget or tender price. This paper outlines a general procedure for doing this, followed by an example to demonstrate the approach in comparison to a known failure. Finite-element analyses identify the most dangerous landslide scenario among all construction steps. The slope failure probability is then estimated using reliability theory based on the most dangerous construction step. After identifying the potential failure surface and estimating the volume of the sliding mass, the runnout behavior of sliding mass is simulated to delimit the extent of likely impacted area. Then, the exposed elements at risk and their vulnerabilities are identified and analyzed. The landslide risk is assessed quantitatively for three types of consequences: casualties, economic loss, and time overrun. Compared with actual consequences, the estimation results were in acceptable agreement with the case study. The paper demonstrates that it is feasible to analyze the risk associated with landslides during construction of cut-slopes. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000381 CE Database subject headings: Quantitative analysis: Assessment; Risk management; Landslides; Construction management. Author keywords: Quantitative analysis; Assessment; Risk management; Landslides; Construction.

CASE DESCRIPTION This case illustrates one of several important project monitoring and controlling techniques available for project manager use in construction and other related fields. The case highlights that the lack of proper project monitoring could lead to cost and schedule run-ups that eventually could result in complete failure of a project and financial loss. The case illustrates how a project manager could use variance analysis as an effective tool for project monitoring and controlling. The problem presented originated from a real-life situation of an actual federal building contractor. In this particular scenario, the contractor had incurred losses as a result of project delays due to multiple business factors. The issue became problematic since the responsible project manager lacked knowledge of sophisticated project control and monitoring tools, and relied primarily on his memory and intuition-based physical assessments of activities. The case is an attempt to show that if an appropriate project monitoring technique, earned value analysis (EVA), had been used, this contractor potentially could have avoided losses or even made some profit. This case is appropriate for senior or graduate level courses in project management or operations management. The case will require an estimated 2-3 hours of classroom lecture time. Students might have to spend 4-6 hours of time depending upon their prior experience and knowledge of the project management environment. CASE SYNOPSIS A small federal government contractor, Environmental Services, is located in the Virginia Beach area of Virginia. It has incurred losses on some of its projects due to poor cost controls and schedule overruns. The company executes 10 to 30 small to medium-size projects at any given point of time. The company is growing and wishes to find a way to cut its losses due to cost and/or schedule overruns. These overruns occur due to several internal and external factors. The internal factors include the loss of key personnel, improper supervision, the lack of technical skills, poor understanding of the scope of projects, etc. External factors such as vendor delays, quality of supplies, unclear designs, weather and similar factors may also cause a project activity to miss an established deadline or to cost more than the estimated budget. The company largely relies on the experience of the project managers to make a decision based on their assessment whenever a problem arises. Currently, there is no system in the company to keep track of the impact of cost and schedule overruns on a given project. The company recognizes profit or loss once projects are completed and final performance analysis is performed. The company gave the task of establishing procedures and developing an ongoing monitor/control system to an outside consultant. The consultant reviewed several old projects and presented an analysis to the company. It was suggested that the company establish a proper mechanism for recording cost and budget details during the life of each project. Furthermore, it was suggested that the company use an Earned Value Analysis (EVA) tool to monitor the cost and schedule overruns and adjust project tasks, schedules and resources accordingly., BACKGROUND INFORMATION Environmental Services is a general contracting company based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The company performs general contracting work mainly in the area of construction and facility maintenance. The [...]

Case study research in engineering design, while not as formalized and accepted as in the social sciences, is growing in popularity because of its ability to yield significant insights into how designers interact with design problems, processes, artifacts, and each other A wealth of evidence for use in case studies exists in the form of undergraduate senior design courses, which produce documentation related to the design of new artifacts every academic semester. The resulting documentation can be effectively mined to test hypotheses about design processes and designer behaviors. In this paper, we offer an example application of how to apply case study research to a completed senior design project in order to test a theory for how designers, users, and artifacts behave as a complex adaptive system. The evidence from the case study supports the descriptive power of the theoretical framework and supports the practical conclusion that effective communication between designers and users is particularly important and should be strengthened to foster overall project success, especially during the problem definition stage of design. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4002291] Keywords: case study research, design research, senior design projects

The paper, by an American geographer, discusses the origin and development of a Chinese-financed residential megaproject (Baltic Pearl) located southwest of St. Petersburg's historical district. Viewing Baltic Pearl as reportedly the largest investment project undertaken outside China by a government-sponsored Chinese consortium, the author places it in the context of state-level Sino-Russian relations and Russian unease over the influx of Chinese migrants and culture. Reflecting the author's extensive field work in St. Petersburg and Shanghai, the focus of the paper is on the way the consortium was forced to adopt interscalar (i.e., both state and municipal/urban) strategies responsive to local conditions, providing a potentially useful precedent and model for Chinese and other investors seeking to penetrate Russia's urban markets. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F210, O180, O190. 3 figures, 1 table, 63 references. Key words: Russia, China, St. Petersburg, Baltic Pearl, urban megaproject, historic urban district, urban development, residential housing, interscalar investment strategies, Sino-Russian economic relations, Chinese foreign direct investment, Chinese migrants. DOI: 10.2747/1539-7216.51.6.803

Simulation modeling is important in predicting the productivity of construction operations and the performance of project schedules. It would be desirable if operation and project models are vertically integrated in practice. However, existing discrete event simulation systems do not allow integrating operation and project models. This paper introduces an integrated simulation system named 'Construction Operation and Project Scheduling' (COPS). COPS analyzes the productivity of construction operations as well as the performance of a project schedule individually and jointly. It creates operation models, maintains these models in its operation model library, conducts sensitivity analysis with different resource combinations, finds the optimal resource combination that satisfies the user's requirements relative to hourly production and hourly cost of the operation, feeds this information into a project schedule, and executes stochastic simulation-based scheduling. A case study is presented to demonstrate this integrated simulation system. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CP.1943-5487.0000061 CE Database subject headings: Construction management; Models; Scheduling; Simulation; Productivity; Case studies. Author keywords: Construction operation model; Schedule model; Discrete event simulation; Simulation based scheduling.

The performance of public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects is largely contingent on whether the adopted risk allocation (RA) strategy is efficient. Theoretical frameworks drawing on the transaction cost economics and the resource-based view of organizational capability are able to explain the underlying mechanism but unable to accurately forecast efficient RA strategies. In this paper, a neurofuzzy decision support system (NFDSS) was developed to assist in the RA decision-making process in PPP projects. By combining fuzzy and neural network techniques, a synthesized fuzzy inference system was established and taken as the core component of the NFDSS. Evaluation results show that the NFDSS can forecast efficient RA strategies for PPP infrastructure projects at a highly accurate and effective level. A real PPP infrastructure project is used to demonstrate the NFDSS and its practical significance. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CP.1943-5487.0000058 CE Database subject headings: Risk management; Decision support systems; Fuzzy sets; Economic factors; Infrastructure; Partnership. Author keywords: Risk allocation; Decision support system; Neurofuzzy; Transaction cost economics; Organizational capability; Infrastructure; Public-private partnership.

Construction cost overrun and time overrun (delay) are a significant problem in highway-construction project delivery. Previous research studies have provided insight into the factors that affect overruns; however the findings may have been limited because they do not explicitly consider the simultaneous relationship between cost and time overruns. In this paper, we use data from Indiana highway projects to provide empirical evidence that a simultaneous relationship exists between cost and time overruns and that analysis of these two contractual outputs need to take due cognizance of such simultaneity. Using the three-stage least-squares technique, we identify a number of factors that significantly affect cost overrun and time overrun and we show how the effect of these variables vary by attributes such as project type and results of the bidding process. The models developed in this paper can help agencies enhance the estimation of the expected overruns of final cost and the delay in completion time for their planned projects. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000225 CE Database subject headings: Construction management; Construction costs; Project management; Forecasting; Statistics; Contracts: Least-squares method. Author keywords: Construction planning; Construction costs; Project management; Forecasting; Statistical models.

Commitment planning reliability at an operational level is a key factor for improving project performance. In the last 15 years, the Last Planner System, a production planning and control system based on lean production principles, has improved commitment planning reliability in the construction industry. However, many construction decision makers continue to rely on their experience and intuition when planning their commitments, which hinders their reliability. The reliable commitment model (RCM) is proposed to improve commitment planning reliability at the operational level by using statistical models. RCM is an operational decision- making tool based on lean principles that supports short-term forecasting commitment planning using common-site information such as workers, buffers, and plans. RCM was tested in several case studies, demonstrating its production forecasting capabilities and its ability to help increase commitment planning reliability and improve project performance. RCM also supports workload and labor capacity matching decisions. RCM has the potential of becoming a useful production decision-making tool. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000215 CE Database subject headings: Decision making; Lean construction; Statistics; Planning. Author keywords: Decision making; Lean production; Matching load-capacity; Reliable commitment model; Commitment planning reliability; Project performance; Statistical models.

While the critical path method (CPM) has been useful for scheduling construction projects, years of practice and research have highlighted serious drawbacks that hinder its use as a decision support tool. This paper argues that many of CPM drawbacks stem from the rough level of detail at which the analysis is conducted, where activities' durations are considered as continuous blocks of time. The paper thus proposes a new critical path segments (CPS) mechanism with a finer level of granularity by decomposing the duration of each activity into separate time segments. Three cases are used to prove the benefits of using separate time segments in avoiding complex network relationships, accurately identifying all critical path fluctuation, better allocation of limited resources, avoiding multiple-calendar problems, and accurate analysis of project delays. The paper discusses the proposed CPS mechanism and comments on several issues related to its calculation complexity, its impact on existing procedures, and future extensions. This research is more beneficial to researchers and has the potential to revolutionize scheduling computations to resolve CPM drawbacks. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000212 CE Database subject headings: Construction management; Scheduling; Critical path method; Project management; Computation. Author keywords: Construction; Scheduling; Critical path method; Float; Project management.

For any construction project to succeed, it is very important to accurately estimate the construction cost during the project's initial stage. This is why there has been much interest lately in cost prediction models that use case-based reasoning (CBR). It has been pointed out, however, that existing CBR-based cost prediction models may yield inaccurate results even though they could survey optimal similar cases, if the number of cases in the case base is not enough. As opposed to the existing CBR-based construction cost prediction models, this study developed a CBR revision model that reflects the 'revise' phase of the CBR cycle (retrieve, reuse, revise, and retain) based on nine multifamily housing projects executed recently by 'A' Housing Corporation. To verify the developed model, a case study was performed using three case projects completed by 'B' and 'C' Housing Corporations. The result showed that the prediction error ratio after the Revise (I) phase decreased from 97.44 to 22.58%. This model can be effective when there are insufficient established cases in the case base. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000018 CE Database subject headings: Construction costs; Estimation; Housing; Predictions; Buildings, residential. Author keywords: Construction cost; Cost estimates; Housing; Prediction model; Accuracy.

Project-specific dispute resolution ladders (DRLs) are typically implemented in construction projects to resolve issues arising between the project participants. The DRL typically consists of single or multiple alternative dispute resolution (ADR) techniques to address construction issues at the three levels of escalation: conflicts; disputes; and claims. However, a DRL requires significant investments to cover the direct costs incurred in-house by the project participants of, externally, if construction specialists and lawyers are recruited to assist in the resolution. Thus, the benefits of the DRL implementation in a construction project must outweigh its costs for the implementation to be worthwhile. This paper presents a methodology to study the effect of different resolution strategies on the value of the investment in a DRL using option/real option theories from financial engineering, process centric modeling, and system dynamics methodology. Of particular interest in this paper is the integration of these research methodologies into a computer model to support the evaluation of the DRL investment in a particular construction project by taking into account the characteristics of (1) the project and (2) the different ADR techniques chosen for the DRL implementation. Finally, an example is presented to illustrate the application of the computer model in a real construction project. The results of the simulation serve two main purposes. First, the results of the simulation are used to verify the intended model behavior in terms of proper integration of the three methodologies (i.e., real options, process centric, and system dynamics) in one computer system. Second, the model application to a real construction project using actual project data illustrates the potential of the model in providing the project participants with information related to the expected number of claims and change orders resolved at each level of the DRL, the change in the expected savings during the construction phase, and finally the value of the investment from the perspective of the project owner. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CP.1943-5487.0000044 CE Database subject headings: Change orders: Claims: Construction costs; Dispute resolution; Benefit cost ratios: Mathematical models. Author keywords: Change orders: Claims; Construction costs; Cost analysis: Dispute resolution; Benefit cost ratios; Mathematical models: Process centric modeling; System dynamics.