Building process modelling using product modelling methodology and its application to scheduling

Computer-integrated-construction (CIC) was introduced recently in the construction industry to address the current problems of fragmented use of IT in the construction process. The eventual target of CIC is the integration of the diverse computing applications used in the life cycle of a building, such as for drawings, engineering analysis, project planning, and facility management. Since 1980s, computer-aided-design (CAD) systems are getting to be widely used by various disciplines in the construction industry. But there is a lack of a detailed, commonly accepted industry standard for building representation to facilitate the designing, planning, construction and operation of a building. Building information generated at each stage of a building life cycle by various disciplines may have very different formats and representations, and become redundant, or even go missing because of inconsistent description of the same building component. The information is difficult to be shared, reused and distributed between different stages and between different parties. CAD systems have turned out to be the central focus for CIC or indeed the bottleneck of CIC. In order to meet this challenge, a comprehensive building project model is in great demand. Over the past few years, major efforts have been initiated to focus on the representation of a building as a product but little effort has been spent on the study of the process, which involves the use of resources, such as materials, labours and time in order to complete the building product on schedule. This research has selected the modelling of building process as the focus of study. A general building process model at a macro level and the specific time planning (scheduling) model at a more detailed level were constructed. Product modelling methodology has been used as the main approach. Activity models and corresponding reference models were developed respectively to describe the building process. A set of criteria for building process model was also recommended. In order to implement the scheduling process model, an architecture based on the product modelling methodology was designed. A prototype based on the architecture was demonstrated. The general building process model developed in the research can serve as a core model for development of more detailed, discipline-oriented process models. The scheduling model and the underlying architecture that has been recommended for implementation, can be used as the framework to build a complete building scheduling/cost estimating application or to demonstrate the integration between building product model and process model with the support of proper product data toolkits.