Digital Visual Management Enhancing Construction Site Decision-Making

This paper discusses the implementation and development of Digital Visual Management (DVM) systems to support decision-making and situational awareness among construction workers. The research identifies challenges associated with traditional Visual Management (VM) methods and explores the potential of DVM solutions like Info Screen and ActorLeap. Key findings are presented highlighting how DVM can enhance information distribution, transparency, and overall task performance on construction sites

Digital Visual Management Enhancing Construction Site Decision-Making

This paper discusses the implementation and development of Digital Visual Management (DVM) systems to support decision-making and situational awareness among construction workers. The research identifies challenges associated with traditional Visual Management (VM) methods and explores the potential of DVM solutions like Info Screen and ActorLeap. Key findings are presented highlighting how DVM can enhance information distribution, transparency, and overall task performance on construction sites

The building information modelling trajectory in facilities management: A review

There is a paucity of literature that examines building information modelling (BIM) for asset management within the architecture, engineering, construction and owner-operated (AECO) sector. This paper therefore presents a thorough review of published literature on the latest research and standards development that impact upon BIM and its application in facilities management (FM) during the operations and maintenance (O&M) phase of building usage. The purpose is to generate new ideas and provide polemic clarity geared to intellectually challenge readers from across a range of academic and industrial disciplines. The findings reveal that significant challenges facing the FM sector include the need for: greater consideration of long-term strategic aspirations; amelioration of data integration/interoperability issues; augmented knowledge management; enhanced performance measurement; and enriched training and competence development for facilities managers to better deal with the amorphous range of services covered by FM. Future work is also proposed in several key areas and includes: case studies to observe and report upon current practice and development; and supplementary research related to concepts of knowledge capture in relation to FM and the growing use of BIM for asset management

User-inspired design methodology using Affordance Structure Matrix (ASM) for construction projects

Traditionally, design phase of construction projects is often performed with incomplete and inaccurate user preferences. This is due to inefficiencies in the methodologies used for capturing the user requirements that can subsequently lead to inconsistencies and result in non-optimised end-result. Iterations and subsequent reworks due to such design inefficiencies is one of the major reasons for unsuccessful project delivery as they impact project performance measures such as time and cost among others. The existing design theories and practice are primarily based on functional requirements. Function-based design deals with design of artifact alone, which may yield favourable or unfavourable consequences with the design artifact. However, incorporating other interactions such as interactions between user & designer is necessary for optimised end-result. Hence, the objective of this research work is to devise a systematic design methodology considering all the three interactions among users, designers and artefacts for improved design efficiency. In this study, it has been attempted to apply the theory of affordances in a case project that involves the design of an offshore facility. A step-by-step methodology for developing Affordance Structure Matrix (ASM), which integrates House of Quality (HOQ) and Design Structure Matrix (DSM), is proposed that can effectively capture the user requirements. HOQ is a popular quality management tool for capturing client requirements and DSM is a matrix-based tool that can capture the interdependency among the design entities. The proposed methodology utilises the strengths of both the tools, as DSM compliments HOQ in the process. In this methodology, different affordances such as AUA (Artifact-User-Affordance), AAA (Artifact-Artifact-Affordance) and DDA (Designer-Designer-Affordance) are captured systematically. Affordance is considered to be user-driven in this context that is in contrast to prevailing design methodologies. The initial feedback from industry on the proposed ASM-based design methodology is encouraging

Application of Relationship Diagramming Method (RDM) for Resource-constrained Scheduling of Linear Construction Projects

AbstractThe traditional techniques for project scheduling such as Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM) and Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) are continuously undergoing improvisation in order to replicate real-time construction scenario. Quite often, these methods are criticized for their limited information capturing ability. Relationship Diagramming Method (RDM) proposed by Plotnick in the recent past, is an improved variant of PDM, which can store additional information on relationships that would improve the scheduling process. In addition to basic data on the activities, additional information can be represented through five codes in RDM. Sequencing of activities in a construction project is primarily driven by the construction logic and/or the availability of resources. There is scope for arriving at alternate sequences with varying availability of resources to achieve the objectives of project scheduling as long as the construction logic is preserved. In order to achieve such a resource-constrained project scheduling, additional information on the restraints of the activities are necessary, which can be modelled using RDM through one of the five codes of RDM. The objective of this paper is to explore and exploit the Reason/Why code of RDM. The Reason and Why codes are associated with a restraint and for recording the description respectively. An activity's dependence on a resource has been captured using Reason/Why code in this study. It has been attempted to understand the impact of varying resource availability using an empirical equation on sequencing such resource dependent activities and its effect on critical path. The proposed concept is tested with data from a repetitive high rise construction project. The preliminary results have been well received

User-inspired design methodology using Affordance Structure Matrix (ASM) for construction projects

Traditionally, design phase of construction projects is often performed with incomplete and inaccurate user preferences. This is due to inefficiencies in the methodologies used for capturing the user requirements that can subsequently lead to inconsistencies and result in non-optimised end-result. Iterations and subsequent reworks due to such design inefficiencies is one of the major reasons for unsuccessful project delivery as they impact project performance measures such as time and cost among others. The existing design theories and practice are primarily based on functional requirements. Function-based design deals with design of artifact alone, which may yield favourable or unfavourable consequences with the design artifact. However, incorporating other interactions such as interactions between user & designer is necessary for optimised end-result. Hence, the objective of this research work is to devise a systematic design methodology considering all the three interactions among users, designers and artefacts for improved design efficiency. In this study, it has been attempted to apply the theory of affordances in a case project that involves the design of an offshore facility. A step-by-step methodology for developing Affordance Structure Matrix (ASM), which integrates House of Quality (HOQ) and Design Structure Matrix (DSM), is proposed that can effectively capture the user requirements. HOQ is a popular quality management tool for capturing client requirements and DSM is a matrix-based tool that can capture the interdependency among the design entities. The proposed methodology utilises the strengths of both the tools, as DSM compliments HOQ in the process. In this methodology, different affordances such as AUA (Artifact-User-Affordance), AAA (Artifact-Artifact-Affordance) and DDA (Designer-Designer-Affordance) are captured systematically. Affordance is considered to be user-driven in this context that is in contrast to prevailing design methodologies. The initial feedback from industry on the proposed ASM-based design methodology is encouraging

Digital Info Screen - A Visual Management Tool for Construction Workers

The Info screen development is part of wider research project where automated data collection of site operations and processing the data for provision of role-specific and contextualized information to targeted professions to fulfil the predicted information needs are being studied. The specific objective of the research work reported in this article is to arrive at a suitable user interface design that is easy to use and provides contextualized useful information for the construction workers. A Digital Visual Management method is proposed to share dedicated information to workers at construction sites with digital Info screens. The concept development has focused on information needs in drywall installation and the coordination of needed work phases. The information needs and barriers have been earlier studied with interviews of drywall installers to select and define information contents for Info screens. The Visual Management methods have been applied for this purpose and digital tools aspects are investigated especially. In visualization on the screen, the 3D-view of Building Information Model (BIM) has been used as a basis to present the information. In the user interface most information types are presented in relation to the geometry of the building and visualized with BIM 3D-view. The preliminary results from the user testing with the help of structured interviews on usefulness & ease of use of the prototype are encouraging