User Interfaces for Complex Engineering Software: Application of Virtual Reality

IT systems for engineers are becoming more numerous and complex and will further proliferate in the future. It is infeasible to expect users to be trained to work with a plethora of systems, especially as many of them will only see occasional use. Therefore, in the near future, systems will need user interfaces that allow intuitive access and usage. This paper examines a new style of user interface based on virtual reality.     

A Knowledge Transfer Framework: the PFI context

The UK's Private Finance Initiative market is predicted to rise to over £8 billion a year and there are indications of growing opportunities. PFI creates a long‐term income stream and provides valuable opportunities for portfolio diversification. PFI has evolved at a fast pace and the momentum is set to continue. However, there are major challenges facing construction organisations. These include the lack of PFI experts, longer negotiation periods and tight time schedules to deliver large‐scale schemes, high levels of investment and risks involved and limited knowledge transfer between PFI projects. Concerns over the level of knowledge sharing have prompted the development and evaluation of a Knowledge Transfer Framework that encourages construction organisations to transfer PFI knowledge between projects. It achieves this by building on a questionnaire survey of PFI clients and construction companies, case studies of companies involved in PFI, and research workshops to validate the framework developed.     

Learning in multi-agent systems: a case study of construction claims negotiation

The ability of agents to learn is of growing importance in multi-agent systems. It is considered essential to improve the quality of peer to peer negotiation in these systems. This paper reviews various aspects of agent learning, and presents the particular learning approach—Bayesian learning—adopted in the MASCOT system (multi-agent system for construction claims negotiation). The core objective of the MASCOT system is to facilitate construction claims negotiation among different project participants. Agent learning is an integral part of the negotiation mechanism. The paper demonstrates that the ability to learn greatly enhances agents' negotiation power, and speeds up the rate of convergence between agents. In this case, learning is essential for the success of peer to peer agent negotiation systems.     

A Taxonomy for Communication Facets in Concurrent Life‐Cycle Design and Construction

Effective communication is vital for the success of concurrent engineering in construction. This requires a clear understanding of the communication facets (or interfaces, such as those between project team members and between inter‐ and intradiscipline design tools) implicit in the implementation of concurrent engineering. This article presents a taxonomy (or classification framework) for these communication facets within the context of concurrent life‐cycle design and construction (CLDC). It identifies seven key facets of communication that need to be addressed and discusses how these facets change through the stages in the life cycle of a constructed facility. Other communication taxonomies are also briefly reviewed and related to the identified facets.     

Multi-disciplinary collaborative building design—A comparative study between multi-agent systems and multi-disciplinary optimisation approaches

The importance of collaboration between different design disciplines has been widely recognised by the building industry. Traditionally this is achieved through physical meetings between the representatives of different design groups. However, this is facing more challenges when dealing with large and complex design problems. Various approaches have been introduced to tackle this problem, such as multi-agent systems (MAS) and the multi-disciplinary design optimisation (MDO) approaches. The former represents an advanced, ICT-based framework which facilitates collaborative design through communication, data and knowledge sharing and negotiation while the latter represents a theoretical modelling approach which facilitates collaborative design through a thorough analysis of the technical problems. By comparing the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches in facilitating collaborative design, this paper provides a roadmap study for the development of collaborative building design.     

Functional integration in CAD systems

This paper examines the issue of integration in CAD systems and argues that for integration to be effective, it must address the functional aspects of a CAD system. It discusses the need for integrated systems and, within a structural engineering context, identifies several facets of integration that should be targeted. These include 2-D drafting and 3-D modelling, graphical and nongraphical design information, the CAD data structure and its user interface, as well as integration of the drafting function with other engineering applications. Means of achieving these levels of integration are briefly discussed and a prognosis for the future development of integrated systems explored. Particular attention is paid to the emergence (and potential role) of ‘product models’ which seek to encapsulate the full range of data elements required to define completely an engineering artefact.     

Collaboration Environments for Construction: Implementation Case Studies

Although emerging technologies offer the construction industry many opportunities for computer supported collaboration environments, the companies adopting these technologies usually fail in achieving the full benefits from their implementations. The reason for this is found to be focusing too much on the technical factors and ignoring or underestimating the factors related to change, implementation, human and organizational factors, and the roles of the management and end users. Each new information technology (IT) implementation involves some change for the organization and the employees, and is therefore a source of resistance and confusion unless special attention is paid to managing this change. This paper aims to review the related theoretical concepts and previous work on success factors for collaboration environment implementations and failure reasons for IT, and to present the current approaches adopted by construction organizations implementing collaboration environments. In order to achieve these aims, the results of an extensive literature review on general causes of failure in IT implementations are presented, and the key areas to focus on during IT design and implementation are highlighted and explained. The results of exploratory case studies are summarized to show the current IT implementation and collaborative working approaches in the United Kingdom construction industry and interpreted using a systems thinking approach. The paper then concludes with some insights into how construction organizations can improve the implementation of collaboration systems.     

Participation, Barriers, and Opportunities in PFI: The United Kingdom Experience

Private finance initiative (PFI) projects play an increasingly important role for both the United Kingdom government and the construction sector. It is still a relatively new form of procurement that requires a wide range of specialist advice during the bidding stage and in-depth knowledge of how the facility will perform in the long term. This paper investigates the level of participation in PFI projects in the United Kingdom, the opportunities available for the construction sector, the types of problems experienced, and the challenges for the future. It achieves this by analyzing the results of a questionnaire survey of a large number of client and construction organizations. The study finds that there is a wide gap in the level of PFI experience between client and construction organizations, affordability of PFI projects, and high bidding costs are key issues for client and construction organizations, respectively, and, given the nature of PFI projects, there is considerable scope for knowledge transfer both during the project and between different PFI projects.     

Computer-Based Application for the Processing of Clients' Requirements

This paper extends previous work on the use of quality function deployment for client requirements processing in construction. It describes a computer-based application, ClientPro, which implements a quality-function-deployment-based model for the definition, analysis, and translation of client requirements into solution-neutral design specifications. The methodology, development, operation, and evaluation of the prototype are discussed, and it is concluded that ClientPro is useful in facilitating the systematic definition, analysis, and mapping of client requirements to design specifications. It also provides for the incorporation and prioritization of the perspectives represented by clients, the determination of the relative importance of their requirements, and the early consideration of life-cycle issues affecting a facility. Thus, it can contribute to the ultimate satisfaction of the requirements of construction clients.