Search results

This paper (Part 2 of 2) aims to expand the previously developed performance assessment model (PAM) into a decision support system (DSS) to produce optimized decisions on rehabilitation of facilities.

The research includes a comprehensive PAM that integrates analytical hierarchy process-multi attribute utility theory methods for the physical, operational, and environmental aspects of the mosque, as described in Part 1 of the study. An optimized intervention tool is added to the PAM to complete the DSS development. The tool determines the optimum maintenance decisions that are in line with the budget and condition criticality. The deterioration measures are created using a deterministic straight-line extrapolation technique, and the intervention actions used in the optimization are specified through literature review and in-depth interviews with 11 experts. The optimization model was simplified into a user-friendly visual basic application and applied to an existing facility case study depicting its useful functionality.

The optimization model recommendation of interventions recovered the overall condition rating index (CRI) of the facility while maintaining budget constraints. The CRI in the first approach (minimum budget to achieve acceptable overall performance) was improved from 6.5 to 7.76, costing 275,850 SAR. While the second approach (Maximum recovery with a selected budget constraint, 300,000 SAR in this case) CRI was improved from 6.5 to 8.3, costing 299,850 SAR.

The presented DSS in this paper offers a tool that enables the rehabilitation and overall management of any facility by its managers. The DSS can also be further customized to fit the facility manager’s specific strategies and achieve desired objectives.

The purpose of this paper (Part 1 of 2) is to develop a systematic performance assessment model (PAM) for measuring facilities condition in terms of physical, environmental and operational impacts on performance.

The methodology entailed a review of literature to identify performance impacting factors (PIFs) of a facility. PIFs were categorized as physical, environmental and operational. Subsequently, 71 experts were interviewed to prioritize the identified PIFs in terms of their impact on facility performance via analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique. A second round of interviews with 11 experts was conducted to set a utility scoring mechanism for the PIFs via multiattribute utility theory (MAUT) technique, the utility score in correlation to a set scale would describe the level of service(LoS). Finally, AHP and MAUT outputs were mathematically integrated to determine the final condition rating index of all PIFs and the whole facility as a result.

First, PIFs of a case study mosque facility under three scenarios with different groupings of functional spaces were defined. Functional spaces’ prioritization was as follows: prayer hall (57%–65%), wet areas (25%–26%), minaret (9%–10%), and yard/site (7%–8%). Subsequently, each space’s PIFs and its subcategories were assigned weights as well, the first level of PIFs’ relative weights was as follows: physical (68%–73%), operational (19%–20%) and environmental (7%–13%). Physical PIFs weights differed per functional space but structural factor dominated with (38%–71%) relative weight except for the yard/site. Finally, a detailed condition evaluation mechanism for each PIF was defined.

This study contributes to facilities management industry and offers a systematic approach encompassing multiple PIFs that will regulate inspection then maintenance through desired corrective actions by facility managers to achieve desired LoS.

This study aims to develop a constructability index (CI) that can ease the construction activities in a project based on the contractors’ experience and resources. The proposed CI is a vital decision support tool that quantifies the difficulty level for the contractor to execute certain activities with the contingency of other project elements. The virtual reality (VR) technology was used to provide additional data, communicate the contingency impact of other project elements on specific activities and provide sequential execution data to the contractors. This can minimize the risk of not being able to execute various activities on time and within the budget.

The VR-based CI was developed through two steps. Step 1 was to identify the factors affecting constructability by exploring the literature and consulting local construction experts. These factors were then organized through a hierarchy of main factors and subfactors and validated by local experts through predesigned surveys. The factors were classified into VR dependent or non-VR independent, and their relative weights were calculated using the analytical hierarchy process along with their reliability, which was determined using Cronbach’s alpha approach. Step 2 was to define the attributes for the constructability factors defined in Step 1 using the Multi Attribute Utility Theory to quantify the contractor’s compliance level of these factors by giving them the appropriate score. The utility factors for the VR-independent factors were obtained through standards, literature and local surveys, and they were quantified on a 1–10 scale. However, the VR-dependent factors were given their corresponding scores using the developed VR navigation environment generated by integrating Autodesk Revit and Navisworks software. Accordingly, the CI for each activity was evaluated, and the overall CI for the project was calculated by aggregating the CIs for all activities.

The developed CI quantifies the contractor’s ability to execute construction projects and addresses the lack of communication and coordination between the various construction units in the planning phase itself. Moreover, it can resolve possible hard (physical) and soft (time) construction clashes and minimize their impacts on project schedule and budget. Among the relative weights of the identified factors, prefabrication of building components was found to have the highest effect on constructability. Furthermore, applying the developed VR-CI, a real project showed that the utility values of the main factors quantified on a ten-point scale were between 6 and 9, which means routine supervisions and monitoring are required.

Though the concepts of constructability and VR have been used in different contexts, their integration to develop a comprehensive CI for the building construction industry is a unique contribution, which has not been reported previously.