| authors |
Jagbeck, A. |
| year |
2000 |
| title |
Field test of a product-model-based construction planning tool |
| source |
CIDAC, Volume 2 Issue 2 May 2000, pp. 80-91 |
| summary |
Over the past decade, more than a dozen papers describing proposals for product-model-based planning models have been published, but only a few of these proposals have been implemented in prototypes that have been tested in full-scale tests. PreFacto is a research-based software for production planning based on product model data, which has been developed and tested in close cooperation with a construction company. It is operational but still under development. Assessing the degree of functionality achieved so far is a natural part of a modern cyclical software development process. This paper describes a 6-month full-scale field trial of the PreFacto system undertaken by the site management in cooperation with the author. It was carried out as a parallel planning activity on a real ongoing project. The trial was documented and the system's usability for the construction planning process was analysed and evaluated using mainly qualitative methods. The evaluated planning activities include importing product model data and performing a range of planning activities. The evaluation addressed such usability aspects as system capacity, ease of use of the interface, and conceptual compliance with the use context and the various planning tasks. The test method was useful for checking the conceptual model from the user's point of view. At the same time, the field trial worked equally as a case study for developers, a study of a degree of reality that would not have been possible in a laboratory situation. Apart from the evaluation of the features of the software itself, there are some results of general interest. the main result was that all the advantages of the system derive from the connection between design and planning, i.e. the use of a product model as a basis for defining the result of production tasks. Allowing production managers to freely structure tasks and to apply resource recipes were the most relevant functions. |
| keywords |
Integration, Information, Construction, Planning, Field Trial, Product Model |
| series |
journal paper |
| references |
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| last changed |
2003/05/15 21:23 |
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