Database Expert Planning System for On-Site Design Strategies

Abstract

The successful delivery of capital facility projects demands the existence of effective channels of communication among project participants. Thus, clear unambiguous communication of information is an indispensable condition to successfully complete capital projects. As ever-increasing project performance requirements become more difficult to achieve in globally competitive business scenarios, some project teams seek to gain a competing advantage by employing the management strategy of relocating design activities to the site. This paper summarizes research addressing the question of what, when, and how much on-site design is appropriate to favorably influence project performance. On the basis of the analysis of data representative of 115 capital facility projects with $9 billion in total installed costs, a database expert planning system was investigated to reliably compute the specific design activities that, when on-site executed, increase the chances for project success. The expert system also estimates the project phase(s) most beneficial for the on-site execution of design activities and the most appropriate level of on-site deployment. This study further characterizes current on-site design strategies and conclusively demonstrates their value.