MDA Planner: Interactive Planning Tool Using Product Models and Construction Methods

Abstract

The aim of the project was to devise a model for computer aids for planning and control, adapted to the working conditions on a building site. The planner meets an interactive environment with integrated tools: a product model produced in the design phase, a methods' tool in which planning knowledge is stored as generic plans, a tool for finding and assigning resources, a planning tool for configuring schedules, and a monitoring diary. Plans on any level of detail can be tailored by pointing out building objects in the product model and combining them with the suitable methods that the system uses as planning rules and for assigning resources. Given these facts, the system automatically generates activities and schedules them according to pre‐ and postconditions related to the results. Activities are not dependent on each other, thus allowing the planner to substitute one method for another without disturbing the structure of the schedule. Monitored data—the actual state—can be used for revising plans as well as for gathering new knowledge about methods.