Computer-assisted scheduling for repetitive construction

This paper describes an object-oriented software system designed for planning and scheduling of repetitive construction such as: high-rise buildings, housing projects, pipeline networks, highways, bridges and tunnels. The system is developed using object oriented modelling and it incorporates recent research work in dynamic programming and a recently developed algorithm for resource-driven scheduling. Object oriented modelling is utilized to represent project activities and their inter-relationships as objects. Dynamic programming is utilized for scheduling optimization, generating least cost or least duration project schedules. For each repetitive activity in the project, the system identifies, from a set of possible alternatives, the optimum resource utilization strategy (i.e. crew size, number of crews, overtime policy and/or interruption options). In addition, the model incorporates a flexible algorithm for resource-driven scheduling of repetitive activities that satisfies crew work continuity constraint in addition to precedence relationships and crew availability constraints. The algorithm also considers a number of practical factors commonly encountered in scheduling of this class of projects. The system is flexible and provides a number of practical features. It has been coded as a windows application that runs on Microsoft Windows and provides user-friendly interface. The windows application is menu-driven and provides windows and dialogue boxes to facilitate the input and output of scheduling data. The system is designed to encourage user involvement in the scheduling process.