Development of a process model for the design stage of building projects

The aim of this research is to develop a CONstruction Best Practice System (CONBPS) which reflects the management of the process on a building project. CONBPS focuses on projects which use the traditional procurement strategy and JCT 80 standard form of contract. First, a theoretical construction plan of work has been developed for the whole design and construction cycle. This model clearly states the sequence of construction activities. It also identifies the roles and responsibilities of the major parties on the building team and the issues within the project cycle, which can prove critical to project success. The theoretical framework is the inputted information for the prototype of CONBPS. Because of financial and time limits, the development of the computerised system focuses on the design stage. It is presented as an expert system, which provides interim and final reports based on the answers of users. The reports are used to advise the participants on the success factors that they have ignored and to which aspects they should pay more attention. CONBPS has been tested by a major survey and a two-stage evaluation process. The system has been updated after receiving the comments from practitioners. Both the theoretical framework and the user interface have been updated. The first amendment on the theoretical framework concerned the roles of the parties. Apart from the major party for the activities, the participants who should provide support are identified in the framework. The second amendment related to the activities. Certain activities were classified in a hierarchy. Some activities, like cost management were in a major section with sub-headings, including cost control, cost advice and cost estimates etc. On the 'interface front', more functions were added. These functions included 'go back to the previous activity', 'running the construction activities in parallel', 'jump to specific activity', 'allowing the system to continue even if the user has not finished the previous activity', 'record the previous answers', 'allowing the participant to look at their own roles and activities only', 'connect the system to other software', 'add the on-line help function' and 'provide user code for each participant' etc. The aim of adding these functions was to facilitate the user and to assist the user in learning from the experience of past projects. The targeted users of this system are project managers, construction participants, and any parties who are interested in understanding the construction process. The people who need to sort out the claims issues in construction projects can also use this system so as to check the appropriateness ofthe work sequence. Also beginners in construction project can use this system as a 'teaching tool' for familiarisation with the construction process. The major finding of this project has been the development of a final version of the expert system - CONBPS which has been updated incorporating comments from practitioners. Owing to financial and time limits, the final version of CONBPS has focused mainly on the inception stage. The theoretical framework of the finalised CONBPS not only reflects the sequence of construction activities, but also identifies the major/ associated parties in the building process. Moreover, the activities are classified into hierarchical in order to facilitate the understanding of users. On the system interface, it has also incorporated many user-friendly functions, including providing introductory screens for explaining the operations of the system, allowing users to simply choose an icon for answering each question, supplying interim and final reports and providing on-line help functions.