PROCON: A knowledge-based approach to construction project control

Integrated project control systems consist of verifying that all the activities involved in the construction project occur in conformity with the baseline plan. In recent years, the construction industry has seen an increase in the use of automated project control systems. However, these systems are limited by their total dependence on quantitative data necessary for cost and schedule control. On the other hand, many problems encountered in construction are ill-structured and poorly-defined. Therefore, human expertise and knowledge continue to be central for effective project control.; The dissertation employs the applications of "knowledge based systems" (KBS) and presents a prototype KBS to the construction project control system. These systems provide tools for computer use in acquiring and structuring human knowledge and expertise in fields where conventional algorithmic programming cannot apply.; The domain of the prototype, which is called PROCON, describes a project control system designed to monitor and analyze construction work packages' performances against planned objectives to determine the present performance status and determine the causes of any deviation to the present performance level. PROCON will then forecast the future performances of these work packages. Work packages represent a construction work activities that are used as a key control point in an integrated project control system.; The performance deviation analysis of PROCON applies the causal diagnosis approach to KBS. This approach diagnoses any device in terms of the structure and the behavior of the device's components.; The forecasting analysis of PROCON uses a new approach too. This approach involves the application of a theory of modeling human judgment in decision making. This theory is called the Social Judgment Theory. This theory is concerned with building a mathematical model of the cognitive system, when people make predictions on the basis of predictive cues.; There are three objectives in conducting this research. The first is a basis for effective support for construction project control. The second objective is to explore the issues that arise in the development of a KBS. The third objective is to collect and organize the knowledge relevant to performance measurement and forecasting of construction projects in a form of a knowledge based system.