Simulation as a Decision-Support Tool in Construction Project Management

Abstract

Simulation is a powerful tool, critical to effective construction project management. They can provide decision support for different aspects of a construction project, but they have not been adopted widely in the construction industry as they are difficult to use. This thesis has developed Simphony-as-a-Service, an advanced simulation tool that bridges the gap between simulation software and real-world construction practices. The key contributions of this work are the following: Re-architecting Simphony, a powerful multi-functional legacy software, into a cloud-based software as a service on the micro-service architecture for easy adoption; Grounding the tool in a project-modeling language aligned with industry standards; Providing a browser accessible user interface, tailored to the needs of different stakeholders, i.e., project owners, project managers, and on-site personnel; Incorporating critical-path computation and comparisons to assist in identifying critical tasks and evaluating alternative schedules; Providing APIs for real-time project progress tracking, enhancing monitoring capabilities, and enabling model re-simulation from any point in time of a project for exploring what-if scenarios and facilitating informed decision-making.