A KNOWLEDGE-BASED APPROACH TO SUPPORT THE GENERATION OF CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULES

Computerized support of the task of generating construction schedules is currently limited to provide a network representation of activities manually defined and sequenced. This definition of the activities, their characteristics (resource allocation, duration, etc.), and their sequencing demands substantial expertise and is time consuming. This research work attempts to provide intelligent support to the construction scheduler. A Knowledge-Based Systems approach is used, which involves three major phases: (1) knowledge acquisition from experts; (2) formalization of the elicited knowledge; and (3) production of a prototype Knowledge-Based System. An extensive program of interaction with industry expert schedulers is described here. The status of the computer implementation work is discussed as well.