Effectiveness of OLAP-based cost data management in construction cost estimate

Historical cost data offer important information on the performance of past construction work, while current information technology makes it easier to develop databases. The database, however, needs to be utilized more, by providing a functional environment of probability analysis. The objective of this paper is to improve the effectiveness of utilizing historical cost data in an analytical OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) environment. A probability model has been prepared to support the functionality of OLAP. A prototype of the cost data management environment, Cost Data Management System (CDMS), has been developed to test the advantage of OLAP in cost estimate. A case study was carried out on the cost estimate of a sample project using the prototype. The results show that the OLAP environment can help understand the uncertainties in construction cost estimate, and provide a way for projecting more reliable construction costs.