Establishing expert system for prediction based on the project-oriented data warehouse

Many studies have generated cost estimating relationships (CERs) for transportation projects via data analysis. Some studies collected data from databases, while others sourced data from conventional paper-based formats. When cost data were not in a consistent format, many studies failed to discuss the streamlining of pattern recognition, ranging from generating a problem statement, data warehouse and prediction modeling to information management. This study adopts a standard procedure of identifying CERs for transportation projects. For the proposed dimensional data warehouse, a pavement maintenance and rehabilitation project was selected as a case study for extracting data and concealed prediction rules. Linear and log-linear statistical approaches were adopted to create most advantageous models, defined based on their explanatory power and mean absolute prediction error. The resulting favorable estimation models created from the proposed cost data warehouse were integrated into an expert system to facilitate information management and generate preliminary budgets for transportation agencies.