Strategy optimization and generation for construction project management using an interactive simulation

Construction activities are exposed to unpredictable external events and internal dynamic feedbacks of constraints which deviate projects from as-planned duration and costs. In practice, various decisions have been used to minimize the impacts of risks. Learning from experiences is valuable which requires historical data collection and analysis. To avoid the high cost in direct data collection and difficulties in studying single decision impacts, we present an alternative to study and optimize decision strategies. Interactive Construction Decision Making Aid (ICDMA) is an interactive simulator which allows users to implement different decision strategies on the defined projects. All the project information and decision data in the simulation are recorded electronically. We started with five candidate strategies and analyzed data for general patterns. New hybrid strategies were generated based on the data analysis. Reimplementation of new strategies showed improvement in cost and duration management, validating the feasibility of strategy optimization through interactive simulation.