Application of MDM for Scheduling Iteration in Construction Projects

Abstract

Design phase of any construction project is associated with multiple information exchanges among and across several entities such as teams, components, deliverables, or parameters. When these information exchanges occur along the cycles/loops, it is termed as iteration. In general, the information exchanges traversing within and across several entities in any direction throughout the design phase were referred to various ways such as interdependent, overlaps, two-way information exchanges. In this study, these information exchanges were referred to as interdependent or beelines. If this interdependency and iteration are not identified early and planned properly, it can lead to unnecessary changes which ultimately results in time and cost overruns. To date, researchers had identified the beeline diagramming method (BDM) as the potential method to model the beelines. Also, multiple domain matrix (MDM) is a powerful emerging methodology for capturing iterations across multiple entities. In the present study, an attempt is made to utilize the potential features of MDM in modeling and scheduling beelines in construction projects. To demonstrate the proposed concept, the design of underground metro construction project data was used. The preliminary results of this study were found noteworthy, and it was observed that the MDM has adequate potential to model beelines.