Automatic Operational Decision-Making on Construction Sites using Choosing by Advantages and Situational Awareness

During construction operations, last planners (LPs) encounter situations that require quick decisions to maintain workflow. Although site monitoring and control benefits from the valuable input of experienced LPs, an impartial evaluation of site conditions can help reach better decisions. There is a lack of tools that address the operational needs of LPs, where production control is usually done by higher site managers that use sophisticated scheduling and control platforms. This paper presents an artefact that helps LPs and crew members make better decisions at the operations’ level. The artefact, based on the Choosing by Advantages (CBA) method, helps to leverage data from a situational awareness system to compare work options and advise on optimized alternatives. The artefact shows potential in selecting the best sequence of tasks based on site conditions, while optimizing on selected process performance measures.