INTEGRATING THE PROCESSES OF DESIGN, SCHEDULING, AND COST ESTIMATING WITHIN AN OBJECT-ORIENTED ENVIRONMENT. IN: PREPARING FOR CONSTRUCTION IN THE 21ST CENTURY, PROCEEDINGS OF CONSTRUCTION CONGRESS '91, SPONSORED BY THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS IN COOPERATION WITH THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MINING ENGINEERS AND THE AMERICAN ARBITRATION ASSOCIATION, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, APRIL 13-16, 1991

This paper describes the conceptual design of several processes for performing the stages of building design, construction scheduling, and cost estimating within an object-oriented environment. There are four major processes to be performed within the environment: (a) Conceptual Design From Project Scope, in which design components are generated from a set of given project parameters; (b) Initial Scheduling, in which an initial construction schedule is generated based on the design components; (c) Refined Scheduling, in which the initial schedule is revised and updated based on task durations; and (d) Cost Distribution, in which costs are distributed and aggregated into activity, building system, and budget hierarchies based on task costs. These processes are part of a prototype system which focuses on mid-rise building construction and is now under development in an object-oriented programming environment on a personal computer.