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Developing AI Based Scheme for Project Planning by Expert Merging Revit and
Primavera Software

Conference Paper · March 2019

DOI: 10.1109/SSD.2019.8893274

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 2019 16th International Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals & Devices (SSD'19)
Developing AI Based Scheme for Project Planning by
Expert Merging Revit and Primavera Software
Karim M. Aljebory (1)
(1)
Al Qalam University College, kmjebory@gmail.co m
Abstract: Project control and monitoring tools
are based on expert judgment and parametric
tools. Some of these tools are Artificial
Intelligence techniques. Today’s project
planning tools require the generation and
sequencing of each activity.
Establishing interactive computer based
scheduled plan for a project requires not only
injecting the information technology, but all
project activities and inserting their durations
and resource requirements in organized and
sequenced manner. New parametric Building
Information Modeling (BIM) software like
Revit can dramatically enhance planning
productivity by substantially reducing the work
necessary for preparing construction schedule.
The new parametric BIM can automate
exchange of information during design,
construction and service life of projects.
In this paper, the Revit is connected to
Primavera software by conducting expert
system that supports automatic generation of
the project plan scheduling scheme of project
control functions. This will eliminate some of
the most tedious and time consuming steps in
creating a construction project schedule.
Keywords- BIM, AI, Project Planning, Project
Control.
I. INTRODUCTION
Planning in construction project is an essential,
crucial, fundamental and challenging activity in
the management and execution of projects. A good
plan is that safely execute the project in time and
budget constraints, and not compromising the
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Mustafa QaisIssam(2)
(2)
mustafa.qaisisam@yahoo.com
product quality. Planning, currently, depends and
relies upon manual formulation, tracking of plans
and is usually performed in an intuitive and
unstructured fashion [1, 8]. Formulation of a plan
implies identifying work tasks, generating
activities list, predicting relationships between
these activities, determining required resources
and calculating partial budget to assist in
expecting final project budget etc..., by a group of
engineers which called Planning Project Team
(PPT). The PPT almost carry out their job using
critical path method (CPM) to achieve good and
successful plan. CPM helps the PPT in identifying
which activities are critical and need to be in time
according to the schedule.
This paper will focus on those using Artificial
Intelligence algorithms and conducting project
success estimation and concerns with:
- supporting automation of the construction
process at its early planning stages.
- achieving more realistic schedule for a
construction project by exploiting a rich-data
model of BIM.
- building a frame work of knowledge base
system that make use of BIM (Revit) data files and
get access/ control to Primavera database.
II. PLANNING AND SCHEDULING (PS)
Before starting any construction project, both
small and big, a guideline has to be developed.
The project plan passes through two main phases;
planning phase and scheduling phase. The
planning, consists of two main processes; choice
of construction technologies, and definition of
work tasks, while scheduling involves four main
processes; sequencing of tasks, estimation of the
required resources and durations for individual
tasks, identification of the interactions or
constraints among the related tasks. The general
404
 2019 16th International Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals & Devices (SSD'19)

description for Planning and Scheduling processes simple division of the quantity by productivity, or
is described as follows. by referring to historical records of past projects.
An imperial method is to find the duration from
1- Define Construction Methods: selection of
expertise who are out in the field doing the work.
construction method to be replanned and decided.
It, directly, affects the cost estimate as well as the 6- Schedule development/ schedule generation:
schedule of the project. As an example, the Once the project has been organized into a
method of pouring concrete can be either by a sequence of activities and sub-activities, the PPT
pump or it can be transported in buckets. This needs to identify a logical order in which they
decision may, directly, affects the time duration should be sequenced, determine its resources,
and the budget needed for the completion of the duration, budget and in the shortest possible time.
activity. This is usually done by the critical path method
(CPM), network diagram, schedule compression,
2- Define the tasks schedule: decomposing the
resource levelling. With advances in technology,
project into activities and sub-activities. It is the
software packages provide better, faster and more
most cumbersome job to do, but this is the
accurate schedules.
important step assisting in the development of a
formal schedule of the project, because there can
be thousands of activities in a project. Schedule 7- Project Control: This involves monitoring the
tasks are usually organized in a project schedule project execution and insures that activities are at
using Work breakdown structure (WBS) which their scheduled time and within scheduled budget
organizes the sub-activities into levels that are to keep the project on schedule and within budget.
developed into a summary. Project breakdown
The developed system concerns only the core
structure is a tree form reflecting the work
factors in the first six processes to develop a
products on all levels produced by a project. While
realistic plan. The developed application extracts
the WBS defines activities which are required to
information from the BIM software as data-rich
enhance the work product to the required quality.
design elements and provides actual activities and
their sequencing for scheduling projects on
3- Sequence schedule tasks: Proper sequencing Primavera software package.
of the activities plays an important role in the
success or failure of the schedule. Activity
Facilities of Building Information Modelling:
sequence is the order in which each activity should
BIMis developed to simulate the construction and
be performed on the site. There are many factors
operation of projects. The BIM model is data-rich,
govern the sequencing and maintain structural
object-oriented, intelligent and parametric digital
integrity of activity, trade interaction, path
representation of the facility, from which views
interference and safety regulations.
and data appropriate to various users can be
extracted. The generated information can be used
4- Estimate resource requirement of each task: to make decisions and improve the process of
this involves deciding the type, number of delivering the facility. It is essential source of
workers, material and equipment. In this stage the information that is required for analysis, planning,
required resources to complete the project, and etc... [3, 6].
resources for each activity are identified. By
identifying the resources of the project,
bottlenecks related to resource allocation and Facilities of Primavera P6; this software has
activity sequencing are avoided. All these are done many facilities for project and time management
before calculating the duration of the activities. that meets various needs of project managers in
project plan designing and controlling. Although
Primavera is essentially designed for project-based
5- Estimate duration of each task: the duration organizations, it can be used for independent
of activity is the required time for completion. projects. The project elementary structure can be
Duration can be computed if the quantity of work fully defined by this software.
and the productivity of the crew are known by
Primavera P6 is designed for timing, controlling,

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 2019 16th International Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals & Devices (SSD'19)

and estimating costs of projects. Some of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in order to process data
objectives that are met using this software are: like human intelligence. Knowledge based expert
system (KBES) is defined as; AI computer
- Making strategic decisions
applications to solve complex problems in a
- Precise control of time up to the end of project particular domain, at the level of human
- Identifying the required resources, and resource intelligence and expertise. To this end, the
prioritization and estimation in long period of time research is exploring KBES as an approach to
extend the range of computer based applications in
- Reorganizing projects based on the new priority the construction project planning.
order without any negative influence on the
quality KBES technique applications and usefulness are
presented in a wide range of research studies.
- Reporting, auditing while project progressing Some applications were introduced;
- In-time manifesting the critical situations. CONSTRUCTION PLANEX developed by
Hendrickson (1987) as a frame based hierarchical
system for scheduling construction projects. It has
Facilities of Knowledge based Expert System
tables for functions like construction technology
(KBES): The KBES is proposed to perform all
selection, form project activities, duration
basic tasks of Human Planner/ Scheduler. A KBES
estimation, cost, predecessor selection, etc. [13].
can provide human expertise by; both the
knowledge engineering language and the program- Navinchandra, et al. (1988) developed aprogram
supporting environment. The basic structure of called Generation of Hierarchical networks for
KBES is as shown in Figure 1. construction (GHOST). The methodology
modifies the topology of construction activity
The AI application of KBES requires development
networks [10]. Knowledge is not used to build the
of a knowledge base that permits engineers to
network but to criticize it. It starts by assuming
interact with: the characteristic data, the
that all the activities will be executed
theoretical or simulation results, and the specific
simultaneously with a general network and
hypothesis of control measures. KBES have very
subdivides it into sub activities then modifies the
high potential for tackling problems that lack
network by examining what cannot be done in
explicit algorithms (e.g., problems for which a
parallel. This planning technique inputs a list of
numerical model does not exists). It retrieves data
activities and produces a schedule as output by
from many types of documents or project design in
setting up the predecessors among the activities.
BIM format, Geographical Information System
(GIS). The system involves building consistent Kartam and Levitt (1990) studied intelligent
components to maintain interaction between these planning of construction projects (SIPE), and
components and provide quick access to each proposed a new sequencing based on common
other. principles or constraints such as “supported by”,
“enclosed in” etc. SIPE can generate logically
correct activity networks from a description of the
components of a facility [9].Later that, Echeverry,
et al. (1991) proposed formalization of sequencing
knowledge for construction scheduling, and
developed a knowledge based prototype system
which incorporates the same principles [7].
Cherneff, et al. (1991) introduced the BUILDER
Figure1. The KBES generic architecture. which integrates the CAD with schedule
generation. It is based on object oriented
III. THE ROLE OF AI IN PROJECT programming [11, 12], and consists of two main
SCHEDULING knowledge modules (KMs); first “Draw” for
creating and interpreting architectural floor plans
Developing a plan can be automated by deploying and second “Planner” for producing construction
schedule.

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 2019 16th International Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals & Devices (SSD'19)

projeect design in BIM format, Geographica

G al
Bjork (19944) presentted researcch details of
B
Inforrmation Syystem (GIIS), Weath her recordds
RAATAS project which concerns developingg an
databbase and Coontext. The system imp plementatioon
inffrastructure for computter integrateed construcction
invollves buildding consistent com mponents to t
annd digital transfer of inform mation am mong
mainntain interacction between these componentts
applications [13].
and provide
p fast and quick aaccess to eaach other.
R
Researchers at the Centrre of Integrrated Facilitty at
Revit provides API interroperability that allow ws
Staanford Unniversity have h carrieed out many
m
accesss and filterr elements of a design n model. On O
sciientific ressearch worrks for auutomating and
the other hand, the syystem gets access to t
seqquencing of constrruction activities. They T
Primaavera databbase, Primavvera P6 stores data in a
developing a knowleddge based environments
moree than 170 Tables.
T These tables arre referenceed
plaatform for project
p scheeduling.
to eaach other byb relationss between primary
p keey
Fischer andd Alami (1996) ( monstrated an and foreign
dem f keyy. There aree only arou und 20 mosst
emmpirical schheduling appproach thaat is basedd on used tables that anyone neeeds really to o be familiaar
computer models
m thatt simulatee interpretaable with.
construction method
m [11,, 12].
KBE ES Components for p planning prrojects: Thhe
KBES needs thhree modulees to perforrm planninng
IVV. AI AND D EXPERT SCHEDUL LING and schedulingg processees. They are namelly
Context, Operaators and K Knowledgee base. Thhe
Knnowledge representati
r on, reasoniing techniqques Cont ext Modul le contains s information on thhe
derived from m AI permiit computers to geneerate projeect, includinng the desiign, site ch haracteristiccs
plaans, not merely
m anaalyse plans produced by and the
t planninng decision
ns made. T he Operatoor
huumans. The knowleddge to geenerate pllans, Modu ule containns operators s that creatte, delete oro
descriptions of actionss, and conntrol struccture modiify the infformation sstored in the t contexxt.
reppresented foor selectingg new actionns to insert into Operrators are u
used for d
different tas
sks such a
as
a project
p plann. techn
nology chooice, activiity synthessis, duratioon
estim
mation ...etcc. The geneeric compo onents of AI A
In this paper an experieence modellling for hoouse application in KBES K and thheir relation
nship areas in i
buuilding projeect planningg is presenteed. It is useed to Figurre 2.
plaan this project, desccribe its performance
p e in
plaanning the constructionn of large‐sscale buildinngs.
D
Domain Experrt E
End User
Thhe Revit BIM B packkage and Primavera
P are
intterfaced to plan this project. Revvit can geneerate
loggically corrrect activitty networkks for buildding
construction from
f t components
a desccription of the Expert Syystem
off a facility, while Prim mavera maanage the tiime-
cost schedule for activitiies. To moddel projects in a
unniform fram mework, we will show the usefulnness
K
Knoledge Enginneer Building Tools
off some princciples for esstablishing relationship
r ps of
thee project componeents invollved in the Figu ure2. Main components
c s of KBES.
construction activities.
a
T AI/KBE
The ES application requirees developm ment The Knowledge-Base containss distincct
off a knowleddge base that t permits engineerss to knowwledge souurces of ta
ables, tree
es, semanti ic
intteract witth: the characteristi
c ic data, the netwo orks andd rulesspeecific to particulaar
theeoretical orr simulationn results, annd the speccific techn
nology choiices, activitty durations, and otheer
hyypothesis off control measures. KB BES have very v consiiderations.
higgh potentiaal for tackkling problems that lack l
exxplicit algorrithms (e.gg., problems for whicch a V. PR ROGRAM MMING, IM MPLEMENTATION
nuumerical moodel does not n exists).Itt retrieves data
d
froom many tyypes of docuuments, i.e. the producct or The C#.net proogramming language program p waas

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 2019 16th International Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals & Devices (SSD'19)
used for development in this work. The object
oriented properties of C# are explored by
modelling each element in the project design into a
class that implicates the data structure needed for
construction project element. The operators in
KBES and the design activities used in planning
and scheduling phases are structured and
programmed as functions.
The program starts by instantiating an operator
which reads all elements from design model and
converts them to frames (design frames) stored in
context space. After creating the frames, another
group of operators that handles these frames by
selecting construction methods, and aggregating or
splitting them according to the knowledge
inferring. Before aggregation or splitting, some
operators invoked to exam the design frame if it is
not primitive (i.e. it is required another action to
be completed), the operator injects new frame/s
(i.e. Activity frame) which represent the extra
work needed to accomplish design element. The
fields of each frame continue to be filled by
multiple operators till the frame records are fully
Wall 2
Wall 1
Inner Layer Part of
Core Layer
Part of
Reinforcing Framing Pouring
Figure 3. The Relationship Expansion Design diagram.
978-1-7281-1820-8/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE
filled and there is no missing information in these
records.
The KBES algorithm builds a database entity for
each element and defines the basic activities in
entity relationships by expanding abstracted
design elements relationship to multiple levels of
details as in figure 3. As noted earlier, the system
defines frames for each design element. Each
Frame contains information concerning planning
process, then the system translates the Design
element to Element activity and then to Project
activity as shown in figure 4.The KBES platform
consists of primary tasks; inputs, outputs,
constrains/controls functions, and mechanisms.
The inference engine uses the knowledge to
construct the line of reasoning that finds a solution
for the construction problem. The KBES inference
engine works in conversational mode, i.e. interact
with the user by questions, then the engine will
work on a set of the reasoning rules to solve the
problem and achieve the goal gradually.
Simple House
Host
Door
Window
Outer Layer
Inferred Relation
Curing Removing Frame
408
 2019 16th International Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals & Devices (SSD'19)

Figure 4. Translattion of the Design

D Elem
ments into Construction
C n Activity

.
VI. EX
XPERIMEN
NTATION
N RESULTS
S steeps in creatting a consstruction pro
oject scheddule
caan be eliminnated. It alsso proved th
hat translation
A simple house buildding, as shoown in figurre 5, is off data bettween the Revit an nd Primavvera
used as a case study for validatting the prooposed so
oftware is automated
a to minimizze the hum man
system perrformance. It is an exaample for teesting, errrors.
investigatiing the functions correctnesss of
Element Extractor Operator, evaluatingg the
VII. CONC
CLUSION
results of the knowlledge base,, and finallly for
conductingg and dem monstrating interactionn with
In this paperr, a framew work for in ntelligent BIM
Primaveraa. This step is done byy correctly filling
dataa representaation and m
methods for use in projject
interfacingg tables. Eventually,
E the 3-dimeension
plannning were introduced. The archittecture and the
house is designed
d onn Revit sofftware, thenn each
function of KB BES for coonstruction planning was w
element coonstruction parameterss are passedd into
described. Appplying the K KBES repreesentations for
the Primavera softtware as input dataa for
each h stage off project pplanning an nd scheduling
constructioon activity schedulingg. The produced
dem
monstrated thet feasibillity of the system
s in that
t
data of the abovve activitiies are loaded l
actiivities netw
work, in bothh the durations estimatted,
automaticaally throughh the interffacing tablees into
and
d project schhedule.
the primavvera fields shown in figure 6 foor the
next step in scheduliing and maanagement of o the A number
n of feeatures are nnotable for the system;;
project acttivities. Thee proposed steps proveed that Firsst, the devveloped syystem led to a form mal
some of thet most teedious and time consuuming description off the construction pro oject planning

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 2019 16th International Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals & Devices (SSD'19)

pprocess. It may be onne of the first knowlledge-

b
based systems that cann handle/ help
h construuction Second, the arrchitecture of the systeem is modullar,
p
planning m model dessign to scheeduled sem
prrocess from mi automaticc which maakes it flexiible and eassily
p
plan. app
plicable for other
o types of industriaal projects.

Figuure 5 Sam
mple Parameetric Window
w for buildding (case sstudy).

The propoosed system incorpoorated num merous VIII. REFERE

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Figure 6. The Primavera Results Window of the Case Study in figure 4.

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