Concurrent planning using semantics-driven reconciliation

Abstract

Concurrent planning, scheduling, and monitoring are challenging problems relating to effective communication and collaboration among key project participants like managers, planners, designers, cost analysts, and production engineers. Commercially available planning systems provide for a wide range of traditional network techniques such as Gantt chart, Critical Path Method (CPM), and the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), but have significant limitations for large-scale projects which have to be managed concurrently due to complexity and short deadlines. Being oriented on synchronously working users, such systems usually adopt client-server architectures, centralized data stores and pessimistic transaction models that create well-known performance, availability and productivity shortcomings. The research presented follows alternative approach to collaborative planning based on optimistic replication of project data and use of all-embracing, semantics-driven reconciliation method (SRM). The method enables to identify and to resolve conflicts in concurrently elaborated plans and bring them to semantically correct representation. Being implemented as a data exchange bridge between project management and 4D modelling systems, it supports effective collaboration through synchronizing the project plans and consolidating the results of individual work. © 2011 Springer-Verlag London Limited.