Process risk management using Configurable Process Models

Abstract

Almost no construction project performs totally as planned as dynamic changes are frequently needed. These changes can be ascribed to the high uncertainty, which is evaluated as potential causes of risks and risks is in turn are evaluated as potential causes of plan changes. Several concepts from the Business Process Modeling domain are adopted to build an explicit processoriented knowledge documentation of the construction processes. A standardized process description is suggested that offers flexibility in its content to be usable in different contexts. Configurable fragments in the course of the process models express the uncertain parts of the process. A general structure of a Configurable Reference Process Model (CRPM) is developed as an ontology model to document the construction processes in a Process-oriented Knowledge base. By using this knowledge base a considerable planning effort will be saved. Moreover, the quality of the process schedules, since they will be derived from the reference process models, will be enhanced and the expenditure of time will be reduced. © 2011 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.