Web-Based Decision Support Systems: Case Study in Project Delivery

The decentralized nature of the construction industry contributes to difficulties in the implementation and dissemination of project management-based decision tools. The majority of decision support systems (DSS) are contained in-house with private developers and users, or on researchers stand-alone computers and academic journals. Current World Wide Web technologies provide the appropriate means for large-scale implementation and continued development of DSS for the architectural, engineering, and construction community. This paper documents a DSS developed specifically for design/build project selection among United States public sector agencies. The system, the Design/Build Selector (DBS), is Web enabled, allowing for easy access and large-scale dissemination. Design/build project procurement is rapidly expanding throughout public sector agencies in the United States construction industry. As public agencies turn to design/build, appropriate project selection is a primary consideration affecting successful delivery. Prior to the implementation of DBS, there was no systematic or formalized method for selecting projects appropriate for design/build. Since 1997, the Web site that houses the DBS has been visited by over 4,000 people, and the DBS tool has been used on 102 projects representing over $4.8 billion in construction. This paper reports on the application and potential for Web-based DSS in civil engineering. The architecture of the program, data collection, model weighting, and output interface are explained.