A multipurpose simulation platform for decision-making in construction management

Research in general purpose and special purpose simulation platforms typically treat model development, experimentation, validation and deployment of simulations as distinct phases. Direct involvement of decision-makers is usually limited to the validation phase, even though their participation significantly improves the effectiveness and applicability of models. Unfortunately, the complexity and sophistication involved in the model development and experimentation phases deters their participation. This also makes the validation problem particularly challenging, and hinders the credibility and successful deployment of such models. In addressing this problem, we introduce an interactive simulation platform called Interactive Construction Decision Making Aid (ICDMA), that integrates decision-maker participation into the model development, simulation deployment, experimentation and validation phases. Effectively it separates the complexities of programming the model and the model development process, thus encouraging the participation of domain experts. We illustrate the usefulness of this platform.