A Model for Analysis of Emergent Needs during Front End Design Decision Making

The complexity of construction processes often means interaction between various stakeholders, activities and tasks in order to deliver the expected outcomes. The intensity and dynamics of front-end design (FED) mean decision techniques and methods are important in supporting projects benefits delivery more importantly those based on utility of decision making. This paper explores a new utilitarian decision-making approach based on a systematic literature review of FED decision making. It presents the state of the art in design decision making concepts and analysis of tools over the last 10 years (2009–2019). From a total of 111 peer-reviewed journal papers, fifteen decision-making techniques are identified as dominant in design decision making, broadly grouped in four major categories as explanatory/rational, Multi Criteria Decision Making techniques (MCDM), Hybrid and Visual methods. The review finds that the most applied of the MCDM is Quality Function Deployment (QFD); while among the rational/explanatory techniques is set-based design (SBD). While there is limited application of Multi Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) in decision making, the paper finds that the robust consistency and structured approach better captures the intricate dynamics of FED; including modelling of the subjectivity, interdependences and uncertainty in design discourse.

Download Full-text

Front End Projects Benefits Realisation from a Requirements Management Perspective—A Systematic Literature Review

Buildings ◽

10.3390/buildings10050083 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 83

Author(s):

Joas Serugga ◽

Mike Kagioglou ◽

Patricia Tzortzopoulos

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Management Practice ◽

Integrated Design ◽

Current Evidence ◽

Design Decision ◽

Requirements Management ◽

Support Design ◽

Front End ◽

Improved Performance ◽

New Research

The recent notable emergence of a body of research in requirements management on one hand and benefits realisation has contributed to addressing a growing need for improved performance in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) projects. However, front end design (FED) as one of the vital processes in the project life cycle and delivery has attracted limited research to date within this understanding. This paper aims to map current evidence on requirements management in facilitating benefits realisation from an FED perspective. This is to bring about an updated and unified position on requirements management for its impact on design decision making. A systematic review of the literature covering the last ten years (2008–2018) aims first to build understanding and support identification of these emergent conceptual positions and secondly underscore essential requirements and their categorisations that impact on design discourse in FED. One hundred sixty-one peer-reviewed journal papers in the areas of benefits realisation and/or requirements management and/or FED based are identified on a pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thirty-six requirements are identified as important in influencing use case changes important in design decision making broadly grouped into nine major categories. Following analysis, this research finds little evidence supporting an integrated requirements management practice and understanding to support design decision making. The research further finds bias in current research discourse towards four requirements categories (technical, economics, governance and environment); and 14 requirements, dominated by three strategic values, collaboration and project governance, with over 80% share of literature. The least 14 requirements such as “flow of spaces, social status/aspiration, mobility and integrated design” among others only account for less than 10% of literature. The authors argue for new research to bridge this gap, highlight the essential role of requirements management and broaden understanding to improve benefits realisation, particularly for FED processes.

Download Full-text

Benefits Realization: Novel Conceptual Model for Front End–Design Decision-Making Using Dempster–Shafer Theory and Quality Function Deployment

Journal of Construction Engineering and Management ◽

10.1061/(asce)co.1943-7862.0002035 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 147 (7) ◽

Author(s):

Joas Serugga ◽

Mike Kagioglou ◽

Patricia Tzortzopoulos

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Conceptual Model ◽

Quality Function Deployment ◽

Design Decision ◽

Quality Function ◽

Dempster Shafer Theory ◽

Front End ◽

Benefits Realization ◽

Shafer Theory

Download Full-text

Integrating Value Considerations in the Decision Making for the Design of Biorefineries

Science and Engineering Ethics ◽

10.1007/s11948-020-00251-z ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 26 (6) ◽

pp. 2927-2955

Author(s):

Mar Palmeros Parada ◽

Lotte Asveld ◽

Patricia Osseweijer ◽

John Alexander Posada

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Complex Systems ◽

Research And Development ◽

Design Process ◽

Design Decision ◽

Value Sensitive Design ◽

Design Practice ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Design Alternatives ◽

Biobased Production

AbstractBiobased production has been promoted as a sustainable alternative to fossil resources. However, controversies over its impact on sustainability highlight societal concerns, value tensions and uncertainties that have not been taken into account during its development. In this work, the consideration of stakeholders’ values in a biorefinery design project is investigated. Value sensitive design (VSD) is a promising approach to the design of technologies with consideration of stakeholders’ values, however, it is not directly applicable for complex systems like biorefineries. Therefore, some elements of VSD, such as the identification of relevant values and their connection to a technology’s features, are brought into biorefinery design practice. Midstream modulation (MM), an approach to promoting the consideration of societal aspects during research and development activities, is applied to promote reflection and value considerations during the design decision making. As result, it is shown that MM interventions during the design process led to new design alternatives in support of stakeholders' values, and allowed to recognize and respond to emerging value tensions within the scope of the project. In this way, the present work shows a novel approach for the technical investigation of VSD, especially for biorefineries. Also, based on this work it is argued that not only reflection, but also flexibility and openness are important for the application of VSD in the context of biorefinery design.

Download Full-text

Arrow's Theorem and Engineering Design Decision Making

Research in Engineering Design ◽

10.1007/s001630050016 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 218-228 ◽

Cited By ~ 49

Author(s):

Michael J. Scott ◽

Erik K. Antonsson

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Engineering Design ◽

Design Decision ◽

Arrow’S Theorem ◽

Arrow's Theorem

Download Full-text

Systems Thinking in Tolerance and Quality-related Design Decision-making

Procedia CIRP ◽

10.1016/j.procir.2015.04.044 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 27 ◽

pp. 59-64 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Steven Hoffenson ◽

Rikard Söderberg

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Systems Thinking ◽

Design Decision ◽

Related Design

Download Full-text

Conceptual Design Decision-Making Assisted by a Comprehensive High-Speed Vehicle Knowledgebase Library

10.2514/6.2021-4231 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Stenila Simon ◽

Samuel Atchison ◽

Bernd Chudoba

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Conceptual Design ◽

High Speed ◽

Design Decision ◽

High Speed Vehicle

Download Full-text

A User-Centered Medical Device Design Decision Making Approach Using Hybrid Rough Cooperative Game Model

10.1115/detc2021-71293 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Liting Jing ◽

Junfeng Ma

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Medical Device ◽

Set Theory ◽

Cooperative Game ◽

Rough Set ◽

Rough Set Theory ◽

Design Decision ◽

Device Design ◽

Medical Device Design ◽

User Centered

Abstract With the advancement of new technologies and diverse customer-centered design requirements, the medical device design decision making becomes challenge. Incorporating multiple stakeholders’ requirements into the medical device design will significantly affect the market competitiveness and performance. The classic design decision making approaches mainly focused on design criteria priority determination and conceptual schemes evaluation, which lack the capacity of reflecting the interdependence of interest among stakeholders and capturing the ambiguous influence on the overall design expectations, leading to the unreliable decision making results. In order to relax these constraints in the medical device design, this paper incorporates rough set theory with cooperative game theory model to develop a novel user-centered design decision making framework. The proposed approach is composed of three components: 1) end/professional user needs identification and classification, 2) evaluation criteria correlation diagram and scheme value matrix establishment using rough set theory; and 3) fuzzy coalition utility model development to obtain optimal desirability considering users’ conflict interests. We used a blood pressure meter case study to demonstrate and validate the proposed approach. Compared with the traditional Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) approach, the proposed approach is more robust.

Download Full-text