Integrating a novel multiple-objective FBI with BIM to determine tradeoff among resources in project scheduling

Project managers face a challenge when they must trade-off various resource factors such as time, cost, quality, safety, and the environment. Such challenges increase with the size and complexity of the project. This investigation develops a framework for making tradeoffs among resources in project scheduling that fuses building information modeling (BIM), multi-objective optimization (MOO), and multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). First, a 3D model is constructed using BIM construction management software. This model generates a bill of quantities to specify required project resources. Then, a novel multiple-objective forensic-based investigation (MOFBI) is introduced to provide the optimal solution set. Finally, a generic evidence-based multi-criteria decision analysis method is used to determine the best schedule for project execution. Three project scheduling problems are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed framework. The obtained results reveal that MOFBI can find outcome curves with a high uniform distribution of solutions and visual analytics. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.