Criteria for Selecting Design Process Modelling Approaches

Abstract

Process models are among the principal artefacts used for managing design projects. However, the selection of effective modelling approaches can be difficult for design project managers, given that a plethora of tools exists for various modelling purposes. In addition to date no systematic approach for the assessment and selection of process modelling approaches is available to practitioners. This paper presents the development of criteria for benchmarking and selecting different process modelling tools. The results are based on three elements. (1) In a four-hour workshop undertaken by the Design Process SIG of the Design Society, bringing together around 20 international researchers and practitioners in design process modelling, an initial set of 58 criteria were brainstormed and consolidated during the workshop and in follow-up meetings. (2) The consolidated criteria were then compared with literature. The finalised criteria list was then validated by external experts in industry (3). The resulting list of 12 criteria provides a sound basis for practitioners to support a systematic selection of process modelling approaches. Further, it lays the foundation of a benchmarking tool, which is subject to future work.

Selecting Design Process Modelling Approaches for Building Design: A Review

“…The study adapts the criteria for selecting modelling approaches by Trauer et al, (2021) to the specific BD process. Based on the experience and understanding of the entire process of the first author, the knowledge of the process, stakeholders, documents, decisions, and redesigns involved forms the anecdotal evidence and objectives of the process modelling (See Section 2.1).…”

“…Section 4 describes how the criteria are relevant to the modelling of the BD process in more detail. Backward snowballing of literature mentioned in Table 1 of Trauer et al, (2021)work for each of these 5 criteria, led to the articles describing the various design process models fulfilling those criteria. From these articles, a total of 59 unique process models and their corresponding literature were collected.…”

“…"A measure of which different elements (artefacts, stakeholder, tasks, steps, etc) can be included by the method" (Trauer et al, 2021) This is the most important selection criteria due to the nature of the building design process that is to be modelled. The building process as described in detail in section 1.1 involved many stakeholders and information exchange.…”

“…"A measure of how easily additional internal elements can be connected" (Trauer et al, 2021) The nature of building design processes involves many different teams and stakeholders where information and decision making interconnected. This interconnectivity and information dependencies should be modelled as it has a high potential to be streamlined to minimise redundancies or decoupled.…”

“…These iterations are more complex as the approval process involves multiple organisations agreeing to a final, unique, and one-off design. The paper adapts process model selection criteria recommended by Trauer et al, (2021) and combines these with the experience of the first two authors as practising engineers in the AEC industry. The study first ranks the 5 most important criteria chosen to select process models that can be used to effectively document the characteristics of the BD process.…”