Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 5

Engineering Decision Making and Risk Management.

Decision-Making Systems Assignment


Organization Overview
The organization chosen for this report is an architectural firm. This organization is a decision-
making system because building design requires collecting information from the clients which
are converted into the requirement specifications. [1]
The key players in this system are:
• Clients: They are the customers of this organization and hold contracts with the architect
and contractors. They are responsible for making payments
• Architect(s): The architects represent the architectural firm. Depending on the size of the
project, this could be a single architect or a group of architects with a lead architect. The
architect or lead architect also serves as the project manager and is responsible for
creating the building program, setting the project timeline and ensuring that the timeline
is adhered to.
• Consultants: The consultants include all the individual subdisciplines required for the
project. The engineers (electrical, civil, mechanical, structural, plumbing), special
consultants (such as lighting, acoustics, or code/life safety for complex projects) and the
site surveyors are all under this classification.
• The Regulatory Agencies: These players are responsible for ensuring that the designs are
feasible and adhere to national standards.

Root Definition
Design generation is carried out in 5 phases [2]. However, the scope of this root definition is
limited to the first 2:
• The Schematic Design Phases
• The Design Development Phase
The design process, the purposeful activity modeled by the phases enumerated above, is the
process by which the client’s requirements, the input to the system, are transformed into designs.
This process is divided into two fundamental processes: Understanding and Synthesizing.
Understanding: This procedure is the most important part of the design process as it provides a
clear understanding of the entire project parameters. An in-depth analysis of the scope of the
project including the client requirements and all additional criteria.
Synthesizing: This procedure draws together the results of the various facets of analysis done in
the understanding procedure and identifies the most applicable designs.
Important to note is the fact that the output of the first phase, schematic designs (design sketches)
are further refined in the design development phase using the same processes described above.
where final designs are produced.
Swimlanes Model
The swimlanes model constructed for this organization is detailed in the diagram shown below.

CLIENT/CUSTOMER ARCHITECT(S) CONSULTANTS REGULATORY AGENCIES

Generate
Requirement List

Create Schematic
Designs (Sketches)

Review Sketches and


Select Alternatives

Create Final Designs

Make Final Design


Choice
Prepare Design
for Regulatory
Review

Review Design
for Compliance
to Standards

No
Standards
met?

Prepare Construction Drawings Yes

To Contractors
Conceptual Models
The procedures identified in the root definition are deconstructed into smaller activities which
are itemized below:
Understanding:
• Analyzing the building program (a clear definition of the client’s requirements) through
research and benchmarking.
• Analyzing the project site.
• Analyzing the context in which the site is located.
• Analyzing the building technology of the region.
• Analyzing the project’s long-term environmental impact.
Synthesizing:
• Establishing project goals and objectives.
• Reviewing consultant analysis.
• Prioritizing analysis data.
• Creating a design generative logic (process).
• Monitoring and controlling process.
• Generating designs.
• Evaluating designs against project goals and design logic.
• Selecting alternatives.
Understanding Synthesizing

Analyze Building Program Establish project


goals and objectives
Analyze Project Site
Review consultant
Analyze Site Context analysis

Analyze Region Create a design Monitor and


Building Technology process control process

Generate designs
Analyze Project
Environmental Impact
Evaluate designs

Select alternatives
Decision-Making Roles
In this system, the persons that carry out each of the decision-making roles [1] are given below
1. Recommending alternatives by gathering, analyzing, and presenting information to the
decision-maker: ARCHITECTS
2. Providing input by providing, when consulted, information about the alternatives:
CONSULTANTS
3. Agree by verifying that an alternative is feasible with respect to their domain:
REGULTORY AGENCIES
4. Decides, is responsible for the decision, and has the authority to implement it: CLIENT
5. Perform the decision by implementing the desired actions: ARCHITECTS

References

[1] J. Herrmann, Engineering Decision Making and Risk Management, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons,
Inc., 2015.

[2] The American Institue of Architects, The Architects Handbook of Professional Practice, Hoboken,
New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2014.

Вам также может понравиться