Using Ontology to Develop the Risk Management Framework for Prefabricated Housing Projects in Nicaragua

Abstract

Risks are ever-present in all aspects of life and the construction industry is no exception One of the most important tasks that pertains to a project manager is how to effectively manage project risks and in particular schedule risks that may cause delays This duty is very intricate not only due to the nature of the risk itself but because the project management team must have a complete comprehension of their risk factors origin and consequences Risks also depend in the nature of the construction project In order to meet the global demand of housing and population growth new technologies and procedures in construction have emerged in order to deliver on those needs One such technology is prefabrication which combines both manufacturing and construction procedures to deliver a residential solution in a more expedite manner The main drawback however is that the implementation of prefabricated houses in the construction industry brings about more complexity to risk management practices as it merges risks from a manufacturing perspective The more knowledge and experience project managers can have in conjunction with a proper methodology for risk identification the more effective and efficient the risk management procedure can be Consequently the extraction of relevant knowledge and key features becomes a fundamental step towards competent risk management procedures More specifically this research conducts the development of an ontology-based risk management framework to improve the effectiveness of risk management of prefabricated housing projects In order to establish the framework the methodology for ontology development was implemented and merges the information from the risk management practices and the various stakeholders involved in that process with the data obtained from the operational documents of the prefabricated housing production (PHP) project The framework was validated through a case study analysis which confirms a satisfactory inclusion of the knowledge gathered The outcome of the framework is the ease for the project management team to pin point risk factors analyze them and determine the potential project risks This is demonstrated by the case study’s result as it shows the ability of the proposed framework to identify features that show the trigger events of risk factors and their influence on the schedule of the project

Date of Award	2020
Original language	English
Supervisor	Chung-Wei Feng (Supervisor)