Software Agent for Design-Build Process Cooperation

This paper describes a research project that attempt to develop a process integrating method and finally to create a multi-agent system to support the cooperation in a design-build team. The approach taken is to apply Business Process Reengineering (BPR) philosophy for providing a process-based fast-tracking execution mechanism for design-build teams. An Integrated Design-Build Framework (IDBF) is proposed which consists of three layers; namely, (1) fast-tracking model, (2) integrated process model and (3) design-build multi-agent system (DBMAS). Design-build projects are divided into design-build modules with overlapping relationships firstly, and the specific integrated process model, then, is generated to be the foundation of the performance of fast-tracking model. Finally, applying the multi-agent system technology, the DBMAS is developed for assisting implementations of all processes embedded in design-build modules via information sharing/exchanging and process controlling functions.