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A Simulation Access Language and Framework For Project Management Applications

Jinxing Cheng, PhD Student, Stanford University

Gloria T. Lau, PhD Student, Stanford University

Kincho H. Law, Professor, Stanford University

The 10th International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering

June 2nd-4th, 2004, Weimar, Germany

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Presentation Agenda

Motivation

A Simulation Access Language (SimAL)

The SimAL Framework and Implementation Efforts

Example Demonstration

Summary

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(Figure: Courtesy of Professor Gio Wiederhold of Stanford University)

Paradigm shift in software development

Lack of interoperability among different project management tools

Difficult to coordinate different applications

Coding

Integration

1970 1990 2010

Coding

Integration

1970 1990 2010

Motivation

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The Simulation Access Language (SimAL)

Design Goals

– Developing a Simple, Easy-to-Use High-level Language

– Coordinating Services and Managing Information Flow

– Simulating and Comparing Scenarios

Major Components

– Invocation Statements (SETUP, INVOKE)

– Operation Statements (QUERY, UPDATE)

– Control Statements (IF-THEN-ELSE, WHILE)

– Decision-support Statements (SCENARIO CREATION, SCENARIO COMPARISION, etc.)

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Operation statements include QUERY and UPDATE

QUERY statements

– SELECT, to query information from the simulation results

UPDATE statements

– SET, to update project models in simulation tools

– DELETE, to delete objects in project models

– INSERT, to insert objects in project models

e.g., reset the duration of activity ID100

UPDATE(“Set duration = 4 where activityID = ID100”, arho, %%)

Operation Statements in SimAL

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An Example SimAL Program

SimAL ComparisonDemo {

psl_svc = SETUP("ServicePsl")

query_svc = SETUP("ServiceQuery")

p3_svc = SETUP("ServiceP3")

update_svc = SETUP("ServiceUpdate")

gcl_svc = SETUP("ServiceGCLEstimator")

arho = psl_svc.INVOKE("to-psl", %%)

cost = gcl_svc.INVOKE("Re-estimate", arho, %%)

sn1 = SCENARIO("Original Schedule"){

stat1 = query_svc.QUERY("select finishDate", arho1, %%)

sn1.SETSCENARIO(stat1) }

sn2 = SCENARIO("Expedite Delivery"){

update2 = update_svc.UPDATE("set startDate = 2003-11-20 where activityID = ID210", arho, %%)

arho2 = p3_svc.INVOKE("reschedule", update2, %%)

stat2 = query_svc.QUERY("select finishDate", arho2, %%)

sn2.SETSCENARIO(stat2) }

res = COMPARE(sn1, sn2)

DISPLAY(res, "Compare Two Scenarios")

DISPLAY(cost, “Original Project Cost”)

}

Initiate Connections

Specify Scenario 1

Specify Scenario 2

Compare Scenarios

& Display Results

Obtain Cost Information

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The SimAL Framework

User Inputs(SimAL Program, etc.)

SimAL Preprocess

FICAS

SimAL Update and QueryEngines

Project Management Tools

Wrappers

SimAL Post-Process

Final ResultsMS Excel

or Web BrowserInterface

FICAS (Flow-based Infrastructure for Composing Autonomous Services) developed by Dr. David Liu

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Wrapping Project Management Applications

PSL Files

Convert to PSL format PSL parser

Map PSL ontology to concepts inindividual software

Retrieve information fromapplications

P3: Primavera AutomationEngineMS Project, MS Excel, GC

Estimator: VBA + applicationmodulesVite SimVision: JDBC

Map concepts into formal PSLontology

Feed information into applications

P3: Primavera Automation EngineMS Project, MS Excel, GC

Estimator, AutoCAD: VBA +application modulesVite SimVision: JDBC4D Viewer: Plain text

Retrieving andUpdating

Information

OntologyMapping

SyntacticTranslatiom

PrimaveraP3

MicrosoftProject

MicrosoftExcel

ViteSimVision

4D viewer

AutoCADADT

GeneralCostEstimator

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Invoking Project Management Applications

Event Server

GeneralCost Estimatorin Microsoft Excel

Wrapper

Communication Agent

Primavera P3

Wrapper

Invoke Primavera P31. FICAS invokes P3 to reschedule the project

Invoke GeneralCost Estimator2. GeneralCost Estimator connects to the Server3. FICAS sends INVOKE message to the Server4. Server calls Estimator to re-estimate the cost

FICAS

Wrappers developed for each legacy application

Standalone and embedded services invoked differently

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Example Results – Collaborative Demonstration

Tested on the Arnold House Project from Vite

Collaboratively demonstrated between Scotland and Stanford

Oracle DatabaseServer

4D ViewerCommunication

Server

GlasgowCaledonianUniversity,Scotland

StanfordUniversity,

USA

Internet

Primavera P3

MS Project MS Excel Web BrowserTypical Office

Applications

Servers and

Specialized

Software

Vite SimVision

YahooWeather Forecasting

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Example Results-- Workflow in the Demonstration

Workflow in the Weather Demonstration

Dynamically incorporating online weather information

The whole process automated

Viewing the impact whenever there is a concern

Online Weather Information

Information ofWeather Impact

ProcessWeatherImpact

Re-Schedulethe Project

Re-Simulatethe Project

NotifyParticipants

SchedulingInformation

(e.g., P3, MS Project,or Database)

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Example Results-- Snapshots from the Demonstration

Weather Reports Impact of Weather Information

View the Impact on Schedule View the Impact on Task Backlogs

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Summary

Data Integration

PSL is used to exchange project information among different applications.

Workflow Management and Decision Support

A simulation access language (SimAL) and framework to allow users to simulate scenarios involving multiple tasks supported by different software applications.

Example DemonstrationWe demonstrated the system by incorporating online weather information into project management.

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Professor Bimal Kumar of Glasgow Caledonian University

Dr. David Liu of Mckinsey

A Stanford Graduate Fellowship

The Product Engineering Program, NIST

Center for Integrated Facility Engineering, Stanford University

Acknowledgements

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End of Presentation

Questions and Comments: Jim Cheng (cjx@stanford.edu)