6.3 Suspended Ceiling Design Process - Bilkent University

5.2.2 Process Integration
The situation of building design process modeling is similar to that of
building product modeling approximately a decade ago. There are several
attempts from different sources, but the existing models tend to be
incompatible and fragmented. This fragmentation has recently forced, for
example, European Commission research bodies to propose integration
projects. ICCI (Innovation, coordination, transfer and deployment through
networked Cooperation in the Construction Industry -IST-2001-33022) is a
clustered project that aims to establish such a common platform for
integration ideas (Rezgui and Zarli, 2001).
Besides its usage as a process improvement tool, parameter-based DSM
can also be used as a process integration tool. Browning (2002) claims
that parameter-based DSMs are truly integrative applications and a
combinational use of top-down and bottom-up techniques in process
modeling may reveal valuable insights into the process structure. A
discussion on how parameter-based DSM can be used to integrate an
activity-based model is presented below.
Any activity-level process model includes two general components;
namely, process elements (activities) and deliverable elements.
Deliverables are inputs and outputs exchanged by process elements. In
order to truly integrate a group of activities (rather than merely aggregate
80