Application of Fuzzy Expert Systems to Manage the Projects Time in Iranian Gas Refineries

Abstract

The National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) is one of the top ten gas companies in the gas industry in the Middle East and is comprised of 7 gas refineries. So this company needs to apply the most optimum time management methods to achieve its goals. Custom scheduling calculation of project planning uses the Critical Path Method (CPM) as a tool for Planning Projects activities. CPM is now widely used in planning and managing projects but in spite of its wide application, this method has a critical weak point of not taking into account the uncertainties in scheduling calculation. This article aims to present a precise method based on the application of Fuzzy Expert Systems in order to improve the Time Estimation Method in construction projects and in this regard, reviews the results of the implementation of this method in construction projects of Iranian Gas Refineries. The results show that the proposed method increases the accuracy of time estimation about 7 to 22 percent.

Keywords

• critical path method
• fuzzy expert systems
• uncertainty
• time estimation method