Knowledge-based Decision Support System Quality Function Deployment (KBDSS-QFD) tool for assessment of building envelopes

•This study identifies the actual decision-making problems faced by the design team.•The tool is developed to facilitate the team to mitigate such the problems.•The results suggest that the tool has the potential to mitigate the problems.•The tool leads to better design management and higher level of productivity.

A building design team has faced several decision-making problems when assessing building envelope materials and designs for a private high-rise residential building in the early design stage. This study developed an automated fuzzy Knowledge-based Decision Support System Quality Function Deployment (KBDSS-QFD) tool to facilitate the team to mitigate such problems. A case study of the design team comprising an architect, a civil and structural (C&S) engineer and a mechanical and electrical (M&E) engineer was selected as the research design of this study. Results from the qualitative data analysis showed that the tool has the potential to mitigate the decision-making problems. The contributions of using this automated tool include not only achieving better design management but also raising the level of productivity in the construction industry.