Singularity Functions as New Tool for Integrated Project Management

Construction managers plan and control quantitative measures for successful projects. Current techniques for time, budget, and resources are compartmentalized, but should be integrated into a cohesive model. The methodology adapts singularity functions from structural engineering. They activate a dependent variable over a range of an independent variable. Yet their analytical capability had ignored interfaces between measures. Pairwise interactions link quantitative elements and enable a customizable approach that facilitates multi-objective optimization. This research contributes in that models of time, cost, and resources are aligned; interactions are formalized via the common variable time; and the possibility of higher order models is discussed.