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Abstract
Planning is the most important and challenging task faced by project managers. Proper planning makes it possible to achieve the goals of project completion in due time, within the specified funds and with the available human and technical resources. Improper planning is misleading and results in omission of some fundamental factors, thus increasing the project risks and the probability of its failure. Studies in the United States found scheduling variance of 2.5 weeks and man-hour variance of 8.4% between planned and actual construction performance. In Britain 50% of the projects overrun their planned time by 1 month or more. This problem is aggravated in developing countries where lack of appropriate planning is a common phenomenon in such countries. The primary concern of this research is to develop a conceptual framework that can be followed for efficient planning of construction projects. A microcomputer-based intelligent decision support system was developed following this framework to measure its effectiveness for construction planning. Through the integration of knowledge-based systems technology, database management systems' and project management' technologies, the system would provide invaluable assistance to construction planners in improving the productivity of planning for low income housing projects in developing countries and particularly in Egypt. The system develops detailed plans for each stage involved in the construction of a building and integrates them to develop the plan for the whole building.