EPIC - a transaction based integration system for building construction

This research proposes a solution that combines the benefits of the process model and the product model. An advanced transaction model with ACTA properties is used in the system instead of the traditional model. A Java prototype is built with CORBA technology to demonstrate the performance advantages of the advanced transaction model against the traditional model. A sample construction project with 5 types of participants is used to simulate the operation of the prototype. Transactions are issued against shared information objects according to the roles and operations of the sites. Tests show that both the performance and availability of resource are improved because of the use of an advanced transaction model. However the benefits diminished with the increase in rollbacks of transactions. The scalability of the systems is closely related to the functionality of the shared information object.