SE-76-03-1 -- Computer Applications for Systems Design and Analysis PDF

Although computer technology has been available and recognized for about two and a half decades, the use of this technology in the field of building systems design has not gained the broad acceptance which was once anticipated. The reasons for this lack of acceptance appear to be

1. The building systems industry is a loosely knit highly competitive team effort, and as a result, the large corporations who might have the financial resources to develop programs are not generally in the position of the final decision maker. This position is usually filled by the smaller corporate entities, the professional consultants.
2. The systems selection and analysis techniques used have been and still are in a dynamic stage of change. The industry has grown so rapidly in the years following World War II that the major design parameter has been to achieve comfort performance with peripheral efforts at reductions in first costs. Thus, not only had many other significant parameters not been identified, but even the fundamental one of performance had not been well quantified by recognition of the relevant algorithms.
3. The practitioners in the design profession had not been educated in the use of computer technology and, as a result, were slow in the process of re-education, particularly in view of the fact that they could continue to achieve" successful" designs (based upon the sole "performance" parameter) by continuing to do business as usual.
4. Computer hardware development prior to the past half decade appeared to concentrate on the basic computer console, with generaticn after generation of machinery aimed at increasing the speed of calculation and printout and increasing the capacity. Little development in data communications took place prior to the last five years.