Ontology for building permit authorities (OBPA) for advanced building permit processes

Abstract

Building permit processes lie on the divide between architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) and public administration. To ensure consistent and effective digitization in building permitting, it is necessary to consider and merge both areas. Hence, for advanced building permit processes, foundations must be developed, which begins with understanding and formalizing building permit authorities’ organizational structures and processes. Therefore, this study developed an ontology that covers a semantic representation of a building permit authority along with a subprocess of the building permit process called the assignment process. The assignment process describes how and on what basis building applications are assigned to appropriate building officials. Proposing a semantic representation of the assignment process, tacit knowledge from previously conducted data sets was analyzed and implemented in the ontology. As a case study, a sample building permit authority was described and implemented in the ontology. On the one hand, the developed ontology serves as a basis for decision support for building permit processes, while on the other hand, it enables a fully automated assignment process in a building permit authority. The approach not only makes the assignment process more objective and transparent for all parties involved in the building permit process but also allows time and personnel capacities to be used in its other subprocesses.