# Conversation-Based School Building Inspection Support System
## 3 Methodology  
In the present study, the process of building inspections is digitalized, and a conversation-based system framework is developed to support accomplishing the inspection tasks. The system framework adopts a chatbot as an interface to notify, guide, and assist assessors in completing their building inspections, and a dashboard as an additional interface for managers to read reports to determine whether further assessments or retrofits are required. The proposed system has the following features:  
* Notification for informing assessors to begin routine inspections or inspections after safety thresholds are reached after seismic events;
* Conversation-based interface for guiding assessors to complete their inspections through a procedure that is user-friendly for nonprofessionals;
* Integrated tool for starting inspection tasks after receiving notifications in a single application to improve the intuitiveness of the whole inspection process;
* Ability to accept multimedia inputs to allow the assessor to attach images or videos to reports to show damage or deficiencies directly to lower the possibility of mistakes in inspections;
* Data visualization to managerial decision-making to enhance the quality and accuracy of budget allocation for building retrofits.  
As illustrated in Figure 1, the system framework includes three modules: (1) the notification module (N-module), (2) the conversation module (C-module), and (3) the display module (D-module). All three modules connect to the database, which contains data such as intensity-scale thresholds of school buildings, contact information of registered assessors, and inspection reports. The N-module notifies assessors via IM applications for either routine or post-event building inspections. The C-module guides assessors in completing the predesigned checkpoints in inspections with a smartphone-friendly interface in the form of a chatbot. The D-module manages the dashboard used by managers to check the status of inspections via a web browser.  
The N-module notifies assessors to start inspections. It is activated by a routine inspection or after seismic events. For routine inspections, each school may schedule specific dates for inspection according to government regulations. On the specified inspection dates, the system sends messages to notify the registered assessors of the school. For post-event inspections, notifications are issued after the N-module receives the earthquake information and starts up. The system selects the critical schools of which the intensity-scale thresholds are reached from the database and sends notification messages to the registered assessors of the selected schools.  
The C-module, which is the core of the application framework, supports assessors in locating and describing the inspected building damage. After starting a new inspection, the system guides assessors in specifying the inspected targets by clicking on a map selector. Next, assessors may provide content on the inspected targets by typing descriptions or uploading pictures of damage. The system collects the inspection, confirms the content with the assessor, and submits the inspection to the system.  
The D-module is designed to enhance managerial efficiency and accuracy in reading inspection reports for decision-making. By analyzing the collected reports from critical schools, the D-module provides summarized information for managers. The information is displayed with interactive maps,tablets, and figures. Managers can interact with the D-module via a web browser to select specific schools and obtain detailed reports.