Planning and Scheduling

Project Planning

– Selecting Construction Methods and sequence of work

– Must complete planning before doing scheduling

– Steps• Develop work breakdown structure• Acquire input from key members of project team

– Company specialists, field supervisors, subcontractors, suppliers

Project Planning

• Acquire input from key members of project team– Company specialists, field supervisors, subcontractors,

suppliers

• Making decisions with field supers– Site layout, sequence in which work will be performed, direction

of work flow – bottom –up, left –right, means and methods of construction, type of concrete forming system to be used, Type of equipment to be used, safety requirements

• Making decisions regarding performing work– GC’s own workers or subs

• Id’ing all restraining factors such as:– Skilled labor: crew & make-up, Mat’l and equip delivery date

estimates, weather, permits, financing

• Preparing estimate

Types of Schedules

– Formal schedules – developed and provided to the owner as required by contract

– Summary schedules – presentations and meetings – F5-1

– Detailed schedules – show all activities – field office uses

– Short interval – look ahead – developed by foremen and subs on weekly basis – what is next week

Types of Schedules

– Mini-scehdules – area or system schedules – give additional detail

– Submittal schedule, buyout schedule, material delivery schedule, equipment start-up schedule, close-out schedule

Schedule development

• Need to determine activities– What are they– Depends on schedule type

• Need to determine order of activities

• Relationships – go thru SS, FF, FS

• Logic- concurrent, multi-successors, multi-pred, do loops

Bar charts

• Go for summary schedules

• Show relationships between activities

• F-2 is bar chart

Network Schedules

• Show relationships with arrows

• Also show free float and total float for each activity

• Can find critical path– Helps planning

Activity Numbering

• Numbering Activities can make it easier to use schedule

• Group like activities under the same general numbers– Activity Category

• WBS can make it easy to categorize resources used to each activity

– Work Classification• Numbers refer to a class of activity

Activity Numbering

– Location• Number activity based on location on project

– Responsibility• Numbers refer to who is responsible for work

Activity Numbering

• Numbering Conventions– Directional

• Numbers increase from start to finish of project

– Numbering gaps• Leave gaps between numbers to allow for

additions to schedule

– Even/Odd Numbering• Even # = part of base contract• Odd # = additional work

Constructing a AON

• Critical Path– Path through schedule which provides the shortest

time to complete project

• Total Float– Amount of time that activity can float without

impacting CP

• Free Float– Amount of time an activity can be delayed without

effecting the early start date of the predecessor activity

Constructing a AONActivity Duration Predecessors

A 6

B 4 A

C 10 B

D 10 D

E 0 D,G,I

F 6 A

G 8 F

H 10 A

I 6 H

Constructing a AONActivity Duration Predecessors

A 6

B 4 A

C 10 B

D 10 D

E 0 D,G,I

F 6 A

G 8 F

H 10 A

I 6 H

• You need to schedule the following project:– Excavate footings – 4 quadrants 2 days each– Form ftgs each quadrant 1 day each– Pour footings each quadrant 1 day each– Form & reinforce walls 3 days each quadrant– Pour walls – 1 day per quadrant– Strip forms 1 day /quadrant– Backfill – must wait 5 days after stripping 2

days/quadrant

Reviewing the Schedule

• Is Schedule complete

• Are Activity Duration Reasonable

• Are Activity Relationships Complete

• Are Activity Relationships Valid

• Is Project Calendar Correct

• Is Schedule Duration within Contract Time

• Are Contractual Milestones Met

Analyzing the Schedule

• Is Critical Path Reasonable– Does it go through the right activities?– Are there Multiple Critical paths

• Avoid if possible

– What Activities are Near Critical• Why?

• How does Work Flow– Does work flow make sense?– Are you using resources smartly?

• Are there Conflicts Among Concurrent Activities – How do you find out if there are conflicts– Two types of conflicts

• Space• Resources

– Space conflicts are found by looking at where activities are happening

– Resource conflicts are found by looking at resource usage graphs

• Is there an Excessive amount of Work at any Time– Problems?– Do you have adequate capital to do all the

work• When do you get paid for work?• What does contract say

Resource Lists & Usage

• MS Project allows you to move resources between activities by adjusting % used– If you split a backhoe between 2 jobs do you

get 100% usage?• How far does it move?• Similar jobs• Efficiency

– Can take into account when determining split

Updating Schedule

• Frequency– Depends on

• Complexity– More complex -> more updates

• Unexpected events– Update after event to determine new completion date – Helps team evaluate strategies to mitigate impacts

• When specified– By contract documents

Updating Schedule

• How– Gather Activity Status Info

• Update Date – when the info is gathered• Activity status

– Actual start date – meaningful work begins– % complete

» Work in place -> work in place/planned work quantity» Time expended -> time expended/ planned duration (only

good for time dependent activities like concrete curing)» Cost Incurred - >cost incurred/planned cost (depends on

actual resource productivity being constant and resource costs not varying)

» Resource used -> Resource Used/Planned resource amount

Updating Schedule

• How– Activity status

– Remaining duration – Remaining Work quantity/Anticipated Productivity

– Actual finish date – all completed activities» Provides data for future jobs

– Gathering Data• Direct observation, Update meetings, field reports,

turnaround reports, photos and videotape

Analyzing Schedule Status

• What is the basis for evaluating schedule status?– Usually the original schedule is the baseline

• What is planned completion date– Is updated schedule completion date same as

baseline• If not – why not (is there an error)

Analyzing Schedule Status

• Has the critical path shifted?– If so – why– Are CP activities really “critical”

• Has the float changed on any activities?• Has weather become a factor for any

activity• Are there trends worth watching• Any changes since last update?

Modify and Revise Schedule

• Revise network logic– Change duration to meet contracted

completion– Reflect changes in planned means and

methods for completing activity– Shift activity to better time (summer for

concrete)

Modify and Revise Schedule

• Revise Activity Durations– Planned quantity of work has changed– Amount of resources has changed– Productivity is either higher or lower than

planned

• Add & Delete Activities– Scope of work changed– Activities divided into smaller activities

Review and Analyze Schedule

• Make sure new schedule does not contain errors

• Implement updated schedule

Out of Sequence Work

• Why?– Keep crews busy– Preparatory work starts early

• Gives crew a chance to test means and methods

• Preserve Schedule Logic– Shorten successor activity caused by out of sequence

work– Keep all other logic intact