There are times when the schedule update process gets side railed or thrown off course.
The problem comes when we don’t revise our baseline schedule and the work continues, at risk, with a disputed change order(s) and no approved revised baseline schedule to measure the pending change order against. How do we determine the change order impact? We know we need to use the most recent approved schedule. Is this the Project Baseline Schedule now? I’ve heard this argument many times.
Of course it is, it is the approved schedule at the time of the change order work insertion to create the fragnet to evaluate schedule impact. The approval of the “new” schedule which includes the changed work or delay deems it the “Revised” Baseline Schedule.
What happens to our schedule metrics and baseline cost or resource curve or projected budget cash flow? We have to revise those as well.
So, what happens when the work continues for a couple of reporting periods, the owner refuses to acknowledge change orders or delays and the schedule is reporting negative float / is behind schedule? The owner demands a recovery schedule, right? The contractor asserts they are delayed by the owner and need the change order finalized and added to the schedule to get back on schedule. Should the owner pay the contractor’s invoices when they’re behind schedule? Or hold retainage? Should the contractor stop work until the contract issue is settled? Or continue at risk creating the necessity of forensic claims analysis to resolve the unresolved change issues and delay conditions?
I believe that we, as planning and scheduling professional consultants, should strive to keep the project on course and ensure the entire project team understands the repercussions of not resolving the issues timely.
The question is: As consultants, how do we accomplish this?
We must always maintain our integrity and be honest with our client.
What has your experience been?
Have you kept updating the schedule, even while running deep into negative total float?
Do you advise your clients to force the settlement of overdue change orders?
Do you refer your client to a good Forensic Schedule Consultant you know?
Real scheduling is messy. But we all deal with issues all the time…..
I’d love to hear what you think!
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Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP