Tag: Project Management

Project Management

Construction Scheduling. Actual Date(s) Progress Update Information for Owners.

In my previous post, I touched on some of the important progress update items we review and analyze.

I will now discuss the process for Actual Start and Finish Dates and partial progress of work in progress. I will not hit this too hard as most everyone understands this process and the process varies from industry to industry. But the basics are very similar.

When the project is large, or smaller, and there is a full-time Owner’s Scheduler on the project, the Owner’s scheduler can periodically walk the project with various team members to validate Actual Start and Finish Dates. More often, for me as a Schedule Consultant, I rely on that verification by the Owner’s Representative on site. It’s a standard part of developing the “pencil copy” pay application or draft invoice.

However, what often happens is the review is overly concerned with determining what percent complete work in progress is. While this is important, getting the accurate Actual Start and Finish Dates is critical as well.

When working with the contractor to determine the progress for a performance period, we typically walk the project and either agree or disagree with their assessment. We should also be reviewing our daily reports for the actual dates.

Back when I was an inspector, I liked to keep a copy of the three week look ahead schedule with me so I could jot down an actual date when I came across it in the field. This allowed me to write it and forget it so I could focus on other matters. It was also very helpful when reviewing the “pencil copy” pay application.

Coming to the agreement of percent complete for work in progress was not too difficult, but getting the expected Finish Date was. We really had to discuss the performance of that work individually, decide if the progress was improving, had some delay or was simply not important enough today to throw resources at. In any event, the expected Finish Date for an in-progress activity is crucial to determining what the status is and how the project proceeds from this update. It needs to be as accurate as possible. If we bag it, we can force it Critical or Near Critical resulting in an erroneous shift in resources. If we only rely on the best-case scenario, we may not allow the focus necessary to recover this next update period.

The owner really needs to have someone in the field, daily, keeping up with the actual and planned progress. The rest of the schedule progress update is based on this data. Any revisions and planning done by the contractor to recover time lost or shift resources to maintain schedule are dependent on this information being accurate. Any potential delay or change order issues are also affected by this information. This information sets the status of the project at the time of the progress update. This determines the current Critical and Near Critical Path(s).

I’m sure many of you have comments or additional insight into this subject. Please share!

I’d love to hear what you think!

Please visit https://conschmanservices.com to learn more about Construction and Schedule Management Services, LLC

Please visit my LinkedIn account to learn more about me.

Please visit my “The Blue Book” ProView.

Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

Construction Scheduling. Network Logic Progress Update Information for Owners.

As a continuation of my previous posts, I will continue to discuss some of the important progress update items we review and analyze.

I will now discuss the process of verifying the network logic is complete.

When the contractor adds the actual Start and Finish Date and expected Finish Date data to the schedule update, the new scheduled completion date if most often not what any of us want. Usually, there has been slippage in work progress in an area that must be addressed.

The contractor will investigate and add resources or increase hours for that work or re-sequence the work in the most cost-effective manner possible to recover any lost time. The contractor is usually required to convey that plan to you with the schedule update narrative. However, this is seldom the complete picture…..

Quite simply, when there are logic changes made, it is easy to create missing logic such as an activity with one successor with only a Start-to-Start, SS relationship. This leaves this logic open as the finish of the activity does not drive the start or finish of any other work.

Reverse logic can also be inadvertently created. This is when an activity has only a predecessor with a Finish-to-Finish, FF relationship and a successor with an SS relationship. With this condition, any increase in duration of this activity will actually pull the successor back in time. Not realistic…

Those are a couple of the basic items we look at.

It is simple enough to “recover” time on the update by shortening a duration here or there and perhaps changing some Finish-to-Start, FS logic to Start-to-Start, SS logic. If the contractor can actually commit to the production necessary to achieve the shorter duration, great. If the work can actually be completed with the new logic, that’s good too.

The means and methods of how the contract plans to execute the project is really only of concern to us if it is blatantly clear it is not achievable. This is only my humble opinion. We won’t delve into construction contract law in my posts. I’m not qualified.

However, the schedule specifications and schedule best practices have been developed to provide a means of maintaining a valid schedule. We can argue means and methods of the execution, but the requirements for the schedule provide us with the tools to manage the schedule update process correctly and keep a valid schedule in place each period for managing the work and potential delays and changes.

That said, we run filters and programs that provide us with the list of items changed between schedules. This lets us know what changed, but not necessarily why. This is why the schedule update narrative is important. It is the contractor’s tool to convey this information to the owner.

If we find several relationship changes to activities which were on the previous period schedule update Critical Path for Near Critical Path(s), we need to know why these logic revisions where made. Was it to better sequence the work based on input from the subcontractor’s performing the work? Is it an attempt to shift the Critical Path? Is it masking a lack of performance for work on the Critical Path? Same holds true for the Near Critical Path(s).

Often times, the contractor is able to better plan the work immediately in front of them. This involves minor revisions to the logic and/or durations. Any changes to these items and other items such as calendars and resources should be included in the schedule update narrative and explained.

It’s easy to spot the poor performance trend when you have an Owner’s scheduler review each update period. This provides an early flag for the owner and the contractor, so the necessary actions can be taken to recover sooner rather than later……

I’m sure many of you have comments or additional insight into this subject. Please share!

I’d love to hear what you think!

Please visit https://conschmanservices.com to learn more about Construction and Schedule Management Services, LLC

Please visit my LinkedIn account to learn more about me.

Please visit my “The Blue Book” ProView.

Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

Construction Scheduling. General Progress Update Information for Owners.

When we develop the Baseline CPM Schedule for a construction project, we know we will need to use the Baseline CPM Schedule to measure performance during project execution. With this in mind, we work with the contractor to help get an acceptable Baseline CPM Schedule for the project. That’s usually a tough task, many contractors don’t believe it necessary or simply do not want to follow parts of the schedule specifications or best practice for schedule development. But, we usually end up with a schedule we can use to track progress and manage the work and changes.

I often see problems on projects once we start getting schedule updates from the contractor. Some owners believe the Original Baseline CPM Schedule is the most important schedule we measure against. This is partly true, we do need to reference the original plan as we go. But, after the first couple of progress updates, the remaining plan to execute the project has changed. Sometimes there have been major change orders, delays or resequencing of work. When this happens, we need to revise the Baseline CPM Schedule. Most of us understand the need to re-Baseline.

What I find many do not understand is how important it is to keep the progress updates valid. The owner really needs to be able to validate Actual Start and Finish dates in addition to agreeing with the partial progress reported for work in progress. These three items determine the as-built schedule condition and establish the plan to continue with project execution.

That is what the owner can see in the Gantt Chart pdf.

What about what goes on behind the scenes when the contractor is applying the update data? Who is watching to see if logic is changed? If calendars are adjusted? If resources are revised?

There are many things the owner cannot verify or validate that absolutely need to be confirmed. This is where the Owner’s review and oversight of the scheduling process come in to play.

With each progress update submitted by the contractor, we look at several areas to ensure the schedule integrity is maintained.

First, we simply make sure the network logic is still complete. This also includes verifying there are not any open ends such as a Start-to-Start, SS successor relationship which leaves the finish of an activity open. We run diagnostics to uncover what logic, durations, calendars, and activity additions/deletions have been revised and analyze this data to understand what the changes actually do to the schedule. We need to determine if the contractor’s revisions of a few relationships from Finish-to-Start, FS to SS shortens a network path enough to shift the Critical Path. It may be unintentional, but we must still review and validate. Sometimes these relationship revisions are done to correct Out-of-Sequence, OOS logic, sometimes it is done to recover lost time and bring the schedule completion back.

We look for calendar changes which often affect Total Float and the Network Path. We look at changes to durations and flag lack of progress for activities not projecting to complete as planned. This needs to be investigated to determine the causation. We verify Out-of-Sequence Logic has been corrected to keep invalid relationships from driving remaining logic and dates.

We analyze the actual progress of the project as a whole and also look at the Critical Path work performance as well as Near Critical Path(s) work performance. Doing work on the Critical Path is important. Doing work on the Near Critical Path(s) is also important. However, if work not yet Near Critical is not executed aggressively, the result in the stacking of work adds unachievable resource demand to the remaining scheduled work. This often drives the search for the “miracle” towards the end of the project….

We have to monitor all this, and you really can’t get that kind of insight from the Gantt Chart pdf.

We have to validate the progress update schedule. After all, the revisions to pull back the schedule and make minor sequencing changes have obviously resulted in logic or other changes. We need to verify that the schedule still meets the schedule specifications and best practices. Each progress update becomes the basis for any time impacts for the next performance period. The schedule update has to be valid.

I will elaborate more on how we accomplish many of these tasks in future posts.

I’m sure many of you have comments or additional insight into this subject. Please share!

I’d love to hear what you think!

Please visit https://conschmanservices.com to learn more about Construction and Schedule Management Services, LLC

Please visit my LinkedIn account to learn more about me.

Please visit my “The Blue Book” ProView.

Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

Construction Scheduling. Contract Duration and the Finish Date.

When we develop the Baseline CPM Schedule for a construction project, we need to know the contractual dates for Beneficial Occupancy, Final Contract Completion, and any other contractually required dates for deliverables.

The calendar day difference between NTP and the Required Contract Completion Date determines the project duration in Calendar Days.

Various organizations use various names for these required dates. There is NTP for Notice to Proceed. This can be for design, construction of any segment of the project. In construction, it is usually for the start of construction, but Design-Build projects typically have NTP for Design and even interim NTP dates. The names for Contract Completion vary greatly. Beneficial Occupancy; Start Operations; Contract Completion Date; BCOM…. The list is long.

Whatever the terminology, we have to end up with a project schedule that fits into this period of performance.

We develop the schedule based on input from all stakeholders. We verify we have included the entire scope of the project. We make sure we sequence the work in a constructible manner. We use accurate durations for work activities.

Does the Project Schedule then report a finish date which meets the contractual requirement?

More often than not, it does not. Correcting this is another issue.

So, what drives the contractual finish date? Is it a business decision based on a valid business need? Is it an organizational need for a change in operations? Is a specific date to meet some public good?

Many times, the contract completion date has been established based on someone’s best guess to create the period of performance. Sometimes, the Capital Projects Team decided on the period of performance based on another similar project. Sometimes funding issues drive the period of performance.

Whatever the reason, the project must be completed within the period of performance or some type of punitive action will result. This is just one more reason to develop a robust and dynamic CPM schedule with which the Project Team can manage work proactively. The effort expended to create and manage a quality CPM schedule is easily recovered with the savings gained through improved management of work and adherence to the required finish date. Whatever it is called…..

I’m sure many of you have comments or additional insight into this subject. Please share!

I’d love to hear what you think!

Please visit https://conschmanservices.com to learn more about Construction and Schedule Management Services, LLC

Please visit my LinkedIn account to learn more about me.

Please visit my “The Blue Book” ProView.

Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

Construction Scheduling. Schedule Progress Updates and the PM.

The Project Manager is responsible for many deliverables and processes for the project.

Scope, cost, communication, time, and quality.

Part of managing the cost and time is the coordination of work and subsequent reporting of work completed.

Many projects base the periodic invoicing on the percentage of work completed for that period. Others use Milestones for payments. There are other methods as well. For this post, we will work with the percentage of work based on the progress completed for each activity.

Correct updating and reporting of the schedule progress is a large part of the process. And invoicing is a big deal!

How does the PM report on the work completed? Should they use the percentage of time used for the activity? Should they use the percentage of actual cost expended? Should they use the percentage of work in place?

Depending on the contract type, there are options. Personally, I prefer to base the invoicing on the percentage of physical work in place. After all, why would an owner pay for your time or actual expenses, unless the work is T&M?

To update the progress based on physical work in place, you simply manually assign the physical percent complete for work in progress and set the scheduled finish date based on the planned remaining duration or finish date. It is that simple. The cost can be calculated in the software program or in a spreadsheet.

One of the useful things about using physical percent complete and letting the remaining duration or scheduled finish determine the duration percent complete is the variance between percent complete this creates.

If you have completed 50% of the work and the remaining duration or scheduled finish date results in a duration percent complete of 70%, it is obviously taking longer to complete this work than planned.

Perhaps this indicates a learning curve for this work. Perhaps there was a delay in material delivery once the activity started. There could be many reasons. But, the PM should know the reason and they cannot know to find out if they do not have an indicator that there is a problem.

Many people just assign the percent complete as duration percent complete and let the program assign the scheduled finish date based on the original duration and remaining duration values. This is a problem for several reasons. First, this method models the time used and remaining, not the work in place. Second, the scheduled finish date is based on the assumption that the productivity rate is as planned. Seldom is this correct. Finally, letting the duration percent complete value calculate the scheduled finish date does not model the remaining work for the project accurately. Basing an invoice on this method will result in inaccurate invoices for work in place and a schedule that is not valid for the remaining work. It’s a good practice to be accurate in these areas.

Although it is not often used in the typical layouts I see, displaying the “At Completion Duration” column in the layout also provides a quick flag for activities that are exceeding the original duration. Most layouts display the “Original Duration” and the “Remaining Duration” columns. But this doesn’t really alert the PM to a potential problem with activity progress and productivity.

I’m a big supporter of using physical percent complete for work in place and setting the scheduled finish date for work in progress by revising the remaining duration value or setting the date based on field input. I also like to display the “At Completion Duration” column in my layouts. I think providing the Project Manager with as many tools as we can to help them make intelligent decisions for managing the work is our primary function.

I’d love to hear what you think!

Please visit https://conschmanservices.com to learn more about Construction and Schedule Management Services, LLC

Please visit my LinkedIn account to learn more about me.

Please visit my “The Blue Book” ProView.

Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

Construction Scheduling. Why Work When We Can Wait?

When the baseline schedule is developed correctly, the schedule logic is complete, activity durations and activity calendars are assigned, resources with cost may have been assigned, and activity coding is developed and assigned.

All of this creates the schedule network. This schedule network is made up of many sequences (logic paths) of activities.

Once the schedule is calculated (forward and backward pass), the schedule network will provide scheduled dates for activities not yet complete. At any given time, a small percentage of activities will have scheduled dates which show they should be starting and completing within a defined period of time, (say this week or this month…).

Some of these activities will be on the Critical Path. Some will be on the Near Critical Path(s). Some will have Total Float values which allow them to remain unstarted or incomplete for a period of time dependent on the Total Float value.

We all understand that the work on the Critical Path needs to be driven at all times. We understand that work on the Near Critical Path(s) also needs to be driven so it does not lag and shift to the Critical Path.

What about the activities with Total Float values which allow the work for these activities to lag without affecting the Project Completion Date?

Should this work be executed when it is convenient? Should this work be pushed out until it is on the Near Critical path(s)?

Part of the CPM Schedule development process was the analysis of the resources for activities to verify a specific resource did not have more activities scheduled to be underway than the resource could support. This can be done manually or using software programs that run Monte Carlo analysis for resource leveling.

That said, why would we want to allow work to slip? It is my opinion that any work which can logically be executed should be executed as long as the resources required do not exceed the planned resources for that time period. But, sometimes it is better to add resources to execute the work for a variety of reasons.

By allowing work to slip, only because there is no schedule driven reason to execute the work at that time, the work will eventually push out until the activities with a specific resource assignment are stacked resulting in an overallocation condition which forces some of this work to push out due to lack of resources. Whether the schedule is resource loaded or not, we all know that a subcontractor can only do so much with the forces they have on the project at any given time.

Allowing the work to slip also increases the risk of a late completion due to the potential of shifting of the Critical and Near Critical Path(s).

Finally, allowing work to slip has a negative impact on the schedule cost curve and distribution plan. The project may be reporting an on-time completion and the Critical Path may have an acceptable Total Float value, but if work is pushing out, the completed values will produce an unacceptable Cost Variance (CV), Cost Performance Index (CPI), Schedule Variance (SV), and Schedule Performance Index (SPI).

Projects with poor Earned Value metrics seldom recover.

I say, if the work is available to be executed, the resources are available, and executing the work will not lessen the focus on the Critical and Near Critical Path(s), it is wise to work in where you can, when you can.

I’d love to hear what you think!

Please visit https://conschmanservices.com to learn more about Construction and Schedule Management Services, LLC

Please visit my LinkedIn account to learn more about me.

Please visit my “The Blue Book” ProView.

Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

Construction Scheduling. Use the Work Breakdown Structure to Verify the Deliverables.

When the project baseline schedule is developed, activities are created that represent work to complete the project. It’s tempting to jump in and start adding activities as you build the project in your mind. Resist this temptation….

First, plan the schedule! How will the schedule be used? How will progress and performance be tracked? Will resource and cost be tracked by cost accounts? What presentation types are required by the contract?

What is going to be the approach to the project execution? Who are the team members? What are the contractual requirements for the schedule? Is there coordination with other work by contractors or the owner required?

Once you’ve answered these, and any other specific questions for the project execution, you should define the deliverable and break the deliverable down into smaller and smaller pieces until you have individual work packages. This helps ensure you get the entire scope of the project in the schedule.

Setting up your resources, cost accounts, activity coding and calendars is also part of the planning phase of developing the schedule.

Now you can start adding the activities to support the deliverables in an organized manner. The best part is this allows the use of mandatory logic for the completion of each work package. This makes it quick and simple.

Next, you can apply the preferential logic to create the phasing you planned earlier in the process. If you organized the WBS by phase, this is easily done as well.

Planning the schedule development and management will help ensure you end up with a complete schedule for the project. It will also make the schedule more useful and easier to manage.

I know many of you can offer additional comments and recommendations. I welcome your comments and input. My goal, as always, is to help our industry and help the projects we support….

I’d love to hear what you think!

Please visit https://conschmanservices.com to learn more about Construction and Schedule Management Services, LLC

Please visit my LinkedIn account to learn more about me.

Please visit my “The Blue Book” ProView.

Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

Construction Scheduling. What Data Columns Should be Displayed?

Do you ever look at a schedule pdf and wish you had access to more information? Know what the percent complete actually is? What produces the Total Float value?

Would you like to be able to see what is most important to you, as a PM? As an Owner? As a subcontractor?

When your contractor develops the project baseline schedule, they develop a few simple layouts for the project. (Or they should…) We typically set up a Classic Layout with Start, Finish, Percent Complete, Duration….

But we can also set up specific layouts for use by different team members.

However, often what you find in a progress or owner’s meeting is the two or three week look ahead schedule with the Activity ID, Name, % Complete, Duration, and Start & Finish dates. This doesn’t really offer much useful information.

I like to develop several layouts.

One layout that I use has the ID, Name, Physical % Complete, Duration % Complete, Original Duration, Remaining duration, At Completion duration, Start, Finish, and Total Float value. I can use these columns to see variances in duration usage and physical work completion. This quickly alerts me to production issues or potential delays. (It is possible to target previous updates and show actual variance values for duration, start and finish dates).

 

I also like to produce a simple progress update worksheet for the superintendent and field staff to use for keeping track of actual start and finish dates. They can keep these at their desk and mark off the dates as they happen each day. At the end of the month, all they have to do is add the physical % complete for the work still in progress. It’s just that simple. I provide a column for them to enter the date they now expect to finish the in-progress work. Using this expected finish date, we revise the remaining duration and the At Completion duration. This provides us with the Duration % Complete and the At Completion Duration variances which allow us to spot trends and take corrective action quickly.

Those are very simple layouts.

There are options for the Project Team. Let the scheduler show you what they can produce and work with them to find the right layouts with the right data columns that work for you. It will make managing work much easier for everyone.

I know many of you can offer additional comments and recommendations. I welcome your comments and input. My goal, as always, is to help our industry and help the projects we support….

I’d love to hear what you think!

Please visit https://conschmanservices.com to learn more about Construction and Schedule Management Services, LLC

Please visit my LinkedIn account to learn more about me.

Please visit my “The Blue Book” ProView.

Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

Construction Scheduling. Layouts and Options for Layouts.

Do you ever look at a schedule pdf and get lost in the many pages of data and bars?

Would you like to be able to quickly find out what is most important to you, as a PM? As an Owner? As a subcontractor?

When your contractor develops the project baseline schedule, they develop several activity code structures for the project. (Or they should…) We typically set up activity coding for phases, areas of work, subcontractor or trade responsibility, cost accounting source, CSI Division….

We do this so we can assign specific code values to each activity. This allows a filter or sort or group on specific or combinations of activity code values. We can filter by trade and sort by start. We can then group by area or phase or building. There are many ways to view the schedule which can make it easier for everyone.

However, often what you find in a progress or owner’s meeting is the two or three week look ahead schedule. This is a good tool. But, it is a specific tool. The look ahead schedule layout can show the work by phase or area or trade or simply as a “waterfall” by start date. The project team should decide what works best for them and request that layout for each meeting.

There are other layouts, in addition to the look ahead and the entire project schedule that are very useful.

One layout that I always use is the Critical Path (Longest Path) by Start/Finish date with no grouping. This provides a simple view of the critical activities by start date in a “waterfall” view. Very helpful for seeing what is critical and next in line.

 

I also like to produce a filtered list of incomplete and not-started activities sorted by Total Float value and then Start/Finish. No grouping, just a “waterfall” again. This allows us to see what is most likely the Near Critical Path activities by simply going down the list to the paths after the Critical Path. (I use a filter to remove the Longest Path) This is very helpful to the PM and Superintendent. They can ensure they focus on work that is near critical as well as critical. Too often this is missed.

Those are very simple layouts.

There are options for the Project Team. Let the scheduler show you what they can produce and work with them to find layouts that work for your project. It will make managing work much easier for everyone.

I know many of you can offer additional comments and recommendations. I welcome your comments and input. My goal, as always, is to help our industry and help the projects we support….

I’d love to hear what you think!

Please visit https://conschmanservices.com to learn more about Construction and Schedule Management Services, LLC

Please visit my LinkedIn account to learn more about me.

Please visit my “The Blue Book” ProView.

Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

Construction Scheduling. Total Float Values and Calendars.

Do you ever look at a schedule and wonder why a series of related activities will have different Total Float values? Perhaps the activities on the Critical (Longest) Path?

It just makes sense that the activities in the same work path would have the same Total Float value.

However, when your contractor develops the project baseline schedule, they develop the various Activity Calendars for the project. There may be a 7-Day Work Week Calendar for Milestone Activities, Level of Effort Activities, and fabrication or delivery activities. There may be a 5-Day Work Week with Holidays Calendar for work planned for normal work days but not on holidays. There may be a weather calendar with specific days set as non-work days to allow for the anticipated normal weather impact days.

Each calendar will have a different action on the Total Float value because each calendar only allows the work to be scheduled on the work days for that specific calendar. This, in turn, determines the Total Float value.

This is why the Milestone Activities on the Critical Path may have a value of -7 days and the activities on the 5-Day Work Week Calendar may have a value of -5 days.  The 5-Day Work Week Calendar doesn’t take the weekend non-work days into account with the calculation. The total Float value for the activities assigned to a weather calendar would also be different.

This is also why a set period impact to the schedule, such as 30-day delay in receiving direction to start work on a work package could have a larger delay to the contract completion. A 30 Calendar Day impact can push the work over non-work periods such as holidays and weather resulting in a 35 Calendar Day impact to the contract Completion Date. This must be accounted for in the Time Impact Analysis so the party not responsible for the delay is not forced to absorb this variance.

The bottom line is: Don’t let Total Float values determine what is critical, let the schedule software do that by using the Critical Path definition of Critical = Longest Path. Using the Total Float values is valid for many things, but determining your Critical Path isn’t one of them. If you have more than one calendar for the activities, there will be differences in the Total Float values.

I know many of you can offer additional comments and recommendations. I welcome your comments and input. My goal, as always, is to help our industry and help the projects we support….

I’d love to hear what you think!

Please visit https://conschmanservices.com to learn more about Construction and Schedule Management Services, LLC

Please visit my LinkedIn account to learn more about me.

Please visit my “The Blue Book” ProView.

Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP