Project Management – Page 3 – Construction and Schedule Management Services

Construction Scheduling. Key Requirements for your Schedule Specifications. Or, Owners Beware…

CPM Consultant Professional Project Management — Project Management

Do you ever find yourself pulled into projects with schedule specifications lacking even the most basic requirements necessary to establish a schedule development and management process which will produce acceptable results?

In a perfect world, we, as Professional Planners and Schedulers, would be involved in the schedule specification development. Unfortunately, more often than not, a schedule spec from a previous project, which was pulled from a previous project is used without much review for completeness or relevance to scheduling methodologies and software currently in use and endorsed.

Perhaps it would be easier to just insist on a few key requirements that at a minimum should always be in the schedule specifications. We could then edit and add additional requirements for each project as appropriate.

Each planning and schedule professional will have their own preferences for these basic requirements.

However, for me, the first thing I would add is the requirement for a CPM schedule.

This would list the requirement for complete logic to allow the production of a critical path for the project. In this requirement, I would also add the requirements for a restriction of activity durations and total float values to force the breakdown of work into enough detail to plan, manage and track the work. I would also severely limit the use of SS and FF relationships and positive lags for the same reason. I would not allow the use of SF relationships or negative lags.

Second, I would require the development of the schedule based on a WBS. This would help ensure the complete project scope was included in the schedule and make it easier for the owner’s review and verification.

Finally, I would only allow two activities to be constrained; all activities percent complete type set to physical; development of appropriate calendars for weather and other non-work days; and require manual updating of progress with correction of out-of-sequence relationships and any other schedule revisions done in a two-step or bifurcated update process with the submission of the update only and then the revised update as separate parts of the update package to allow owner review of actual progress and the impact of this to the existing schedule with follow-on review of plan corrections.

We could address resource, crew, cost, and activity code requirements as needed for each project. But at least we could start with the basics for schedule development and management.

This would help all of us in the industry.

What other requirements would you add as basic requirements to help with this issue? What requirements would you not include?

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. Are you Including the Complete Project Scope in the Schedule?

person-question-300x300 When you begin the planning for your project schedule, are you defining the project scope and breaking it down into work packages? Do you ever discover that work may have been missed if you had not completed this exercise?

You are not alone.

It’s just so easy to take off and start building the activities to build the project. It’s already in our head and all we need to do is get that plan on paper. Right?

I’ve found that even for a simple project, it makes the schedule development much more effective if the project team goes through the process of breaking the project down into the basic work packages and cross checking with the bid documents. This is often when we discover some piece of the scope is not included in any bid package. It happens….

This is why planning is a very important part of the schedule development. During the planning process, the work packages are developed, the sequencing of the work package delivery is worked out, the coordination of the work package execution is worked out… The list goes on…

I like to work through the planning process and then develop the WBS for the project schedule. This helps me determine how to develop the activities that create the deliverable work package and also helps with the preferential logic to coordinate work packages and resource usage.

The planning process is also a good place to develop the project calendars, activity coding, and resources. I like having these in place before I start developing the activities. It makes it easier to make the assignments as I go and keep the momentum of developing the work flow going. Having to stop and create a calendar or activity code breaks my flow. I also hate going back and trying to make calendar or code assignments after all the activities are developed. Some activity coding is simple to assign, but activity coding for responsibility, area, level, or CSI is more difficult to go back and add. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

The process of sequencing the activities and assigning the durations is easier for me then too. I can compare similar work through the use of activity coding. I can also use the resources I assigned early to make cost loading easier.

What other methods have you found to plan and develop your project schedules?

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 is a Project Schedule Worth to You?

Question My early construction schedule experience was gained while working on the owner’s side of the project. The issues I was concerned with were simple. Is the contractor on schedule? Will the contractor finish by contract completion? Have I delayed the contractor, and if so by how much?

Pretty basic concerns.

As time went on, and I learned from my many mentors, I found that a project schedule is an indispensable tool for managing the project. What better way to manage resources, project cash flow, spot trends in schedule slippage, and manage change order delay claims.

I now know these three things.

Project planning and schedule development are critical to the usefulness of the project schedule for managing the work. Garbage in / garbage out.
Maintaining the schedule through accurate updates, revisions to reflect the plan going forward, and the timely inclusion of delays or change orders is essential.
There will always be those that resist the use of a CPM schedule and those that believe it is the only tool available.

Where do you fall?

Do you believe the schedule is a necessary tool for payment or to meet the contract requirements?

Do you believe the schedule helps with managing the work and projecting your plan going forward?

Do you believe that adherence to the baseline schedule is paramount and no revisions or deviations from this plan are acceptable?

What value do you place on the project schedule?

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.

Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

Construction Scheduling. Should Project Invoicing be based on the Project Schedule SOV?

Question Early in my career, I was taught the project schedule was to be cost loaded and used for invoicing, as well as tracking the project’s progress. (This is strictly concerned with the invoice between the GC and the owner. Not the contractor’s internal actual cost, earned value, and GC vs subcontract cost…)

Over the years, mentors have suggested costs for invoicing be added to the project baseline schedule and then exported to a separate spreadsheet for update invoicing purposes. (This would be accomplished by applying the update Physical % Complete to the baseline budget cost value…..) Simple construction scheduling and management.

I was taught to run the cost this period, previous total cost and actual total cost to-date from the schedule program. This is a commonly used and straightforward method of creating the “Application for Payment” or invoice for each update period. (In my perfect world, this update is updated progress only. No resequencing for OOS correction work or recovery of lost time has been completed. That is done next and is the basis for any EVM metrics we want to look at). I prefer a two-step update process for construction scheduling and update management.

As I understand it, the argument for disassociating cost from the schedule update is this.

It is tempting for the contractor to look at the cost this period and cost to-date and feel pressured to adjust the percent complete to line up with their actual costs, not the physical percent complete. Valid concern, we don’t want to invoice less than we are payout out for work. It is also tempting for the owner or owner’s rep to look at the remaining cost and feel pressured to adjust the percent complete to allow what they think the remaining cost to complete should be. Valid concern, we want enough cost remaining to finish the work.

The general idea is that by keeping the costs separate from the activity percent complete update, we would get a more accurate progress to date. Since we know that best practice is to adjust the remaining duration based on the plan to complete the remaining work, we will be over or under our planned production rate. (EVM enters here, but that’s another story.) Taking the more accurate percent complete and applying it to the budgeted cost from the baseline schedule on the separate spreadsheet sheet would provide the values we need for the invoice.

Simple construction scheduling and update management.

This is based on the people doing the actual update of progress not having access to the budgeted cost or any other cost information. They only look at physical percent complete and planned remaining duration.

I find this idea interesting and I’m curious what other contractors and schedulers are doing and think of this concept. It’s not new, but I have not seen much discussion about it.

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.

Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

Construction Scheduling. Impacts of Unrecognized Owner Delays!

Delay outputs As construction scheduling professionals, we’ve all worked on projects which have been impacted by an owner delay which was not recognized as valid by the owner.

This happens. We have to deal with it. Some general examples that come to mind are:

Unrecognized change in the owner’s program resulting in a change to the contract scope of work and design.
Unrecognized unforeseen condition which changed the geotechnical design or suspended the project until remediation work could be completed.
Unrecognized specification or drawing ambiguity or omission resulting in additional or changed work.
Unrecognized delays for owner operations not included in the bid docs.

What types of schedule delay events have you seen? How did you, as a construction scheduling professional manage them? How did the project team manage them?

I’m interested in hearing your stories!

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.

Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

Construction Scheduling. How do we Incorporate the Subcontractor’s Schedule in our Baseline Schedule Development Process?

Road sign As construction scheduling professionals, we’ve all developed project baseline schedules. We’ve also worked with our subcontractors to get their input for the schedule, often with less than stellar results…..

This seems to a common problem. Continue reading “Construction Scheduling. How do we Incorporate the Subcontractor’s Schedule in our Baseline Schedule Development Process?”

Construction Scheduling. Why do some Construction Projects seem to fall Behind Schedule Immediately after NTP?

stop-go-signs-wrong-colors As construction scheduling professionals, we’ve all worked on smaller construction projects which have fallen behind schedule almost immediately after NTP.

This seems to be a common problem for smaller construction projects.

It seems that owners are expecting contract durations based on best case production scenarios. Who can blame them? They know that similar projects have been completed within these durations.

If this is so, why do many contractors fall behind schedule almost immediately after NTP? Continue reading “Construction Scheduling. Why do some Construction Projects seem to fall Behind Schedule Immediately after NTP?”

Schedule Management. How should a Non-Schedule Savvy PM or Superintendent Develop and Manage a “Recovery Schedule”?

You have a baseline schedule, with a few periodic updates completed, and now you need to make a revision to the schedule to dramatically re-sequence work, add/delete work to/from the project, or provide a required “Recovery Schedule”. What do you do?

This is one of the more difficult schedule management tasks. In some ways, it is almost more difficult than creating the baseline schedule.

Depending on the amount of time you need to “recover”, you will need to find the root causation for the schedule slippage and get that under control. This could mean anything from having the party responsible for the slippage work additional hours to maintain the daily scheduled productivity, adding resources to increase the daily scheduled productivity, or resequencing of work to mitigate the lack of daily scheduled productivity or model concurrent work.

Next you will need to develop the most cost-effective means of accelerating work on the current longest path. This is tricky. Your schedule may have a near critical path which is very close to the scheduled longest path. As you shave days off the longest path, it will shift to the near critical path making that path the longest path. You will need to keep working at accelerating activities on the longest path, as it shifts until you reach the point of “recovery”.

That’s the easy part.

Now you have to obtain support for this plan from the project team. Subcontractors have to agree to provide what is needed to achieve this revised plan. Deliveries must be verified. Resource availability must be verified. There is probably additional cost involved. This must be managed a well.

In summary, any “recovery plan” will most likely involve concurrent work and/or acceleration of work. In any case, submitting a “recovery schedule” without the support of the project team for execution of the revised plan is a disservice to the owner, the project team and the project. You must be able to gain the commitment of the project team.

Schedule management includes many tasks and processes. Developing the “recovery schedule” is one of the more difficult tasks. The Project Manager should always be intimately involved with the planning of the revised work plan and “buy-in” from the project team is necessary for the successful execution of the “recovery plan”.

You may be able to manage the development of the recovery schedule without any problems.

However, when in doubt, seek out the advice of a professional planner and scheduler.

Please visit https://conschmanservices.com to learn more about basic schedule concepts.

Please visit my LinkedIn account to learn more about me.

Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

Schedule Management. How should a Non-Schedule Savvy PM or Superintendent Manage their Project Schedule?

Tilt Up You have created your project’s baseline schedule and now you are starting the schedule management phase of the project. What do you do?

If you have not done so already, you need to establish a “schedule log”. I like to start my schedule log when I start development of the baseline schedule. This allows me to track my revisions and reasons for making them. The schedule log provides you with historic data for each revision or update to the schedule. Very handy.

If you have not done so already, set up schedule layouts and filters you plan to use. I also set these up during me schedule development, but often times the owner decides they want to use something other than what the schedule specifications require.

Each periodic update, save your schedule with progress only. This allows you to see what the progress update did to your schedule, save this snapshot. Then make any revisions to correct out-of-sequence, OOS relationships and model the revised plan to finish on schedule. You now have your updated and revised schedule ready for use.

Update the schedule periodically. Compare your progress with the most current previously accepted schedule and the baseline schedule. Look at how you’re tracking, how your actual durations are comparing to your scheduled original durations, and how your work sequence is actually progressing. Identify problem areas and trends and develop corrective action to recover time lost.

After you update the progress for your schedule, revise the schedule update to reflect your actual plan for execution. This doesn’t mean a complete change of sequence or addition of new work. This is simply to model adjustments you are going to need to make to maintain the scheduled completion date.

Major revisions to the schedule to dramatically re-sequence work or add/delete large pieces of work are handled differently. This will be part of a future post.

Managing the simple month to month schedule update process is pretty straightforward. Correcting the OOS is more involved and care should be taken to follow best practices. This is all part of the basic schedule management process.

However, when in doubt, seek out the advice of a professional planner and scheduler.

Please visit https://conschmanservices.com to learn more about basic schedule concepts.

Please visit my LinkedIn account to learn more about me.

Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

Construction Project Scheduling. How does the CPM Schedule Progress Update Process Work, and What Basic Information does the Schedule Consultant Need from the General Contractor to Accomplish the Schedule Progress Update?

You have an approved baseline project schedule and you are working your plan. That is great. You are utilizing a valid tool to proactively managing your project. But, you still need to monitor the actual work progress and take corrective action as necessary to maintain your scheduled plan to execute the project. This is an important part of the construction project scheduling process.

Best practice, for most projects, is to update the project schedule progress weekly. This allows you early identification of schedule slippage. Most contracts require monthly schedule updating and reporting to the owner or Construction Manager Agent, CMa. You should really do both. Complete weekly progress updates for your own use and provide monthly reporting as required.

What progress information do you need to provide the planning and schedule professional for the CPM schedule update process?

Before you begin the update process, the frequency of reporting and report requirements needs to be established and planned for in the CPM schedule development process. (Which is part of the master construction project scheduling process).

The planning and schedule professional will require several key pieces of information for each activity in order to properly update the schedule progress.

They need the data date, (as-of date) for the update. (This is probably specified in the contract documents).
They need the actual start date for each activity started. (This should be recorded in your daily reports by activity number. It makes it much easier to remember the information).
They need the actual finish date for each activity completed. (Again – Daily Reports)
They need the physical percent complete, (% of actual work accomplished) for each activity. (This is a judgment call based on measurable work completed. Like the number of windows installed against the total quantity required for the activity).
They need the estimated finish date for any activity underway. (This is a judgment call based on production to date and expected production to complete).

These five simple pieces of information, when assigned to each activity, will allow your schedule consultant to produce a schedule which provides new calculated start and finish dates for all remaining work based on the relationships assigned during the CPM schedule development process and the progress to-date with the expected production rates of in-progress activities.

Note: It is a good idea to keep a copy of this updated only schedule for future reference.

This is a great time to analyze where you’re at on your schedule and look at any corrective action necessary to “get back on schedule”. But before you do this, you need to look at any work you’ve executed out-of-sequence to the plan. Perhaps you were able to start an activity prior to the completion of the activity’s predecessor. That’s OK. You should make any schedule revisions necessary to correct any out-of-sequence logic so the schedule progress matches your as-built progress. This is a good practice and will help with any revisions you need to now make to get “back on schedule”.

Note: Rarely is the project “on schedule” after an update. At a minimum, there is likely to be out-of-sequence work even if you have maintained the scheduled finish date.

Now you can make revisions to your planned logic and/or durations to reflect your plan of execution for the remaining work. This should be based on actual, corrective action you intend to take. You need to provide this information to the planning and schedule professional. This will most likely be an iterative process you go through with your schedule consultant.

Once you’ve completed the revision process to “get back on schedule”, you have an updated schedule which can be submitted in support of your monthly invoicing or used in-house. If you contract requires your schedule to be cost loaded, you should verify the dollar values calculated for each period update match the physical percent complete, (actual work in place or whatever your contract requirements allow). Many contracts which require the project schedule to be cost loaded base the monthly invoicing on this value, rolled up for each activity.

This “schedule update” is the schedule any future work will be measured against for period performance measurement. (In addition to measuring against the most recent approved baseline schedule). This is also the schedule any new change orders will be based on.

Note: It is imperative you maintain an accurate schedule throughout the project. Without an accurate updated CPM schedule, you will struggle to substantiate any delay claims or requests for time for change orders.

There is more detail which can be measured when updating the schedule progress such as units completed and labor hours expended. These are great to measure and track. But I consider these more advanced items than the typical small to medium size general contractor will have the resources to accurately forecast or manage on a daily basis.

Revising the schedule for delays or change orders is another topic. Developing the projects’ CPM baseline schedule and managing the periodic CPM schedule update process are basic building blocks of schedule management and the construction project scheduling process.

Please visit https://conschmanservices.com to learn more about basic schedule concepts.

Please visit my LinkedIn account to learn more about me.

Please visit my “The Blue Book” ProView.

Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP