COMPUTER WORKSHOP ON

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

Aug. 4 - 5, 2005

© Prof. Tarek Hegazy

Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada

Email: [email protected], Web:www.civil.uwaterloo.ca/tarek

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OUTLINE

Aug. 4, 2005

Introduction to Project Management

Project Management Concepts & Terminology
Project Life Cycle Phases
Planning
Estimating
Scheduling
Resource Levelling
Meeting deadlines
Cash Flow Planning
Microsoft Project Software
EasyPlan Software
Hands-on case studies

Aug. 5, 2005

Managing linear & repetitive infrastructure projects

EasyPlan Exercises
Project Control & Delay Analysis
Progress recording
Earned-value analysis
Optimization of corrective actions
Critical chain concept for project control
Basics of delay analysis
Hand-on case study
Advanced IT Tools & Techniques
Simulation
Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
Web Collaboration
Hand-held devices
4-D visualization
GIS

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 Guest Account at UW

Login in to the Nexus domain: User name = ____________

Password = _________ .

All Files you need for the workshops are included in the
directory “EasyPlan” on the N: drive of your UW machine.

Software Setup at Your Personal PC

1. … Activate Excel
2. … Change macro security level to low (Tools – Macro – Security)
3. … Unselect having Excel help to appear on Excel start
4. … Close Excel
5. … Activate Microsoft Project
6. … Change macro security level to low (Tools – Macro – Security)
7. … Unselect having the help to appear on Microsoft Project start
8. … Close Microsoft Project

Downloading EasyPlan:

9. … Goto Dr. Hegazy’s web site: www.civil.uwaterloo.ca/tarek

10. … Goto My Free Educational Software
11. … Push the link to www.opteam1.com, then Products, EasyPlan, Downloads.
12. … Download the educational version of EasyPlan.
13. … If the downloaded file has “.ex_“ extension, change it to “.exe”.

Setup:

14. … Expand the software to a separate directory.

15. … Go to the “Setup” subdirectory and activate the “Setup.bat” file.
16. … Access EasyPlan’s directory and click on EasyPlan.xls

Projacs International www.ProjacsTraining.com Notes © Dr. Tarek Hegazy – www.civil.uwaterloo.ca/tarek

 Introduction to Project Management

Projacs International www.ProjacsTraining.com Notes © Dr. Tarek Hegazy – www.civil.uwaterloo.ca/tarek

Projacs International www.ProjacsTraining.com Notes © Dr. Tarek Hegazy – www.civil.uwaterloo.ca/tarek
 Project Management Concepts and Terminology

Project Life Cycle Phases

Owner, CM
A/E, CM, Owner
- Need Bidders
- Feasibility - Conceptual Design Prepare Bid Proposal + Baselines Owner, CM
- Project - Owner Approval Contractor
Definition - Soil Reports - Collect data (site, quantities, specs, - Evaluate O & M Staff
- Owner - Preliminary Design resources, tasks, etc) Bids and - Start Construction
Approval - Detailed Design - Planning Select - Detailed planning, - O&M
- Quantities - Time & Cost Estimation General estimating & resource - Demolition
- Work Documents - Scheduling Contractor management at end of
- Select Project - Resource Management: Adjustments - Schedule Updating service life
Contract Strategy for Resource Constraints & Deadline - Progress Evaluation
- Bidding Strategy & Markup Estimation - Time, Cost, & Quality
- Cash flow analysis Control
- Submit Bid - Commissioning

CONCEPT DESIGN BIDDING CONSTRUCTION O&M

Planning
Work Breakdown Structure?
No. Predecessors Successors
I Activity
P1 P2 P3 S1 S2 S3
1 A --- --- --- --- --- ---
B D G 2 B --- --- --- --- --- ---
3 C --- --- --- --- --- ---
A J L 4 D --- --- --- --- --- ---
5 E --- --- --- --- --- ---
C E H 6 F --- --- --- --- --- ---
7 G --- --- --- --- --- ---
F K 8 H --- --- --- --- --- ---
9 I --- --- --- --- --- ---
10 J --- --- --- --- --- ---
11 K --- --- --- --- --- ---
12 L --- --- --- --- --- ---

FS = 3

SS = 3

Estimating
Bid Price
Resources?
Cost Markup
Profit
Risk Contingency
Production rates? Direct Cost Indirect Cost
Labor
Equipment Project General
Duration? Crews Overhead Overhead
Material
Sub-Contractors

Q
Cost ? Duration = ; Cost = D . $/day
P.F

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Scheduling

Activity

A Early Bar
Chart
B
C
Activity Float?
D Critical Activities?
E Critical Path?

Activity

A Late Bar
B Chart

C
D
E

Activity
2 2 2 Labor amount / day
A
2 2 2
Using Bar
B Chart to
1 1 1 1
Accumulate
C Resources
3 3 3 3 3 3
D and
1 1 1 1 1
E
Show Planned
versus Actual
Schedule
Total labors

6
Profile of the labor
resource demand
4

3
2
1

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Resource Leveling
R Start Delay
2 A
Shifting activities within their floats 1 B
to improve resource profiles 1 C
1 D
2 E

Resource Profile
Limited Resources
Shifting activities even beyond their floats to avoid overlapping

R
2 A
Limit = 2 / day 2 B
1 C
1 D
2 E

R Start Delay
2 A
2 B
1 C
1 D
2 E

Meeting Deadline

Using faster more expensive methods of construction

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Cash-Flow Planning

How Much is the total How to arrange for

monthly cost? financing?

Cumulative
% of work
100
completed 85

50

15

Time %
25 50 75 100
S-Curve: Calculated based on the Bar Chart.

Retainage
Cost
($)
Expense
Profie

How to improve cash flow:

Credit from suppliers;
Subcontracting; Income
Mobilization payment; Profie
Better scheduling

Month

Cash out-of-flow
Cost
($)

Mobilization
Payment

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Projacs International www.ProjacsTraining.com Notes © Dr. Tarek Hegazy – www.civil.uwaterloo.ca/tarek
 Example Project: PR 7
The activities of a small project are shown in the following table.

Estimate no. 1 Estimate no. 2 Estimate no. 3

Activity Dependents Description
Dur. (d) Cost ($) Dur. (d) Cost ($) Dur. (d) Cost ($)
1 --- Excavation 2 2,000 ----- ----- 1 3,000
2 1 Foundation 2 2,000 ----- ----- 1 3,000
3 2 Joining Wall 1 1,000 ----- ----- ----- -----
4 3 House Walls 4 4,000 3 3,000 2 5,000
5 4 House Roof 3 3,000 2 5,000 ----- -----
6 --- Select Finishes 1 1,000 ----- ----- ----- -----
7 5, 6 Interior Finishes 3 3,000 2 4,000 ----- -----
8 7, 12 Clean Up 1 1,000 ----- ----- ----- -----
9 --- Fab. Garage Doors 6 6,000 4 10,000 2 12,000
10 3 Garage Walls 3 3,000 2 5,000 ----- -----
11 10 Garage Roof 2 2,000 1 3,000 ----- -----
12 9, 11 Garage Doors 2 2,000 ----- ----- ----- -----

Project Constraints:

- Deadline is 14 days; Indirect cost = $300/day; Penalty = $5,000/day; and Bonus = $1000/day.
- Each activity uses 2 labors (L5) daily; and Resource limit is 4 L5 resources per day.
- A reporting period is 3 days; interest rate is 1% / period; Markup is 10%; & owner retention is 5%.

Requirements:

Enter the project data into EasyPlan. Determine the optimum execution plan that meets both the
deadline and resource limits, with minimum cost. Use the Online Tutorial feature, load project 7, then
Check your solution using the On-Line solution Checker.

Save the baseline plan and save your file. View the various reports. Examine the effect of mobilization
payment on Cash Flow. Try unbalancing your bid and its effect on cash flow.

During actual progress, the following events were encountered during the first 12 days:

• Day 1: excavation progressed as planned and no other work was done.

• Day 2: the contractor encountered unexpected rock (an owner-related problem). Accordingly,
Excavation was stopped until a new machine is procured. No other work was done on day 2.
• Days 3 and 4: the new excavation equipment did not arrive yet. No other work was done.
• Day 5: the new excavation equipment started working and all remaining excavation work was
completed that day. No other work done.
• Days 6 and 7: Foundation work was started and completed.
• Day 8: work on the Joining Wall was started and completed.
• On each of days 9 & 10: 25% of the House Walls and 25% of the Garage Walls were completed.
• Day 11: both the owner and contractor caused the House Walls activity to stop. Also, the contractor
did not have resources to work on the Garage Walls.
• Day 12: the problem due to both the owner and the contractor still caused the House Walls activity
to stop. The contractor also still had a resource problem and could not proceed on the Garage Walls.
On the same day, the owner wanted to take some time to change his selection of the interior
finishes. In addition, the Fabrication of the Garage Doors activity is 17% done.
• Actual costs to day 12 are assumed to be $5,000 for each of the started activities.

a) What is your optimum corrective action plan? Plot the project S-Curve and Earned-Value curve.
b) Print the payment schedule, Cash Flow chart, resource histograms, & the as-built schedule.

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 Using Microsoft Project

… Log into your computer and Activate Microsoft Project.

… Browse the various features of Microsoft Project

Let’s now use Microsoft Project and try to see if it has

all the features we need to plan our project.

Setup
Once a new file is open, use the "Tools-Options"
menu item to start setting up the Microsoft Project
Software.

Setup Default Options

With the "Schedule" tab, adjust default options as
shown. Important ones are:

- Scheduling from start date;

- Duration entered in days
- Default task type is "Fixed Duration"

Click the Set as Default" button, then "OK".

Setup Working Times

Use the right mouse button on the

calendar and select "Change Working
Time". Then, as shown, select the
Saturday and Sunday columns and specify
them as "Working Time". This gives us a
7-day working week. You may also specify
any day as off or change the work hours
on any day. Then, click "OK".

Setup Time Scale

Use the right mouse button on the

calendar and select "Time Scale".
Set the major scale units as
months labeled as shown. Also,
set the Minor scale units as days
labeled as shown.

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Setup the Layout

Use the "Format-Layout" menu option to select how the bar

chart will look like.

Input Project Activities

To input the activities of the project, let's enter their

names one-by-one in the Sheet with their durations in
the two columns shown.

Specifying Relationships

There are several ways to specify the relationships

among the tasks

Move the divider bar until you see the

"Predecessors" column. Then type the row
numbers of the predecessors separated by
commas and hit the ENTER key. A
relationship will be inserted (arrow) and
task 2 is made to follow task 1, as shown.
If you double click the mouse on the
relationship arrow, a window for specifying
the relationship type and lag time appears.
Another way is to drag from the middle of a
task into another task, and a relationship
will be inserted and predecessor ID is
written into the "Predecessors" column.

The Schedule

Once relationships are

entered and chart is
formatted using
"Format-
GanttChartWizard",
the following schedule
of 16 days will result.

It is now possible to view many of the software's preset tables. Use the "View-Table-Schedule" menu
option to show all schedule data, as shown here.

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Viewing the Project Network

Now, you may view the

project network. Notice that
critical activities have bold
borders. To specify what
data to view in the box of
each task use "Format-Box
Styles" menu option.
Experiment with this option.

Specifying Resources

Now, let’s view the

resource sheet and
specify the resource
categories and maximum available
amount. Specify our (2 of L5).

Assign Resources to Tasks

From the Gantt chart, select each

activity, push on the toolbar
button shown and type the units
as shown, then hit the "Assign"
button and continue to next
activity, and so on. Once finished,
you will notice that project duration is still 16 days.

Resource Graph

With resources and their limits specified, let's view the "Resource
Graph". Notice the over-allocation in L5, indicating the need to
perform resource allocation calculations to resolve this problem.
After viewing, return to the Gantt chart.

Resource-Leveling Options

Now, use the "Tools-Resource Leveling" option.

Experiments:

Select the "Level only within available slack”

Duration after leveling is: _______________

UnSelect the "Level only within available slack”

Duration after leveling is: _______________

Change available L5 resources to 3, then

Duration after leveling is: _______________

Comments on Microsoft Project:

Costs? Deadline? Penalty? Incentive? Cash flow? Productivity Factors? Optimization?

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 EasyPlan
Unique Features:
1. Organized storage of your resources 2. Not one … but three estimates / activity

1 2 3

Form crews, & store pre-defined hourly rates. 3 options: from Cheap & Slow to Fast & Expensive

3. Powerful cost optimization 4. Cash flow analysis & indirect costs

Select the
best
combination
of
construction
options for all
activities, to
meet project
constraints.

5. Competitor analysis & markup estimation 6. Price unbalancing & fine-tuning

7. Extensive reports 8. Most productive site layout

Many reports, including Improve site productivity and safety

automated bid proposal. by placing facilities optimally on site.

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 9. Simple records of site events 10. Cost-effective corrective actions

Plan:
We

No user input Progress of

in the bar Progress Contractor 80%
chart of 20% delay.

Progress directly recorded on Bar Chart Throughout execution, you may re-optimize
the plan to meet your evolving constraints.

11. Earned-Value Control

12. Full Delay Analysis

Innovative & accurate analysis to apportion

delays among project parties and decide on fair
Full range of time & cost indices to
compensation / extension.
help monitor progress.

13. Import & Export

Direct link to project management

software such as Microsoft Project.

Using EasyPlan
Simply, follow the options in main screen or the “Project” toolbar
Menu one-by-one.

To
efficiently
use
EasyPlan,
Simply
follow the
Project
Toolbar
Menu
i

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 Project PR7 Solution Using EasyPlan
• Activate EasyPlan.xls from the directory in which it was installed.

Alternate
• Click on the figure to proceed. between
EasyPlan’s
menu and
Rename Your Project Excel’s menu.

• Use File – Save As to rename the project to a new name of your choice. Always save the
new file to the same directory of EasyPlan to have access to all help features.

Specify Your Resources

• Activate the Resource Bank from the top Toolbar. Let’s now specify that we have a limit
of four skilled workers (code L5). To access the labour sheet, click on the picture.

• Activate the Labour sheet.

• Select the cell with L3.

• Then use the top button to add a new labour category. Then, change the data of the
new category to L5. and specify available amount of 4, same as shown here. Notice that all the
labour codes start with letter L.

• Once done, return to the Main Screen from the top toolbar and hide the

Resource Bank using “Hide” button .

Enter General Information

• In the “Main Screen”, input the

general data for the project and the
constraints you have, such as:

- Start date;
- Working days;
- Three key resource categories (L5
is the one we have in this example
with a limit of 4 per day);
- Project deadline duration;
- Penalty & incentive amounts; and
- Other contract provisions as
shown.

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Specify the Activities

• From EasyPlan’ menu or toolbar, Project, Activities & Estimates, as shown

here. Notice only a few activities exist with three estimates.

• Delete all but activity A (select each Note: You can

activity at a time, then push the add/delete activities
“Delete Current Activity” button). only in this screen.

• We now need to add 11 new

activities (total becomes 12) for our
project.

We need to enter the data in all

white cells.

Specify Activities’ Optional Estimates

• Let’s now enter the activities’ data,

including the time and cost of each
estimate.

We can arrange our estimates so that

Estimate1 is the cheapest work option,
and Estimate3 is the more expensive
but faster work option. Also, Estimate2
is somewhere in between.

Notice that each activity requires 2 of

the L5 resource per day.

Notice also that if we change the seasonal productivity factors, we actually can consider for the
effect of construction during winter or for a complex project, etc.

Notes:

• An alternative way to specify the activities and their estimates is by importing

a Microsoft Project file. In this project, we have a Microsoft Project file that comes with EasyPlan
(Tutorial.mpp). Once the project activities are imported, a message appears to notify you of
successful import (remember that MS Project allows us only one estimate). Remember to enter the
complete data of the three estimates as shown earlier.

• If you click on the “More” button in the Activities sheet, you can put additional
information about the activities supervisors, area in the project, and contract item. These are
beneficial to get specific report at different levels in the project. Assume all the house activities are
Area1 (supervised by Mark) while the garage is Area2 (supervised by Sam). Enter the data in the
white cells.

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Specify Work Sequence & Schedule Details

• Simplest way to set the relations among the activities is in the schedule sheet:

Select which of the three

optional estimates (1, 2, or 3)
is used in each activity.

We enter up If we delay the start of No user input

to three any activity, we avoid in the bar
predecessors having activities run in chart
for each activity. parallel, thus using
many resources.

• In case of manually specifying the activities, we need to enter the logical relations. Once done,
notice that when all activities use their cheapest estimate as shown in the “Method Used” column
(value of 1), the project becomes 16 days (2 days more than the deadline), with a cost of
$44,800. The resource limits are also exceeded. Use the to view different data.

• Return to the Main Screen from the top toolbar.

• Notice the warning signs.

We exceed both the
deadline and the resource
limits. We need to do
something about that.

• Note that we can now look

at the network diagram. In the diagram, we
can even change the relationships and see
how the new network looks like.

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Optimize the Schedule

• Optimization is
straightforward. Let’s choose the two objectives
selected, then specify the number of cycles, then
proceed.

The optimized schedule (below) meets the deadline (14 days) and uses 4 L5 resources (same as
daily limit). Project cost is only $39,200.

Can you get a better solution?

The resulting schedule (shown below) selects the proper values for the work methods (estimates)
and some start delays that satisfy our objectives with minimum cost. We can run the optimization
more than once, even with larger number of cycles until a satisfactory solution is obtained.

Changes in these columns can optimize the

schedule. Notice the cost adjustment.

-5

Save the Baseline

• Once satisfied then save it as baseline (“Project - Save/Update Baseline…”

toolbar option). In the form shown, click on the button shown.

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Project Reports

• EasyPlan has various reports and charts. One of these is a Cash Flow chart that facilitates your
financing decisions. Similarly, you can view a bid proposal report and resource profiles.

Change the options in the

main screen and see the
impact on the cash flow
curves.

Bid proposal Report:

Bid
price
for
each
activity

Produce a report of all the costs of Area2.

Remember to save your file. We will use it in later exercises.

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Notes:

• To estimate Mark Up, we may directly enter

an estimated percentage (e.g., 10 %) in the
main screen. Or, you may use EasyPlan’s
powerful bid analysis utility (Utilities Menu)
that allows you to store past bids against key
competitors and then suggests a markup
strategy against them.

• Specifying Auto-estimates based on resources:

This button directs you to an alternative input screen for auto-estimate data

Select the cell

of an estimate
& click Edit.

White cells are user inputs

Using this form,

EasyPlan calculates
Add/Delete activities’ costs
resources for and durations
this estimate based on your
using Edit selection of crews,
buttons. materials,
subcontractors,
etc.
Notice that
Material
quantity is the
same as the
production
amount (100).

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 Delivery of Repetitive Projects (e.g., Infrastructure, High-rise, Highways)
- Crew Work Continuity
- Learning Phenomenon
- New Representation

Notes:

- The three crews employed in activity (A) have different work assignments.
- Each crew moves to a new unit as soon as it finishes with the previous one, without interruption.
- When a slower activity is to follow a faster activity (e.g., C follows B), bottleneck is at bottom.
- When a faster activity is to follow a slower activity (e.g., B follows A), bottleneck is at top.
- Changing the production rate (slope) of any activity changes project duration. Even speeding one task may
prove to be harmful to the project; and
- A good scheduling strategy is to schedule the activities as parallel as possible to each other.

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 More Advanced Linear scheduling Model
Flexible features for scheduling the activities include: color-coded or pattern-coded crews; varying
quantities; productivity impact; crew interruption time; crew staggering; crew work sequence; and
activities’ progress speeds (slopes of lines). It is noted that the schedule is efficiently arranged with
crew work continuity maintained. Also, overlapping is avoided by simply showing the activities of each
path in the work network separately. In addition:

1. Activities are not necessarily repeated at all sections.

2. Activities can proceed in an ascending or descending flow. This provides work flow flexibility and
provides for a way to fast-track projects;
3. Each activity has up to 3 methods of construction (e.g., normal work, overtime, or subcontractor)
with associated time, cost, and crew constraints. The model can then be used to select the proper
combination of methods that meet the deadline, cost, and crew constraints;
4. Activities can have non-standard durations and costs at selected sections;
5. Work interruption (layoff period) can be specified by the user at any unit of any activity; and
6. Conditional methods of construction can be specified by the user.

Activity A Activity B Activity C Activity D

9 Work proceeds
Unit No.

forward from No work at

8 station 3 to 8 only. station 8.
Crew 2
7
Crew 3
6
Crew 1 Top crew
works from
5 station 9 to 5,
Crew 1 while bottom
Small quantity at
4 Station 4. crew works
Crew 3 from station 1
3 to 4.
Work proceeds Crew 2
Low productivity at
2 from station 3 to
Station 2 (Large
8 only, with Crew 1
interruption at duration).
1 station 5.
TIME

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 Computer Exercise
- Open the Excel file for project PR7 for the house and garage that we saved earlier and change the
start date to Jan. 3, 2005. Also, change the daily penalty to $20,000, and daily bonus to $5,000.

- Now we need to consider a larger project of 10 units of this house.

- To do that, activate the repetitive schedule button on the main screen.
This will activate program BAL for repetitive scheduling.

- Let’s specify a project deadline of 35 days to complete

10 units.

- Now, let’s proceed to the Activities tab and specify the

activities’ data.
- Set the maximum available crews for the activities to 2
only.

Specifiy any
changes to the
number of units
here.

Make sure you Three estimates

set the units and for all the 10
the crews for all standard units
the activities. and maximum
available crews

If any of the units

is not standard,
you can set its
duration & cost
here

- Once we finish the data entry, let’s

save the data to view the schedule.

Notice the project is 43 days with a

total cost of $472,900 (we are paying
too much penalty for the delay).

- Can you meet the 35 day deadline?

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- It’s time to optimize. In this case, the program will find for us which activities need more crews and
which activities need a speedy construction method.

Optimization
results: 33 days
and $299,900
cost.

- The optimum schedule has the activities using the best combination of crews and
methods that meet the deadline at minimum cost. Since we are satisfied with this
schedule, let’s save the results.

- Now, you can experiment with various options such as having parallel versus
shifted crews. Click on any activity and you will see its all details at the bottom.
For example, the Garage Walls at unit 4 shown in the figure above has a cost of
$3000. Its start and finish times are also shown.

- Now to generate a Bar Chart of this schedule use the Export button and a
separate MicroSoft Project file will be generated.

- To add practicality to this example, in the Project tab, let’s set the Jan.
and Feb. productivity factors to 70% as shown.

Now, can you meet the deadline and what is the total cost?

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 Highway Example
A three-kilometer highway stretch is divided to ten sections for planning purposes. Each section is 300
meters. The cross section is shown below along with activities’ details.

1.8 m 10 m 0.9 m 1.5 m

Total excavation thickness:

Middle = 500mm; and
Shoulders = 200 mm.

For the highway project, let’s develop an optimum schedule considering different realistic options of
crews and how they move among the ten stations. The data are as follows:

Estimate 1 Estimate 2 Estimate 3

Max. Cost Time Cost Time Cost Time
Activity Crew ($) (days) ($) (days) ($) (days)
s
1. Excavation 2 21,000 3 30,000 2 ---- ----
2. Sub-base 2 7,800 2 ---- ---- ---- ----
3. Base 3 72,000 10 80,000 8 100,000 5
4. Binder 1 30,000 1.2 ---- ---- ---- ----
5. Asphalt 1 14,400 1 ---- ---- ---- ----
6. Curbs 1 31,200 2 38,000 1 ---- ----
7. Lighting 2 19,245 2 25,000 1 ---- ----
8. Sidewalks 2 10,950 2 ---- ---- ---- ----
9. Paint 1 198 0.2 ---- ---- ---- ----

The logical relationships within each section are the same, but the deadline for finishing the whole
highway is 30 days. Seasonal productivity factors are also as shown below.

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 Infrastructure Networks with Distributed Sites: A Bigger Challenge
Buildings, Hospitals, Schools, Highway Spots, Bridges

Delivery approaches
for MR&R programs

A A

Effect of Site order C C

B
B
D D
(a) Site order with long distances (b) Site order with short distances

Outsourced site
9
Outsourced
8
INDEX TO SITE NUMBER

Crew 2 Crew Crew 3

Scheduling of crews
7 2 PARALLEL
along multiple sites CREWS Crew Crew
Crew
6
Crew Crew Crew 2 Available
5 crew is
Crew Crew assigned
Crew 1
4
Out- Crew 3 Crew 3
3 3 Staggered
Crew Crew Crew
crews
2 TIME
Crew Crew Crew
1
† Download the demo package from www.opteam1.com under products-BAL-Downloads. Expand the BAL-
DEMO.exe file, then run the setup.exe program to install it on your machine. After installation, run BAL from Start-
Programs-BAL DEMO.
† Go to the resource bank, view all sites, and change the productivity factors for the first four sites to: January 0 .7,
February 0.8 and March 0.9, and leave all others as 1.0s. In BAL main screen, activate the BAL-Schedule button
to access MS Project. Use Project-Information to change project start data to Jan. 2, 2002. Use the BAL Schedule
toolbar button, then the Project Data button. Change the deadline to March 25, 2002. Go to the Activities tab and
scroll through the activities. Change the maximum number of crews for activity “Subbase” to 3. Save and proceed.
Try to meet the deadline. Use optimization options. After every trial notice the arrangement of the sites, the number
of crews used, and the method of construction used. Try manually to shift the sites that take long durations later in
the order. Notice the time and cost. Best duration obtained is ____ days and minimum cost is_____

Projacs International www.ProjacsTraining.com Notes © Dr. Tarek Hegazy – www.civil.uwaterloo.ca/tarek

 Components of BAL software

Example of BAL application

Fifteen sites and their

seasonal productivity
factors

Twelve activities with

their optional estimates
and logical
relationships

Other data inputs

Main input screen with general data.

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 Two contracted sites Deadline Colored crews

Initial
Schedule that
does not
Site 7 is
meet
(Stanley
deadline.

Optimization

Optimized
baseline plan Baseline
that meets cost
deadline.

Contracted sites
unchanged

Site 7 becomes
(Arbor Glen PS)

Deadline is met at
minimum cost.

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 Project Control & Delay Analysis
Recording of progress? Activities and Project Status? Comparing Planned vs Actual?
Progress Payments? Managing Changes? Updating? Corrective Actions? Forecasting? Delay Resposibility?
Cost compensation? Productivity Assessment? Storing As-Built Details? Lessons Learned?

- Camcorders
- Time-Lapse Camera
- Minutes of meetings

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 Site Layout Using EasyPlan
Let’s activate the Site Layout utility from the Utility Menu.

We follow the options under this

menu.

Initial Facility with fixed

Obstacle or
positions location on site.
unallocatable
of the (Copied from the After activating the first
place on site.
top cell) and its
facilities
number changed
(Copied from option to change site
to be the top cell) dimensions, we draw
placed
the site as shown.

We then activate the

third option to set the
Red cells represent empty space on
site that can be allocated to a facility
desired relationships
by writing the facility number. among facilities.
(Copied from the top cell)

We then proceed with optimization:

You may try to manually change the position of

a facility by deleting its number from its
original cell and re-writing it into another cell.

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 MEASURING WORK PROGRESS (% Complete)
Agreed at the Outset of the Project
Repeated production of easily
1 Units Completed measured pieces of work.

Receive & Inspect 15

2 Incremental Milestone Setting Complete
Alignment Complete
35
50
Installation of Major Equipment Internals Installed 75
Testing Complete 90
Accepted by Owner 100
3 Start/Finish Duration
V. Short Short Long
Low 0, 100 50, 100 20, 100 Lack of readily definable
intermediate milestones
$
High 0, 100 20, 30, 20, 100
100

Actual Cost (or hrs) of Work to Date

4 Cost Ratio =
Forecast at Completion

5 Weighed or Equivalent Units Scheduled Actual

Structural Steel Erection.

Weight Subtask Unit (2) Total Quantity (3) Equiv. (4) Quan. to (5) Earned
cost/total Steel Tons Date Tons
0.02 Run Found. Bolts Each 200 10.4 200 10.4

0.02 Shim % 100 10.4 100 10.4

0.05 Shakeout % 100 26 100 26

0.06 Columns Each 84 31.2 74 27.5

0.11 Beams Each 859 52 0 0

0.10 Cross Braces Each 837 57.2 0 0

0.20 Gribs & Sagrods Bay 38 104 0 0

0.09 Plumb % 100 46.8 5 2.3

0.30 Connections Each 977 156.0 74 3.9

0.05 Punch List % 100 26 0 0

1.0 Steel Ton 520 80.5

Earned Tons to Date (5) = Quantity to Date (4) x Rel. Wt (1) x Σ Equiv. Steel Tons (3)
Total Quantity (2)

% Complete = Σ Earned Tons (5) / Σ Equiv. Steel Tons

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 Project Status
1. S-Curve Envelope: Contractor’s Control

Early versus Late bar chart

Direct + Indirect
Costs

Time

2. Earned-Value Analysis:
BCWP
Schedule Performance Index (SPI) =
BCWS
Cost $
BCWP
Cost Performance Index (CPI) =
ACWP

BCWS
Budget Price

ACWP
Actual Cost

Time
BCWP (EV)

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 SPI
1.2
Over Cost, Under Cost,
Ahead of Schedule Ahead of Schedule

1.1

1.0 CPI

0.8 0.9 1.1 1.2

Start

Over Cost, 0.9 Under Cost,

Behind Schedule Behind Schedule

0.8

Agenda for Success:

- Get Good Designers: Beware of Bargain Shopping;

- Watch Low Bids Carefully: Work at Cost Spells Trouble;
- Fail to Plan and you Plan to Fail;
- Keep the Work Site Organized;
- Monitor the Gaps;
- No Pay Causes Delay;
- Time = Money;
- Communication; and Documentation.

New Concept For Project Control (Critical Chain):

- Estimate with safety removed (50% chance);

- Incentive for early finish;
- Focus on predecessors’ finish;
- Project buffer (50%);
- Simple monitoring of buffer penetration;
- Earned-Value for cost analysis.

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 Using Microsoft Project
- Open Microsoft Project and add four sequential tasks as shown below. Add the relationships.
- Save the Baseline (Tools – Tracking – Save Baseline).
- Activate the “Tracking Gantt” from the side bar. Notice the two bars per activity.
- Now, Use (View-Table-Tracking) to see the columns related to entering progress details.
- Add the percentage complete shown below for the tasks.
- Question: How to show Delays? Slow versus Fast Progress? Reasons for work stops?

Current schedule

Baseline

Progress

Project Control using EasyPlan

Once you determine a
schedule that meets
deadline and resource
limits, it is time to save this
schedule as a Baseline for
the project so that can be
used for progress evaluation. <Alt>PB

Recording, monitoring and controlling actual progress is one key benefit of Easyplan. We access that
from the Project Toolbar menu.

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 Put this option off
Note: then print the
Baseline
Schedule alone.

Present this chart to

site personnel for
manually recording
of daily progress.
The manual records
can then be entered
to EasyPlan either
daily or every few
days.

3 Ways to enter actual progress: Important

user input All site events
including delays
made by all
parties are
directly entered
on the actual
bar chart.

1 Click on the “Enter Daily Progress” button and 2 Select the 3 Select the actual
EasyPlan will present a form to ask you about the actual progress cell progress cell and click
events that took place on a daily basis. and directly on the yellow
enter: button, then use the
entry form below.
- A value from 0 to
1.0, say 0.5 to
represent 50%
progress;
- Letter O for
owner delay;
- Letter C for
contractor delay;
- C+O if both; or
- Letter N for
third-party delay.

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 Example Using EasyPlan
Load the file for the house and garage project (PR7) described earlier. Let’s continue on the project.

During actual progress, the following events were encountered during the first 12 days:

• Day 1: excavation progressed as planned and no other work was done.

• Day 2: the contractor encountered unexpected rock (an owner-related problem). Accordingly,
Excavation was stopped until a new machine is procured. No other work was done on day 2.
• Days 3 and 4: the new excavation equipment did not arrive yet. No other work was done.
• Day 5: the new excavation equipment started working and all remaining excavation work was
completed that day. No other work done.
• Days 6 and 7: Foundation work was started and completed.
• Day 8: work on the Joining Wall was started and completed.
• On each of days 9 & 10: 25% of the House Walls and 25% of the Garage Walls were completed.
• Day 11: both the owner and contractor caused the House Walls activity to stop. Also, the contractor
did not have resources to work on the Garage Walls.
• Day 12: the problem due to both the owner and the contractor still caused the House Walls activity
to stop. The contractor also still had a resource problem and could not proceed on the Garage Walls.
On the same day, the owner wanted to take some time to change his selection of the interior
finishes. In addition, the Fabrication of the Garage Doors activity is 17% done.
• Actual costs to day 12 are assumed to be $5,000 for each of the started activities.

a) What is your optimum corrective action plan? Plot the project S-Curve and Earned-Value curve.
b) Print the payment schedule, Cash Flow chart, resource histograms, & the as-built schedule.

Solution:

- Let’s load the file, all the data are saved and the project meets our 14-day deadline.

- Let’s now save the baseline.

- Proceed to the progress screen. Notice that the dark bottom bars (expected or
remaining schedule) is identical to the top baseline bars. We now need to enter the daily actual
progress using the button.

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- After entering all the data for the 12 days, the schedule will
look as below with projected completion of 20 days. Make
sure that you record the reasons for the delays.

- For corrective actions, you may reactivate the optimization feature of EasyPlan to determine an
execution strategy that tries to recover the delays.

- For project control purposes, EasyPlan has a wide range of reports and charts to support you in
identifying project status, actual versus planned progress, corrective actions, and payment reports.
Two examples are the payment report and the project S-curve.
We specify
the report
period
here.

Notice the
actual
versus
planned
progress
for that
period.

- Other reports include an S-Curve, an Earned-Value chart, and a chart for progress indices. View
these reports for the case study project.

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 Project Delay Analysis

Recording the Work % Complete

Slow-down Work Stop Acceleration

% complete % complete % Actual complete on % complete % complete

actual 〈 planned that day = 0 actual 〉 planned
Responsibility and reason
• Reason? • Reason?
• Document? • Owner Directed?
• Contractor own?
Owner Contractor Excusable Concurrent • Document?
(O) (C) (N) (C+O)
- - - or (N+C)
- - - or (N+O)
or (C+O+N)

Question: Does Our Project Management System allow us to store this data legibly and
automatically use it to show the impact on project time and cost?

One way to simulate a delay on Microsoft project is to add an extra activity, as shown in the
following figure. This, however, increases the activities in a project, yet does not provide the
necessary analysis to see which delay affected the project or not.

Traditional Representation of Delay

Three activities
(without delays)

Added activities to
represent delays

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 Example: In the small example shown below, can we readily decide which party is responsible for
the two days delay beyond the deadline?

As-Planned Bar Chart

As-Built Bar Chart

Try the same exercise on Microsoft project using the But-For approach.

- Using a But-For analysis, removing contractor delays: __________________________________________

- Using a But-For analysis, removing owner delays: _____________________________________________

- Using a window analysis of 9 days: _________________________________________________________

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New Approach: Daily Windows

Window of Day 3

Window of Day 4

Window of Day 5

Case of Delays and Accelerations

Traditional delay analysis looks at several project intervals (windows or snapshots) and assesses how
the critical path varies from each window to the other (but not within each window). When acceleration
is not considered, the analysis may produce different results depending on the window size. This is
illustrated in the small 2-activity example below. The two activities of this example are both critical.
During execution, one-day acceleration occurred on the first day, thus causing a one-day acceleration
float (with respect to the original deadline). The owner then caused a work stop on the third day, while
the contractor caused a work stop on the fifth day. The net project delay is one day (6 days on the as-
built versus 5 days on the as-planned).

1 2 3 4 5 6

50% 50%
A
100% Plan
Acceleration
Float
33% 33% 34% Actual
B
20% O 30% C 50%

Deadline

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 Delay Analysis Using EasyPlan

For the case study project, activate delay analysis and determine responsibility. Experiment with the
but-for versus the windows method. Add few accelerations and experiment with it.

The windows analysis

compares progress
against baseline and
accurately considers
concurrent delays
Activate the
throughout the project
delay analysis at
duration.
any time along
the project or at
project end.

Project control on the Web

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 Advanced IT Tools & Techniques
Process Simulation

Computer simulation is a powerful tool for accurate modeling of real world construction systems to
support planning, scheduling, and resource management. Over the years, several systems have
been developed with various capabilities. Such tools are beneficial in modeling any cyclic process
such as the erection of steel elements in the various floors of a high-rise building, or earth-moving
operations in which trucks are loaded with material, sent to dump area, and returned in a queue for
another loading. These processes can have a lot of variability in the timing of each step, probability of
process breakdowns, and various possible resource combinations.

With traditional simulation tools, the process of developing a simulation model requires the user to be
familiar with specific terminology and the modeling schematics of particular software, in addition to the
ability to write proprietary computer code. This may not be suitable for many construction practitioners
who are not familiar with the operational details needed for accurate simulation. Several researchers
have, therefore, employed different ways to simplify the modeling process and to make it more
attractive to practitioners.

One of the simple simulation tools available commercially that is remarkably easy to use is the
Scitor Process software. It allows the user to draw a flowchart of any process, assign resources to
the process steps, run the simulation, and then obtain various reports on productive times, idle
times, and the production quantity produced at the various process steps. An example of a simple
concrete placing operation is shown below.

Using any simulation tool brings substantial benefits. This includes proper estimation of production
rates, analysis of the impact of various resource combinations on production, analysis of the
impact of uncertainty on production, and analysis of various reengineering decisions.

Model of a Simple Concrete-Placing Operation.

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Enterprise Resource Planning

With the turn of the millennium, many software vendors have put into the market project
management software that is claimed to be usable by all parts of the “Enterprise”. It ties
scheduling, resource allocation, document management, timekeeping, financing, procurement, and
reporting together into one integrated system. On the larger business community, such systems
have been referred to as “ERP” or Enterprise Resource Planning systems. An Enterprise Resource
Planning system is a packaged business software system that enables a company to manage the
efficient and effective use of its resources (materials, plant, and equipment, etc). ERP systems
have been used by large manufacturing, production, and larger corporations and they cost millions
of dollars in its planning, customization, and training of users. Their objectives are:

- Automate and integrate the majority of an organization’s business processes;

- Share common data and practices across the entire enterprise;
- Produce and access information in a real-time environment;
- Tie all departments of a corporation together and facilitate the transfer of information; and
- Increase productivity, achieve higher level of competitiveness, and ultimately attain larger
market share and profit margins.

With the increase in number of corporations using ERP software, organizations are facing many
challenges during the implementation, particularly with the large cultural changes required from
users. In fact, the use of these systems is going through the second wave which follows the “Go
Live” step in their implementing. In this second wave, the focus is on addressing whether the
promised benefits are attainable, the systems’ impact on users’ ability to adapt, and how to
optimize the benefits gained from using such systems.

In a recent consulting report published by Deloitte Consulting (http://www.dc.com), various

worldwide ERP implementation were analyzed through a survey among 230 respondents in 85
global companies. The report “ERP’s Second Wave: Maximizing the Value of Enterprise
Applications and Processes” included a survey that was conducted between the summer of 1998
and spring of 1999. The ERP systems surveyed are SAP, Oracle, Baan, and PeopleSoft. Some
of the findings in the report are shown in the figure below. According to this report, full benefits of
ERP implementation can be achieved through the following practices:

1. Focus on capabilities and benefits, not just going live;

2. Implementation does not end by go-live. ERP requires continuous planning and management;
3. Companies should anticipate a temporary dip in performance after going live but substantial
improvements will soon follow;
4. Achieve balanced people, process, and technology changes across all area;
5. Extend the ERP capabilities even further;
6. Teach the organization to use new capabilities;
7. Build and leverage process expertise;
8. Promote post-implementation commonalties; and
9. Assign clear ownership of benefits and define metrics and manage to them.

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Analysis of
ERP Implementations

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Project Collaboration on the Web

The examples on Web-enabled devices and software applications are plenty. From Cellular
phones that can browse the World Wide Web to applications that can completely run from the
remote server by the Web browser. Almost all the new versions of project management software
such as MS Project and Primavera have web features. Other specialized software that provide
web-based project management services have also become available. Examples include BidCom,
Framework, and Meridian. A listing of these software systems is provided in the appendix. With the
new hand-held gadgets and web-enabled software, site to head-office communication is much
facilitated so that reports are transmitted on line and expert solutions are provided immediately to
site professionals.

Before buying: do some search, visit service providers’ sites, try demos, do a matrix, talk to users,
look at financial performance, evaluate your own operations, test different procedures, & plan for
the transition.

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Internet Bidding

OTHER
Hand-held devices

4-D visualization

GIS

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 Workshop Evaluation
Hands-On Computer Workshops

I work for an : ___ Owner; ___ Contractor; or _____________________________ organization.

Please circle your answer

1 = Low / Disagree
Question 5 = V. High/Strongly Agree
How would you rate the overall quality of this workshop? 1 2 3 4 5
Overall, how would you rate the instructor? 1 2 3 4 5
The instructor is well prepared? 1 2 3 4 5
The instructor answers questions carefully and completely? 1 2 3 4 5
The instructor uses examples to make the materials understandable? 1 2 3 4 5
The instructor stimulated interest in the course? 1 2 3 4 5
The course material is interesting? 1 2 3 4 5
The instructor makes participants comfortable about asking? 1 2 3 4 5
The instructor's use of technology enhanced learning? 1 2 3 4 5
The difficulty level of this course was appropriate for me? 1 2 3 4 5
The quality of the workshop notes are? 1 2 3 4 5
I would recommend this course to others? 1 2 3 4 5
Workshop cost is reasonable? 1 2 3 4 5
Format and time of day is reasonable? 1 2 3 4 5
Location is good? 1 2 3 4 5
Is the workshop material useful for your work environment? 1 2 3 4 5

Comments on Workshop
_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Other comments & suggestions for other workshops:

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

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