CHAPTER 7

PROJECT CONTROL

The limited objective of project control deserves emphasis. Project control procedures are
primarily intended to identify deviations from the project plan rather than to suggest
possible areas for cost savings. This characteristic reflects the advanced stage at which
project control becomes important. The time at which major cost savings can be achieved
is during planning and design for the project. During the actual construction, changes are
likely to delay the project and lead to inordinate cost increases. As a result, the focus of
project control is on fulfilling the original design plans or indicating deviations from
these plans, rather than on searching for significant improvements and cost savings. It is
only when a rescue operation is required that major changes will normally occurring in
the construction plan.

7.1 Problems that may Arise During Construction

In construction, no project, almost, is executed as planned. Control needs to be carried-

out due to the dynamic nature of the construction process. Controlling after project finish
is trivial and updates are usually done periodically. Controlling can be done for project
schedule and/or project cost. As the construction stage of project starts, the project mostly
will face delays and/or cost overruns. The following is a list of the factors that may cause
such problems:
- Change in activity durations and quantities.
- Sudden changes of the availability of resources.
- Change orders.
- Accidents.
- Procurement delays.

Planning & scheduling 148 Dr. Emad Elbeltagi

7.2 Schedule Updating

Construction typically involves a deadline for work completion, so contractual

agreements will force attention to schedules. More generally, delays in construction
represent additional costs due to late facility occupancy or other factors. Just as costs
incurred are compared to budgeted costs, actual activity durations may be compared to
expected durations. In this process, forecasting the time to complete particular activities
may be required.

It is important to devise efficient and cost effective methods for gathering information on
actual project accomplishments. Generally, observations of work completed are made by
inspectors and project managers and then work completed is estimated. Once estimates of
work complete and time expended on particular activities are available, deviations from
the original duration estimate can be estimated.

For example, Figure 7.1 shows the originally scheduled project progress versus the actual
progress on a project. This figure is constructed by summing up the percentage of each
activity which is complete at different points in time; this summation can be weighted by
the magnitude of effort associated with each activity. In Figure 7.1, the project was ahead
of the original schedule for a period including point A, but is now late at point B by an
amount equal to the horizontal distance between the planned progress and the actual
progress observed to date.

In evaluating schedule progress, it is important to bear in mind that some activities

possess float, whereas delays in activities on the critical path will cause project delays. In
particular, the delay in planned progress at time t may be soaked up in activities' float
(thereby causing no overall delay in the project completion) or may cause a project delay.
As a result of this ambiguity, it is preferable to update the project schedule to devise an
accurate portrayal of the schedule adherence. After applying a scheduling algorithm, a
new project schedule can be obtained.

Planning & scheduling 149 Dr. Emad Elbeltagi

 B

Figure 7.1: Planned versus actual progress over time on a project

It is common that actual durations of activities differ from those estimated. Furthermore,
there may be additions or deletions to the scope of the contract that will affect the time at
which activities can be started or completed. Schedule updating is a procedure for
introducing the latest progress information into the schedule.

Data have to be collected on the actual progress of completed activities and those under
execution. A completely new estimate of the amount of work remaining to be done
should be made for each activity. The probable output of various resources should be
assessed. If the job is found to be behind schedule, corrective actions must be made to
retrieve position. A procedure for manual schedule updating can be summarized in the
following steps:
-Change the duration of all completed activities to zero.
-Identify all activities on which work is currently processing as Live Activities
-Put early start time of live activities equals the updating date and their durations equal
remaining duration.
-Change duration of future activities as given in the update report.
-Carry-out network analysis in the normal way and prepare a new activity schedule.

Planning & scheduling 150 Dr. Emad Elbeltagi

To illustrate the above hand procedure for schedule updating, consider the following
example with the planning data given in Table 7.1. The corresponding precedence
network along with time analysis is shown in Figure 7.2. It is evident that initial project
duration is 20 weeks and the activities A, B, F, and K comprises the critical path.

Table 7.1: Planning data of the example problem

Activity Predecessors Duration (wks) Overlap (wks)

A --- 2
B A 2
C A 5
D A 3
E B 2
F B 6 -3
G C 6
H D 6
I D 4 -2
J E, F 2
K F, G 8 3 with G
L H 3
M H, I 2

At the end of the 7th week, new filed data are collected and the project status activities is
as follows:
-Activities A, B, D, and E have been completed.
-Remaining Duration of activity C is one week.
-Remaining Duration of activity H is 4 weeks.
-Activity G will not start until beginning of week 10.
-Overlap between activities K and G is one week only
-Volume of work of activity L has been increased by 33%.
-Activity J has been omitted.
The updated precedence network and the corresponding updated schedule are shown in
Figure 7.3. It is shown that a new critical path is developed. The new project completion
time is 21 weeks which indicates that a delay of one week is encountered. Corrective
actions should be taken to improve project performance during the remaining portion.

Planning & scheduling 151 Dr. Emad Elbeltagi

 4 6
E (2)
16 18
(12, 12)
2 4 7 13 13 15
B (2) -3 F (6) J (2)
2 4 7 13 18 20
(0, 0) (0, 0) (5, 5)
0 2 2 7 7 13 13 20 20 20
A (2) C (5) G (6) 3 K (7) Finish (0)
0 2 5 10 10 16 13 20 20 20
(0, 0) (0, 0) (3, 3) (0, 0) (0, 0)
2 5 5 11 11 14
D (3) H (6) L (3)
8 11 11 17 17 20
ES EF
(6, 0) (3, 0) (6, 6)
D (3) -2
7 11 11 13
LS LF
I (4) M (2)
(TF, FF)
14 18 18 20
(7, 0) (7, 7)
Figure 7.2: Scheduling data of the example problem

E (0)

7 13
B (0) F (6) J (0)
8 14
(0, 0)
7 8 9 15 14 21 21 21
A (0) C (1) G (6) 1 K (7) Finish (0)
8 9 9 15 14 21 21 21
(0, 0) (3, 3) (0, 0) (0, 0)
7 11 11 15
D (0) H (4) L (4)
11 17 17 21
(3, 0) (6, 6)
ES EF 7 11 11 13
D (3) I (4) M (2)
LS LF 15 19 19 21
(TF, FF) (7, 0) (7, 7)
Figure 7.3: Updated network of the example problem

Planning & scheduling 152 Dr. Emad Elbeltagi

7.3 Earned Value Management

For cost control on a project, the construction plan and the associated cash flow estimates
can provide the baseline reference for subsequent project monitoring and control. The
final or detailed cost estimate provides a baseline for the assessment of financial
performance during the project. To the extent that costs are within the detailed cost
estimate, then the project is thought to be under financial control. Overruns in particular
cost categories signal the possibility of problems and give an indication of exactly what
problems are being encountered.
The key to a profitable project is to keep construction costs within the budget and to
know when and where job costs are deviating. The budget determines the amount of cash
that will be required over the various periods of the project. Various techniques are
usually used for cost control such as S-curve method and earned value technique.
Because it is the most widely used method, only earned value technique will be described
next. Earned value technique involves a combination of three measures that are needed
for the analysis. These measures include:

Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS)

BCWS measures what is planned in terms of budget cost of the work that should to
place (i.e., according to the baseline schedule of the project). BCWS curve can be
plotted by accumulating the budget cost of the initial schedule.

Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP) (Earned value – EV)

BCWP measures what is done in terms of the budget cost of work that has actually
had been accomplished to date. BCWP curve can be plotted point by point after each
reporting period. Here we accumulate the budget cost on the schedule that shows the
actual percent complete.

Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP)

ACWP measures what is paid in terms of the actual cost of work that has actually
been accomplished to date. BCWS curve can also be plotted point by point after each

Planning & scheduling 153 Dr. Emad Elbeltagi

 reporting period. Here we accumulate the actual expenditures on the schedule that
shows the actual percent complete.

The significance of these three measures is that they directly indicate schedule and
cost performances of the project at different reporting periods. This illustrated as
shown in Figure 7.5. Using these three measures, different project performance
indicators can be calculated. Among these indicators are:

Schedule Variance (SV)

it is the difference between the earned value (BCWP) and the planned budget cost
(BCWS).
SV = BCWP – BCWS; SV > 0 indicates ahead of schedule

Cost Variance (CV)

it is the difference between the actual cost (ACWP) and the earned value or the
budget cost (BCWP).
CV = BCWP – ACWP; CV > 0 indicates cost saving

Money
BCWS

BCWP (EV)
Variance
Cost

ACWP Schedule Variance

Time

Figure 7.5: Earned value measures and indictors

These concepts are best illustrated by the example problem with the planning data given
in Table 7.1. The price of each activity is given Table 7.4.The schedule of the example

Planning & scheduling 154 Dr. Emad Elbeltagi

problem is given in Figure 7.2. At the end of week number 5, the project status is
recorded as given in Table 7.4. Actual costs are also recorded as given in Table 7.5.

Table 7.4: Cost data of the example problem

Activity A B C D E F G H I J K L M
Price (1000) 36 24 145 84 126 168 126 78 80 216 70 228 120

Actual Start 0 2 2 2 4
Projected
2 5 7 6 7
Completion

Table 7.5: Actual cost at the end of week 5

Week 1 2 3 4 5 Total
Cost 18 18 72 72 125 305

Figure 7.6 shows the project schedule in bar chart format. The planned expenditure of
each activity is assumed to be uniformly distributed over activity duration. The BCWP
are calculated as shown in Figure 7.7. The weekly budgets are plotted on a cumulative
basis as the BCWS are as shown in Figure 7.8. In Figure 9.8, BCWS as well as BCWP
and ACWP to the end of week 5 are plotted on the same graph. It now possible to
calculate schedule and cost control indicators as:
SV = 262 – 294 = -ve which indicates that the project is behind schedule.
CV = 262 – 305 = -ve which indicates that the cost is overrun

Example 7.1

A cost control report of a certain contract gives the following figures as percentages
of the contract a-completion budgeted cost:

BCWP = 25% BCWS = 47% ACWP = 72%

Calculate, cost and schedule variances and comment on the status of the contract.

Planning & scheduling 155 Dr. Emad Elbeltagi

 Solution

Cost variance (CV) = BCWP – ACWP = 25 – 72 = -47%

Schedule variance (SV) = BCWP – BCWS = 25 – 47 = -22%
The contract is behind schedule with over cost.

Act. Budget/w 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
A 18 18 18
B 12 12 12
C 29 29 29 29 29 29
D 28 28 28 28
E 63 63 63
F 28 28 28 28 28 28 28
G 21 21 21 21 21 21 21
H 13 13 13 13 13 13 13
I 20 20 20 20 20
J 108 108 108
K 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
L 76 76 76 76
M 60 60 60

Weekly
18

18
69
69
120
105
42
82
82
82
82
185

185

194
118
10
10
10
10
10
Cumulative
18

36
105
174
294
399
441
523
605
687
769
954
1139
1333
1451
1461
1471
1481
1491
1501
Figure 7.6: Bar chart showing budgeted expenditures (BCWS)

Act. Budget/w 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
A 18 18 18
B 18 8 8 8
C 29 29 29 29 29 29
D 21 21 21 21 21
E 42 42 42 42

Weekly
18
18
58
58
100

Cumulative
18
36
94
152
262

Figure 7.7: Bar chart updated at end of week 5 (BCWP)

Planning & scheduling 156 Dr. Emad Elbeltagi

 350
BCSW
300
BCWP
250 ACWP

200

150

100

50

0
Figure 7.8: Cost curves

7.4 Exercises

1. The activities involved in the construction of one kilometer of a pipeline are given
together with their estimated durations in the table below. Each of the activities
will be done using a separate gang. All of them are sequential except “Excavate
trench” and “String pipe” are done concurrently. The project consists of 3 similar
kilometers.

Activity name Duration (days)

(LC) Locate and clear 1
(ET) Excavate trench 5
(SP) String pipe 2
(LP) Lay pipe 6
(PT) Pressure test 1
(BF) Backfill 2

a. Prepare complete plan of the works and determine the activity schedule. Mark
the critical path.

Planning & scheduling 157 Dr. Emad Elbeltagi

 b. Assume now that the project is being constructed according to ES timings
determined in “a” above. At the end of day 10, the following information is
obtained from the project site:
- Activities LC were completed on schedule.
- Duration of the first part of activity ET was prolonged by 1 day but that of
the second part will be the same as the original duration.
- Activities SP were completed although ES of the third part had been
delayed by 3 days.
- Remaining duration of the first part of activity LP is 3 days.
- The first part of activity PT will not start until beginning of day 16.
Update your network and mark the critical path.

c. If the activities direct cost is listed as below:

Activity Direct Cost (LE)

LC 400
ET 3000
SP 600
LP 1800
PT 200
BF 1000

The contract site overhead amounts to LE77.777/day and distributed among

activities according to their relative direct costs. If the actual cumulative cost at
the end of day 10 is LE9270, calculate schedule and cost performance ratios and
comment on the progress of the contract.

Planning & scheduling 158 Dr. Emad Elbeltagi

 REFERENCES

Awani, Alfred O. (1983). “Project Management Techniques.” Petrocelli Books Inc.

Clough, Richard H. & Sears, Gelen A. (1979). “Construction Project Management.”

John Wiley & Sons Inc., NY.

Cormican, David. (1985). “Construction Management: Planning and Finance.”

Construction Press, London.

Eldosouky, Adel I. (1996). “Principles of Construction Project Management.” Mansoura

University Press, Mansoura, Egypt.

Gould, Frederick E. (1997). “Managing the Construction Process: Estimating,

Scheduling, and Project Control.” Prentice-Hall Inc., New Gersy.

Harris, Frank & McCaffer, Ronald. (1983). “Modern Construction Management.”

Granada Publishing, Great Britain.

Harris, Robert. (1978). “Precedence and Arrow Networking Techniques for

Construction.” John Wiley & Sons Inc., NY.

Hegazy, T. (2002). “Computer-Based Construction Project Management.” Prentice Hall,

Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA.

Pilcher, Roy. (1992). “Principles of Construction Management.” Mc-Graw Hill Book

company, 3rd ed.

ElgareAllah, Mohamed Ibrahim & Nawara, Jamal Mohamed. (1984). “Edarat Almsharee’
Alhandaseah.” John Wiley & Sons Inc., NY. (This book is available in Arabic).

.2006 ،‫ت‬ ‫ دار ا‬، " ‫و تا‬ ‫"إدارة‬ ‫ا‬ ‫ا اھ‬

Planning & scheduling 159 Dr. Emad Elbeltagi