LECTURE 11

Construction
Project Planning and Scheduling
Introduction

 Planning is the first step of our total

project management philosophy for
planning, organizing, leading and
controlling the execution of capital
projects.
Introduction

 Without planning, it is difficult to

envisage the successful conclusion of
any project or the effective control of
time, money or resources.
Introduction

 Planning is also essential in order to deal

with construction risks and devise safe
working methods.
 Introduction

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”

Benjamin Franklin
 Reasons for Planning

 To set a realistic time framework for the project

 To establish realistic standards and avoid
‘wishful thinking’
 To aid control during the project
 To monitor performance in terms of output,
time and money
 To review progress and take action when
necessary to correct the situation
 KINDS OF PLANNING

KINDS OF PLANNING

Organizational level Focus Time period

Corporate range Strategic Long
Divisional Operational Medium range
Functional Tactic Short range
 ORGANIZATIONAL PLANNING

❑ Corporate planning or top level planning: It lays

down the objectives, policies and strategies of an
organization. Usually made for a longer time period.
❑ Divisional planning or middle level planning: It is
related to a particular department or division. It lays
down the objectives, policies and strategies of a
department.
❑ Sectional planning or lower level planning: focused
on laying down detail plans for the day to day
guidance.
 FOCUSED PLANNING

❑ Strategic planning: deciding the objectives and to

decide the resource marshalling in order to realize
the objectives. Done by the top management.
❑ Operational planning: ensuring efficient use of
resources and to develop a control mechanism so
as maximum efficiency is ensured.
❑ Tactical planning: made for short term moves.
Required to meet the sudden changes in the
environment forces.
 TIME PERIOD PLANNING

❑ Long range planning: for a period of five years at

least. Involves capital budgeting, product planning,
project planning etc. deals with a great uncertainty.
❑ Medium range: for one to five years. Relate to
development of new products and markets, product
publicity etc. supportive to long range plans.
❑ Short range: up to one year. Made to achieve short
term goals. Focused on the internal environment of
the business.
 Planning a Project

 The planning of a project requires a logical

approach involving various steps or thought
processes:
• Getting a feel for the project

• Establishing key project dates

• Establishing key activities or events

• Assessing how long the activities will take

• Establishing the sequence

• Deciding which programming technique to use

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 Planning a Project

 The planning of a project requires a logical

approach involving various steps or thought
processes:
• Getting a feel for the project
• Study the drawings and project documentation
• Visit the site
• Assess the scale and scope of the project
• Assess the approximate value of the project
• Consider the rate of expenditure

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 Planning a Project

 The planning of a project requires a logical

approach involving various steps or thought
processes:
• Establishing key project dates
• Project start and finishes dates
• Sectional or phased completion dates
• Holiday periods
• Commissioning or handover

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 Planning a Project

 The planning of a project requires a logical

approach involving various steps or thought
processes:
• Establishing key activities or events
• Checklist of the key activities/events during the
design stage
• Brief the design team
• Make professional appointments
• Apply for building regulation approval
• Pre-qualify contractors
• Appointment contractors
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 Planning a Project

 The planning of a project requires a logical

approach involving various steps or thought
processes:
• Establishing key activities or events
• Checklist of the key activities/events during the
tender stage
• Prepare tender documents
• Complete the pre-construction H and S information
• Period for tendering
• Evaluate tenders
• Compile contract documentation
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 Planning a Project

 The planning of a project requires a logical

approach involving various steps or thought
processes:
• Establishing key activities or events
• Checklist of the key activities/events during the pre-
contract stage
• Appoint project staff
• Develop the construction phase H and S plan
• Prepare requirement schedules
• Pre-start meeting
• Permit start of construction work
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 Planning a Project

 The planning of a project requires a logical

approach involving various steps or thought
processes:
• Establishing key activities or events
• Checklist of the key activities/events during the
construction stage • MEPF
• Set up site establishment
• Finishes
• Groundworks or substructure
• External works and
• Frame/external envelope drainage
• Floors • Practical or substantial
• Roof structure and cladding completion
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• Building Watertight • Clear site
 Planning a Project

 The planning of a project requires a logical

approach involving various steps or thought
processes:

• Assessing how long the activities will take

18
 Planning a Project

 The planning of a project requires a logical

approach involving various steps or thought
processes:

• Establishing the sequence

19
 Planning a Project

 The planning of a project requires a logical

approach involving various steps or thought
processes:

• Deciding which programming technique to use

20
 Programming Techniques

 A project is a collection of tasks that must be

completed in minimum time or at minimal cost.
 Objectives of Project Scheduling
◼ Completing the project as early as possible by
determining the earliest start and finish of each
activity.
◼ Calculating the likelihood a project will be
completed within a certain time period.
◼ Finding the minimum cost schedule needed to
complete the project by a certain date.
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 Programming Techniques

 Objectives of Project Scheduling

– Investigating the results of possible delays in

activity’s completion time.
– Progress control.
– Smoothing out resource allocation over the
duration of the project.

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Steps in the Planning Process

1) Identify the tasks.

2) Clearly state the objective of each task.
3) Estimate the Personnel, Time and Resources to
meet objectives.
4) Develop a task sequence.
5) Estimate the work item development costs.
 Steps in the Planning Process

1) Identify the tasks.

➢ Tasks bring the project from a problem to a product.
➢ Initially activities to be performed
➢ Start with major development activities
➢ Break down into smaller tasks
2) Clearly state the objective of each task.
➢ Tasks refined to where results of the activities are stated
objectives.
➢ Easily understood by entire design team
➢ Specific as to what info is to be developed
➢ Feasible
➢ Given time, personnel, equipment
 Steps in the Planning Process

3) Estimate the Personnel, Time and Resources to meet

objectives.
▪ Estimates are always difficult as design takes time.
▪ A variety of schemes are used to estimate, all are based on
assumptions. Track record within companies is always the
best indicator.
 Steps in the Planning Process

4) Develop a task sequence.

➢ Sequential Tasks
➢ Parallel tasks
▪ Coupled
▪ Uncoupled

▪ Develop a planning/scheduling chart

▪ milestone or Gantt chart
▪ PERT
 Steps in the Planning Process

4) Develop a task sequence.

➢ Design Structure Matrix (Shows Dependency of tasks)

A B C D E F G
Mobilization A A

Layouting and Staking B X B

Excavation of Column Footing C X C

Fabricate Footing & Column Rebars D X D

Fabricate Column Forms E X E

Install Column & Footing Rebars F X X F

Concreting of Column Footing G X G

5) Estimate the product development costs.

 Planning and Scheduling

Gantt Chart
◼ The bar or Gantt Chart is a widely used simple project scheduling
technique.
◼ Advantages include:
 Direct correlation with time.
 Straight forward relationship with projects involving a limited
number of tasks.
 Straight forward integration of subtasks having separate scheduling
charts.
 Time schedule is flexible and is expanded to show tasks of shorter
nature.
 Progress against the plan is easily reflected.
◼ Disadvantage includes:
 That it does not convey the complex interrelationships that may
occur between tasks.
Gantt Chart
 Planning and Scheduling

Milestone Chart
◼ A Milestone chart is similar to a Gantt Chart with the
emphasis placed on task completion.

◼ It embodies the same simplified techniques as does the

Gantt chart. It does not portray the interrelationships
between tasks and hence does not identify the critical
path.
Milestone Chart
 Planning and Scheduling

PERT {Program Evaluation and Review

Technique}

◼ The PERT chart has distinct advantages

for complex projects with interrelated
tasks.

◼ PERT, due to its complexity of time

estimations, has given way to more
popular CPM methods.
 Planning and Scheduling

PERT Chart

◼ Three Time Estimates:

 OPTIMISTIC - Shortest time; to

 MOST LIKELY - Best Estimate; tM

 PESSIMISTIC - Longest time; tp

 Planning and Scheduling

Critical Path Method

◼ Has some common characteristics with PERT
 Defined by activities and events
◼ An activity is a time-consuming effort that is required
to complete part of a project. Shown as an arrow on
the diagram
◼ An event is denoted by a circle and defines the end
of one activity and beginning of the next. An event
may be a decision point.
Activity Event
 DEFINITION OF TERMS IN A NETWORK

 Activity : any portions of project (tasks) which required

by project, uses up resource and consumes
time – may involve labor, paper work,
contractual negotiations, machinery operations
Activity on Arrow (AOA) showed as arrow, AON
– Activity on Node
 Event : beginning or ending points of one or more
activities, instantaneous point in time, also
called ‘nodes’

 Network : Combination of all project activities and the events

PRECEEDING SUCCESSOR
A B ACTIVITY C
ES LS D EF LF D ES LS

EVENT
 Planning and Scheduling

Critical Path Method

◼ Terminology
 Earliest Start time (ES)
 Latest Start time (LS)
 Earliest Finish time (EF),
 Duration (D)
 EF = ES + D
 Latest Finish (LF) LF = LS + D
 Total Float (TF) TF = LS - ES
◼ (Slack between the earliest and latest start times)
◼ On CP, the total float is zero.
 Critical Path Method

CPM Example
 Critical Path Method
ACTIVITY ACTIVITY PREDECESSOR
DURATION
NO.
Earliest Start Times Established
1 Mobilization 1 day
2 Layout and Staking 1 day 1
3 Excavate Footing 4 days 2
4 Fabricate Footing rebar 2 days 1
5 Fabricate Column Rebar 3 days 4
6 Install Footing Rebars 1 day 3,4
7 Install Column Rebars 4 days 6,5
8 Concreting of Footing 1 day 7
9 Fabricate Column Forms 5 days 2
10 Install Column Forms 2 days 9,8
11 Concreting of Column 2 days 10
 Critical Path Method
NETWORK DIAGRAM
INST
COL
FORM
FAB
FORM
9 10
COL
CONC
COL
INST INST
CONC
EXC FTNG COL
MOB FTNG
L&S FTNG REB REB
1 2 4 5 7 8 11

FAB
FTNG
REB

3 6
FAB
COL.
REB
 CPM Calculations
The calculations of the critical path and
the project duration is relatively simple,
requiring only addition and subtraction.
Forward Pass
The first step in the calculations is to perform a
forward pass. In this step, the early start and early
finish of each activity are calculated. The early start
(ES) is the earliest time as activity may start. The
early finish (EF) is the earliest point at which an
activity can be completed.
EF = ES + D
 CPM Calculations
Backward Pass
The second stage is to move backward through the
network and determine the late finish and late start
times of each activity. The late finish (LF) for the
activity in the network is assumed to be equal to the
early finish calculated in the forward pass. If there
are multiple closing activities, the greatest early
finish is used. All other nodes are calculated using:
LF = Minimum LS of all following activities
Then the late start (LS) can be calculated as:
LS = LF - D
 CPM Calculations
CPM Float
Critical activities cannot be delayed or else the
duration of the project will be longer. Activities with
equal ES and EF or zero float are considered critical
activities and belongs to the critical path.

Those activities that are not critical path will have

scheduling leeway, meaning that their start times can
be adjusted within limits that will not affect the
duration of the project. In construction industry, this
scheduling leeway is commonly called as total float.
 CPM Calculations
TOTAL FLOAT
TF = LF – EF
= LS – ES

FREE FLOAT:
Free float is the minimum early start
of all the following activities less the early
finish
FF = ESMIN – (ES + DURATION)
 DATA SHEET:

START FINISH FLOAT CRITICA

ACTIVI PREDESES DURA L
TY SOR TION ACTIVIT
ES LS EF LF TF FF
Y
A - 2

B A 3

C B 4

D A,B 2

E C 3

F D 1
 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION METHODOLOGY
( BY PERT/CPM DIAGRAM)
PROJECT: ONE(1) STOREY ONE (1) CLASSROOM SCHOOL BUILDING
DURATION: 30 CALENDAR DAYS
PROCUREMENT/DELIVERY OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS C
26 26 28

ELECTRICAL/SANITARY ROUGH-IN H
INST. ELECT/
14 23 25 MECH/SANITARY
FIXTURES

CARPENTRY WORKS U
P 1
23 25 29 30
EARTH
2
MOVE- MOVE
WORKS MASONRY
IN CONCRETE PAINTING OUT
WORKS ROOF FRAMING ROOFING FINISHES T
A B E WORKS G K M O S V
0 0 2 2 4 4 5 9 9 3 12 12 5 17 17 4 21 21 4 25 25 3 28 28 30 30
2 2 2
WAIT WAIT
WAIT WAIT WAIT
D F L 2 N Q R
2 3 4 7 2 12 15 17 19 2 21 24 4 25 28
WAIT
SOIL 1 BACKFILL INST. OF PURLINS INST. GUTTER & INST. FAB. MATLS &
POISONING FLUSHING HARDWARE
I J
9 18 3 12 21

DAMPROOFING/SLAB ON FILL

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
CALENDAR DAYS
LEGEND:

NETWORK - A B
ES LS EF LF
ACTIVITY -

EVENT - A
ES LS
DUMMY -

CRITICAL PATH -
 Example Problem
Duration Immediate
Activities
(Days) Predecessors Cost

A – Site Works 4 - 6,000.00

B – Concrete Works 10 A 22,000.00
C – Rough-in Work 3 A 8,000.00
D – Masonry Work 5 C 9,600.00
E – Roofing Work 3 B 6,000.00
F – Interior Carpentry 8 B, D 10,000.00
G – Doors and Windows 6 B 10,000.00
H – Electrical Works 5 F 4,000.00
I – Ceiling Works 4 H, E 2,400.00
J – Painting Works 8 I 4,800.00
K – Plumbing Works 5 G 15,000.00
L – Architectural Works 2 K, J 2,000.00