Construction

Methods and
Project
Management
Monitoring and Control
BRIEF BACKGROUND
Monitoring and control mechanisms track, assess, adapt, and report on the
project's progress on a regular basis. It's critical to learn how a project is doing and
if it's on schedule, as well as to execute agreed adjustments. This keeps the project
on track, on budget, and on schedule. Now, In this module, we will be exploring the
principles and concepts of Project Monitoring and Control. There will be instances
that the project schedule will not be met due to the different scenario.

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OBJECTIVE OF THE TOPIC
At the end of this topic the students will:

1. Explain the concept Project Monitoring

2. Distinguish the different techniques in Project Control
3. Identify the Effect of Adding or Deleting Activities on Logic
4. Elaborate the needs of updating schedules

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TOPIC OUTLINE
For this topic it will discuss the following:

Part 1: Project Monitoring

Part 2: Update of Schedule
Baseline Schedule
Updated Schedule
Data Date
Frequency of Updating
Retained Logic or Progress Override
Updating Schedules and Pay Requests
Effect of Adding or Deleting Activities on Logic
Updating of Duration

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TOPIC OUTLINE
For this topic it will discuss the following:

Part 3: Project Control

Progress Payment
Earn Value Analysis

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PROJECT MONITORING
Project Monitoring entails determining the work amounts put in place and
presenting this information in a way that can be compared to the planned job
schedule.

project tracking is also used it may or may not be comparable to project control,
depending on the goal and function of the "tracker."

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BASELINE SCHEDULE
A baseline schedule is a schedule created by the contractor and used for
performance comparison. The baseline schedule may be used by both the general
contractor, who will execute the work, and the owner (or his or her representative)
whose work is being executed.

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BASELINE SCHEDULE
The baseline schedule is not necessarily the same as the as-planned schedule. In
many cases, the timetable as intended is submitted and approved. Later, because of
debugging, the owner's modifications, or both, certain changes are made before the
project begins. The baseline timetable should not be delayed beyond the project's
start date, especially if the contractor is using real dates to create it. Otherwise, it is
not a baseline schedule.

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UPDATE OF SCHEDULE
The process of project control includes several steps, one of which is schedule
update. Actual work must be reflected in the timetable, which entails integrating
approved modifications into the baseline schedule.

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UPDATED SCHEDULE
Schedule updating alters the schedule to incorporate real performance information,
such as the time of occurrence and the amount (or percentage) of work performed,
as well as any modifications to future work.

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UPDATED SCHEDULE
Why is updating schedules a must?
The answer is simple: because construction projects never run exactly as planned!

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DATA DATE
The data date is when all of a project's progress is reported. It's also known as the
"as of" date, "cut-off date," or "status date." It's not the "current date" or "time
now," because the words "current" and "now" are not tied to a specific time or
date.

The data date reflects the end of the reporting period. It is not “time now” or the
“current date” because these two terms represent moving, not fixed, dates.

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Information Needed for Updating Schedules
Any new information that was not known at the time of the previous update and is
relevant to the current update
The schedule must be written down and put into action.
This information falls into two main categories:
1. Past information: What has happened since the last update? Past information
includes the following:
a. Activities that have started and the actual start date, percent complete, and
remaining duration of each
b. Activities that are complete and the actual completion date of each
c. Ongoing activities and their new percent complete and remaining durations
d. The actual budget spending or resource consumption for each activity

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Information Needed for Updating Schedules
2. Future information: The future category comprises any changes to the schedule
or schedule-related items, such as the following:
a. Any activities that have been added, along with their information (duration, logic,
budget, resources, constraints, etc.)
b. Any activities that have been deleted (the scheduler must be sure to maintain
proper logic after the deletion)
c. Activities that have changed in duration, logic, budget, resources, constraints, or
otherwise
d. Any change to the imposed finish date for the entire schedule or the constraint
date for certain milestones
e. Any schedule-related, but not activity-specific, change, such as a change in the
cost or availability of resources, a change in calendar workdays, or a change in
responsibility (e.g., a subcontractor took over a portion of the general contractor’s
work, or a subcontractor was replaced)
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LOGIC-DRIVEN CHANGES
Logic-driven changes are those that are not made directly
by the scheduler but that occur as a result of changes in planned dates or logic.

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USER’S CHANGES
User’s changes are those that are made directly and deliberately
by the scheduler. They may not have anything to do with past events.

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FREQUENCY OF UPDATING
Construction schedules may be updated monthly, biweekly, weekly, or according to
another time interval. Weekly and biweekly schedule updates are probably the most
common. Project managers must achieve a delicate balance between a period
between updates that is too long and one that is too short.
The former case may yield negative consequences such as the following:
• Waiting too long to update a schedule may eliminate the effectiveness of updating
as a control tool.
• The amount of work progress that occurred during the period may overwhelm the
scheduler.
• Having a long reporting period may encourage procrastinators to put off
corrective measures by using the logic, “We’ll do it later. There is plenty of time.”.

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FREQUENCY OF UPDATING
Typically, the frequency of updating increases at certain times, such as in the last
month or two of a project or during a “crunch time” (e.g., before a deadline).

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RETAINED LOGIC OR PROGRESS OVERRIDE
Project Managers often overuse the finish-to-start (FS) relationship. In many
practical cases, an FS relationship is assigned between two activities, A and B, such
that activity B cannot start until activity A is completed. In reality, when work starts,
activity B starts shortly after activity A has started and prior to its completion. This
situation violates the network logic.

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RETAINED LOGIC OR PROGRESS OVERRIDE
Will the remainder of activity B depend on the completion of activity A, or is the FS
relationship no longer required?

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UPDATING SCHEDULES AND PAY REQUESTS
In many cases, project updating is tied to payment requests (pay requests, for
short). The subject of pay requests is a broad one that is discussed in detail in
other project management books. What concerns us is how pay requests are tied to
schedule updating. In general, a pay request is a document submitted by the
contractor to the owner, asking for payment for work actually performed (whether
finished or not) during the period since the last pay request.

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UPDATING SCHEDULES AND PAY REQUESTS
Subcontractors usually submit their pay requests to the general contractor, who rolls
these requests in with his or her own pay requests and submits them to the owner.

To circumvent the conflict between the biweekly update and the monthly pay
request, schedulers choose one of the following five options:
1. If it is feasible for the project team, the updates are done on the 1st and 16th of
each month.
2. When the update date is near the end of the month (say, within 1 or 2 days), the
project manager estimates the work “to be done” between the current data date
and the end of the month and counts this work as if it were done (with its real
dates).

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UPDATING SCHEDULES AND PAY REQUESTS
Subcontractors usually submit their pay requests to the general contractor, who rolls
these requests in with his or her own pay requests and submits them to the owner.

To circumvent the conflict between the biweekly update and the monthly pay
request, schedulers choose one of the following five options:
3. If the pay request must include work as of the end of day 30, the scheduler does
the routine update on time, say, on the 28th of the month.
4. When the update date is several days (say, 4 to 6 days) before the end of the
month, the scheduler “skips” a week so that the next update is done during the first
days of the next month.
5. If all contracting parties agree, the pay request may be a few days less or more
than a month (i.e., you can close it on the 27th, 28th, or 29th of the month, or on
the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd of the following month).

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EFFECT OF ADDING OR DELETING ACTIVITIES ON LOGIC

An activity in a schedule is usually like a link in a chain: removing a link may disturb
the entire chain if it is not done properly. This may have a devastating effect on the
schedule if removing such links was not the scheduler’s intent. Therefore, it is
strongly recommended that the scheduler review the logic before making any
change by first printing a logic report showing all predecessors and successors for
the activity to be deleted.

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EFFECT OF ADDING OR DELETING ACTIVITIES ON LOGIC

Adding a new activity usually has less potential for harming the logic than does
deleting an activity. The common problem with adding an activity is redundant
relationships. redundant relationships are not logically incorrect; they are just
meaningless links that clutter the diagram.

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EFFECT OF ADDING OR DELETING ACTIVITIES ON LOGIC

When implementing change orders (adding or deleting activities) in the schedule,

review the network logic after the changes are made. Make sure there are no logic
errors, redundancies, loops, dangling activities, or discontinuities.

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PROBLEM
10 days after the project has started, you receive the following report:
Activities A and D are complete, actual dates: A (0, 2), D (5, 9).
Activity B started on day 5. Remaining duration = 2 days.
Activity C started on day 2. Some problems were encountered. Remaining
duration = 4 days.
The duration for activity F was adjusted to 8 days.
Activity J has been canceled.
The duration for new activity P is 4 days. IPA = E and F. ISA (immediately
succeeding activity) = K.
Update the logic. Note: When we delete activity J, the schedule must verify
whether we should assign its predecessor to its successor. In other words,
would activity F become a predecessor to activity K?

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PROBLEM

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PROBLEM

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PROBLEM
As we observe, the project in it slipped by two days. This is the first part of the
information. The other part is why the schedule slipped. There were several
changes in the update, that is, departures from the original schedule:
a. Activity C took 2 more days than originally planned.
b. Activity F’s duration increased from 5 to 8.
c. Activity P was added.
d. Activity B had not been completed, even though its early finish date was day 9.
e. Activity H had not started yet, even though its early start date was day 6.
Which one of these factors caused the 2-day delay in the completion of the
schedule? Or, is it a combination of these factors?

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PROBLEM
The answer is “a. Activity C took 2 more days than originally planned.”
Activity C was and still is on the critical path. The increase in the duration of
activity F consumed its total float and made it critical but did not add days to
the duration of the project.

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STEPS IN UPDATING SCHEDULE
Updating a schedule includes the following five steps:
1. The project manager (or superintendent) prepares a list of the actual work
progress, changes for individual activities, and all related information, as detailed
previously.
2. The scheduler enters the information into the computer scheduling program and
updates the schedule.
3. The scheduler discusses the new situation with the project manager and makes
sure that no more changes or adjustments are needed
4. The scheduler prints new reports that show the updated schedule and distributes
them, directly or through the project manager, to all involved parties—different
reports to different parties.
5. After producing the reports, the scheduler may receive feedback from different
parties, some of which may have an impact on the schedule.

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UPDATING THE DURATION
In some instances, the project manager indicates, on the update report, a delay in
the start of an activity. The project manager may fail to inform the scheduler of
what happens to the end of the activity.

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IMPORTANCE OF UPDATING REMAINING DURATION
When updating a schedule, some activities may be in progress, that is, started but
not completed. Actual duration is calculated automatically as:
Actual duration = Data Date − Actual Start Date
The finish date of the activity is usually determined when the scheduler inputs one
of these three variables:
Remaining duration
Percent complete
Expected finish date If the activity is progressing as planned, remaining duration
and percent complete will agree with each other.

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PROJECT CONTROL
Project controls refers to the resources, processes, and technologies used to plan,
monitor, and manage all aspects of a capital project's lifetime. Estimation, cost and
schedule management, risk management, change management, earned value
tracking, and forecasting are all part of this process.

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MEASURING WORK PROGRESS
Probably the single most important step in schedule updating is measuring work
progress, because it has an impact not only on the schedule’s status but also on
progress payments to the contractor and subcontractors. Measuring work progress
involves mainly calculating or estimating the percent complete for each activity. It
may also include estimating the percent complete for the entire project.

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MEASURING WORK PROGRESS
Methods for Determining Percent Complete for Individual Activities

1. Units completed: In the units completed method, Percent complete = Units

completed/Total units.
2. Cost or time ratio: This method applies to those activities that are continuous
and uniform throughout the project
3. Start-finish: This method works best for small activities or those with no
duration or a short duration.

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MEASURING WORK PROGRESS
Methods for Determining Percent Complete for Individual Activities

4. Supervisor’s opinion: The most subjective method is the supervisor’s opinion

method
5. Incremental milestones: The incremental milestones method is more suitable for
large and complex or multistage activities.
6. Weighted or equivalent units: The weighted or equivalent units method is used
for large and complicated activities that usually comprise several consecutive or
overlapping sub activities.

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MEASURING WORK PROGRESS
Methods for Determining Percent Complete for the Entire Project

1. Units completed: This method may work for the percent complete of an activity,
but it is difficult to apply to the entire project because there is no single unit in
common to measure.
2. Cost/budget: The cost method is actually two methods, and it is a good idea to
combine them for comparison
3. Man-hours: This method is similar to the previous one except that we use man-
hours in the equation
4. Duration: Again, this method is indeed two methods—one based on baseline
and one on actual duration
5. Workday unit: The workday unit method is based on the assumption that
activities have weights that are proportional to their duration

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PROBLEM
Assume that you have a “project” with three activities: the first two activities are
identical and can be performed simultaneously. Each activity requires the
installation of an interior, hollow-core wood door, each of which costs $200
(including hardware). Installation of these doors requires one laborer for 2 hours for
each door. The third activity requires the installing of a hand-carved, decorative
exterior door that costs $2,200 and takes three laborers 3 hours to install. Assume
a man-hour costs $40.
Total cost of first or second activities = 200 + 2 ∗ 40 = $280 each
Total cost of third activity = 2, 200 + 3 ∗ 3 ∗ 40 = $2, 560
Total cost for project = 2 ∗ 280 + 2, 560 = $3, 120
Total man − hours for project = 2 + 2 + 3 ∗ 3 = 13 man-hours
Total duration for project = 2 + 3 = 5 hours

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PROBLEM
Now, assuming that the first and second activities are completed and the
third one has not started yet, what is the percent complete
of the “project”? Use all applicable percent complete methods. Assuming that
the project is on budget and on schedule.

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PROBLEM
1. Units completed: This method assumes that a door is a door; that is, each door
is a “unit,” and all units have the same weight in the calculation of the percent
complete.
Percent complete = Units completed∕Total units = 2 door∕3 door
= 66.7% complete

2. Cost/Budget: Percent complete = Actual Cost∕Total budget

= $560∕ $3, 120 = 17.9% complete

3. Man-hours: Percent complete = Actual man-hours∕Total man-hours

= 4∕13 = 30.8% complete

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PROBLEM
4. Duration: Percent complete = Actual duration∕Total duration
= 2 hours∕5 hours = 40% complete

5. Workday Unit (becomes here work-hour unit): Percent complete =

Actual Units∕Total Units = 4∕7 = 57% complete

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PROGRESS PAYMENTS AND PERCENT COMPLETE
Payment requests depend completely on the percent complete for each activity and
the unit prices submitted and approved in the schedule of values. The five standard
steps for progress payment requests are as follows:

1. The project contract usually specifies the frequency of progress payments, often
monthly, and the closeout date for each period.
2. The general contractor lists all activities that were worked on.
3. This report goes to the owner, who usually verifies its information.
4. The payment request can be approved as is or rejected with certain numbers
disapproved.
5. The schedule of values must be updated with the cost items in any change
order.

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EARNED VALUE ANALYSIS
Earned value analysis (EVA) is an integrated cost-schedule approach that is used to
monitor and analyze the progress of a project. Popescu and Charoenngam (1995)
defined it as “the performance measurement to report the status of a project in
terms of both cost and time at a given data date”

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EARNED VALUE ANALYSIS
The concept of earned value (EV) is simple; at any given point, take the following
five steps:

1. Determine how much work you have accomplished and how much you should
have accomplished according to the plan.
2. Determine how much money you have earned and how much money you have
spent.
3. Calculate the time (schedule) and money (budget) variances so far.
4. Analyze the causes for the major variances and determine possible remedies.
5. Extrapolate these variances to the end of the entire project.

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PROBLEM
A contractor has agreed to build 30 dog houses in 90 days at a price of $800
per unit. Twenty days later, the contractor has finished 8 dog houses with an
actual total cost (that includes overhead and profit) of $6,800. What is the
status of the project?

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PROBLEM

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PROBLEM

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EARNED VALUE VS CPM
It's worth noting that EV analysis and schedule modification may provide
contradictory findings. Although the schedule variance (SV) is positive, the schedule
update indicates that the project is behind schedule, or vice versa. This is due to
the fact that the EV analysis is cost-driven, even when assessing schedule variation,
whereas schedule updating focuses on the key path, regardless of monetary
concerns.

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SUMMARY
• Project Monitoring entails determining the work amounts put in place and
presenting this information in a way that can be compared to the planned job
schedule.

• Project controls refers to the resources, processes, and technologies used to

plan, monitor, and manage all aspects of a capital project's lifetime.

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DISCUSSION
• Are the terms project monitoring and project tracking equivalent to project
control? Explain.

• Why is project control needed in construction projects?

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REFERENCES
Mubarak, S. (2015). Construction project scheduling and control (3rd ed.)

Sears, S. K., Sears, G. A. Clough, R. H. (2008). Construction project management_A

practical guide to field construction management (5th ed.)

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