PSMC

Planning in
Construction
Manjusha Nabar
 Construction Planning
 First stage: the project team chooses the action plans, policies, and procedures to attain its
goals
 Integrating all the project activities within a given time frame and budget.
 A construction plan is the central pillar for monitoring and evaluating all project activities.
What is Preconstruction?
 Identify all activities necessary in a construction project.
 Splitting them into smaller activities.
 Organizing them logically.
 Determining the required machinery, labor, and materials.

Construction Plan: A construction plan refers to the set of documents prepared during
construction planning. These are the resources, activities, schedule, and budget. It is the most
cost-effective way of satisfactorily completing a project. The construction plan needs to be as
detailed as possible, as it is the benchmark for deriving the cost estimate and timeline schedule for
the project.
 Why is construction planning important?
1. Ensures a project is on time and within budget: dictates pace of work, defines the activities,
sequencing, and methods
2. Maximizes productivity and efficiency: incorporates quality control measures. A detailed plan
includes material specifications, construction methods, and industry quality standards.
3. Better time allocation: helps the stakeholders to appropriately to plan their time well. Total
control of your project reduces the probability of overruns and delays. Inspections and testing,
can help to monitor and verify the quality of work throughout the project.
4. Improves safety and procurement: schedule your purchases exactly when needed and the
construction schedule ensures you know when the workers on-site and ensure they follow safety.
5. Clear Vision and Objectives: Before construction begins, stakeholders must establish the
scope of work, project goals, and desired outcomes to ensure the project's purpose work towards
a common goal, with a well-defined plan, to avoid confusion, miscommunication, and potential
failure.
6. Legal and Regulatory Compliance: Planning ensures that all necessary permits and approvals
are obtained before construction begins , including zoning laws, building codes, and
environmental regulations. Compliance with regulations helps avoid legal issues, fines, and
project delays and ensures the construction's safety and quality, protecting all stakeholders'
interests.
7. Environmental Impact: Planning allows for the consideration of environmental impact and the
incorporation of eco-friendly practices such as energy-efficient designs and green materials,
 Poor construction planning can leads to low productivity and
output, causing people to work inefficiently causing a project to
overrun its budget.

Who is involved in construction planning?

1. Client and Financer: Final User; Sponsors of the project, prerogative to make and approve
changes in a project.
2. Contractor: Firm under contractual obligation to provide services to a project. Mostly there is
one principal general contractor, with subcontractors working under supervision.
3. Consultants: parties responsible for providing direction and specialized knowledge in the
planning and design of a project, are engaged by clients for their expertise in specific
knowledge areas.
4. Suppliers: sell the materials needed for a project to be executed and completed.
5. Architects and Engineers: The architects develop the project’s conceptual design, focuses
on permits and project details, whereas the engineers ensure the plan works and structurally
sound.
 Types of Planning
 In a management scenario there are two types of planning: Strategic & Tactical.
 Strategic planning is the process of mapping out what a business wants to achieve in the long
run.
 Tactical planning focuses on day-to-day actions to achieve the goals laid out in the strategic
plan
The primary difference between tactical and strategic planning is :the scope and time
horizon.
 Strategic planning is long-term, considering the organization's overall direction and future goals
 Tactical planning is short-term, focusing on immediate objectives and responding to changes in
the business environment. . It involves creating detailed timelines, assigning resources, and
outlining specific steps
 Planning your strategy and tactics is essential as it helps organizations grow up to 30 percent
faster and prepares you in advance to remain competitive and successful.
 Knowing the difference between tactical vs. strategic planning is often the difference between
succeeding or failing to reach the goal.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
 Strategy and tactics are key aspects of business planning.
 Strategic planning is the process of mapping out what a business wants to achieve in the long
term.
 A tactical plan describes how the business will achieve its strategic goals.
How to Create a Strategic Plan
1. Identify a Big Picture Goal: should be lofty and aspirational, even if it’s not too
specific. What ultimate destination do you want to end up at? Leader or innovative ?
2. Evaluate Your Current Position: closely at where the company is now by using SWOT.
By evaluating your current position, you can get a good idea of how much distance the
company must cover to reach its long-term goals. If the distance is short, then maybe the goal
isn’t big enough. Ask these 3 questions:
i. How does the business compare to competitors?
ii. What recent successes has it had?
iii. Where has it failed in the past?
3. Align Goal With Company Values: Every organization should have a mission statement.
Take your values and convictions into account, as they inform you if the destination you’ve
identified is actually where you want to end up.
4. Determine How to Monitor Progress: The goal set by the organization is likely
many months or years into the future. Where should sales be by the end of the quarter? By
doing this, you’ll know if you need to course-correct before you’ve gone too far off the path
How to Create a Tactical Plan
1. Keep Strategic Goals in Mind: provides the destination and general outline of
what the company wants to achieve, with that overall goal in mind.
2. Divide the Plan: With known destination and time frame needed to reach it, break up that
goal into smaller steps. Start with where you want to arrive at the end of each month, then each
week, and then each day. This represent your progress and help keep track of where the project
stands at any given point in time. Breaking up enables you to visualize how you’ll reach long-term
goals
3. Organize Teams: Establish how many teams you need to achieve success and organize
them to handle the different elements of the tactical plan based on the skills of the available
personnel, so they have the best chance at success.
4. Determine Resource Allocation: Divide up the available resources, so each team has
what they need to succeed. Resources are limited, so this step can involve difficult choices, but
with a firm tactical plan in mind, you’ll have a good idea of where your resources need to go.
5. Measure Progress: Determine how well each team did during the day and see if you
need to make any changes to keep on schedule to make sure you address the problems you
encounter most often.
The best practices in a business involve both strategy and
tactics. For the company that experiences business growth
and success aim high with your strategies, and pinpoint
the details with your tactics.
 Stages of construction planning
Planning occurs at the following stages:
1. Pre Tender
2. Post Tender
3. Pre Construction
4. Detailed Construction
5. Post Construction Maintenance and handover
Pre Tender:
 Project charter ( a written grant or work order) outlines the project scope
 The project scope defines the development work in order to deliver the facility within the
specified attributes such as costs, time and other constraints and aims for the work to be done
as per design and specifications to ensure the functionality of the facility.
 The project Work Scope planning focus on the scope of work and its deliverables such as
functional requirements, design and drawings, bill of quantities construction method and the
terms and conditions of the contract by which the contractor delivers the facility.
 The approaches for execution of project scope of work include departmental, contractual &
consultant
 The project scope has in built depth because it integrates the scope with execution plan with
attributes of completion time, resources and costs and hence during implementation it controls
the deliverables and hence the projects purpose or functionality.
 The project scope integration plan includes: project time, resources, cost, quality assurance,
risk response methodology, risk mitigation strategy, and project management information
 PROJECT WORK SCOPE
AND INTEGRATION
PLANNING FLOW
DIAGRAM
When the project is approved for
implementation, the project formulation phase
concludes with a work order. Work scope
planning commences after finalization of the
Project Charter
 Pre Tender:
1. Work Operation Oder or Project Charter or Project Formulation: covers purpose for
undertaking the project, highlights the broad scope of construction work including the
deliverables and defines the project time, cost and quality objective. It also includes,
exclusions, assumptions, constraints, outline of execution methodology, scheduled milestone
plan, major resource forecasts, budgeted costs and cash flow forecasts, potential risk and
problem areas.
2. Work Scope Planning: documents the requirements (functional, facility and technical) of the
stakeholders. These requirements are controlled during implementation and hence have to be
fully documented.
Requirements are statement of the facility needs of that a project must satisfy. The basic inputs
comes from the charter and discussions with stake holders before finalization of the Project
Management Plan.
Project Scope Planning Tools and
Techniques:
1. Development of designs, drawings and specifications : provide features and
modes of realization of the project
2. Estimation and structuring of quantities of work: The BOQ’s along with the
SOC (statement of costs) become the project work scope baseline
3. Work Breakdown structure (WBS): decomposes the project work scopes into
deliverables and splits up the deliverables into various levels such as sub projects
or task groups, tasks, work packages, activities.
3. Design Planning: Designs forms the basis for defining the functional fitness of the facility,
dev of dwgs, est of costs, qty of work, const time and forecasting cash flow. During the design
process project info is collected analysed, communicated and recordedfor incorporating into the
proposed scope of work.
Three Sequential Process in Design and Drawings Developement:
1. Schematic Design Phase : Architect evaluates client’s req, discusses alternatives, prep
conceptual design brief for client’s approval ( site plan, facility dwg, outlined specifications, and
concept design for structure, electrical, mechanical and other systems.
2. Design Development Phase : details of constructability, system integration and aesthetics,
plans elevations and sections and external services
3. Drawing Development Phase: graphical rep of design, 2D, 3D, and all detailed drawings
showing all components of structure etc and as required by all stake holders incl financial
institutions. Dwgs are organized into sets as specified by RIBA or CSI (construction
specifications institute)
Specifications and Bill of Quantities
structure:
Specifications: Define qualitative requirements for the products, material and
workmanship, upon which the design is based. Inspection procedures, the method
of construction and testing. Some of the well known organisations publishing
standards are BIS ( Bureau of Indian Standards), BSI (British standard Institute),
Construction Specification Institute USA and International Standards Organisation
Geneva. Master format for specifications can be obtained from the respective
websites.

BOQ Structure: The project work is measured in terms of quantities and related
costs. A structured preliminary cost estimate is made at the initial stage for
tendering work, A detailed estimated is structured in many ways 3 of which are
Estimation Structures for Building
Construction Projects
 Work Breakdown Structure:
 Deliverable focusedWBS
hierarchical grouping of project.
 Defines the scope of the project
 Deliverables are tangible, measurable parts of the project
 Non deliverables like designing, resources procurement and financing of project are not
included
 Project work is broken down into manageable parts and arranged in a hierarchical order into
levels of sub projects, tasks, work packages, and activities.
 Each descending level signifies detail description of the elements of the preceding level
 WBS is the core upon which Project Management processes are built
Defining Construction Project
Activities
An activity can be defined as an identifiable, quantifiable, measurable, costable, assignable
and controllable lowest level, element of work, which must be performed during the course of
a project for achieving the project mission.
Project Work Breakdown Structure WBS is the basic tool that is used to identify the activities. The
WBS methodology splits or breaks down the scope of the project into a hierarchy of sub projects,
tasks, work packages and activities and thus defines the end product or deliverables.

Activity time duration is at the core of all project time management. Time duration is
related to the quantum of resources (men, material and machinery) employed and thus
enables forecasting of material resources, production costs and cash flow.

An activity is defined in terms of its core data base i.e; work quantity, execution time
(duration), material (resource) requirement, production costs and the earned
value(budgeted cost) associated with the completion of the activity. Data is collected
during
a) Activity duration estimation process
b) Project time scheduling
c) Resource planning
d) Cost budgeting
This
The data
data is vital for
includes: siteplanning and monitoring
data , project of the, project
charter, BOQ’s especially
construction used contract
methods, with PM docs,
software.
project planning data which have to be studied before project activities identification
process.
 Definition and Classification of Project Work Breakdown
Levels
Work Breakdown Structure of construction projects is a visual representation of
the construction works split down into sub projects, tasks, work packages, and
activity levels. This breakdown up-to the activity level is called project is called
Project Work Breakdown Structure PWBS or simply WBS. It is classified as follows:
PUMPING STATION PROJECT
Guidelines for defining a work package:
TYPES OF CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS
1.Fixed Price or Lumpsum Contract:
 Executed with price escalation adjustment or incentive targets
 Contract is executed for a fixed price with adjustments for deviations
 Scope based on tender docs which include: BOQs, Specifications, dwgs, time stipulation
 Contractor has to prepare detailed estimation of costs so that the actual cost should not exceed
the bid amount which is the risk he carries
 Gen construction projects like residential, road construction, Govt sponsored projects use lump
sum contracts
2. Cost Plus Contracts:
 Executed as Cost plus fixed fee or CP Guaranteed maximum or CPGM with shared
savings, CP incentive (award fee) and Cost and cost sharing
 Employer/ Client pays all the costs of material and labour incurred by the contractor and
a fixed fee as overheads and profit.
 Based on part design and dwgs, fast track type turnkey construction to save time.
 Specialized turnkey projects like power plants etc,
3. Public Private Partnership PPP
 Executed as BOT(build, operate, transfer), BOOT (build, own, operate, transfer) or
BOO (build, own, operate)
 Employer/ Client is Public sector undertaking and Contractor is Private Turnkey
participant.
 The builder recovers the cost over a fixed period of time with the help of Govt
backed arrangement.
 Big infra projects like airports, metro railway, docks and shipyards etc,

4. Resource and Service Contracts:

 Deals with procurement of resources and services by a contract or supply
order from material suppliers, man power recruiting firms, plant and
machinery hiring firms, banks and financial institution.
Construction planning techniques ( Construction Schedules)
CRITICAL PATH METHOD (CPM)
 most used in construction planning.
 it calculates the minimum time needed for an activity by computing possible start and finish
times.
 This planning technique is crucial as it creates a planning schedule for the construction team
and establishes a basis for tracking activities during construction.
PROGRAM EVALUATION AND REVIEW TECHNIQUE (PERT)
 is a construction planning technique that calculates the time needed to finish a project
realistically.
 PERT is similar to the critical path method as we use it to estimate the time one needs for a
project. However, PERT has three different time estimates. These are:-
The shortest probable time a task will take
The likely time a job will take
The longest possible time a job might take
 PERT is calculated from back to front as the end date is fixed, but the contractor might have
front-end flexibility.
LINE OF BALANCE (LOB)
 The Line of Balance is a planning technique employed where a project has blocks of repetitive
work such as pipelines, tunnels, roads, and rail.
 It collects and measures information concerning completion, cost, and time.
 It shows a project's status, timing, background, and phasing.
 It compares actual progress in a project and forecasts future performance.

Q SCHEDULING
 This is also known as quantitative or queue scheduling.
 It uses a bar chart format to show the materials used in different locations and times during a
project.
 This type of planning helps workers manage and know the materials they need and when.
 Therefore, they can adequately use materials in sequence, avoiding disrupting the work and
simultaneously tracking the budget

RESOURCE-ORIENTED SCHEDULING
 focuses on the project’s resources and prioritizes the best way of using those resources.
 considers the resources needed before and assigns the use efficiently throughout a project’s
lifetime.
 The resources might be machinery, labor, space, or anything else in limited supply but desirable
to project teams.
LAST PLANNER SYSTEM® (LPS) or PULL PLANNING
 technique designed to produce a predictable workflow in the design, construction, and
commissioning of projects.
 It is not a tool but works well with other critical path methods.
 LPS creates a bridge between the project teams that will execute and run the construction
process.
 Can identify the obstacles beforehand and eliminate them
VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF SCHEDULES
•Gantt Charts
•Bar Charts
•Percentage Completion vs. Time Graph
•Resource Usage vs. Time Graph

CONCLUSION:
A plan is a predetermined course of action to achieve a specified goal. It is an intellectual process
characterized by thinking before doing. It is an attempt on the part of the manager to anticipate
the future in order to achieve better performance.
 Planning is an Intellectual Process
 Planning Contributes to Objectives
 Planning is a Primary Function of Management
 A Continuous Process
 Planning Pervades Managerial Activities
 End of Chapter Questions:
1. What is Construction Planning and why is it important?
2. Differentiate between Strategic and Tactical Planning.
3. What does WBS mean? Define and Classify it.
4. Write a note on a few Construction Planning techniques (Construction scheduling)
5. Discuss types of Construction Contracts.
6. Elaborate on Construction Project Activity\
7. Prepare e detailed WBS for the construction of a pre-fabricated Industrial Warehouse structure
admeasuring 1000Sq.m.
Thank you
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