DEBRE MARKOS UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF CONSTRUCTION
TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
CONSTRUCTION PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
CHAPTER I

Underlying principles of planning and scheduling

By Rediet Gashaw
 Construction project planning fundamentals
1.1. Plan development Process
1.2. Time planning process
1.3. Work scheduling process
1.4. Resource planning process
1.5. Project control process
1.6. Importance of planning, scheduling and controlling projects
 1.1. Planning development process
 Planning is a process that define and refine objectives and plan

courses of actions required to attain the objectives.

 It is a process needed for a systematic way of deciding in advance

what is to be done and in what amount, how it is to be done when it

is to be done and how much it costs to achieve objective.

What? How?
Scope/ Why? Resource/
quality Big picture procurement/
communication/risk

When? Planning How

Timeline much?
Cost
 Cont …
 It defined as ‘drawing up a method or scheme of acting, doing,

proceeding, making, etc. developed in advance.’

 (in advance) is a key operational part of the definition, and

requires experience and foresight.

 It optimize utilization of different resources – human,

equipment and material, at all times,

 It ensure appropriate preparedness at all times, and finally the

successful completion of the project.

 Activities involved in construction planning
 Defining the scope of work

 Identifying activities involved

 Establish project duration

 Define procedures for controlling and assigning resources

 Developing appropriate interfaces

 Monitoring and dissemination of information

 Revisions in plans
 Defining the scope of work
 Since all activities involve consumption of different resources to

different extents, it is important that the scope of work involved is

properly and, to the extent possible, completely defined.
 Any addition, deletion or modification in the scope could have

serious repercussions in terms of time of completion and cost, and

even could be the root of litigation, besides souring the
relationships between different agencies.
 For example if felling trees and leveling the ground is added (at a

later date) to the scope of a contractor awarded a job for

construction of roads, would obviously cause difficulties!!
 Identifying activities involved
 This part of planning is very closely linked to defining the

scope, It involves identifying activities in a particular job.

 Since different activities involved consume different physical

resources to varying extents, it is crucial that these activities

are exhaustively listed, along with the resources required.
 For example, though different agencies may be concerned

with ‘environmental impact assessment’ it is important for

them to identify the tools or parameters each will be using so
to plan effectively.
 Establish project duration
 This can be done only with a clear knowledge of the required

resources, productivities, and inter-relationships.

 This information is used to prepare a network and other forms of

representations outlining the schedules.

 It may be remembered that the duration required for any activity is

related to the resources committed and it may be possible to reduce

the project duration by increasing the resource commitment, even
at additional cost.
 Thus a balance between time and project cost is required to arrive

at an optimum level of resource commitment.

 Define procedures for controlling and assigning resources
 It is important that the planning document prepared is

followed by others involved in the execution of the project, or

its individual phases.
 The procedures to be followed for procurement and control of

resources to different activities – manpower, machines,

material and money are also laid down.
 Developing appropriate interfaces
 The planner needs to devise evolve an appropriate system for

reporting.
 Tools such as computers,

 Formats for reporting, etc. are widely used and it may be

noted that several software are readily available to aid the

planner.
 Monitoring and dissemination of information:

 Revisions in plans
 Planning processes: output
 Scope plan: All the works and only the works required to achieve objective and to

the quantity required: Build methods, WBS, etc.

 Quality plan: quality standards, specifications, manuals, etc. to ensure quality

 Time plan: Schedules showing the time frames for the execution of each activity in

such a way that the project satisfies the projects constraint of time
 Resource plan: resources required for the execution of the project in terms of type,

amount, time frame needed as well as when/how the deployments needs to be done
 Procurement plan: clear indications as to buy or make options, how procurements

are need to be made and when they need to be made

 Communication plan: details how project team members and stakeholders should

communicate with one another.

 Risk management plan: All potential risks and possible way of managing them

 Cost plan: Cash flow Vs Income reconciled

 The construction planning process is stimulated through the study of

documents.
 These documents include-but not limited to;
 Available technical and commercial  Site conditions
studies and investigations  Working regulations
 Designs and drawings  Market survey
 Estimate of quantities  Local resource
 Construction method statements  Project environment and
 Project planning data  Client’s organization
 Contract documents

 The planning process takes into account the strengths and weakness of
the organization as well as the anticipated opportunities and risks.
 Planning versus scheduling
 Planning aims at formulation of a time-based plan of action for

coordinating various activities and resources to achieve specified

objectives. Planning is the process of developing the project plan.
The plan outlines how the project is to be directed to achieve the
assigned goals.
 It specifies a predetermined and committed future course of action,

based on discussions and decisions made on the current knowledge

and estimation of future trends.
 Scheduling means putting the plan on a calendar time scale.

During execution stage, monitoring brings out the progress made

against the scheduled base line. Control deals with formulation of
and implementation of corrective actions necessary for achieving
project objectives.
 In the construction phase of project development, planning and

controlling are in separable. During project implementation, the

plan-do-monitor-communicate re-plan(when necessary) is a
continuous processes. In this context , the term planning broadly
includes the plan making, scheduling and controlling processes.
 Process involved in construction project planning can broadly be
divide in to:
Planning time Planning Implementation
 What is to be done?  How to organize control system?
 What are the activities involved?
 How to monitor what is done?
 How it is to be done?
 How to analysis variance?
 When it is to be done?
 How to forecast trends?
 Where it is to be done?
 How to communicate performance?

Planning resource
 What is needed to do it?
 Who is to do it?
 Planning follows a systematic approach. Various planning techniques are
employed to systematize and transform the mental thought process into a
concrete project plan.

Project Planning Process

Planning data collection Where to look for data? Studying the relevant documents
Planning time What is to be done? Define scope of the work
What are the activities involved? Breakdown project into activities
How it can be done? Developing network plans
When it is to be done? Scheduling work
Where it is to be done? Charting site layout
Planning resource What is needed to do it? Forecasting resource requirement
Planning the 4M’S
Who is to do it? Designing organizational structure
Allocate tasks and resource
Establishing responsibility centers
Planning implementation How to account performance? Designing control systems
How to monitor performance? Formulating monitoring
methodology
How to communicate
information? Developing project management
information system(PMIS)
Project planning techniques
 Types of project plan
 Planning the entire project from its inception to completion

requires a vast coverage, varied skills, and different types of plans.

The nature of plan encountered in a typical construction projects
are:
Project plan

Inception stage Engineering stage Implementation stage

/Project feasibility /Project preliminary /Project construction
plan plan Plan
1. Project feasibility plan
 Planning by the client begins as soon as he gets the idea about developing
the facility to fulfill certain motives. His early thought process conceptualize
the cost, time and benefit implications of the project. Only when he is
convinced about the soundness of his idea does, he decide to go ahead with
the feasibility studies.
 The feasibility study team examines the needs of the client and ways to
fulfill them.
 It defines the over all scope of work, and assess the time and costs of
accomplishing the project.
 This outline plan, developed by the feasibility team during inception stage,
forms the basis for identifying projects objectives and developing the
project plan
2. Project preliminary plan

 Acceptance of the feasibility studies marks the commencement

of the preliminary plan-making process.
 It main aim is to provide direction to the client managers and
staff employed during the development phase of the project.
 The project preliminary plan forms the basis for developing the
project construction plan.
The preliminary plan includes:
 A project time schedule and skeleton network to highlight the
work dependencies, project milestones and the expected project
completion time.
 The project design and drawings preparation schedule.
 A breakdown of project work into contracts, along with a schedule
of contracting activities including:
 tender preparation period,
 tender finalization period, and
 contracted works commencement & completion dates
 A resource preliminary forecast indicating the phased
requirements of manpower, important materials, plant and
machinery.
 Resource procurement system
 Project organization and staffing pattern
 Preliminary forecast of funds requirement
 3. Project construction plan
The project construction plan includes;
 Time plan: it depicts the schedule of project activities for
completion of the project within the specified time.
 Resource plan: it forecasts the required input resources of men,
Machinery and money for achieving the project completion
time target and cost objective.
 Plan for controlling project: it encompasses the design of
control system, monitoring system, codification system and the
computerized information system.
 The construction projects plan development process is divided
into three parts; time planning, resource planning and project
control system planning.
 These parts are interdependent and not mutually exclusive.
 1.2. Time planning process
 A plan prepared well before the commencement of construction in
a project, can be instrumental in formulating directions,
coordinating functions, setting targets, forecasting resources,
budgeting costs, controlling performance and motivating people.
 However, the absence of a project time plan almost makes certain
that a project can not be completed on schedule without incurring
extra costs.
 The time planning process involves the following three stages:
A. Project work breakdown
This means breaking down the scope of project work into its
constitute sub-projects, tasks, work packages and activities.
B. Modeling and analyzing networks
This include developing logic diagrams or sub-networks; integrating
these to develop a time-planning model (Usually a network), and;
analyzing this model to determine the project completion time.
C. Scheduling work programmed
This involves putting the time plan on a calendar basis, and using the
scheduled programmed to forecast inputs and out puts.
 1.3. Work scheduling process
 Scheduling means putting the plan on calendar basis.

 A project network shows the sequence and interferences of

activities, their time durations and earliest and latest
completion time, but this needs to be scheduled to
determine commence and termination dates of each activity,
using optimum resources or working within resource
constraints.
Scheduling technique
 The scheduling methodology varies with the planning
techniques and the nature of the task to be performed.
 Each Scheduling Techniques has its own merits and
demerits.
 But ultimately scheduling are best presented in the bar chart
form for ease of comprehension and communication.
 These bar charts are supplemented with appropriate
planning technique for monitoring the progress of the
projects.
 Commonly used time planning techniques in construction
project management
The scheduling procedures, depending upon type of project can be
broadly divided into two categories;

Scheduling non-repetitive
1 network based projects
using bar chart

Scheduling repetitive projects

2
using of balance techniques
1. Procedure for Scheduling non-repetitive network based projects
using bar chart
 Outline scheduling constraints

 Design scheduling calendar

 List activities in order of sensitivity

 Draw earliest start time schedule

 Determine resource optimization criteria

 Schedule critical activities

 Schedule non-critical activities

 validate time objectives

 Schedule other resource


2. Procedure for Scheduling repetitive projects using line of balance
techniques
 Outline schedule constraints

 Tabulate scheduling data of a unit work cycle

 Prepare a logic diagram of a unit work cycle

 Chart scheduling calendar

 Prepare earliest start time schedule

 Analyze earliest start time schedule

 Prepare optimum schedule leaving adequate buffer

 Draw Line-of-Balance work schedule

 1.4. Resource planning Process
Forecasting inputs and outputs
 The inputs and output forecast includes the data-wise requirement of
project manpower, major materials, costly equipment, production
costs, earned value of work done and the expected income.
 The basis of forecasting is the schedule of work.
 Inputs and outputs forecast aids in conceptualization of project. It
indicates the quantum of resources required for executing is project
the output expected.
 The pattern of input resource form the base for evaluating such
needs as workers’ accommodation, materials storage, equipment
work-load and project funding pattern.
 1.4.1. Planning construction work force
 The project manpower planning primarily focuses on

 determining the size of the project work force,

 structuring into functional groups and workers’ teams, and

 scheduling the manpower recruitment/induction to match the task requirements.

 This process chiefly involves

 identifying the trades or the skills required,

 establishing productivity standards to determine the number of workers needed to

perform a given job in the specified time,

 data-wise forecasting of the workers’ requirements for accomplishing the project

work, and ,

 finally, organizing the planned workforce into operating work-teams having

assigned programmed tasks.

1.4.2. Planning construction materials
 The construction materials planning involves
 identifying the materials required,
 estimating quantities,
 defining specifications,
 forecasting requirements,
 locating sources for procurement,
 getting material samples approved,
 designing materials inventory, and
 developing the procurement plan to ensure a smooth flow of materials
till the connected construction works are completed at the project site.
1.4.3. Planning construction equipment's
 Equipment planning for a project aims at
 identifying the construction tasks to be undertaken by

mechanical equipment,
 assessing the equipment required,

 exploring the equipment procurement options and,

 finally, participating in the decision-making for selecting the

equipment
 1.5. Project Control Process
Control involves:
 organizing the control responsibility centers,

 designing accounting and monitoring methodology,

 codifying data and developing the information system so as to make-

decisions speedily.
 It also includes identifying the problem areas, making risk-taking
decision to tackle the problem,
 organizing and directing resources needed to carry out these decisions,
and
 measuring the results of these decisions against targeted expectations
through organized and systematic feedback.
An efficient control system improves
 productivity of men and materials,
 economizes employment resources,
 enables understanding of time and cost behaviors,
 generates information for updating resource planning and costing
norms,
 prevents pilferage and frauds and
 assists in formulating bonus or incentives scheme for motivating
people.
1.5.1. Project control Methodology
 The project control follows the system concept. Each organizational unit
in a project, usually referred to as the responsibility center, can be viewed
as a sub-systems are highly interdependent and interactive.
 The performance objective of a sub-system are stated in terms of the
parameters to the controlled.
 These parameters include the time progress targets, resource productivity
standards and the work-package standard costs and sales target.
 Each sub-system accounts for its performance and reports its actual
performance to the monitor.
 And it is these reports that serve as early warning signals of ensuing
dangers.
1.5.2. Control resource productivity
 Productivity control aims at ensuring efficient utilization of inputs
of men, materials and equipment's by identifying cases of their
wastage as well as affecting improvement to minimize it.
 The case of wastage are located by analyzing variances and
efficiency of planned and on-site actual productivity;
Productivity performance variance =
planned productivity - actual productivity
Productivity performance index =
planned productivity / actual productivity
 The methodology used for controlling the parameters (Labor
productivity, equipment productivity and material productivity)
can be divided into four stages;
 defining the control purpose,

 measuring the actual performance,

 computing the productivity performance variance

 identifying their causes for effecting improvements.

1.5.3. Control Costs
It involves the processing of
 reports received from various responsibility centers or operating
divisions,
 relating the costs incurred with the set standards,
 analyzing the reason for any variances and presenting the
results to the project management for decision-making and
initiating remedial measures.
1.5.4. Controlling time
 The project time control aims at timely execution of work as per the work

program and applications of corrective measures in case of deviations.

The time control process involves
 the monitoring of time status by updating the project network and time
schedules,
 reviewing durations of balance activities,
 computing deviations and evaluating the implication of deviations on
project time objective by time-analyzing the project network.
 It includes formulating remedial measures including what-if analysis, time
crashing, re-planning, re-forecasting and re-mobilizing resources under
changed situations with a view to accomplish the time objective.
 1.6. Importance of planning , Scheduling & controlling projects
1.6.1. Planning benefit
 Project plan clearly defines project scope of work. It breaks
down project objectives into clear, identifiable, quantifiable,
attainable and verifiable goals
 Project plan aids the management in performing its functions
efficiently and effectively
 Project plan forms the basis of a project operations and
directions and shows how the project is to be run
 Project plan identifies critical activities, thus enabling the
managing of project by exception.
 Project plan provides the yard-stick for measuring progress and
evaluating resources performances
 project plan has build in flexibility in the form of floats, to
navigate changes in the planned path for meeting fast changing
environment.
1.6.2. Schedule Benefits
 Schedule simplifying a project plan.
 Schedule validates time objective.
 Schedule aid in optimization of resource employed.
 Schedule enables forecasting of input resources and earned
value.
 Schedule brings out implication of time and resource
constraints.
1.6.3. Control Benefit
 The control system aids the management at various levels to
perform its functions efficiently and effectively for achieving the
overall project objectives.
 The benefits which can be derived at each level of management
through an effective control system are;
Nature of management Level of management Nature of Control

Corporate management Strategic control

Director
Project management GM/PM Directional control
Process management Administrative control
Managers
operations management
Operation control
Supervisor/Operators
Operational control at Supervisory Level
In improves productivity by;
 Minimize unproductive man hours
 Preventing wastage of materials
 Economizing plant and machinery utilization
 Reducing activity execution time
Administrative control at managerial level:
It assists in ensuring project organization efficiency and effectiveness
by;
 updating the work quantities status and determining the balance
scope of work
 analyzing project time status and its implication on project time
objectives.
 evaluating production cost status and forecasting future trends.

 calculating income status and forecasting cash inflows

 computing budget status and forecasting cash inflows

 computing budgets status and analyzing the implication of

variance of future expenditure.
Directional control at general manager's/ project manager’s level
It helps in formulating and directing polices for achievement of
project objectives
 Analyzing project time cost behavior and making decisions on
time saving when required
 Reviewing project costs and profitability, and
 Concerning wastage reductions through rigorous cost control,
value engineering techniques, cost benefits analysis, workers
incentive schemes and alternate methods of construction which
cost less.
Strategic control at corporate level
It provides information concerning corporate goals and assistance in
formulating corporate strategies by;
 Determining overall profitability

 Budgeting and allocating funds and resources.

 Updating the company’s planning norms and unit rates for

securing future works.

Thank you!