CONSTRUCTION PROJECT
SCHEDULING
Introduction
Once the network diagram has been developed, the time
management system enters the next phase: that of work
scheduling.
Learning objective:
❑ Be able to determine activity durations.
❑ Understand how network times are calculated.
❑ Become familiar with scheduling terminology.
❑ Review ways in which scheduling information can be displayed.
Scheduling Procedure
A project schedule is a projected timetable of construction
operations that will serve as the principal guideline for project
execution.
Scheduling Procedure
The following eight steps are offered as a procedural guide:
1. Estimate the time required to carry out each network activity.
2. Compute the time period required for the overall project
completion using these time estimates.
3. Establish time intervals within which each activity must start
and finish to satisfy the completion date requirement.
4. Identify those activities whose expedient execution is crucial
to timely project completion.
5. Shorten the project duration at the least possible cost if the
project completion date will not meet the contract or other
requirements.
Scheduling Procedure
The following eight steps are offered as a procedural guide:
6. Adjust the start and finish times of selected activities to
minimize resource con- flicts and smooth out demands for
manpower and equipment using surplus or float times that most
activities possess.
7. Make a working project schedule that shows anticipated
calendar dates for
the start and finish of each network activity.
8. Record the assumptions made and the plan’s vital boundary
conditions. These will become an integral aspect of the completed
baseline proj- ect schedule.
Activity Times
In construction, each activity is “deterministic” in the sense that
similar or identical work has been performed many times before.
Such prior experience enables the contractor to estimate with
reasonable accuracy the time required to carry out each job
operation.
Rules for Estimating Activity Durations
Six important rules apply to the estimation of activity durations:
1. Evaluate activities one at a time, independently of all others.
Rules for Estimating Activity Durations
Six important rules apply to the estimation of activity durations:
1. Evaluate activities one at a time, independently of all others.
2. For each activity, assume a normal level of manpower and/or
equipment.
Rules for Estimating Activity Durations
Six important rules apply to the estimation of activity durations:
1. Evaluate activities one at a time, independently of all others.
2. For each activity, assume a normal level of manpower and/or
equipment.
3. If time units of working days are being used, assume a normal
workday.
Rules for Estimating Activity Durations
Six important rules apply to the estimation of activity durations:
1. Evaluate activities one at a time, independently of all others.
2. For each activity, assume a normal level of manpower and/or
equipment.
3. If time units of working days are being used, assume a normal
workday.
4. Concentrate on estimating the duration of the individual activity
and ignore all other time considerations.
Rules for Estimating Activity Durations
Six important rules apply to the estimation of activity durations:
1. Evaluate activities one at a time, independently of all others.
2. For each activity, assume a normal level of manpower and/or
equipment.
3. If time units of working days are being used, assume a normal
workday.
4. Concentrate on estimating the duration of the individual activity
and ignore all other time considerations.
5. Use consistent time units throughout.
Rules for Estimating Activity Durations
Six important rules apply to the estimation of activity durations:
1. Evaluate activities one at a time, independently of all others.
2. For each activity, assume a normal level of manpower and/or
equipment.
3. If time units of working days are being used, assume a normal
workday.
4. Concentrate on estimating the duration of the individual activity
and ignore all other time considerations.
5. Use consistent time units throughout.
6. Assume normal weather conditions in estimating the duration
needed to accomplish each activity.
Estimating Activity Durations
One effective way of estimating an activity duration is to compute it
by applying a crew or equipment production rate to the total
number of units of work to be done.
Another approach in determining activity times is to assume a crew
size and use the estimated labor unit cost rather than a production
rate.
When estimating activity times, one special circumstance must be
kept in mind: the case where the same work item is repeated
several times during the construction period.
Each activity duration, in terms of working days, is shown in the
lower, central part of the activity box.
Time Contingency
An estimated activity duration is the time required for its usual
accomplishment and does not include any allowance for random or
unusual happenings.
Time Contingency
An estimated activity duration is the time required for its usual
accomplishment and does not include any allowance for random or
unusual happenings.
In most cases, though, a contingency allowance cannot be applied
to individual activities to account for general project delays, such as
those caused by fires, accidents, equipment breakdowns, labor
problems, late material deliveries, damage to material shipments,
unanticipated site difficulties, and the like.
As a result, a general allowance for such time contingencies
normally is added to the overall project duration or at the end of
specific construction sequences
Project Weather Delays
Probably the most common example of project delay is that caused
by inclement weather.
Project Weather Delays
Probably the most common example of project delay is that caused
by inclement weather.
How allowances for time lost because of inclement weather are
handled depends to a great extent on the type of work involved.
Network Time Computations
After a time duration has been estimated for each activity, some
simple step‐by‐step computations are performed.
The purpose of these calculations is to determine
(1) the overall project completion time
(2) the time brackets within which each activity must be
accomplished to meet the completion date.
Network Time Computations
The calculation of activity times involves the determination of four
limiting times for each network activity.
a. The “early start” (ES) or “earliest start”
b. The “early finish” (EF) or “earliest finish”
c. The “late finish” (LF) or “latest finish”
d. The “late start” (LS) or “latest start”
Early Activity Times
• The early time computations proceed from project start to project
finish and from left to right; this process is termed the forward
pass.
• The basic assumption for the computation of early activity times is
that every activity will start as early as possible.
• That is to say, each activity will start just as soon as the last of its
predecessors is finished.
Project Duration
• This project duration is compared with the completion date
established by the example project master schedule or by the
time provision in the construction contract.
Project Duration
• This project duration is compared with the completion date
established by the example project master schedule or by the
time provision in the construction contract.
• Consider Time Contingency
• Consider Holidays
Project Duration
• The normal activity durations used as a scheduling basis rep-
resent efficient and economical operation.
• Shorter activity times usually will require expensive expediting
actions.
• Longer activity times suggest a relaxed attitude and increased
costs of production.
• Certainly, job overhead expense increases with the duration of
the construction period.
Late Activity Times
• A second series of calculations is performed to find the late‐start
(LS) and the late‐finish (LF) times for each activity.
• These calculations, called the backward pass, start at the project
end and proceed backward through the network, going from right
to left in the bridge network on the companion website.
• The theory during the backward pass is that each activity finishes
as late as possible without delaying project completion.
• The backward‐pass computations proceed from activity to activity
until the start of the project is reached.
Late Activity Times
Late Activity Times
Total Float
• Examination of the activity times discloses that the early‐ and
late‐start times (also early‐ and late‐finish times) are the same for
certain activities and not for others.
• The significance of this fact is that there is leeway in the
scheduling of some activities and none at all in the scheduling of
others.
• This extra time is called float, two classifications of which are in
general usage: total float and free float.
Total Float
• An activity with zero total float has no spare time and is, therefore,
one of the operations that controls project completion time.
• For this reason, activities with zero total float are called critical
activities.
Late Activity Times
Critical Path
• In a precedence diagram, a critical activity is quickly identified as
one whose two start times (ES and LS) at the left of the activity box
are equal.
• Also equal are the two finish times (EF and LF) at the right of the
activity box.
• The critical path usually is indicated on the diagram in some
distinctive way, such as with red or bold lines.
• Because the length of the critical path determines project
duration, any de- lay in the finish date of a critical activity, for
whatever reason, automatically prolongs project completion by
the same amount.
Free Float
• Free float is another category of spare time.
• The free float of an activity is found by subtracting its EF time from
the earliest of the ES times of the activities directly following.
• The free float of an activity is the amount by which the completion
of that activity can be deferred without delaying the early start of
the following activities or affecting any other activity in the
network.
Late Activity Times
Lags between Activities
All previous discussions of project planning and scheduling have
been on the basis of two important assumptions.
a) One is that an activity cannot start until all the immediately
preceding activities have been completed.
b) The other is that once all preceding activities have been
finished, the following activity can immediately start
Lags between Activities
Lags between Activities
Lags between Activities
Milestones
Milestones are points in time that have been identified as being
important intermediate reference points during the
accomplishment of the work.
Milestone events can include dates imposed by the owner for
finishing certain tasks as well as target dates set by the contractor
for completing certain segments of the work.
Summary
❑ The true worth of a project schedule depends extensively on the job
logic and the accuracy with which the individual activity times can be
estimated.
❑ The optimum use of CPM information for project time control requires
the user to have a thorough understanding of the computations and the
true meaning of the data generated.
❑ The critical path determines the minimum time required to complete
the project and also provides the information needed to expedite project
completion.
❑ Float is a valuable resource that enables effective resource
management.
❑ CPM‐based computer programs enable extensive sorting of data that,
in turn, facilitates more effective project management.