CE-731/732: CONSTRUCTION

PLANNING, SCHEDULING AND

CONTROL (2)
Dr. Malik Muneeb Abid
Associate Professor/Chairperson
Civil Engineering Department

CE731/732 CONSTRUCTION PLANNING, SCHEDULING AND CONTROL

Introduction

• Planning can be thought of as determining “what”

is going to be done, “how,” “where,” and by “whom”
• Owners want their projects completed within
specified time and budget constraints
• Management of time and cost did not evolve as
a science until after the Industrial Revolution
Introduction

• The science of “scheduling” is commonly referred

to as the critical path method (CPM) in 1956-57
– The arrow diagramming method (ADM) resulted

• The program evaluation review technique (PERT)

was developed the same time by the U.S. Navy
• ADM was deterministic and PERT was probabilistic
Introduction

The advent of PCs in the 1980s

led to a large number of
PC-based scheduling systems
At the low-cost end (Timeline)
and the high-cost end (Primavera)
Planning and Scheduling

• There is a significant difference between “planning”

and “scheduling”
– Often used interchangeably — which is a misuse

• Scheduling can never be performed effectively

without planning
Planning and Scheduling

The planning portion of a construction

project relates to developing the logic
of how a project will be constructed
Scheduling consists of integrating that
plan with a calendar or specific time frame
Planning and Scheduling

• We all do planning and scheduling on a regular,

informal, basis
– Often it is necessary to create a “to-do list”

• As the number of items increases and/or time frame

expands, we put our list in the context of time
• Planning and scheduling is done extensively and
formally on construction projects
– Beginning with the Notice of Award
Planning and Scheduling

Scheduling consists of determining the time

needed for each of the planned tasks and the
overall length of the project schedule
Bar Charts

Henry Gantt developed a method of relating

a list of activities to a timescale in a very
effective manner, by drawing bar charts
Bar Charts

Henry Gantt developed a method of relating

a list of activities to a timescale in a very
effective manner, by drawing bar charts
Bar Charts

• Bar charts are simple presentations that show

when major work activities are scheduled
• Most commonly employed and readily recognized
scheduling models in use today

A simple schedule can easily

be shown in network form
Bar Charts

Bar charts are the most popular means

by which scheduling information is
communicated in the construction industry
Widespread use is best attributed to
the ease with which they can be
understood with a cursory examination
Shortcomings of Bar Charts

• Bar charts begin to fail to provide valuable

information when projects become more complex
• A general criticism of bar charts is that they do
not show clear dependencies between activities
• While the status of individual activities can be
ascertained, overall project status of cannot
– When some activities are not on schedule

• Changes in the logical sequencing of activities in

a bar chart cannot be readily made
– Especially when many activities are involved
Shortcomings of Bar Charts

Bar chart shortcomings virtually disappear

when scheduling software is used
Most popular computer generated
schedules permit easy conversion between
precedence diagrams and bar charts
Value of Bar Charts

• A major strength of bar charts is the ability to

clearly and quickly present the status of a project
• No extensive training is required to learn how
to extract information from them
Scheduling Networks

• Bar charts have been surpassed by networks as

scheduling tools—especially on larger projects
• A network represents a model, or plan, of the
project as it is proposed to be undertaken
• Each activity is assigned duration; calculations
through the network provide a single, specific
duration for the project as a whole
• It is important to recognize the distinction between
duration and event
Scheduling Networks

An event is the point in time, or an instant

at which the status of completion of a
project or activity can be defined
The duration of an activity is the time that
will be consumed in completing a task
Scheduling Networks

• CPM identifies chains of activities in the project

that control how long the project will take
• A traditional CPM technique is the Activity-on-Arrow
(A-on-A), or arrow diagram
– Activities are represented as arrows or lines

• The alternative approach is Activity-on-Node

(A-on-N), referred to as the Precedence technique
• PERT can be thought of as a “generalized” CPM
– In which an “expected” activity duration is computed
Scheduling Networks

PERT is used primarily in undertakings

where insufficient experience or historical
data are available for estimating durations
of individual activities in a project
Other Scheduling Approaches

• A matrix schedule is one in which a spreadsheet is

used to show all activities on a particular project
– It assumes each project will consist of the same
activities
Other Scheduling Approaches
Other Scheduling Approaches

A form of scheduling
that shows less detail
is the “horse blanket”
It is easy to see at a
glance how much effort
is to be expended on
a project through its
evolution—from planning
to final occupation & use
Work Breakdown Structure

• Most projects for which formal schedules are used

are defined with hundreds or thousands of activities
• It is important that the logic be carefully laid out and
that all important tasks are included in the schedule
• When the tasks become numerous, the schedule
development can becomes more haphazard,
– Omissions are sure to occur
Work Breakdown Structure

The schedule consists of tasks that must

be performed—to complete the project
The schedule is dominated by
verbs—things to do—tasks
Work Breakdown Structure

• A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a systematic

way to describe components of a project schedule
• Developing the WBS begins with the definition of
the major systems or components of a project
• Each system is defined in greater and greater detail
– Until there exists a discrete or measurable piece of
work and a single responsibility—work packages

• Work packages can be viewed as mini projects

that are contained within the entire project
Work Breakdown Structure

• Information should be provided by various

individuals
– Project manager; job superintendent; others

• WBS divides & subdivides a project into different

components—area, phase, function, or other means
• By using the WBS approach, the project will become
easier to comprehend
– The backbone of the project control or tracking system

• The WBS is an orderly presentation of the tasks that

must be performed to complete a particular project
Work Breakdown Structure

• On a typical construction project the WBS consists

of numerous categories—depending on complexity

Work Breakdown Structure

for a Storage Facility Project
Work Breakdown Structure

• In general terms, the WBS can be viewed as a

representation of the physical breakdown of the
work to be performed
Reasons For Planning & Scheduling

• Many project contract documents expressly require

contractors to submit a CPM analysis prior to
commencing work
• In some cases CPM analysis is required
with the bid
• CPM allows the user to examine the trade-off
between the time & cost required for a project
• By accurately monitoring project status, decisions
can be made regularly about schedule viability
Reasons For Planning & Scheduling

Most parties in the construction process

can benefit from making use of CPM
as a routine element of the
management of all of their projects