CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULING: PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION TOOLS, CHAPTER 2

By definition, project planning is a forward-looking process, which can help prevent and resolve disputes in construction. Project schedules are developed to specify the time frames for activity performance and the order or sequence in which activities must be performed to complete the project on time. Proper planning and scheduling of a project, however, requires more than just the initial development of a schedule.

Planning a project is similar to planning a trip by car. A trip from home to the grocery store is usually short and requires little, if any, planning. A trip between two destinations a thousand miles apart is a different scenario, requiring commensurately more planning. Road maps are referenced, estimates of driving times by various routes are made, hotel reservations are booked, and a trip budget is established. Voila, a plan has been created! During the trip, attention is given to immediate and potential long-range problems - bad drivers, accidents, breakdowns, road construction, weather, etc. Problems encountered during the trip may require the implementation of alternative actions to avoid or mitigate the problems. A section of road inundated by a flash flood dictates taking an alternate route.

The forward-looking aspect of CPM scheduling identifies activities critical to project progress, as well as the activities that can slip without endangering the completion date. But the project schedule also demands that other factors be considered, such as manpower and equipment requirements and the cash flow needed to support the schedule, before a feasible plan can be established. Scheduling two activities concurrently, both of which require a certain crane when only one crane of that type is available, does not usually produce an achievable plan. Activity duration and logic adjustments should be made to the schedule until the plan is feasible and achievable.

The "through-the-windshield" view of the project continues as the project moves forward and the CPM schedule is updated. Activities are updated and the schedule is recalculated. Knowledge gained from historical progress data can be used beneficially from a lessons-learned perspective to identify and resolve potential future problems and related impacts, but the main emphasis is still on the remaining work. Past results can't be changed, so the priority of completing the project focuses efforts on work to be started and finished, not work that has already been finished. CPM schedule updates are massaged, tweaked or completely overhauled, as necessary, to arrive at a reasonable schedule for the remaining work activities.

Retrospective Schedule Analysis is normally performed after a project is substantially or totally complete and where delays occurred which caused financial harm to one or more project parties. The analyst can determine the effect of delays, acceleration, disruption and impact of changes to the original contract schedule, and provide a basis for allocation of responsibility and liability for these events. If using CPM schedules as a planning tool is akin to driving a car on a trip, the use of CPM methods and techniques for retrospective delay analysis is like observing the whole trip through the rear view mirror.

Retrospective CPM delay analysis techniques have one common quality - comparing planned performance to actual performance. Regardless of the specific delay analysis method selected, knowledge of what happened during the course of the project and how it happened is vital to the analysis process. Historical project information is of paramount importance, because the analyst has to recreate some or all of the events on a project. Historical data in the forms of the original as-planned schedule, monthly schedule updates, correspondence, daily logs, change orders and meeting minutes can be used to recreate job progress.

The schedule reflecting the history of the project is often referred to as the as-built schedule. The basis for the as-built schedule can be the original as- planned schedule, the last update of the project schedule, or a creation from scratch using available data. The as-built schedule contains actual start and finish dates for the work activities and logic that reflects the actual sequence of work on the project. The as-built schedule is compared to contemporaneous as-planned or updated project schedules to determine when and how much activities were delayed. Once potential delays are identified, the analyst can then determine the root cause or reasons for the delays, a common step in retrospective delay analysis techniques.

Rather than prepare schedules for the purpose of establishing a remaining work schedule, the delay analyst uses CPM software to run schedule simulations to measure the effect of delays on the as-planned or as-built schedules. The various scheduling methods used in retrospective delay analysis will be explored in more detail in future chapters in this series.

Because scheduling techniques have legal implications with respect to the contractor's ability to obtain equitable adjustments in the time and cost of performing the contract work, either through prosecution of change orders or claims, the contractor should review the scheduling provisions in the contract.

Contracts contain express and implied duties and confer various rights and responsibilities on the parties. Scheduling contract clauses are among the most complex and least standardized of all contract clauses and, therefore, require special attention. Scheduling provisions and a clear understanding of the owner's intent are often neglected during contract preparation and performance. Too many parties approach scheduling as something of a nuisance. In fact, a common thread amongst construction disputes is the failure to recognize the importance and benefits of scheduling provisions and the obligations they impose.

Contractors often ignore express schedule provisions because of the owner's performance on prior projects when the scheduling requirements were considered meaningless and not enforced. The value of schedules is often only recognized when a contractor receives or wants to submit a claim. At this point, schedules are ceremoniously resurrected with a reverence reminiscent of the Holy Grail.

The contractor should expect that the contract scheduling provisions will be enforced and, therefore, should be thoroughly familiar with those. Provisions and be prepared to comply with all of the requirements. Noncompliance with the contract scheduling provisions does not by itself defeat an otherwise valid delay claim, but may indicate inadequate planning and work execution by the contractor. Proof of delay may also be complicated by the failure to comply with the scheduling provisions.

Various federal and state agencies, local governments, and private owners have adopted unique scheduling provisions in their respective contracts. Typical contract provisions dealing with scheduling and the view of the courts towards scheduling will be discussed in future chapters.

CPM schedule can be developed using either Arrow Diagramming (ADM) or Precedence Diagramming (PDM) approach. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages; which one is used is normally a matter of personal preference. PDM diagramming techniques, however, allow greater flexibility in defining the logical relationships between activities. Scheduling provisions should be flexible in that either ADM or PDM may be used and leave this decision to the discretion of the contractor.

Good scheduling provisions should specify, in a general nature, what work, including coordination functions, is to be included in the schedule. Items to look for here are field construction operations, submittal and approval of all compliance submittals including acceptable turnaround times, procurement of material and equipment furnished by the contractor or the owner, interface activities performed by the owner and others upon which the contractor's schedule depends, and equipment installation and testing. A reasonable as-planned schedule should include outside interface activities. These interface activities are often omitted and problems frequently arise because the parties fail to coordinate these interrelationships if they are not properly shown on the schedule.

The concept of an "activity" should be covered in the scheduling section of the contract, and may include the following:

1. Each activity should be a unit of work that requires an amount of time for its performance.

2. Each activity should be a logically separate part of the work, defined by an observable start and an observable finish.

3. To establish the scope of an activity for CPM purposes, the contractor should form a single activity from the largest grouping of related operations which permit a continuous and measurable flow of work and which can proceed without affecting or being abetted by other activities.

4. The scope of an activity should be small enough to permit a reasonable appraisal of its status.