PROJECT MANAGERS’ COMPETENCY

ENHANCEMENT TRAINING
 TRAINING ON PROJECT TIME MANAGEMENT

COURSE TRAINER: ENGINEER YOSEPH KIDANE

Contents
1. GENERAL...............................................................................................................................3
2. PLANNING, PROGRAMMING AND TIME CONTROL.....................................................4
2.1 BASIC PLANNING, PROGRAMMING AND TIME CONTROL CONCEPTS...........4
2.2 PLANNING......................................................................................................................5
2.2.1 How we do Planning?................................................................................................6
2.2.2 When does Planning be carried out?......................................................................8
2.3 PROGRAMMING............................................................................................................9
2.3.1 How we do Programming?......................................................................................9
2.3.2 When does Programming be carried out?...........................................................11
2.3.3 Acceptance of Work Programme.............................................................................13
2.4 TIME CONTROL...........................................................................................................14
2.4.1 Monitoring...............................................................................................................14
2.4.2 Mitigating................................................................................................................15

SPONSORED & ORGANIZED BY: PREPARED BY:

ETHIOPIAN ROADS AUTHORITY HABCON CONSULT

www.era.gov.et www.habconconsult.com
info@habconconsult.com
Phone-0911247229
JULY 2013

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1. GENERAL
Time is the essence of all construction contracts. In construction all projects are time bound; and time
delays attract penalties while early completion can earn rewards as time is directly related to costs. It’s a
general truth in that “Time is immortal and has no definite beginning and definite end”. On the other
hand, when it comes to project, time would be bounded by the project start and end time; as project is a
momentary effort to create a unique product. As we all know, projects have three main components;
Time, Cost and Quality which are interrelated to each other. The optimum combination of these three
components will yield a successful project. As quality of the product increases the cost to produce same
will be higher and likewise when the project time increases the project cost increases. It is also the
“time factor” in a project that determines the project cost.

Projects are mostly delayed from their original anticipated time for completion for both foreseeable and
unforeseeable events. This delay beyond the anticipated time for completion may result in loss of
revenues from the Employer side and/or additional costs on the contractor to keep its resources on the
project site for a prolonged period of time. In other words as delays mounted up on the project, both or
either of the contracting parties would suffer due to additional expenses and unplanned financial
burden; and finally may land up in liquidating either of the contracting party. Unlike football
tournament, time wasting in construction kills who are guilty of wasting it.

It is also customary that specifying a project time at the outset is the responsibility of the client and/or
its designer having played on the time the ultimate product of the project is requiring to function; and
anticipated cost. The tender offers from bidders depend, apart from the methodology of the work, on
the amount of time allocated for that project. Having regard to all the above, it is abundantly clear that
time management is the crucial and decisive element of the construction process.

In general time management in every respect has three basic distinct features that are interrelated to
each other and sequential in order; viz, Planning, Programming and Time Control. Hence, for a
successful project, proper planning and programming and effectively monitoring of the programme is
required for a project to be carried out and delivered as per the desired quality and at the right time
with reasonable cost.

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2. PLANNING, PROGRAMMING AND TIME CONTROL

2.1 BASIC PLANNING, PROGRAMMING AND TIME CONTROL CONCEPTS
Planning is an advance intellectual thinking of as to when and where work will be performed, how
it is to be performed and by whom it is to be performed. In principle planning is more of an art
than a science. It involves professional thinking of how work will be performed and in that it
requires well experienced staffs with good communication and imagination skills. Good planners
do plan everything to happen except for the unforeseen. Planning also essentially involves the
choice of technology, the definition of work tasks, the estimation of the required resources and
duration of individual tasks and the identification of any interactions among the different work
tasks. Critical aspects of construction planning shall include the generation of required activities,
analysis of the implications of these activities, and choice among the various alternative means of
performing activities. Hence, developing a construction plan is a critical task in the management of
construction, even if the plan is not written or otherwise formally recorded. For example, the
extent to which subcontractors will be used on a project is often determined during construction
planning.
Programming is a time-based plan of action for coordinating various activities and resources to
achieve specified objectives as set out during the planning stage. In other words, programming is
putting the detailed planning on a calendar time scale.

Time control is an input for revising the planning and programming processes and durations after
a thorough and detailed comparison of actual job carried out for each specific activity (especially
those at the critical path and with low floats) with that of the corresponding programmed
durations. Therefore, it can be construed that the output of time control is the essence of time
management.

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2.2 PLANNING
Planning process shall first see the desired outcome and step back to the detail activities that
bring about the outcome as per the terms and conditions specified in the construction contract.
Like detective, a planner begins with a result and must synthesize the steps required to yield this
result. In essence, planning must have the following set of procedures (as copied from Delay and
Disruption in Construction Contract – Keith Pickavance):
Familiarization:Before commencing to plan, the contractor has to have a good grip on the
overall scheme of the construction contract, the type and disposition of potentially severable
zones of operation, their interdependencies, site influences, access and so on. This stage is very
much analogous to familiarizing oneself with the size of a board, the pattern of squares and the
movement capability of pieces in a chess game, before trying to work out a playing strategy.
Outline Plan: The next stage in the Planning process is to determine the broad strategy, very
much along the lines of the tender document. The planner’s first objective will be to identify a
policy for how the main operation are going to be tackled and what major items of construction
plant will be employed. For example, the number and type of cranes and whether they are to be
fixed or on rails, what administrative structures will be required in terms of identifiable zones of
operation, and so on.
Strategic Plan: Then some detail can be added to the outline: analogous to working up the
outline design to a scheme design. In this the planner will generally turns its mind to the
principal resources and trade-oriented operations, how they are to be administered as
subcontracts, some of which will have design work to execute. The disposition on site of
craneage, possible alternatives for scaffolding and weather enclosures will also be considered at
this stage. As with the relationship between outline design and scheme design, some revisions to
the policy may have to be made and the planning strategy may have to be revisited in the light
of these later considerations.
Detailed Plan: When the general principles are established, the detail can then be considered.
It is here that the planner establishes the interfaces, prepares resource schedules, identifies
productivity quotients, calculates durations and targets cash flow predictions. When all that is
done, the Programming can start.

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2.2.1 How we do Planning?

In light of the above, in order to carry out proper and efficient planning for a particular project, the
following points shall be taken into account and decisions shall be made upon them:
i. Overall strategy of how the work flows is to be zoned for control
ii. How these controls are to be managed
iii. What methods and techniques are to be used for construction and materials handling
(choice of technology and construction methods)
iv. Any strategy for subcontracting parts of the works or materials supply
v. Principal periods of operation of the zones of operation and their interface.

The above decision-making points do require a well-experienced staff in the business with good
technical, managerial and interpersonal skills.
There are two different planning methodologies that the construction industry usually
accustomed to; viz, Beginning – to – end and Top – Down Planning. The Beginning-to-end planning
technique is the type of methodology for which the planning starts from activities of the project
that naturally starts first. This type of planning is not favoured in the construction industry mostly
in that it is difficult to sequence construction operations, its tendency to use greater detail in the
early stages and its susceptibility for missing vital operations by the planning team that have time
impacts on the project completion. On the other hand the Top-Down Planning technique of
planning is widely used in the industry as it is starts from the overall perspective of the project
down to the detail of the activities. In other terminology it is also referred as Work Breakdown
Structure.

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The following table outlines the basic work of planning and its workflow.
Project Planning Process
Planning data Collection
Planning Resources
Planning Implementation
Source: Construction Project Management by K K CHITKARA.
Where to look for data?
What is to be done?
What are the activities involved?
How it can be done?
When it is to be done?
Where it is to be done?
What is needed to do it?
Who is to do it?
How to account performance?
How to monitor performance?
How to communicate information?
Studying relevant documents
Defining scope of work
Breaking down project work into activities
Developing network plans
Scheduling work
Charting site layout
Forecasting resource requirement
Planning manpower requirement
Planning equipment requirement
Planning material requirement
Budget costs
Designing organizational structure
Allocating tasks and resources
Establishing responsibility centers
Designing control system
Formulating monitoring methodology
Developing Project Management Information
System.

A full-fledged planning works shall comprise various forms of planning such as communication
planning, quality planning, procurement planning, time planning and risk planning. Unless these
areas of planning are well addressed and integrated in the planning process and techniques, the
project in question would suffer a certain degree of setbacks to the extent that it may fail to
deliver the desired objective. For a case in point, a renowned and successful contractor in middle
east or Asia may not be successful in Ethiopia unless and otherwise good communication plan,
procurement plan, risk plan and others that commensurate with the prevailing conditions in
Ethiopia are properly done. This has been a case for many foreign companies in Ethiopia which
are among the top 100 contractors in the world. We see them struggling to cope with the
challenges to communicate, procure and etc.

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2.2.2 When does Planning be carried out?

A sort of brief planning could have been done during tendering as most of the assumptions made
during this phase of the project are made on limited knowledge of the project data and site
observations. This planning could be regarded as a platform for the detailed planning and could
not be taken as construction planning and proceed with programming. Rather, a detailed
Construction Planning should commence soon after signing of the construction contract by
experienced staffs of the contractor who has intimate knowledge of the construction methods and
the ability to intellectually visualize the discrete work elements; so that a good plan that fulfills all
the aforementioned points in the above sections could be produced.

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2.3 PROGRAMMING
As has been discussed in the above definition of programming, it is a cascade that lowers down
the detailed planning into a calendar based sequence of works to enable the doer of each activity
to consciously act having due regard to the start and finish time for each work. It does also be
referred as a bridge between the Construction Planning and Construction Operations.
2.3.1 How we do Programming?
A number of programming techniques are employed to systematize and transform the mental
thought process into a concrete project work programme. In the process of converting the plan
into a programme, the planner should determine:
 The scope of work to be performed
 List of activities to be performed
 Duration of each activity
 Critical and non-critical activities
 Who will carry out a specified task or activity
 The resources to be applied to the activities (input resources; like finance and physical
resources like labour, material and equipment)
 Or forecast project budget and budget allocation
 How any one or more activities are to be sequenced in relation to other activities; and
 Designing a control system for the project (resource, time and cost control
methodology)
Having all the above inputs from detailed planning, the planner shall prepare a realistic work
programme with the following procedures;
 Estimate the time required for each activity identified during the planning stage; having
due regards to the resources assumed to be allocated
 Compute the time period for overall project completion
 Establish time intervals within which each activity must start and finish to satisfy the
project time requirement
 Identify those activities that affect the project time for completion
 Shorten the project duration at the least possible cost.
 Adjust the start and finish times of selected activities to minimize resource conflicts
 Make the work schedule
 Record the assumptions made

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The following table summarizes the planning techniques and methods employed to develop the
project programme.
PROJECT PLANNING TECHNIQUES
Breaking down project work
Planning data Collection Developing network plans
Scheduling work
Forecasting resource requirement
Planning manpower requirement
Planning equipment requirement
Planning Resources Planning material requirement
Budget costs
Designing organizational structure
Allocating tasks and resources
Formulating monitoring
Planning Implementation
methodology
Source: Construction Project Management by K K CHITKARA.
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Work break down
Network analysis, Gantt Chart, Line of
balance technique
Time limited scheduling
Resource limited scheduling
Forecasting
Manpower scheduling
Equipment selection and scheduling
Materials Scheduling
Cost planning and budgeting
Organization design
Resource allocation
Resource productivity control
Time control
Contribution control
Budgetary control
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2.3.2 When does Programming be carried out?

Once the planning process is completed and all the identified decisions during the planning stage
are made, that plan will then be converted to programming or scheduling to put the project on
the ground. There are various methods or techniques of programming among which are:
i. Network Analysis (Critical Path Method): CPM is a programming technique that facilitates the
analysis of working methods to identify both the critical and non-critical activities; and their
relationships. There are three type of CPM techniques that are:
a. The arrow diagram (also referred to as Activity-on-arrow diagram)
b. The Precedence Diagram (also referred to as Activity-on-node diagram)
c. The Cascade Diagram

Among the three CPM techniques mentioned above, the Cascade Diagram is easy to comprehend
as it is almost identical to the Bar Chart while the other two are notoriously difficult to understand.
The Cascade Diagram; which is currently being widely used around the globe, is the preferred
method of display the project planning software programmes because its activities are linked with
the logical connections between the bars and the length of the bars is proportionate to the activity
duration.
ii. Gantt Chart: is relatively the oldest technique but was the first formal programming system to be
used in conjunction with the scientific management techniques. It is almost identical to the bar
chart; but, its horizontal axis is for time periods while its vertical axis for displaying personnel,
organization, plant, materials and so on.
iii. Line of balance technique: this type of programming will be used mainly for repetitive works and it
is done through vertically or horizontally drawn lines. For example, if a contractor wants to make
his planning to construct the contracted road in different sections that has identical nature of
works, then a line of balance could be used as the best programming technique in which he will
show the activities for one of the section using various lines; and repeat similar pack of lines for the
other sections.
In most forms of construction Contracts, contractors are required to produce a realistic detailed
work programme after a certain specified days from the commencement of the works. However, it
is not uncommon in our construction industry that contractors produce something by way of a
work programme that is superficially attractive but effectively meaningless. These programmes
have undoubtedly resulted in serious problems and adversarial relationship among the
contracting parties in the course of construction.

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So long as the contracting parties (Employers and Engineers) are prepared to ignore the
inadequacies of contractors’ planning and programming materials at the outset, there is little
impetus for contractors to improve the standard of their time management materials.
Normally, contractors do prepare a tender programme based on the available data from the
employer’s office and any site observation that he may have conducted and submit along with his
tender. The followings are work programmes from the inception of construction Phase until
completion of the construction Works
i. The Tender Programme
Such programme is required to be submitted by prospective bidders along with their bid at
times of bid submission. It is a type of programme prepared based on the available
information at tender stage. During this stage, it is obvious that most of the assumptions are
a mere guess by the respective bidders that make the programme not better than a guess no
matter how much detail that guess was illustrated.
Though weak it may be, the tender programme will be based on the agreed contract
completion dates and financial commitments. Hence, the quantum of a bid will depend on
the assumptions and information at the tender stage, which in other words mean that the
tender programme could be regarded as the basis of the cost structure of the prospective
bidders.
ii. Master Work Programme
It is a great peace of work by a contractor in a construction contract to prepare a realistic
workable strategy for the contracted work. In relation to the road construction; for instance,
the Master Work Programme can be seen as the working language of the Technical
Specifications, Drawings and the Bill of Quantities; and a mere reflection of the decisions
made during the planning process. At any one time, the master work programme is a base
line for a parties to a contract from which is established:
 The intended periods of activities and sequence of the works;
 The dates and logic by which the flow of design information will be planned;
 The dates and logic by which the procurement of major items of plant or goods or
equipment on long delivery will be planned;
 The dates and logic by which the arrival on site of materials, goods or contractors
employed by the employer will be planned;
 Any time contingency required by the contractor and its subcontractors;
 The free float and total float available

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It also uses for calculating the likely effect of any delay to progresses on the completion date
and recording the degree of progress actually achieved from time to time.
Hence, the contractor to be able to prepare a more detailed and realistic master work
programme, he needs to be given adequate opportunity to programme its work in full terms.
This opportunity could be the number of weeks to be granted between the contract
signature and the actual commencement date. Of course, the tender programme will give
the contractor the assumptions and or reasoning behind the tender.
Once this programme is prepared in full terms and conditions, then the contractor should
revise it routinely when it is outdated and/or does not reflect the prevailing conditions on the
project site in terms of activities, resources, etc.

2.3.3 Acceptance of Work Programme

When the programme is submitted, the Engineer and or the client should ask the following
queries and get satisfactory response from the planner before it approves the work programme:
 Does it comply with contractual obligations, milestones or restraints on working hours or
methods?
 Is the entire scope of the work represented?
 Are any activity durations questionably too long, or too short for the scope of work they
represent?
 Are there any obvious errors in the programme related to the sequence or timing of the
works?

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2.4 TIME CONTROL

Monitoring of project progress is a matter of comparing the planned progress with the actual progress
achieved. And hence, it is a day-to-day activity for a project management team to compare each day’s
actual accomplishment of primarily the major activities against their respective schedule. This method
of monitoring the programme will help the project management team to fully aware when and where a
project will fall behind the schedule. Usually, the method of monitoring is dictated by the method or
techniques of the project work programme. If the project activity is too detailed then the level of
monitoring will be too detailed and complex and later cumbersome for the project management team
to fully concentrate on.

2.4.1 Monitoring
There could be various ways of controlling and monitoring techniques that could be applied to a project
management. Among these various techniques, the followings are widely used in the construction
industry.

2.4.1.1 Extracts of Master Work Programme (monthly, weekly and daily

work programme)
These extracts of work programmes are devised for the purpose of monitoring the work progress at a
closer range and in sufficient detail. These programmes (mainly the weekly and daily) are supposed to
be distributed to each working staffs to know the programme and make himself/herself part of the
programme.

2.4.1.2 Milestone Scheduling

This is one way of monitoring the project progress through identifying major activities and examine
the commencement of them on their respective planned dates or completed by defined dates. It is an
extract of the master work programme for monitoring the work progress. This will tell the project
management whether the works are proceeding according to the plan.

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2.4.1.3 Weekly and Monthly Review Meetings

Weekly and monthly review meetings with the contracting parties and among the project teams is
an essential and most useful way of monitoring of the project schedule; as various parties with
different interest involves in it.

2.4.2 Mitigating
Apart from the monitoring techniques as outlined above, any effect on the construction planning due to
events that has not been foreseen at the making of the contract and those attributable to the client
and/or the contractor can be mitigated in construction contracts under the terms and conditions in the
respective contract.

2.4.2.1 Acceleration
Acceleration is one way of mitigating the delays as a result of monitoring of the project progress. It
is literally to mean the delay encountered would be kept to a minimum through increasing
resources or productivity in one of the following three ways:
 By agreement or Instruction: through agreements between the parties to the contract or,
if the contract provides the power to the Engineer to instruct acceleration. In most forms
of contract, there is this provision for the Engineer to instruct the Contractor to increase
its rate of progress if he thinks that the projects would be delayed.
 Unilateral Acceleration: Unilaterally on the initiative of the contractor often categorized
as “Mitigation” by the contractor or as “using best endeavors” by the employer.
 Constructive Acceleration: Constructive acceleration is where the contractor argues that
he has no real alternative in the circumstance.

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2.4.2.2 Extension of Time

Extension of Time is one of the controlling methods of time. It’s inevitable in construction contract
that delay to progress is experienced for a number of reasons that had not been dealt with at the
making of the contract. On the other hand, contractors are obliged to complete the contracted
works within the original contract time unless they are prevented by the employer or any other
events for which the contractor is not responsible for under the contract provisions; like adverse
weather. As a result of delays that the contractor may encounter, he would be obliged to stay on
the project site for a prolonged period of time to enable him complete the works under that
contract. For such reason, Construction contracts do commonly have a provision that gives a
power for the employer to extend the time for completion for those particular events that the
contractor could not be at fault or responsible; and affect the time for completion by an equal or
more amount.
A contractual time for completion could only be extended if a delay to an activity in the critical
path method is affected because of the event in question. In other words; not all delays due to the
Employer’s risk event could amount to an extension of time unless that specific event affects the
activities on the critical path.
In the Ethiopian context, most commonly identified reasons for extending the contractual time for
completions are late possession of site, late supply of drawings, adverse weather, Engineer’s
instructions and variation orders.
Both the Employer and the Contractor are beneficial of the provision of the “Extension of Time”
Clause. The contractor; at face value, would be benefited by having more time to complete the
works and through reduction of his liability for Liquidated Damages. On the other hand, the
employer will protect its interest by the presence of extension of time provision.
Time for granting of extension of time should be considered to protect the Employer’s interest on
Liquidated Damages provisions and to allow the contractor to re-programme his work. Even if it
has not received notice from the contractor, the Engineer must consider whether an employer’s
risk event has occurred. The Engineer is not entitled to adopt a passive role in the extension of
time process. Not only as a matter of law, but as a matter of established good practice, the
Engineer has to consider always whether there are any factors known to him which might justify
an extension of time; even though the contractor may not have given written notice of them.

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It should act as soon as practicable to give the contractor an adequate opportunity to plan its
resources for completion in light of the events that have occurred.
What does “Time at large” mean? Is it applicable in Ethiopia? How will it occur? How can this be
mitigated?
As a matter of law, if the employer or its designated Engineer fails to grant an extension of time, it
means the same as if there is no extension of time clause in the contract; and this may result in
the contractor to complete the works within a reasonable time in all of the circumstances and the
Employer could no more rely on the Liquidated Damages provisions. In such cases it is said to be
“time is set at large”. Sometimes, the Engineer or the employer may refuse or award insufficient
extension of time to the contractor that may not be based on a genuine attempt to assess the
delay (but merely to preserve the liquidated damage provisions) may not be effective. No
response or protracted exchanges of correspondences with no conclusion may not preserve the
employer’s rights to Liquidated Damages if it should be subsequently held that an extension of
time ought to have been granted at the appropriate time.
The main reasons why Time will be set at large are:
 When there is no specified time for completion in the contract
 When there is no express provision for extension of time under the contract at all.
 Even though there is a provision under the contract for extending the time for completion,
when it does not cover the events that has occurred or has happened to occur.
 If the employer fails to grant or grant in-sufficient time before the existing time for
completion expires.
It has to be noted here that when time is set at large, the contractor will be allowed to complete
the works within a reasonable time. But this reasonable time is as such construed as “as and when
the contractor sees fit”. In actual sense it is not! If the contractor fails to complete within a
reasonable time, the burden of proof lies on both the employer to prove that the time taken was
not reasonable; and the contractor to prove that the time taken was reasonable.
Though the employer loses its right to liquidated damages once time is set at large, still it has the
right to sue the contractor for general/ un-liquidated damages so long as the contractor fails to
complete within a reasonable time.

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The Ethiopian Civil Code in its article 3174 stated as a principle that if a contract has no specific
provision for time for completion, then each party shall perform his obligations within a
reasonable time. If the contract has no extension of time clause and/or if the employer fails to
grant any legitimate extension of time within the original contract time, then it seems equivalent
to that of there is no time for completion which will take us to consider the essence of “Time at
Large”.

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