CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

UNIT - 3

Project Planning and Management

 INTRODUCTION TO PLANNING

What is planning?
•Planning is the starting point of all management functions.
•Planning leads to organising and staffing followed by directing,
controlling and co-ordinating.

Essential characteristics of a good programme:

•Use of control tool for progress monitoring can be applicable
•Sufficiently accurate to prepare material, manpower, machinery and
money schedule
•Difficulties likely to be encountered shall be provided in programme.
 Stages of Planning

Pre-tender ¨ Examining drawings and specification

Stage ¨ Carry out site investigation and market
survey (to assess availability and rates of
materials, manpower etc.)
¨ Estimation of quantity, time and cost of
different works
¨ Preparation of tentative construction
schedule
¨ Finalise the tender price after deciding
overheads and profits
 Stages of Planning
¨ Establish good communication system
Contract between members os construction team (i.e.
Stage owner, engineer/architect and contractors)
¨ Select most suitable construction method
after evaluating alternative methods
¨ Prepare construction schedule after studying
inter-relationship of various items of works
¨ Calculate phased requirement of construction
materials, i.e. cement, aggregates, bricks,
steel etc.
¨ Determine phased requirement of plant and
machineries including repair and maintenance
facilities
¨ Prepare manpower schedule, including
labour, supervising and managerial staff.
 SCHEDULING
¨ Construction Schedule is a tool that a contractor
uses to manage time and execute activities in a
proper sequence to complete the project in optimum
time and cost. To prepare a construction schedule,
the project is divided into different activities and in
sequence as per the inter-relationship according to
construction method.
 SCHEDULING
¨ Construction schedule serve following purpose:
¤ It provides time table of schedule and sequence of
each activity
¤ It provides schedule to monitor the progress of
work and taking corrective measures, if required
¤ Provides a means for establishing and maintaining
time goals and prioritising activities.
 SCHEDULING

Work ¨ A project is broken down to sub project

Breakdown and sub-project in different activities and
Structure
(WBS): different activities into sub-activities, this
process is called work breakdown
structure. It is employed in planning for
understanding inter-relationship between
various functional elements of project.
 SCHEDULING by BAR CHART

TIME LINE
Bar-chart was ACTIVITIES
developed by Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
Henry Gantt, Activity 1
hence it is known Activity 2
as Gantt Chart or Activity 3
Bar Chart. It
Activity 4
shows Activity
name on Y-Axis Activity 5
and Duration as Activity 6
Bars on X-Axis. Activity 7
SCHEDULING by BAR CHART
SCHEDULING by BAR CHART
 SCHEDULING

¨ Based on construction schedule (Bar Chart),

other schedules are prepared, i.e.
¤ MaterialSchedule
¤ Labour Schedule

¤ Equipment (machinery) Schedule

¤ Finance Schedule
 SCHEDULING

¨ Material Schedule
¤ Planning of adequate storage space
¤ Timely delivery of materials
¤ Avoid disruption of works due to shortage of materials
¤ Prepared either week-wise, month wise according to
project
¨ Labour Schedule
¤ Warning of future labour requirement
¤ Direct labour expenditure on site can be measured
¤ Labour shortage can be avoided by rotation of labours in
different projects
¤ Efficient and optimum employment of labours in project
 SCHEDULING

¨ Equipment (machinery) Schedule

¤ Requirement of various equipment and at appropriate
time
¤ Avert delay of work due to un-availability or break-down
of equipment
¤ Efficient and optimum utilisation of plants & equipments
on project
¨ Finance Schedule
¤ Essential in both pre-tender and construction stage
¤ Provides details of finance required at different stages of
project
¤ Enables long term financial planning in efficient manner
¤ It also considers cash inflow from running bills
 Merits and
Demerits of Bar Charts

¨ ADVANTAGES OF BAR CHART

¤ Its simple to prepare and easy to draw and understand
¤ No theory or complicated calculations are involved

¤ Only pencil and paper is needed to prepare

¤ Can be prepared any where

¤ Gives a fare idea of duration and occurrence of any

activity
¤ Useful for clients (who do not have technical background)

¤ Useful for Higher Management to understand milestone

events.
¤ It can be loaded with some other information.
 Merits and
Demerits of Bar Charts

¨ LIMITATIONS OF BAR CHART:

¨ Interdependencies of activities: It does not show
interdependencies of activities.
¨ Project Progress: Bar chart cannot be used as a control
device. To get the progress of the work against the planned
work, it can be modified but it cannot give the reason of the
delay.
¨ Quantities of Items: Bar chart does not show the quantum of
the work to be done. It only show the time required to
complete the activity.
¨ Critical Activities: It does not indicate critical activities.
Knowledge of critical activities is essential for
rescheduling/crashing of project.
¨ It is difficult/practically impossible to draw bar-chart for
large project with a no. of activities
 Concepts of Network

¨ Network is a graphical representation of all the Activities and

Events arranged in a logical and sequential order.
¨ Network analysis plays an important role in project management.
¨ A project is a combination of interrelated activities all of which must
be executed in a certain order for its completion.
¨ Activity: Activity is the actual performance of the job. This consumes
resources (Time, human resources, money, and material)
¨ Event: An event refers to start or completion of a job. This does not
consume any resources.
¨ Analyzing network, the planning, scheduling and control of a project
becomes easier.
 Network Planning Methods

¨ Network techniques are effective tools for planning,

scheduling and controlling construction job. There are two
commonly used network techniques
¤ CPM (Critical Path method)
¤ PERT (Programme/Project Evaluation and Review Technique)
 PERT and CPM
CPM
It is a technique for planning scheduling &
controlling of projects whose activities not
subjected to any uncertainty and the
performance times are fixed. Hence it is a
deterministic model.
a) CPM is activity oriented
b) Single time estimates are used for
various activities. i.e. time estimates are
deterministic.
c) CPM is used for repetitive types of
projects where the time estimates for
various activities are known.
d) CPM place emphasis on optimum use of
resource and minimum project cost and
duration.
PERT
It is a technique for planning scheduling &
controlling of projects whose activities are
subject to uncertainty in the performance time.
Hence it is a probabilistic model.
a) PERT is event oriented
b) The time estimates are probabilistic. Three
time estimate is followed:
(i) Optimistic Time (to)
(ii) Pessimistic Time (tp)
(iii)Most Likely Time (tm)
c) PERT is used for projects where prior data
of activity time is not available. It is used
for R&D projects.
d) PERT lays emphasis on reducing project
completion time without cost constraint.
 CPM (Critical Path Method)
¨ CPM is widely used network technique in construction
industry all over the world. It gives following
information:
¤ Completion time of project
¤ Effect on entire project due to delay in any activity
¤ Most economical way to speed up the project (Crashing
of project)
¤ Schedule of materials with optimum storage capacity
¤ CPM results in reduced project duration and saving in
project cost.
 PERT
¨ PERT (Project/Programme Evaluation and Review
Technique) has three time estimates:
¨ Optimistic Time Estimate (to)is the shortest possible time
for completing an activity if everything proceeds as
planned without any problem.
¨ Pessimistic Time Estimate (tp)is the maximum time for
completing an activity under abnormal of extremely
adverse condition in which everything goes wrong.
¨ Most Likely Time Estimate (tm) is the time for completing
an activity under normal condition.
 PERT
¨ The expected time estimate (te) for each activity is computed on
the basis of statics as under:
to + 4tm + tp
te =----------------
6

Where,
te = Expected time of activity
to = Optimistic time estimate
tm = Most likely time estimate
tp = Pessimistic time estimate
 Network Techniques
¨ Activity: Performance of a task, operation, job or function
which consumes time and resources and has a definite
beginning and end is called an activity. For example,
excavation, brick work, etc. are activities.
¨ Event: An instantaneous point in time marking the beginning or
end of one or more activities is called an event. An event
consumes no time and resources. For example, excavation
completed, brick work started etc. are events.
¨ Network: A network is the diagrammatic representation of a
work plan showing the activities, step-by-step, leading to the
established goal. It depicts the inter-dependence between the
various activities.
 Network Techniques
¨ There are two systems for network representation:
¤ A-O-A System (Activity on Arrow System)
¤ A-O-N System (Activity on Node System)
¨ A-O-A System: In this system activity is graphically
represented by an arrow drawn from left to right. The
description of the activity is written above the arrow
and time taken to complete the activity is written below.
An event is graphically represented by a number
enclosed in a circle.
Plastering
1 2
10 (Days)
Tail Event Head Event
 Network Techniques
¨ A-O-N System: In this system activity is graphically
represented on the nodes, and arrows are used to
show the dependency relationship between activity
node.
A C
3 4

START
FINISH

B D
5 3
 Network Techniques
¨ Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): Project is divided into
various activities according to the size, type and duration of
project. Level of Work breakdown depends upon its use. If it
is being presented to top management it should be according
to milestone events. If it is for supervisors it should be
detailed up to sub-activities.
¨ Classification of Activities:
¤ Actual construction Activities. E.g. Excavation, Shuttering,
Brickwork, plastering etc.
¤ Activities involving ordering of materials
¤ Activities involving use of equipments
¤ Activities involving decisions such as approval, inspection etc
¤ Activities involving administrative measures, tenders etc.
 Network Techniques
¨ RULES FOR DEVELOPING NETWORK:
¤ No activity starts until all preceding activities have been
completed
¤ Dummy activities are introduce to show dependency
¤ Logical placement of activities depends upon
n Which activities must be completed before this activity can
start?
n Which activity can be carried out along with this activity?
n Which activity cannot start until this activity is completed?
¤ There should not be any looping.
¤ There must be only one start and only one finish (with any
no. Of activities in between)
 Network Techniques
¨ There are two times for event:
¨ Earliest Event Time (TE) is the earliest possible
occurrence of an event i.e. the earliest possible time
when all activities leading to an event will be
completed. TE is generally written above the event.
¨ Latest Event Time (TL) is the latest possible
occurrence of an event without delaying the project
duration time i.e. it is the latest time when all
activities leading to an event may be completed
without delaying the project completion time.
 Network Techniques
¨ There are four times for activity:
¤ Earliest Start Time (EST): It is the earliest time an activity
can commence.
¤ Earliest Finish Time (EFT): It is the earliest an activity can be
completed.
¤ Latest Start Time (LST): It is the latest time an activity can
commence without delaying project duration.
¤ Latest Finish Time (LFT): It is the latest time an activity can
finish without delaying the project completion time.
¨ ESTj = Max[EFTi]
¨ EFTi = ESTi + Ti (where Ti = Duration of the activity)
¨ LSTi = LFTi - Ti
¨ LFTi = Min [LSTj]
 Network Techniques
¨ Floats of Activities:
¨ Total Float is the maximum time by which an activity can be delayed
without delaying the project.
¤ TFi = EFTi - ESTi
¨ Free Float is the amount of time an activity can delay but not delay
the termination of the project nor delay the start of any following
activity.
¤ FFi = Min ESTj – EFTi , " j
¨ Independent Float is the time an activity might delay and not delay
the termination of the project, not delay the start of any following
activity and not be delayed by any preceding activity.
¤ INDFj = Min ESTk (" k) – Max LFTi (" i) - Tj
¨ Interfering Float is the time span in which the completion of an
activity may occur and not delay the termination of the project, but
within which completion will delay the start of some following activity.
¤ INTFi = TFi – FFi
 Network Techniques
¨ Critical Path & Critical Activity:
¨ Activities can be classified as:
¤ Critical Activities: That activity on a network whose total
float is zero is called critical activities. i.e. their EST and
LST are same. If there is any delay in these activities the
project will be delayed.
¤ Non-Critical Activities: That activity on a network whose
total float is positive (i.e. total float is not zero) is called
non-critical activities. i.e. these activities can be delayed
maximum by their total float without delaying the project
duration.
 Network Techniques
¨ A path joining critical activities on a network (from start to finish)
is called a critical path.
¨ There can be more than one critical path of a network.
¨ Critical path has the longest duration of all the paths of a
network.
¨ Delay in any activities of a critical path will delay the project
duration.
¨ The CPM can give the project duration
¤ The Critical Path has the longest duration
¨ The planner gets some insights on the schedule
¤ Can understand how much buffer each activity has
¤ Can allocate scarce resources better
¤ Also allows rescheduling activities while retaining
dependencies
 Network Techniques
¨ Float of a path = CPM duration – path duration
¨ Average Float = Average of total floats
¨ Is too much float a good thing?
¤ Too much float indicates construction sequence is not efficient
¨ What if there is too little float?
¤ Too little or no float is a risk. Can indicate a schedule drawn with
“claims” in mind
¨ Floats are very useful when analyzing claims
¤ Independent floats belong solely to each activity
¤ Total float belongs to the entire path
¤ Free float belongs to an activity and its precedents
¤ Interfering float belongs to downstream activities
¨ Resource levelling can be done utilising the floats of different activities
so that uniform resource is utilized throughout the project duration.