LECTURE - 8

CONSTRUCTION TIME
SCHEDULING

ENGR. SOHAIL AHMED

Email: sohail.rao@hotmail.com
 SCHEDULE REQUIREMENT

Schedule is a time-based arrangement of project

activities.
• Required by Client from Contract through
contract clause.
– initiate information provided by client/consultant
– Follow time limits
– swift
– Practical
 SCHEDULE TECHNIQUES

Network is a series of interconnected links with

fixed logical relationship.
• Non-Network based techniques
– Bar Charts
– Gantt Charts
• Network based techniques
– CPM
– PERT
 NON NETWORK BASED TECHNIQUES

1. Bar Charts
• Most common non-network scheduling technique
• Simplicity, ease of preparation and easily understandable format.
• Collection of activities listed in a vertical column with time
represented on a horizontal scale.
• Planned start and finish are shown for each activity in terms of
work periods
• Duration is indicated by the placement of a horizontal bar to the
right of the Activity ID/ Description.
• The length of the bar represents the duration of the activity.
• The activities are listed in chronological order according to their
start times.
 NON NETWORK BASED TECHNIQUES

1. Bar Charts

CONVENTIONS - All activities start in mornings. -All activities finish in evenings.

 NON NETWORK BASED TECHNIQUES

1. Bar Charts
• Activity A – Line 0
– Start in morning day 1 and finish in the evening 3
• Activity C – Line 3
– Start in morning day 4 and finish in the evening 7
• Conventions followed
– “End of day” = “Start of day”
– Line 3: End of Day 3 = Start of day 4
– Gap between day 3 and day 4 = Workday 4
 NON NETWORK BASED TECHNIQUES

2. Gantt Charts
• Special form of a Bar chart
• Difference: work days are replaced by
calendar days
• A bar chart can be converted to a Gantt chart
keeping into consideration the project base
calendars (work periods and non-work
periods).
 NON NETWORK BASED TECHNIQUES

2. Gantt Charts
 NON NETWORK BASED TECHNIQUES

ADVANTAGES:
• Simple
• Easy to prepare
• Easy to read and understand
• Easy to interpret the start and finish days/ dates
of individual activities as well as the whole
project
• Easy to deduce expected durations of individual
activities
• Easy to update activity status
 NON NETWORK BASED TECHNIQUES

USES:
• Preliminary/ Master Planning at program
level, project level, contract package level and
deliverable level.
• Day to Day Implementation Level Planning and
updating (at supervisor and foreman level).
• Look Ahead Scheduling
 NON NETWORK BASED TECHNIQUES

QUESTIONS TO PONDER:
• What if everything goes on schedule? Is the
Bar Chart/ Gantt Chart a reasonable
representation of the construction process in
this case? YES
• Can you point out the dependent activities on
a Bar/ Gantt Chart? NO
• What if B is delayed by 2 days? Does it have
any influence on activities D and E? MAY BE
 NON NETWORK BASED TECHNIQUES

DRAWBACKS:
• You can plan. You can collect data. But you cannot
analyze.
• The planner who draws a bar/ Gantt chart is
trying to do two things simultaneously.
– One is planning, that is, analyzing the project into
individual jobs and showing the logical relationships
between them.
– The other is scheduling, which imposes a set of times
upon the plan.
– The planning and scheduling are not separate and
hence there is no control over the analysis.
 NETWORK BASED TECHNIQUES

Activities join in a series of interconnected links

reflect relationship of activities as assigned by the
planner.
• Assumptions:
– Project can be broken down in to a group of activities
– Each activity can be assigned a duration
– The logical relationship among activities are known
and fixed in the network chains
• Why:
– Mathematical model
– What if analysis
– Encounter claims of delays
 NETWORK BASED TECHNIQUES

• The main advantage of Network scheduling over

non-Network scheduling is in the separation of
planning and scheduling in that the network
diagram can be drawn up to give the plan of the
project (including activity interrelations) without
any consideration of its timing or the resources it
needs.
• After planning, the network can be loaded with
dates and resources to give a time schedule and/
or a resource/ cost schedule for the project plan.
 NETWORK BASED TECHNIQUES

COMMENT
• Network Scheduling provides a control
environment
– Plan
• Schedule
– Data Collection
• Activity status
– Analysis
• Deviations
• Impacts (what-ifs)
– Action
• Needed changes
 NETWORK BASED TECHNIQUES

1. CRITICAL PATH METHOD (CPM)

• CPM is a systematic network scheduling and
analysis technique that calculates a single,
deterministic early and late start and finish
date for each activity based on specified,
sequential network logic and a single
duration estimate.
 NETWORK BASED TECHNIQUES
CPM – BASIS OF ANALYSIS
• CPM sorts out the individual project activities into two
main classes, critical and non-critical.
– Some of the non-critical activities may also be further classified
as sub-critical.
• In its later stages, the CPM analysis procedure may go on to
investigate costs and also the allocation of resources.
• In CPM network analysis, there is at least one path through
the network, from start to finish, that controls the project
duration.
– This path is called the critical path. By adding the durations of
activities on a critical path, the project duration is determined.
– For the activities that do not lie on the critical path, the amount
of flexibility they have in starting and finishing determines their
float or slack.
 NETWORK BASED TECHNIQUES

CPM MODEL
• CPM lends itself to projects on which times can be
predicted with a higher degree of certainty – activity
durations are estimated as single time estimates.
– It is a method that allows the contractor to achieve improved
time control over construction projects that have been done
before, and therefore a reasonably accurate estimate of time can
be made of each of the work elements involved.
• Such a model is termed as a deterministic model, i.e. a
model in which every activity has a mean value of
performance time accurately known and a variance in
performance time that is negligible.
– Examples are well-established construction works and
maintenance operations.
 EXAMPLE OF BASIC SCHEDULE
Prefabricated Steel Warehouse Plan
 EXAMPLE OF SCHEDULE

Prefabricated steel ware house

• You are going to build a prefabricated steel
warehouse according to the plans and using
the activities mention in next slide. The walls
are primed, and the roof, doors, and windows
are prepainted.
 EXAMPLE OF SCHEDULE

Prefabricated steel ware house

You have the following constraints on the
erection:
 Items must be assembled in the following
order: footing, walls, roof, lights.
 Doors and windows can be installed after the
corresponding sides are erected.
 Both windows must be installed at the same
time.
 Walls can be painted only after all walls are
erected.
 EXAMPLE OF SCHEDULE
Prefabricated steel ware house
ID Description
ACTIVTIY LIST A Clear and grub
B Excavate footing
C Rebar footing
D Place footing
E Install wall 1
F Install wall 2
G Install wall 3
H Install wall 4
I Install door 1
J Install door 3
K Install windows 2 and 4
L Install roof
M Install lights
N Paint walls
 EXAMPLE OF SCHEDULE
Prefabricated steel ware house
Activity Preceding activities
PRECEDING A -

ACTIVTY LIST B A
C A,B
(PA) D A,B,C
E A,B,C,D
F A,B,C,D
G A,B,C,D
H A,B,C,D
I A,B,C,D, E
J A,B,C,D, G
K A,B,C,D, F, H
L A,B,C,D, E, F, G,H
M A,B,C,D, E, F, G, H, L
N A,B,C,D, E, F, G, H
 EXAMPLE OF SCHEDULE
Prefabricated steel ware house
Activity IPA Explanation
IMMEDIATE A - -

PRECEDING B A -
C B A comes before B
ACTIVTY LIST D C A,B comes before C
E D A,B ,C comes before D
(IPA) F D A,B ,C comes before D
G D A,B ,C comes before D
H D A,B ,C comes before D
I E A,B ,C, D comes before E
J G A,B ,C, D comes before G
K F,H A,B ,C, D comes before F,H
L E,F,G,H A,B ,C, D comes before E, F,G,H
M L A,B ,C, D, E,F,G,H comes before L
N E,F,G,H A,B ,C, D comes before E, F,G,H