PROJECT

AND
CONSTRUCTION
MANAGEMENT

15ARC8.6
Project phases in construction, WBS
Project phases
CONSTRUCTION PHASES

PHASE 1: Preconstruction phase

1. conceptual planning
2. schematic design
3. design development
4. contract documents

1. Conceptual design (very important for the owner)

- Hires key consultants, Architect & project manager
- selects project site
- establish conceptual estimate
- work schedule and program

Result/ outcome
Gather as much information as possible and decide to proceed with the project or not

2. Schematic design
Investigates alternate design solutions, materials & systems
Result/ outcome: 30% design

3. Design development:
- Designing the main systems (structural, service, envelop, site, etc)
- Good and clear communication among owner, designer, and construction manager (to
attain project appearance, construction, & cost).

Result/ outcome: 60% design

CONSTRUCTION PHASES

4. Contract documents:
Preparation for the bidding docs (drawings, specifications, general conditions, & BOQ
Close review of docs (reduce conflicts, changes, and risks)

Result/ outcome: In line with contract docs detailed and complete cost estimate to be
finalized

Phase 2: Procurement phase

Design transits to construction phase
- Open/ closed bidding
If the project is phased, each work package will be advertised and bid out individually

Result/ outcome: contract award

Unwise to select under-bid contractors

Phase 3: Construction phase

- Procurement through the final completion
- Bulk of funding is spent (good preparation means smooth construction)
- Deployment of for contract administration & construction supervision
- Changes cause hindrance
 Phase 4: Inspection phase
Deviation/s from original approval
- ACI (Assoc of const inspectors)
- CCI Certified Construction Inspector
- CCPM Certified Construction Project Manager
- CCC Certified Construction Consultant
For DS/ cash flow certification
- USGBC
- OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration)
- ADA, and others regulations

Result/ outcome: certified occupancy

Phase 5: Closeout phase

- Mgt. team to hand over all docs to owner org (Docs are shop drawings, as-built
drawings, operation manuals)
- Assessment of changes occurred between original contract dwgs and as-built dwgs
- Performance assessment—lessons learned
- Comparison between actual activity costs and durations with those what were
planned—lessons learned for future projects
PROJECT PLANNING
What is to be done?
Develop a road map to optimize the project cost, time, and quality
relations (cheap, quick, and good relations).
Optimization—Minimize costs & time and maximize quality
How to execute?
Broadly speaking, this is to breakdown the project into activities that are
identifiable, definable, and measurable and then to develop
interdependence among these activities.
Various methods are available. But they all corresponds to networks that
are defined by
•Activity on arrow—AOA
•Activity on node—AON
Who/ what to involve? Who/ what to exclude as well while dealing with
resource management (material, labor, and equipment) & cost-time
estimation
Production, cost and time relations
•Opportunity cost 1 What is to be Goals/ objectives
•Comparative advantage done?
2 How to execute? Methods

3 Who/ what to Resources

involve?
Discussion scope
- Work breakdown structure or WBS—work package
- Work package—activities
- Logical relations among activities
- Activity durations
- Activity direct cost

STEPS to be followed for project planning

1. INTRO: Define scope of work, method statement, and sequence of
work (if const phases are involved)

2. WBS: Generate the work breakdown structure (WBS) to produce a

complete list of activities

3. WBS-OBS: Develop the organization breakdown structure (OBS) and

link it with WBS to identify responsibilities

4. REL: Determine activity relations

5. EST: Estimate activities duration (time), cost, and resource

requirements

6. NETWORK: Finalize project network

INPUT (data/ info) OUTPUT

Contract information Activities

Drawings Activity relations

PLANNING
Specifications Method statement
Available resources Responsibility
Bills of quantities Reporting levels
Site reports Project network diagram
Organizational data Activities duration
Construction methods Activities cost
Work breakdown structure (WBS)
- A hierarchical structure
- Designed to logically subdivide all the work-elements of a project
- Through a graphical representation

1. Full scope of the project is placed at the top

2. The scope is divided (and subdivided) into work elements
3. The further the division, the lower the level
4. Elements at the lowest level are the work packages
5. Project activities are developed from each work package

Purpose of developing WBS

- Outline the project scope in detail :Clear visualization of work packages
- Managing project time schedule
- Managing project costs
- Designing Organization
- Data Codification and Organization
- Sources of Risks
100% Rule

WBS includes 100% of the work

defined by the project scope and
captures all deliverables – internal,
external, interim – in terms of the
Level 1—Full scope
work to be completed, including Level 2—Divided into its three main trades
project management. Level 3—Subdivided to specific work
packages
WBS-OBS RELATION
WBS elements at various levels can be related/ linked to the contractor’s
organizational breakdown structure or OBS. The relation defines
- Responsibility at different levels
- Reporting needs
- Establishment of code of account (WBS coding). Unified code of account
allows cataloging, sorting, and summarizing of all information related to a
specified activity
WBS coding
Typically used for project control with relation to its planning to
- Verify if the activities are meeting the objectives with appropriate resources
used and time consumed
- Identify uniformity, transfer & comparison of information among other
projects

How it works?
The coding system uses a comprehensive checklist of all items of work that can
be found in a specific type of construction. Against each item of the checklist
data/ information are recorded.
Example
In the reference handout, you’ll see how a set of items comprise a work and
how all items are coded. The major works in the schedule are:
1. General Requirements 11.Equipment
2. Site work 12. Furnishings
3. Concrete 13. Special Construction
4. Masonry 14. Conveying Systems
5. Metals 15. Mechanical
6. Woods & Plastics 16.Electrical
7. Thermal & Moisture Protection
8. Doors & Windows
9. Finishes
10. Specialties
PROJECT ACTIVITY
The lowest element of a WBS is work package. Each work package is comprised
by a set of activities.

Each activity is
1. Unique
2. Has a specified duration

Activity—a function or decision in the project that consumes time, resources, and
cost.

THREE TYPOLOGIES OF ACIVITIES

1. Production activities
Involve use of resources (ie. labor,equipment, material, or subcontractor)
- Excavation
- Formwork
- Reinforcement
- Concreting, etc

2. Procurement activities
Time and space for procuring materials or equipment that are needed for a
production activity
- Brick procurement
- boiler manufacturing and delivery, etc.

3. Management activities
Related to management decisions such as approvals, vacations, etc.
Defining Precedence Relationships
Among Activities
Once work activities have been defined, the relationships among the activities
can be specified. Precedence relations between activities signify that the
activities must take place in a particular sequence. Numerous natural
sequences exist for construction activities due to requirements for structural
integrity, regulations, and other technical requirements.
For example, design drawings cannot be checked before they are drawn.
Diagramatically, precedence relationships can be illustrated by a network
or graph in which the activities are represented by arrows. The arrows are
called branches or links in the activity network, while the circles marking
the beginning or end of each arrow are called nodes or events.
In this figure, links represent particular activities, while the nodes represent
milestone events.
It is important to realize that different types of precedence relationships can be
defined and that each has different implications for the schedule of
activities:
➢ Some activities have a necessary technical or physical relationship that cannot be
superseded. For example, concrete pours cannot proceed before formwork and
reinforcement are in place.
➢ Some activities have a necessary precedence relationship over a continuous
space rather than as discrete work task relationships.
For example, formwork may be placed in the first part of an excavation trench even
as the excavation equipment continues to work further along in the trench.
Formwork placement cannot proceed further than the excavation, but the two
activities can be started and stopped independently within this constraint.
➢ Some "precedence relationships" are not technically necessary but are imposed
due to implicit decisions within the construction plan. For example, two
activities may require the same piece of equipment so a precedence relationship
might be defined between the two to insure that they are not scheduled
for the same time period. Which activity is scheduled first is arbitrary. As a second
example, reversing the sequence of two activities may be technically
possible but more expensive. In this case, the precedence relationship is not
physically necessary but only applied to reduce costs as perceived at the
time of scheduling.
In revising schedules as work proceeds, it is important to realize that different
types of precedence relationships have quite different implications for the
flexibility and cost of changing the construction plan. Unfortunately, many formal
scheduling systems do not possess the capability of indicating this type of
flexibility. As a result, the burden is placed upon the manager of making such
decisions and insuring realistic and effective schedules. With all the other
responsibilities of a project manager, it is no surprise that preparing or revising
the formal, computer based construction plan is a low priority to a manager in
such cases. Nevertheless, formal construction plans may be essential for good
management of complicated projects.
ACTIVITY RELATIONS

Three key questions of activity relations

1. Which activity/ activities must be finished before current activity starts?
2. Which activity/ activities can run parallely with the current activity?
3. Which activity/ activities must start as current activity ends?

TERMINOLOGY

Current activity → Activity under consideration

Preceding activity → Prior/ before activity
→ Predecessor activity
→ Parent activity

WARNING!
A circle of activity precedence will result in an impossible plan.
Example
Imagine site preparation and laying foundation slab concrete havefollowing nine
activities.

# Activity Prior activity

1 A Site clearing (bush & minor debris) -

2 B Removal of trees -
3 C General excavation A
4 D General grading A
5 E Excavation for utility trenches C, D

6 F Placing formwork & reinforcement C, D

7 G Installing sewer lines D,E

8 H Installing other utilities D,E
9 I Pouring concrete F,G
Current Schedule for an Example Project Presented as a Bar Chart
Activity-on-Branch Representation of a Nine Activity Project
Activity-on-Node Representation of a Nine Activity Project
Schedule Development, Budgeting, Schedule control, Cost Control

A schedule can be defined as a work programme that is set date-wise in

a logical sequence. In other words, it can also be defined as a time table
for action.
Time scheduling is the process of developing a work programme.
It implies programming of the chosen work plan on calendar basis and
provides the base against which time progress is measured.
A work schedule is an action plan with Calendar date targets whereas
networking is planning technique.
The project employs resources of men, materials, machines and money, in
order to execute the activities. Time and resources to be employed in an
activity are inter-related. In most of the construction activities, increase in vital
resources from a certain level decreases duration of the activity. But this
uneven employment of vital resource can reduce productivity, increase
the cost, and create management problems.

The aim should be to schedule the work in such a manner that vital
resources are optimised.
Work schedule Fundamentals

1. It simplifies the project plan.

2. It validates the time objectives.
3. It optimises the resources employed
4. It forecasts the input resources and predicts the output.
5. It evaluates the implications of scheduling constraints.
In a milestone chart a task is broken down in • Does not show interdependence
to specific phases (activities) and after between tasks.
accomplishment of each of the specific • Does not indicate critical
activity a milestone is reached or in other activities.
words an event occurs. The chart also shows • Does not consider the concept of
the sequential relationship among the uncertainty in accomplishing the
milestones or events within the same task but task.
not the relationship among milestones • Very cumbersome to draw the
contained in different tasks. chart for large projects.
The network is a logical extension of Gantt’s milestone chart incorporating the
modifications so as to illustrate interrelationship between and among all the
milestones in an entire project. The two best-known techniques for network analysis
are Programme Evaluation and review Technique (PERT) and Critical Path Method
(CPM). These two techniques were developed almost simultaneously during 1956-
1958.

PERT was developed for US navy for scheduling the research and development
activities for Polaris missiles programme.
CPM was developed by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company as an application to
construction project.

There is also little distinction in terms of application of these concepts.

PERT is used where emphasis is on scheduling and monitoring the project and CPM
is used where emphasis is on optimizing resource allocation.
Both CPM and PERT describe the work plan of project where arrows and circles
respectively indicate the activities and events in the project. This arrow or network
diagram includes all the activities and events that should be completed to reach the
project objectives.
The activities and events are laid in a planned sequence of their accomplishments.
However, there are two types of notations used in the network diagram. They are as
under,
1. Activity-on-Arrow (AOA), and
2. 2. Activity-on-Node (AON).
In AOA notation, the arrow represents the work to be done and the circle represents
an event – either the beginning 0f another activity or completion of previous one.

For AON notation, a box

(or node) is used to
show the task itself and
the arrow simply
show the sequence in
which work is done.

Most project management software usually uses AON diagram.

AOA network diagram are usually associated with the PERT diagram.
Project network
- A graphical representation of the project activities and their relationships
described through a set of arrows and nodes
- Project must have a unified start and end points
- Start activity has no preceding activities
- End activity has no succeeding activities
- All intermediate activities must have both preceding and succeeding
activities

AOA and AON

Two common network presentations
# AON AOA
1 Easy to draw and read Not very easy
2 No dummy needed Dummy may arise

An activity can start only when all its

3 Overlap/ lag possible
predecessors have ended

4 Four relationship typologies possible Finish to start relationship only

Activity on arrow network (AOA)
- Arrows represent activities
- Nodes represent start & end events of an activity
- Start & end events of each activity are designated with a lower and a
higher values, respectively
- Event values describe work progression
- A common node connects preceding activity with succeeding activity

(Arrow length connecting two nodes has no significance and may be straight,
curved, or bent)
Resource constraints
In previous example, resources are considered to be available with any
quantities and at any time. In reality, resource constraints can be
observed because of
- Cash-flow timings
- Availability of workforce/ equipments of prior activities

Overlap or lag
Two successive activities cause overlap or lag when the successor
activity doesn’t start at the time-point when the predecessor activity ends.
Positive overlap refers to negative lag, and vice versa.
Four typologies of activity relations
Programme Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
The PERT technique is a method of minimizing trouble spots, programme bottlenecks,
delays and interruptions by determining critical activities before they occur so that
various activities in the project can be coordinated.

PERT terminology: Some of the terms frequently used in PERT are as follows.
Activity : A recognizable work item of a project requiring time and resource for its
completion.
Dummy Activity: An activity that indicates precedence relationship and requires no
time nor resource.
Land Preparation, Procurement of input
Critical Activity: Activities on the critical path having zero slack / float time.
Critical Path: The longest time path connecting the critical activities in the project
network. The total time on this path is the shortest duration of the project.
Event: An instantaneous point in time signifying completion or beginning of an
activity.
Burst Event: An event which gives rise to more than one activity.
Merge Event: The event which occurs only when more than one activity are
accomplished.
Expected Time: The weighted average of the estimated optimistic, most likely and
pessimistic time duration of a project activity:

Earliest Start Time (EST): The earliest possible time at which the event can occur.
The EST also denotes the Earliest Start Time (EST) of an activity as activities
emanate from events. The EST of an activity is the time before which it can not
commence without affecting the immediate preceding activity.

Latest Start Time (LST): The latest time at which the event can take place. Also
referred as the Latest Start Time (LST) indicating the latest time at which an activity
can begin without delaying the project completion time.

Slack: The amount of spare time available between completion of an activity and
beginning of next activity.
Steps For Network Analysis

The six steps of network analysis are as follows.

1. Prepare the list of activities
2. Define the inter relationship among the activities.
3. Estimate the activity duration
4. Assemble the activities in the form of a flow diagram
5. Draw the network
6. Analyze the network i.e. compute EST and LST; identify critical events, critical path
and critical activities.
Rules for Drawing the Network:

1. Each activity is represented by one and only one arrow in the network
2. All the arrows must run from left to right.
3. Dotted line arrows represent dummy activities.
4. A circle represents an event.
5. Every activity starts and ends with an event.
6. No two activities can be identified by the same head and tail event.
7. Do not use dummy activity unless required to reflect the logic.
8. Avoid Looping and crossing of activity arrows by repositioning.
9. Every Activity, except the first and the last, must have at least one preceding and
one succeeding activity.
10. Danglers, isolated activities must be avoided.
11. For coding use alphabets for all activities including the dummy activity and
numbers for events.
Computation of the Earliest Finish Time (EFT) and the Latest Finish Time (LFT)
The EFT for each activity is calculated starting from the first activity, which
commences after the start event.
It is given by
EFT of an activity + EST of preceding activity + activity duration.
The calculation of LFT starts from the last activity of the network or from the
computed LST and is given by,
LFT = Latest Starting Time (LST) of succeeding event
Calculation Of Slacks / Floats
Slack or float is used to indicate the spare time available with in a non-critical activity.
However, in general slack relates to an event and floats to an activity. These are
important for smoothening the resource utilization in a project. The various floats
and slacks are computed as follows

a. Event Slack = LST-EST

b. Total Float is the time available for an activity over and above the requirement for
its completion.
Total Float = LST of end event – EST of Starting event- Duration of reference activity
c. Free Float: t is the time available for an activity to expand without influencing the
later activities.
Free Float = EST of end event – EST of starting event – Duration of reference
activity.
d. Independent Float is the time with which an activity can expand without
influencing the preceding or succeeding activities. Seldom the independent float
could be negative. In such cases it would be considered to be equal to zero.
Independent float = EST of end event – LST of starting event – Duration of reference
activity.
Floats and their relationship
Total Float is more than or equal to free float.
Free float is more than or equal to independent float. I.e.
TF>= FF >= IF
Floats and their relationship
Total Float is more than or equal to free float.
Free float is more than or equal to independent float. I.e.
TF>= FF >= IF
Identification of Critical Activity
An activity can be called as critical activity if the following conditions are satisfied.
i. LST and EST are equal at the head event
ii. LST and EST are equal at tail event
iii. Difference between EST at head and tail event of the activity equals to the
activity time.
iv. Difference between LST at head and tail event of the activity equals to the
activity time.
Identification of Critical Path
The critical path is the chain of critical activity spanning the network from start to
end i.e. the path joining all the critical events. It is also the longest path from start
to end of the project network.
Alternatively therefore comparing all the possible path lengths can identify the
critical path . The critical path time is the shortest duration of the project. The
critical path is denoted preferably by denoting the critical events on the path.
Critical path for the project is, A – B –C – F.
The critical path of the project can also be denoted in terms of the event numbers.
In the present project it is 1- 2–3 – 5-6. To distinguish the critical path from other
paths in the project, it is preferable to use a thicker line to demarcate the critical
path. It is quite possible that a project can have multiple critical paths. In such
case the length of all the critical paths will be equal.
Critical Path and Project Management:
The critical path time being the shortest project time any delay in completion of
any of the activity on the critical path would delay the entire project. Therefore it is
the critical activity that needs to be monitored for timely completion of the
project. However, the activities with positive event slack could be rescheduled
within the available time frame for efficient utilization i.e. smoothing of the
demand on the available resources. If the duration of the project requires
to be reduced, activities on the critical path will be the ones to be considered for
completion at an early date with allocation of additional resources.
 Critical Path Method (CPM)
It calculates
- Minimum completion time needed (project)
- possible start and finish times of all activities

Computer programs are available to deal with projects with thousands of

activities
Critical path is the one among the set with longest time to complete the
project.
- Delay in activity causes delay in the path
- A network can have more than one critical path

Follow 4 steps of CPM scheduling

1. Forward path—to determine early-start times of activities
2. Backward path—to determine late-finish times of activities
3. Float calculations
4. Identification of critical activities

CPM Calculation for AOA and AON networks

Required input/s
1. Established network
2. Activity duration

Scheduling processes of AOA and AON networks are different.

Follow 3 rules of ET calculation
At a specified node (say, node—i),

ET = ES (SUCC)
ES (SUCC) = Highest among |EF (PRED)|
Between nodes (i—j), EFj = ETi + dx
Follow 3 rules of ET calculation
At a specified node (say, node—i),

ET = ES (SUCC)
ES (SUCC) = Highest among |EF (PRED)|
Between nodes (i—j), EFj = ETi + dx
Total float (TF) also known as activity slack
- The amount of time an activity can be delayed without disrupting the entire
project duration.

However, the total float of the activity may overlap one/ more succeeding
activity without violating its own late finish time (LF).
TF = LS – ES
= LF – LS
= LF – ES – dx
An activity becomes critical when its TF = 0.
That is, no room for delay.
All critical activities construct the critical path of the network. It is however,
possible to have one or more critical paths within a network.
Free float (FF) also known as independent float
- The amount of time that an activity can be delayed without affecting any
succeeding activities.

With the free float of an activity, a project manager maximizes the resource
usage without affecting any succeeding activities.
FF = ETj – ETi – dx
AON network scheduling
The CPM method used for AON network scheduling is known as Precedence
Diagram Method (PDM)—very straight forward and easy to read.
Again, 4 steps are followed.
1. Forward path—to determine early-start times of activities
2. Backward path—to determine late-finish times of activities
3. Float calculations
4. Identification of critical activities
In case of overlaps/ lags,
ESj = EFi – overlap (i—j)
LFi = LSj + overlap (i—j)
Similar to AOA approach,
TF = LS – ES
= LF – LS
= LF – ES – d
Activities with TF = 0 are critical
ones
Construct the path with all critical
activities.
Computation of the Earliest Finish Time (EFT) and the Latest Finish Time (LFT)
The EFT for each activity is calculated starting from the first activity, which
commences after the start event.
It is given by
EFT of an activity + EST of preceding activity + activity duration.
The calculation of LFT starts from the last activity of the network or from the
computed LST and is given by,
LFT = Latest Starting Time (LST) of succeeding event
SCHEDULE CONTROL

Illustration of Planned versus Actual Progress over Time on a Project

COST CONTROL

Illustration of Proportion Completion versus Expenditure for an Activity

Dummy activity
- Two (or more) activities sharing common start and end events require
dummy activities
- Retain uniqueness of all activities in the network
Activity on node network (AON)
- Nodes represent activities and
- Arrows represent logical relations among activities
- A node has a start side and an end side
- Overlap or lag can be identified through the arrows of connecting activity