3/13/2023

Construction Planning &

scheduling

Bar Charts, Histograms, and S-Curves

Bar charts

Bar charts are the oldest scheduling technique

Consists of horizontal bars and a time scale
Each bar represents an activity, with the bar length represents
its duration

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In addition to the activity bars and the time scale, most bar
charts contain data in columns
Information may include: durations, resources, costs, other
(customized)

In bar charts, activities are usually ordered by early start

This means that the activity having the earliest start time is listed
and plotted first at the top of the diagram
It also means that the activity that happens last is the last on the
list and diagram

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Data date

Data date
Info to the left are actual – happened already
Info to the right are planned

Advantages
Ease with which it communicates project tasks, their durations,
and anticipated start and finish times
Easily constructed for small or simple projects
Reviewers of the bar chart do not need any special knowledge
to understand:
The status of the project
What is expected to be accomplished in the next few time
periods
When the project is expected to end

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Disadvantages:
Do not typically show logic (logic is not obvious)
For example, determine the dependency of F&E
Bar charts for long duration or complex projects are difficult to
read when the entire project is shown on one diagram

Histograms and s-curves

Histograms are period representation of resource needs or
use

S-curves (cumulative curves) show the same information

on an accumulated basis

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Bar chart and histogram

Total Day Day Day
ID Desc Dur Resources 1 2 3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D 9 D 10 D 11 D 12 D 13 D 14
10 A 4 32 8 8 8 8
20 B 3 6 2 2 2
30 C 7 28 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
40 D 2 14 7 7
50 E 5 25 5 5 5 5 5
60 F 3 9 3 3 3
Period sum 8 8 14 14 6 4 4 4 4 12 15 8 8 5
Cumulative sum 8 16 30 44 50 54 58 62 66 78 93 101 109 114

16 15
Although resources 14 14
need not be allocated 14
12
uniformly throughout 12
the duration of an 10
8 8 8 8
activity, the 8
6
demonstration here is 6 5
4 4 4 4
based on uniform 4
distributions of 2
resources 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Source: Weber (2005, p.33)

Total Day Day Day

ID Desc Dur Resources 1 2 3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D 9 D 10 D 11 D 12 D 13 D 14
10 A 4 32 8 8 8 8
20 B 3 6 2 2 2
30 C 7 28 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
40 D 2 14 7 7
50 E 5 25 5 5 5 5 5
60 F 3 9 3 3 3
Period sum 8 8 14 14 6 4 4 4 4 12 15 8 8 5
Cumulative sum 8 16 30 44 50 54 58 62 66 78 93 101 109 114

120
114
109
100 101
93
S-Curve 80 78

62 66
60 58
54
50
40 44
30
20 16
8
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

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Histogram use
16 15
14 14
14
12
12
10
8 8 8 8
8
6
6 5
4 4 4 4
4
2
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

The histogram is a valuable graphic for use in identifying periods

when resources are being used ineffectively

16 15
14 14
14
12
12
10
8 8 8 8
8
6
6 5
4 4 4 4
4
2
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Isolated periods of high resource use suggest a need for the

reallocation of resources to produce more uniform profile
(when possible)

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Similarly, if the histogram shows periods when resources are

underutilized
Or when only one of three cranes is scheduled for use
The manager may want to rethink the underlying network
logic or the reallocation of resources

S-curve use
Often used to predict cash flow requirements over the life of
the project

The s-curve is also a good graphic for comparing the way

resources have been used throughout the project with the
way they were originally budgeted by plotting both lines on
a single graph

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120
114
109
100 101
93
80 78

62 66
60 58
54
50
40 44
30
20 16
8
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Note that the s-curve generally has an “S” shape showing a slow
progress or resource use at the beginning and end of the project
and rapid progress during the middle of the project

However, note that an s-shaped curve is usually generated from

a “bell-shaped” histogram or from a normal distribution

16 15
14 14
14
12
12
10
8 8 8 8
8
6
6 5
4 4 4 4
4
2
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

120
114
109
100 101
93
80 78

62 66
60 58
54
50
40 44
30
20 16
8
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14