PROGRAMMING & SCHEDULING

The Work Program is a pictorial expression of the planning process. It shows the inter relationship between different operations and different tasks, when resources will be required on site and when they can be removed in case of men ,plant and equipment. There are number of Planning Techniques can be used to prepare Construction Work Programs

Typical Work Program

Importance of Work Programs

When the contract is underway , the progress made can be assessed against the Program , and effects of changed circumstances can therefor be measured. If the program targets times are realistic , they serve as a goal to site management to motivate them to action. It is essential to number and date all programs because on the event being revised , every once concerned can be made aware of the number of the current program.

 While this may sounds like an admission of failure ,it should remembered that there are many variable factors completely outside the control of the contractor which may make adjustments necessary to the original program. One justification for the Work Program is that it provides a springboard for measuring the effects of proposed or actual changes.

Some Variable Factors

Following are some factors which affects a Work Program to revise. 1.Abnormally bad weather. 2.Sub Contractors failure to perform to standards. 3.Trade dispute in the locality of site. 4.Trade dispute in another industry affecting the availability of material supplies or an essential service.

 5.Unpredictable labor shortage. 6.Excessive variations in the contract. 7.Inability of the consultants to supply information at the required site. 8.Unforseable Site Conditions

Other Reasons
There are other reasons why a contract might fall behind program. Some of which could be related to poor performance by the contractor. Following are some; 1.Inefficent Site Management. 2.Bad Planning & Programing. 3.Lack of support at site management level of centrally conducted programing and control.

 4.Misinterpretation of information provided in the documents ,particularly with regard to quality standards. 5.Selection of wrong methods of resources.

Types of Programs
There are Five main types of Programs. They are: 1.Pre-Tender Programs 2.Pre-Construction Programs. 3.Overall Programs 4.Stage Programs 5.Weekly Programs.

Pre-Tender Programs
The main purpose of this is to focus the minds of all concerned on a realistic program by which the work can be carried out. If the Consultant accept the , then he accepts the need to provide all the necessary information to match the program To the Contractor it provides a realistic basis to determine the cost and value of the work, and should Tender be successful , it provides the seed from which the Pre-Construction and overall Programs can germinate.

Pre-Construction Program
When the contract has been won , further information will be available from the Consultants to Contractor. Consultants will have continued working on the project during Pre-Tender as they were no way dependent on any individual Contractors Tender.

 It is vital that the Site Manager is involved in the development of the Pre-Construction program If there is little or no involvement from him, then there will be little or no sense of commitment should construction fall behind. Any good Site Manager will make a serious attempt to retrieve lost grounds if he has been responsible for the program in the first instances. The Program chart should have provision for marking up progress as the work proceed.

 When work is not proceeding to program and it is clear t6o the Contractor that this is not the small reverse trend which can be arrested and the contract quickly brought back to the program the Consultant should be informed. If it becomes apparent after discussions with the Consultants that the situation cannot be retrieved , then material supplies,labour, subcontractors may require re-scheduling.

The Master or Overall Program

Pre-Construction Program is carried forward into the construction period as the Master Program. It is adjusted and amended in the light of changing needs. It is most advisable that programs are numbered consecutively as they are issued and as with superseded drawings., they should be carefully saved so that disagreement about payments , responsibility of delays etc. can more easily be settled later. During the life of a contract , planning is an on-going management activity.

Stage Program
As the name suggests, this program for a part of the total project. Duration of such a program will be varied to suit the particular needs of the job and sometimes advisably varied in duration on the one job. These types of programs are used when developing large Housing Projects.

Weekly Programs
Once a week the Site Manager and General Forman will hold a meeting with craft and sub contractor Forman in attendance to plan the work for the coming work. This meeting will magnify the details of the stage program to an weekly basis. The meeting will normally be held on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning when the production for the week in progress can be accurately assessed.

Schedules Which can be derived from Programs.

Following are the information derived from Work Programs in addition to controlling of time. 1.Information required schedule. 2.Plant Schedule. 3.Labour Schedule(directly employed) 4.Sub Contractor Schedule. 5.Meterial Schedule 6.Equipment Schedule 7.Scafolding Schedule

 Project overrun, work delays an unmet targets have long being a problem for the construction Industry. Throughout the stages of development , project planners are employed to develop planned programs , to progress and monitor control and report progress on daily basis from the beginning to end of their project. The overall concept is usually to complete and handover the project to the client within budget and on time.

 For large modern developments, project planners need to use various methods and techniques as well as the most appropriate software packages in order to develop a well planned program and to manage their projects accordingly. There are number of theoretical perspectives for producing programs and also perspectives relating to the methods and techniques of program planning, program monitoring , progressing and reporting. These theoretical concepts have been developed for aiding the process with as few problems as possible in order to reduce the risk of project overrun.

 Theorist suggests that projects such as the Pyramids and the Great Wall of China could not have been constructed without project planning and management , and in this regard , large and complex projects in the world have traditionally a team consisted of planners, estimators, construction managers.

How ever visual aid of planning did not exists until Henrey Gantt designed the Bar Chart in the early 1900.
Pressures of the rescission during the late 1980s and early 1990s has led to many construction firms taking on work for negative profits and others being liquidated or downsizing.

 Contractors from Europe , North America and the Far East have increased the competition for UK contractors and the opening of public sector tenders from EU has created a need for keen pricing, tight programs, and ingenuity in the execution of projects. To increase competitiveness , early project planning and effective communicating are keys to successes, not simply for the contractor but clients also have a vested interests in project program planning , monitoring , reporting progress and meeting target deadlines, Hence it has now being considered to be an essential requirement and contractors are more often being asked to provide such programs by other parties as part of contract..

 Modern methods of project planning have derived from the finding and feedback from the industry, when indications that project cost and time overruns were all too common, and suggestions at the time showed that planning, and control techniques available to manage large complex projects were inadequate, and this encourages the development of scheduling methods which integrated project procument , resources and costs.

 The project planning and control cycle is the core of project integration. Clearly it is the role of the project manager to coordinate the efforts of the participating project team but the planning process provides information and communicate to the project team and client. In order for project planners to fulfill their role , they need a number of tools to secure project control.

 The first planning software known as Harvard Project Manager was introduced in 1983, and there now exists an extensive range of user friendly software that allows Bar Charts to be linked with other activities and networks. Planners may now have an individual choice of which particular software they would prefer to use. Programing software is rapidly being developed and consideration must be given to its effectiveness and usability although its efficiency is beyond the question.

 How ever the choice of software may be dictated by an organization. Project control will depend on various factors , whenever project management software is applied, with regard to how problems are encountered and how solutions evolve may be attributed to techniques of programing and progress monitoring methods.

Project Management Software

Project Management Software is a term covering many types of software , including estimation and planning, scheduling, cost control and budget management, resource allocation, communication, quality management, and documentation or administration systems which are used to deal with the complexity of large construction projects.

 One of most common purpose of Project Management software will be Schedule a series of events or tasks and complexity of the schedule can vary considerably depending on how the tool is used. Project Management software can be expected to provide information to various people or stakeholders, and can be used to measure and justify the level of effort required to complete the projects.

 Typical requirements might include: 1.Overview information on how long tasks will take to complete. 2.Early warning of any risks to the project. 3.Information on workload, for planning holydays. 4.Historical information on how projects have progressed and in particular, how actual and planned performance are related. 5.Optimuem use of available resources. 6.Cost Management.

 PMS can be implemented as a program that runs on the desktop of each user. This typically gives the most responsive and graphically intense style of interface. Desktop applications are typically store their data in a file, although some have the ability to colorborate with other users or to store their data in a central data base.

 Project Management software also can be implemented as a Web application , accessed through and intranet using a web browser. This has all the usual advantages and disadvantages of web applications. 1.Can be accessed from any type of computer without installing software on users computer. 2.Ease of access control.

 There are some criticism of project management software. The following may apply in general , or to specific products or to some specific function within the product. 1.May not suit all projects. 2.May not be derived from a sound project management method.

 3.Naturally multiuser. 4.Only one software version and installation to maintain. 5.Centralized data 6.Slower to respond than desktop application. 7.Project information not available when the user is off line.

 When selecting PMS it is important to give consideration to following: 1.Some PMS may not suit all projects. There for it is important to select the suitable package which meet the requirement of your project. 2.May not derived from a sound project management method. 3.May be inconsistent with the type of Project Management method.

 4.Some PMS are focusses primarily on the planning phase and does not offer enough functionality for project tracking, control and in particular plan adjustment. 5.Also some PMS does not make a clear distinction between the planning phase and post planning phase, leading to user confusion and frustration when software doesn't behave as expected. 6.Offer complicated features to meet the needs of project management or project scheduling professionals , which must be understood in order to effectively use the product. 7.Further there may be additional features may be so complicated as to be of no use to any one.

However, if problematic issues are addressed , progress is monitored and managed appropriately then programing information may be made accurate at the outset thus the accuracy of the project program and the progressing methods used may reduce the risk of project overruns.