1.

1
List the inputs that are required to develop a detailed, multidisciplined construction schedule?
Ans. a.

Level of activity detailing

b.

Maximum duration of an activity

c.

Cost loading requirement

d.

Resource loading requirements

e.

Project Milestones

f.

Work Breakdown structure

g.

Resource levelling requirement

h.

Organization chart and reporting hierarchy

1. Stakeholders: Describe how to identify the stakeholders and be
able to discuss the challenges of eliciting the information regarding
needs, wants, or expectations from the various stakeholders.
2. Historical data: Describe the use of historical data in planning.
3. Contract/scheduling specification:

a. Contract types: Explain the advantage and disadvantages of these

types of contracts from the owner and contractor viewpoints:
1. Fixed price;
2. Unit price;
3. Cost-plus (with fixed, incentive, or award fees);
4. Time and materials (T&M).
b. Project delivery methods.
1. design-build;
2. EPC (engineering-procurement-construction);
3. design-build-operate;
4. Variations of the above.
c. Risk allocation: Explain how each contract type allocates risks between
the contracting parties.
d. Supply chain: Explain this concept and how it might affect procurement
planning.

1.2
List the inputs that are required to develop a detailed, multidisciplined commissioning schedule?
Ans. The contract documents should set out:
Who will be responsible for commissioning different building services.
What methods, standards and codes of practice are to be used.
What should happen to test results.
Whether commissioning is to be witnessed and if so, whom.

Commissioning activities may include:

Ensuring
client access
and
providing
client
training
and
demonstrations.
Completing operating and maintenance manuals, record drawings,
software and test certification.
Obtaining statutory approvals and insurance approvals.
Manufacturers work testing.
Component testing.
Pre-commissioning tests.

Set to work: this is the process of switching on (i.e. setting to work) items
such as fans and motors to ensure that they are operating as specified (for
example checking that fans are turning the right way).
Balancing: this follows setting to work and involves looking at whole systems
(rather than individual components) to ensure that they are properly balanced
(i.e. water is coming out of all the taps at the correct pressure, air is coming
out of the correct diffusers etc.)
Commissioning checks and performance testing.
Post commissioning checks and fine tuning during occupancy.
1.3
Explain how you would get the construction & project teams buyin to accept the schedule?
Ans.
Step 1: Explain the project plan to key stakeholders and discuss its key
components. One of the most misunderstood terms in project management, the
project plan is a set of living documents that can be expected to change over the
life of the project. A common misconception is that the plan equates to the
project timeline, which is only one of the many components of the plan. The
project plan is the major work product from the entire planning process, so it
contains all the planning documents for the project.
Typically many of the project's key stakeholders, that is those affected by both
the project and the project's end result, do not fully understand the nature of the
project plan. Since one of the most important and difficult aspects of project
management is getting commitment and buying, the first step is to explain the
planning process and the project plan to all key stakeholders. It is essential for
them to understand the importance of this set of documents and to be familiar
with its content, since they will be asked to review and approve the documents
that pertain to them.
Components of the Project Plan Include:
Baselines. Baselines are sometimes called performance measures, because the
performance of the entire project is measured against them. They are the
project's three approved starting points and include the scope, schedule, and
cost baselines. These provide the 'stakes in the ground.' That is, they are used to
determine whether or not the project is on track, during the execution of the
project.
Baseline management plans. These plans include documentation on how
variances to the baselines will be handled throughout the project. Each project
baseline will need to be reviewed and managed. A result of this process may
include the need to do additional planning, with the possibility that the

baseline(s) will change. Project management plans document what the project
team will do when variances to the baselines occur, including what process will
be followed, who will be notified, how the changes will be funded, etc.
Other work products from the planning process. These include a risk
management plan, a quality plan, a procurement plan, a staffing plan, and a
communications plan.

Step 2: Define roles and responsibilities. Not all key stakeholders will review all
documents, so it is necessary to determine who on the project needs to approve
which parts of the plan. Some of the key players are:
Project sponsor, who owns and funds the entire project. Sponsors need to review
and approve all aspects of the plan.
Designated business experts, who will define their requirements for the end
product. They need to help develop the scope baseline and approve the
documents relating to scope. They will be quite interested in the timeline as well.
Project manager, who creates, executes, and controls the project plan. Since
project managers build the plan, they do not need to approve it.
Project team, who build the end product. The team needs to participate in the
development of many aspects of the plan, such as identifying risks, quality, and
design issues, but the team does not usually approve it.
End users, who use the end product. They too, need to participate in the
development of the plan, and review the plan, but rarely do they actually need to
sign off.
Others, such as auditors, quality and risk analysts, procurement specialists, and
so on may also participate on the project. They may need to approve the parts
that pertain to them, such as the Quality or Procurement plan.
Step 3: Hold a kick-off meeting. The kick-off meeting is an effective way to bring
stakeholders together to discuss the project. It is an effective way to initiate the
planning process. It can be used to start building trust among the team members
and ensure that everyone's idea are taken into account. Kick-off meetings also
demonstrate commitment from the sponsor for the project. Here are some of the
topics that might be included in a kick-off meeting:

Business vision and strategy (from sponsor)

Project vision (from sponsor)
Roles and responsibilities
Team building
Team commitments
How team makes decisions
Ground rules
How large the group should be and whether sub-groups are necessary

Step 4: Develop a Scope Statement. The Scope Statement is arguably the most
important document in the project plan. It's the foundation for the rest of the
project. It describes the project and is used to get common agreement among
the stakeholders about the scope. The Scope Statement clearly describes what
the outcome of the project will be. It is the basis for getting the buy-in and
agreement from the sponsor and other stakeholders and decreases the chances

of miscommunication. This document will most likely grow and change with the
life of the project. The Scope Statement should include:

Business need and business problem

Project objectives, stating what will occur within the project to solve the
business problem
Benefits of completing the project, as well as the project justification
Project scope, stated as which deliverables will be included and excluded
from the project.
Key milestones, the approach, and other components as dictated by the
size and nature of the project.
It can be treated like a contract between the project manager and
sponsor, one that can only be changed with sponsor approval.

Step 5: Develop scope baseline. Once the deliverables are confirmed in the
Scope Statement, they need to be developed into a work breakdown structure
(WBS), which is a decomposition of all the deliverables in the project. This
deliverable WBS forms the scope baseline and has these elements:

Identifies all the deliverables produced on the project, and therefore,

identifies all the work to be done.
Takes large deliverables and breaks them into a hierarchy of smaller
deliverables. That is, each deliverable starts at a high level and is broken
into subsequently lower and lower levels of detail.
The lowest level is called a "work package" and can be numbered to
correspond to activities and tasks.
The WBS is often thought of as a task breakdown, but activities and tasks
are a separate breakdown, identified in the next step.

Step 6: Develop the schedule and cost baselines. Here are the steps involved in
developing the schedule and cost baselines.

Identify activities and tasks needed to produce each of the work packages,
creating a WBS of tasks.
Identify resources for each task, if known.
Estimate how long it will take to complete each task.
Estimate cost of each task, using an average hourly rate for each
resource.
Consider resource constraints, or how much time each resource can
realistically devoted to this project.
Determine which tasks are dependent on other tasks, and develop critical
path.
Develop schedule, which is a calendarization of all the tasks and
estimates. It shows by chosen time period (week, month, quarter, or year)
which resource is doing which tasks, how much time they are expected to
spend on each task, and when each task is scheduled to begin and end.
Develop the cost baseline, which is a time-phased budget, or cost by time
period.
This process is not a one-time effort. Throughout the project you will most
likely be adding to repeating some or all of these steps.

Step 7: Create baseline management plans. Once the scope, schedule, and cost
baselines have been established, you can create the steps the team will take to
manage variances to these plans. All these management plans usually include a

review and approval process for modifying the baselines. Different approval
levels are usually needed for different types of changes. In addition, not all new
requests will result in changes to the scope, schedule, or budget, but a process is
needed to study all new requests to determine their impact to the project.
Step 8: Develop the staffing plan. The staffing plan is a chart that shows the
time periods, usually month, quarter, year, that each resource will come onto
and leave the project. It is similar to other project management charts, like a
Gantt chart, but does not show tasks, estimates, begin and end dates, or the
critical path. It shows only the time period and resource and the length of time
that resource is expected to remain on the project.

Step 9: Analyse project quality and risks.

Project Quality: Project quality consists of ensuring that the end product
not only meets the customer specifications, but is one that the sponsor
and key business experts actually want to use. The emphasis on project
quality is on preventing errors, rather than inspecting the product at the
end of the project and then eliminating errors. Project quality also
recognizes that quality is a management responsibility and needs to be
performed throughout the project.
Creating the Quality Plan involves setting the standards, acceptance
criteria, and metrics that will be used throughout the project. The plan,
then, becomes the foundation for all the quality reviews and inspections
performed during the project and is used throughout project execution.
Project Risks: A risk is an event that may or may not happen, but could
have a significant effect on the outcome of a project, if it were to occur.
For example, there may be a 50% chance of a significant change in
sponsorship in the next few months. Analysing risks includes making a
determination of both the probability that a specific event may occur and
if it does, assessing its impact. The quantification of both the probability
and impact will lead to determining which the highest risks that need
attention are. Risk management includes not just assessing the risk, but
developing risk management plans to understand and communicate how
the team will respond to the high-risk events.

Step 10: Communicate! One important aspect of the project plan is the
Communications Plan. This document states such things as:

Who on the project wants which reports, how often, in what format, and
using what media.
How issues will be escalated and when.
Where project information will be stored and who can access it.
For complex projects, a formal communications matrix is a tool that can
help determine some of the above criteria. It helps document the project
team's agreed-on method for communicating various aspects of the
project, such as routine status, problem resolution, decisions, etc.
Once the project plan is complete, it is important not just to communicate
the importance of the project plan to the sponsor, but also to
communicate its contents once it's created. This communication should
include such things as:

Review and approval of the project plan.

Process for changing the contents of the plan.
Next stepsexecuting and controlling the project plan and key stakeholder
roles/responsibilities in the upcoming phases.

2.1 List the inputs that are required to develop a detailed, multidisciplined progress Tracker?
2.2 List the key items that a progress tracker must contain?
Ans. Name / Team---Who is supplying the data / for which part of the project
Date--

Period the data cover.

Reference & description---Which work item is being reported on.

Hours per day---How much time on the specified item was spent on a
particular day.
Weekly total---Here it is expressed in hours in one column then
converted into days
Brought forward--Previous effort expended on this work item.
Effort to date--Adding together this period with the previous brought
forward figure gives us the total effort for this work item
Estimated work remaining--The estimate of how much more effort is
required to complete the work item.
Estimated total work---Adding the effort expended to the estimate to
complete, we have a revised estimate for the overall effort from this
participant for this work item.
Budget--We can state the budget from the baseline plan. This is useful
both to calculate the variance and as a visual reminder.
Variance--Showing the extent to which the estimated total work is less or
more than the planned amount.
Status-It is not always obvious from the data whether a work item is
completed. This entry allows the participant to indicate that they consider
the work to be complete.
Estimated completion date--This entry collects the participant's view on
when the work item will be completed. Effort figures do not give us an
accurate view on the elapsed time. To do so would require very detailed
control and analysis of the participants' availability, priorities and the way
they divide their time between work items.
Planned completion date--This makes visible the planned date from the
baseline plan.
Variance--Comparing the estimated completion date with the originally
planned date allows us to identify the degree of variance.
Issues--This timesheet allows us to collect information about key
deliverables as well as information about the effort and timing of work
items.

3.1 List the steps that are required to baseline a schedule?

Ans.
1. The first step is to learn everything you can about the new project. In most
cases, you are not starting the project with a blank piece of paper. The
focus of this step is absorbing everything you can about the new project,
and understanding where you are starting from in the project initiation
process. The key to this process is active listening and observing it.
2. Understanding the Stakeholders & Forming the Team The next area of
focus is starting to identify the project stakeholders. Throughout this
process you are trying to understand the people that have a strong
interest in or- impact on the project.
3. Creating the WBS The Work Breakdown Structure defines the scope of
the project by breaking the work down into components that can be
scheduled and estimated and easily monitored and controlled.
4. The Project Timeline The focus of decomposition in the context of activity
definition is identification of the specific actions / activities that will be
required to create the deliverables that were defined within the WBS.
5. The Project Timeline The focus of decomposition in the context of activity
definition is identification of the specific actions / activities that will be
required to create the deliverables that were defined within the WBS.
6. Resourcing the Plan The Project Manager builds on the project timeline
by estimating resource requirements for each of the schedule activities,
and loading specific resource assignments and work efforts into the
project schedule.
7. Finalizing the Project Schedule After resources are loaded into the
schedule, the project schedule is for the most part fully formed. At this
point, it is best to perform a final review of the project schedule
(individually as the project manager, and also with the core team). The
goal of this review is to determine: 1) Can the team deliver with this
schedule? Are there opportunities to improve the schedule? 2) Is the
schedule well understood? Are all aspects of the schedule fully
documented?
8. Finalizing the Project Budget The step of finalizing the project budget is
focused on efficiently leveraging the planning assets created to this point
in the process, and performing the appropriate level of analysis to develop
a project budget that will be understood and approved by the client, and
just as importantly can be managed throughout the project life cycle. This
step includes creating the labour budget, understanding other cost
components and reconciling the project budget with project funding
9. Finalizing the Baseline Plan The step of presenting the baseline to the
Steering Committee is one of the most exciting times in the project
planning lifecycle. If you have tied up loose ends with key stakeholders,
sponsors and core team members, you are well prepared to bring the
project baseline (scope, timing, and budget) to the project executives for
approval. This meeting/briefing represents a key gate for moving forward
with the project.
3.2 When would you re-baseline a construction schedule?

Ans.
When you are managing a project, you establish "baseline" cost
estimates and schedules based on beginning assumptions. The thing is, at the
very beginning of a project there is a lot of uncertainty, so it's really only a rough
estimate at that point. As things develop, you start to remove some of the
uncertainty. Also, situations change - the concept for the project might change,
resource availability might change, costs might go up, etc.
"Re-baseline" means that the information has either matured or changed enough
to warrant updating your assumptions and doing exactly what it says - issuing a
new revised baseline estimate and schedule.
This might be done on a reactive basis just because things have changed and
you realize that you are so far out of whack that you must update.
On the other hand, for long projects with a high level of uncertainty, you might
agree up front that you will re baseline at certain critical points - when key
decisions are made, or when you get within a certain time of activities. It's good
to have that kind of discussion with your management up front - that way you all
understand the uncertainties and how you will be managing them.

3.3 Explain how variations will be captured and displayed in the

schedule?
Ans. When a company plans a project, it will estimate the cost of the project
before beginning. It may also estimate the amount of time it expects the project
to take to complete. However, these estimates are rarely perfect. The variation in
the cost estimate is known as the normal cost variance, while the variation in the
estimated time to completion is the schedule variance.
A project's cost variation is the mathematical difference between the project's
earned value at the time of the calculation and the project's actual cost at the
time of calculation. A project's schedule variation is the mathematical difference
between the project's earned value at the time of calculation and the project's
actual value at the time of calculation. A project's earned value is the budgeted
cost of the project multiplied by the actual percentage of completion, while its
planned value is the budgeted cost of the project multiplied by the expected
percentage of completion.
Calculations
Assume your company budgeted the cost of a project at $600,000 and planned
to complete it in eight months. After a month, your company has completed 10
percent of the project with a total cost of $75,000. Your company's plan shows
that 15 percent of the project should have been complete at this point. In this
case, the project's actual cost equals $75,000, its planned value equals $90,000
($600,000 x .15), and its earned value equals $60,000 ($600,000 x .10). Then
the project's normal cost variance is -$15,000 ($60,000 - $75,000), and its
schedule variance is -$30,000 ($60,000 - $90,000).
Comparison
Both the cost variance and the schedule variance incorporate a project's earned
value to date. However, while the cost variance finds the difference between
earned value and actual cost, the schedule variance finds the difference between

the actual earned value and the company's predicted earned value for the
project. The cost variance indicates whether the company is within its budget,
but the schedule variance indicates whether the company will complete the
project on time.
The BCWS (PV), BCWP (EV), and ACWP (AC) are graphically presented on an Scurve to identify variances and present the status of a project.

4.1 List the steps to update a construction schedule?

Ans. Updating a construction project schedule is a systematic, step-by-step
process that includes the
following steps:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Gathering activity status information

Inputting the activity information
Reviewing and analysing the schedule status
Modifying and revising the schedule to reflect the current plan
Publishing and implementing the updated schedule

The first step in updating a construction schedule is to gather the activity status
information. This involves gathering and estimating the following information
about each activity in the project schedule:

Actual Start Date

Completion Status
Remaining Duration
Actual Finish Date
Actual Start Date the Actual Start Date is when meaningful work will began
on the activity. Note: this may not be the first day that work was
performed on an activity. Typically, its the day that work is started with
the intention of working continuously until the activity is completed.
Completion Status At the time of the schedule update, some activities will
not have started, some will be in progress, and other activities will have
been completed. The activities that are in progress at the time of the
schedule update should receive the most attention.
Remaining Duration For any in-progress activities, the remaining duration
should be estimated based on (a) how much of the planned work is
completed and (b) how much longer it will take to complete the activity.
This requires a review of the level of productivity being achieved.
Actual Finish Date Like the actual start date, the actual finish date may not
be the last day work was performed on a particular activity. The actual
finish date is generally defined as the day when the successor activity can
begin and continue without being hindered by any remaining minor work
of the predecessor activity being reviewed.

Activity status information can be gathered from a variety of sources, such as:

Walking the jobsite and directly observing the work

Conducting update meetings with subcontractors
Reviewing field reports such as the superintendents and subcontractors
daily progress reports

Generating and distributing update worksheets to the various

superintendents, project managers and foremen to fill out and provide the
required activity status information.
Once the activity status information is gathered, the information is input
into the scheduling software, the status/data date is adjusted, and the
schedule is recalculated. The recalculated schedule at this step in the
process is often referred to as a half-step schedule that is, the baseline
schedule updated with the status information with no changes to logic,
original durations or any activities added or deleted.
This half-step schedule can be used to review and analyse the project
status. During this review and analysis, the project team should address
certain key situations and events, such as:
Discrepancies between the new forecast completion and the contractual
completion date. If there is a large discrepancy between the forecast and
contractual dates, the baseline and updated schedule should be compared
and analysed to determine the cause of the discrepancy.

4.2 Explain how you would verify the work performance data?
Ans. Work performance data is raw data of the observations of your project, and
the work performance information is the comparison between the actual data
and the planned data. These two are the backbone to your performance report
and are very important communication tools. These data help you monitor
project progress and compare with the planned progress. They also help you in
forecasting, and you can take corrective and preventive action if needed.
The work performance data is the raw observations and measurements
identified during activities performed to carry out the project work; e.g. actual
cost, actual duration, and percent of work physically completed.
You can say that the work performance data is the raw data of the projects
status. In other words, it is the current (as of now) status of various project
parameters such as: how much work is completed, how much time has elapsed,
the cost incurred so far, etc.
Once you get this information, you can go ahead and create the Work
Performance Information.
Work Performance Data includes, but not limited to:
Scope: Here you will see the compliance of requirements, non-conformities, and
the number of change requests received versus accepted or rejected, etc.
Time: Here you will see how many activities have been started, how many
activities have been finished, and the status of current ongoing activities, etc.
Cost: Here you will note the cost parameter of the project; e.g. how much work
has been completed, how much money has been spent to date, etc.
Quality: Here you will measure the technical performance; e.g. characteristics of
the product (physical properties), quality metrics, number of defects, the
rejection rate, etc.
Communications: Here you will see which communications report has been
distributed, feedback on this communication report, etc.
Risks: Here you will see how many identified and unidentified risks have
occurred, how many new risks are identified, the effectiveness of risk response

plan, how much contingency or management reserve has been utilized, the
impact of risks on project constraints such as schedule, cost, and scope, etc.
Procurement: Here you will get data about the procurement related activities,
for example: quality standards met by seller, sellers performance, etc.
5.1 List the steps to forecasting activities?
Ans. Project Management requires the ability to forecast the estimated cost to
complete the remainder of the project. Estimate to Complete (ETC) is used to
calculate Estimate at Completion (EAC), which is the projected final cost at the
completion of the project. Once we know the Estimate at Completion, we can
establish the Variance at Completion (VAC), which tells us the variance between
what the project was originally projected to cost, as defined in the baseline,
versus the current projected costs at completion.
The technique for reporting and calculating Estimate to Complete in Primavera
P6 is selected at the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) level. Some of these
options take into consideration schedule delays and budget/cost overruns.
Important formulas related to Estimate to Complete (ETC)
ETC can be calculated utilizing one of the 2 following formulas:
1. ETC = remaining cost for the activity; default setting
B. ETC = [PF*(Budget at Completion Earned Value Cost)]
PF is the Performance Factor used to calculate Estimate to Complete and
there are four options:
PF = 1 yields an optimistic result
ETC = [PF*(Budget at Completion Earned Value Cost)]
PF = 1/CPI provides a most likely result.
PF = 1/ (CPI)* (Budget at Completion Earned Value Cost)
PF = 1/ (CPI * SPI) yields a pessimistic result.
ETC = [1/ (CPI * SPI)] * (Budget at Completion Earned Value Cost)
PF = user defined value
Important Earned Value Indices:
Cost Performance Index (CPI) identifies the amount of work accomplished
against the dollars actually spent to get the work done and is calculated as CPI =
Earned Value Cost/Actual Cost.
Schedule Performance Index (SPI) measures the physical work accomplished
against the amount of work that was planned and is calculated as SPI = Earned
Value Cost/Planned Value Cost.
To Complete Performance Index (TCPI) estimates the cost performance
necessary in order for the project to meet the projects estimate of how much the
project will cost when complete (Estimate at Completion or EAC).
This is accomplished by calculating how much work is remaining on the project
divided by how much money is remaining for the project. Work remaining is

calculated as the Budget at Completion (BAC) minus the Earned Value (EV).
Remaining money is calculated as Estimate at Completion (EAC) minus the
Actual Cost (AC).
The formula is TCPI = (BAC EV) / (EAC AC).

5.2 List the steps how you would communicate the forecast to the
construction team?
Ans. Information can be distributed through the following as well as other
methods,
According to project demands and as technology provides:
Project meetings
Hard-copy documentation
Databases
Faxes
Email
Telephone calls
Videoconferences
A project web site

Status reporting provides current information on the project.

Progress reporting provides information on what the team has
accomplished and may include information on what is yet to be
accomplished.
Forecasting provides information on how the remainder of the project or
phase is expected to go.
Variance analysis examines the reason why cost, schedule, scope, quality,
and other factors may vary from what was planned.
Trend analysis is the study of trends over time to reveal patterns and
expectations of future results.
Earned value analysis is a series of formulas that reveal and predict
project performance.
Change requests may stem from performance reports.

5.3 Give examples of how you have picked up a delay and how it was
resolved?
Ans. Plenty of things can derail a project plan: underestimated tasks, departing
staff, misallocated resources. Some practical techniques that can correct the
direction of a project that's losing ground.
Anyone who's worked on project teams knows that a variety of factors can move
a project past its deadline. It's not uncommon for some of the work to be harder
than originally anticipated or to have turnover on the project that requires you to
bring new people up to speed. Sometimes you discover that activities were
simply underestimated. Regardless of how it happens, many times you'll find that
you're trending beyond your committed deadline date.

If you discover that happening, your first obligation as the project manager is to
try to determine the cause. If you look for remedies without knowing the cause,
the situation will probably recur. Your second task is to try to make corrections
that will get the project back on track. At the beginning of a long project, you
have many options to solve your problem.
1: Work overtime
Everyone hates it, but one logical place to start is with overtime. If people work
more hours, they can get more work done in the same amount of calendar time.
Overtime may be the best option if you're close to the end of the project and just
need a final push to get everything done on schedule. If you're toward the end of
the project, you also may be able to issue comp time after the project is
completed. If you're still early in the project, there are probably more effective
strategies. This option may also have cost implications if you need to have
contract resources work overtime.
#2: Reallocate resources
The project manager must first understand what activities are considered most
vital to the project's success, or on the "critical path." After all, if the project is
trending over deadline, by definition it is the critical path that's late. Once you
understand the critical path, see if resources can be moved from other activities
to help resolve the issue. This will allow you to get the project back on track by
delaying or stretching out some work. Be careful, though: Delaying some work
may end up changing the critical path. Always make sure you double-check the
critical path each time you change the schedule.
#3: Double-check all dependencies
Schedule dependencies represent activities that must be completed in a certain
order. For example, if you're building a house, you cannot start putting up the
frame until the foundation is poured and dried. If you're trending over your
deadline, you should revalidate dependencies, since it's possible that the
schedule is being lengthened by invalid dependencies between activities. Invalid
dependencies may make it appear that activities must be performed
sequentially, when they can really be done in parallel.
Sometimes the scheduling software accidentally adds a dependency. Sometimes
the project manager adds the dependency but on later review decides it doesn't
really exist. It might make sense to have the team members review the schedule
to see if they find dependencies that the project manager thinks are valid, but
that they know to be invalid. Check all dependencies to make sure you have all
your facts correct before you move into more drastic measures to bring the
project back on schedule.
#4: Check time-constrained activities
Time-constrained activities are those with durations that don't change based on
the number of resources applied. For example, you may be allocating team
members to a five-day class. The class takes five days if one person attends, and
it takes five days if 10 people attend. Check all of these time-constrained
activities to validate the timeframe. Perhaps you're making assumptions that
could be changed with a different approach. For instance, if you allocated three

days for a contract to reach a client, perhaps the time could be reduced to one
day by paying more for overnight delivery.
#5: Swap resources
I mentioned that the first thing to do when you're trending over your schedule is
to determine the cause. One cause you may find is that you have one or more
resources that aren't as productive as you planned. Perhaps certain team
members don't have the right skills. Perhaps they aren't as productive in this
particular area as they are in other areas. Regardless, there may be opportunities
to replace resources. In some instances, you can simply swap people who are
working on different activities within your project. Other times, you may release
a team member and bring in another person.
Remember that the activities on the critical path are key. You may have options
to assign a more productive resource to those activities, while reassigning a less
productive resource to noncritical path activities. If the activities off the critical
path are delayed, you may still be okay in terms of meeting your overall project
deadline.
#6: Crash the schedule
Crashing the schedule means applying additional resources to the critical path,
the sequence of activities that must be completed on schedule for the entire
project to be completed on schedule. It's always possible to just throw more
resources on the critical path, but crashing also means you try to get the biggest
schedule gain for the least amount of incremental costs.
For example, if one person were assigned to complete an activity in 10 days, you
could see whether two people could complete it earlier. If two resources can
complete the activity in five days, you may not be adding any incremental cost
to the project, since you're applying twice the resources for half the time.
In another example, if two people can complete the work in six days, you will
have accelerated the schedule at an incremental cost of two workdays (two
people for six days vs. the original 10-day estimate). In this example, you could
further crash the schedule by applying three resources. Perhaps then the activity
would take four days, or four and a half days. Typically, the more resources you
throw on an activity, the more the incremental cost will be and the less
incremental timesavings you will receive.
The additional resources may come from within the project team or they may be
loaned temporarily from outside the team. One of the goals of crashing the
schedule is to minimize the incremental cost. However, crashing -- in exchange
for completing some work ahead of schedule -- usually leads to some
incremental cost increase to the project. If cost is not as important as the
deadline, crashing a set of activities can result in accelerating the schedule.
#7: Fast track it
Fast track means that you look at activities that are normally done in sequence
and assign them totally or partially in parallel. Back to our home-building
example, you can't construct the frame until the foundation is dry. However, if

the house is large enough, you may have options to fast track by starting to
erect the frame on the side of the home where the foundation was poured first.
The foundation will start to harden there and might allow you to erect the frame
on that side, while the foundation on the far side of the home is still drying.
Another example involves designing an IT application. Normally, you wouldn't
start constructing a solution until the design was completed. However, if you
were fast tracking, you would start constructing the solution in areas where you
felt the design was pretty solid without waiting for the entire design to be
completed. Fast tracking usually involves risk that could lead to increased cost
and some rework later. For instance, in our example of designing and
constructing an application, it's possible that the design might change before it is
finalized, and those final changes may result in having to redo some of the work
already under way.
#8: Prevent all scope change
Many projects begin to trend over their deadline because they are doing more
work than they originally committed to. This could be a result of poor scope
change management or it could be that small changes are being worked in under
the radar screen. If you're at risk of missing your deadline date, as the project
manager you must work with the client and team members to ensure that
absolutely no unplanned work is being requested or worked on, even if it's just
one hour. All energy should go into accelerating the agreed-to core work.
#9: Improve processes
When you look at the cause for the project trending over schedule, you may find
that some of the internal work processes could be improved. Solicit team
member feedback and look for ways that are within your team's internal control
to streamline processes. For instance, perhaps you have a daily status meeting
that is not providing value and that can be scaled back to once per week. You
may also find bottlenecks in getting deliverables approved.
If you discover delays caused by external processes, try to negotiate changes to
the processes going forward, at least on a temporary basis. For example, you
may find that activities are being delayed because people need to work on their
yearly performance reviews. While these are important, perhaps the timing of
completing the reviews can be changed to allow critical project activities to be
completed on schedule.
6.1 List the steps on how you report progress to the Construction team?
Ans. Construction progress report
Construction progress reports are prepared regularly (often monthly) by the
contract administrator during the construction phase and issued to the client.
They will generally be a summary of the reports received and discussions held at
construction progress meetings.
Construction progress reports may be a combination of minutes of construction
progress meetings and reports received during those meetings, with key issues
highlighted in an accompanying cover note. Alternatively they may be a re-

written version of that information prepared specifically to suit the client's

requirements.
Construction progress reports might include:

A summary of the progress made in each key area of the project.

Analysis of progress against the programme
An explanation of the causes of any delays.
Progress photos.
Analysis of key performance indicators.
An assessment of any quality issues.
Weather reports.
An assessment of any health and safety issues.
Reports of any issues with neighbours (such as noise, dust, vibrations,
rights of light, access, safety etc.)
Reports about off-site fabrication and off-site payments.
Earned value analysis.
An assessment of any design issues.
An assessment of any other issues that need to be addressed and
proposals for addressing them.
Any instructions required from the client.
Look ahead to the next period (including specific requirements for
progress photos during the next period, which may include off-site
fabrication photos).

On construction management projects, the construction manager holds

regular construction progress meetings with the client and consultant team,
however they will also hold regular construction progress meetings with trade
contractors to discuss on and off-site progress against the programme and to
co-ordinate the release of information. It may sometimes be appropriate for
these meetings to take place at the trade contractor's premises. Construction
progress reports will then be prepared for the client.
6.2 List the steps how you report progress to the Management team?
Ans. To report progress to management team we will include following:

Minutes of the final construction progress meeting.

Relevant parts of progress reports from the contractor and where
appropriate the consultant team.
Relevant parts of the cost consultant's report.
A summary of the progress made in each key area of the project.
Analysis of progress against the programme
An explanation of the causes of any delays.
Progress photos.
Analysis of key performance indicators.
An assessment of any quality issues.
Weather reports.
An assessment of any health and safety issues.
Reports of any issues with neighbours (such as noise, dust, vibrations,
rights of light, access, safety etc.)
Reports about off-site fabrication and off-site payments.
Earned value analysis.

An assessment of any design issues.

An assessment of any other issues that need to be addressed and
proposals for addressing them.
Any instructions required from the client.
Look ahead to the next period (including specific requirements for
progress photos during the next period, which may include off-site
fabrication photos).
Details of handover procedures.
Where appropriate, details of phased completion, and partial or sectional
handover.
Any terms or qualifications that will be applied to the certificate of
practical completion.
A proposed schedule of defects.
Details of any ongoing works by others.
Insurance details.
Any remaining access issues.

7.1 List the steps to close out a schedule?

Ans. 1. Confirm that all project requirements have been met.
2. Verify the Document that project or project phase meet completion or
exit criteria set in place during project planning.
3. Obtain formal (legal) sign-off and final acceptance of the product of the
project from the customer.
4. If the Project was completed before completion, document the reason of
termination and the status of the project and deliverables.
5. Make final payment and complete cost record.
6. Gather final lesson learned.
7. Update project record.
8. Ensure all the project management process ae completed.