For a schedule to be able to predict the future its not a build it and forget it document. Generally your schedule should be considered a living, changing document that evolves with your construction project. As materials are delivered, systems installed and work performed your schedule should be telling the story of your job. It will equally tell the history of what happened and it will utilize that information to predict what tasks should be performed next.

For this document to be of benefit the information must be timely, non biased and factual – it is not the place to air out grievances or disputes. What type information goes in a schedule update: Work Performed or the actualizing of tasks, delays to the project like weather or manpower shortages. Questions to the design team in the form of Requests for Information (RFI’s) that have caused impact. Delays to Change Order Approval are all examples of items that are important to a schedule update. At times you may hear these called schedule frag-nets.

Another item of consideration is how often to update the schedule, this may be determined by the requirements of the project. The contract or specifications should be reviewed to see if specific language exists or was provided for schedule updates. If not generally a schedule update performed every two weeks should capture the changes and a full schedule review and update should be completed monthly. At times I have found myself spending a considerable amount of time updating and working on a schedule and not onsite building the project so there needs to be the proper amount of time allocated to the schedule, but building the project is why we are here.

Make sure for any changes made to the schedule you have the proper documentation to document why a change was made. Was the project delayed because of a RFI, can you provide documentation on the date the RFI was written, when a response was provided and when direction or approval to proceed with the RFI was given. If the owner provided a stop work notice in a area can you reference back to a email or written documentation of that stop notice. Did a subcontractor not mobilize or support the schedule with crews or materials and do you have the notices you sent to the sub regarding lack of performance? Having the back up to changes make the schedule really stand up to scrutiny and review. I recommend with any change make a copy of the document and place it in a separate folder in the scheduling file for easy reference.

How many people that are involved in the schedule update depends on the complexity and the size of the project. I have been on projects where the project superintendent or project manager does the updates and I have been on projects where a team of individuals working with a professional scheduler provides the updates. Each situation is a little different. But as you start and work through the process each job will find what works best for your project.

What matters is the process, if a schedule update is due to be issued on the 1st and the 15th of the month you need to allow the proper amount of time for you to get the information compiled and inputted into the schedule. On a small job this could possibly be done the day before on a large job you may begin a week before the due date. If a number of individuals need to update portions of the schedule you need to allow time for their review and input. And generally once this is complete the Superintendent and the Project Manager will need time to review and make any necessary adjustments prior to distribution to the project team. What is very important is to be consistent with the timeliness of your updates.

Another item to consider is a schedule summary, it is very useful to attach a brief document identifying what items may have changed and what schedule maintenance may have been made. Critical Milestones that were achieved and any schedule slip that may have occurred that would effect the critical path. This keeps individuals from having to hunt through the entire document looking for changes.

It is good schedule practice to save a new copy of the schedule in a separate folder by month, the schedule data files, a 3 or 6 week look ahead, a 90 day Schedule, and a In Progress and Remaining (IPR) Schedule that only shows the remaining tasks to be completed and the a Full Project Schedule along with the schedule narrative and any backup documents that created change to that specific month.

When performing your update use caution when adjusting duration’s or sequencing, when contractors bid a project they may man load or crew tie the schedule you provided and if adjustments are made without proper notification to your subs they may be able to make a case for acceleration because you took time from their contractual scope. This can possibly be avoided by communicating the change in advance and documenting the concurrence provided from the conversation. Another useful tool can be to send out a copy of your schedule with a Change Order to contractually tie the subcontractor to the new schedule, but understand depending on the  changes that occurred you may see a request for additional contract monies to cover the schedule change.

In summary a schedule can be one of the most valuable tools on a construction project but how valuable will depend on the amount of rigor you put into making it accurate and up to date. For your schedule to live up to its full potential you need to regularly and accurately input any changes and communicate to the entire project team the direction the project is moving in, then and only then will you have a schedule that will predict the future.

 

John Hughes

Project Superintendent