Construction Project Scheduling

Explore bar charts, the earliest scheduling tool, also called Gantt charts. Build a chart from activities, their immediate predecessors, and durations, using the A–F example and the Hoover Dam project.

Participate in a hands-on exercise to draw a Gantt chart for a 10-activity construction project, illustrating activity links and durations.

Trace the gantt chart solution from A to H, noting simultaneous starts, dependencies, and the earliest start around day eight with C and D's flexibility.

Analyze the pros and cons of Gantt charts, highlighting their simplicity for creating schedules while noting hidden activity links that dash arrows reveal dependencies and support schedule analysis.

Explore Gantt chart characteristics as time-scale displays of a project, show progress with status dates, and reveal how different levels of detail suit owners, project managers, and crews.

Master basic networks for project scheduling by learning to represent activities with nodes or arrows and comparing arrow networks with activity on node networks. Explore precedents networks for deeper analysis.

Explore activity on arrow networks, aero network, or IJA method, where arrows are activities and nodes are start and end events, with unique naming and immediate predecessors.

Participate in a class exercise to draw a small activity-on-arrow network. Start with activity a, place b and c after a, and set d after c.

Sequence activities a, b, c, and d with a as the start, b after a, c after b, and d waiting for c to end; then merge the two end nodes into a single end project event.

Learn how dummy activities in an activity-on-arrow network preserve logic, avoid naming duplicates, and minimize complexity with zero-duration dummies while building accurate project schedules.

Nodes represent activities and arrows show relationships in an activity on node network, with a start milestone and diamond-shaped milestones to end project; this is clearer than activity on arrows.

Complete the final exercise by drawing the activity on node (AON) for exercise two and submit it to the same submission box within three minutes.

Demonstrates constructing a project schedule using a start event, dummy activity, and activities A–E with zero-duration milestones; explains converting between activity-on-nodes and activity-on-area networks and practicing with predecessor links.

Break the project into small activities with a work breakdown structure, defining tasks, durations, units, locations, and crews. Review, implement, and monitor the schedule, tracking revisions as CPM is introduced.

This lecture explains a work breakdown structure (WBS) as a hierarchical method to subdivide a project into well-defined work packages, enabling schedule, budget, and risk management.

Break a project into activities, estimate duration by productivity and calendars, build a CPM network with hard and soft logics, leads, and lags; set baseline and monitor changes.

Introduce the critical path method (CPM) as a scheduling technique that identifies the longest path in a project network and determines start, finish, earliest completion, floats, and critical activities.

Apply the critical path method to compute earliest and latest start and finish dates using forward and backward passes and the largest predecessor finish rule.

An in-class exercise on activity-on-node network scheduling. Guide students to draw the network and perform forward and backward passes to calculate critical timings.

Identify the critical path as the longest back-to-back sequence in the network that defines shortest duration, and use forward and backward passes to compute early/late start and finish and float.

Compare the beginning-of-day convention with NAFTA conversion in forward and backward pass, using calendar dates and working hours to determine next start day.

Explore the types of floats in project networks—total float, free float, independent float, and interfering float—and how each measures an activity's flexibility without delaying the project end.

Practice forward and backward calculations to establish earliest start, latest start, earliest finish, latest finish, total float, and free float for all activities.

Convert AOA to AON networks, master CPM with forward and backward passes, calculate floats, and identify the critical path and multiple critical paths.

Explore a project network with activities a, b, c, d, performing forward and backward calculations to determine earliest start and finish, latest start and finish, and total and free floats.

Analyze how imposing an earlier finish date of 23 creates negative float, identify critical path activities, and anticipate more complex network relationships in construction project scheduling.

Explore the precedence diagramming method (PDM) and its four relationships—finish-to-start, start-to-start, finish-to-finish, and start-to-finish—compared to CPM, plus lag and lead to model overlapping construction activities.

Analyze how to calculate forward and backward paths in PDM precedence networks with contiguous activities, linking start-to-start or finish-to-finish using lag values and real site data.

Carry out forward and backward calculations on PDM networks while assuming contiguous activities. After completing the calculation, assess whether interruptions or splitting into parts are possible based on activity characteristics.

Identify how activities are linked with lag and start-to-start or finish-to-finish relationships, and simulate a proper network for forward and backward path analysis.

Compute early times and the project end at day 10 in a start-to-start network with no lags, where A is the critical activity and B and C follow after A.

Explore start to start relationships with lags in construction project scheduling using CPM and PDA, derive earliest and latest starts, and identify critical activities under contiguity.

Explore finish-to-finish relationships with mandatory lags and determine earliest and latest finish times for activities, showing that all are critical with no float in the project schedule.

Explore the combination of start-to-start and finish-to-finish relationships in construction project scheduling, identify dominating driving links, and perform forward and backward passes to determine feasible start and finish dates.

Analyze how interruptible activities use start-to-start and finish-to-finish relationships with lag times to guide sequencing, using real-world examples from trenching, framing, roofing, and concrete pours.

Explore interruptible activities and floats, showing how pausing a task affects start and end dates, the contiguous vs interruptible distinction, the critical path, and resource-driven cash flow.

Explains restricted floats in PDM, including start-restricted, finish-restricted, and double-restricted floats, how they contribute to total float, and how network assumptions (contiguous vs interruptible) affect criticality.

Examine restricted and unrestricted floats in PDM, including start-restricted, finish-restricted, and double-restricted floats, and compare contiguous versus interruptible networks in forward and backward calculations of total float.

Analyze a construction project network to identify critical path, dominating links, and start-to-start and finish-to-finish relationships using forward and backward calculations.

Learn to map construction scheduling by enforcing a start-to-start link from framing to drywall installation and a one-day finish-to-finish lag, then apply timing to drywall installation and drywall finishes.

Explore resource management in construction projects, distinguishing staff salaries, hourly labor, materials that stay or are consumed, and equipment that supports the process, plus direct versus indirect expenses.

Analyze labor productivity by examining the labor pool, holidays, and crew size to estimate daily output; link man hours, depreciation, and maintenance to project costs and schedule.

Learn how to allocate labor, material, and equipment to project activities through resource loading, comparing detailed resource breakdown with lump-sum costs to improve planning and control.

Resource leveling smooths fluctuations in labor and equipment by shifting non-critical activities, balancing resource usage, and choosing forward or backward approaches to fit start or end dates.

Master resource leveling by building a project network, computing forward and backward paths, and using floats to adjust non-critical activities without delaying the end date.

Construct a project network, perform forward and backward paths, load resources, and build a Gantt chart, then analyze resource usage under different labor scenarios.

Manage materials and procure the right quantity and quality of materials and equipment, balancing just-in-time and inventory buffer strategies to store safely, reduce waste, and ensure on-site availability.

Draw the resource profile on the gang chart by assigning resources and durations to critical activities A, B, C, D, and E, then balance overlaps to keep end dates intact.

Construct the Gantt chart from activities, durations, and daily labor; compute daily resource usage and identify critical versus noncritical tasks. Smooth the resource profile by shifting noncritical activities.

Learn how to update a construction project schedule by revising the plan to reflect progress and changes, define data date, and keep the network view aligned with on-site realities.

Learn how to collect past and future information from the job site to update a construction project schedule, including actual dates, budget, scope changes, resource constraints, and calendar impacts.

Update the project schedule by listing incomplete activities, capturing progress, remaining effort, and dates, then generate state-specific reports and share updates with the project team.

This example updates a project schedule after a progress report, adjusts durations and scope, adds and cancels activities, and recomputes the forward and backward paths to identify updated critical path.

Explore how critical-path changes and scope adjustments alter project duration by adding, removing, or extending activities. Document changes, revise baselines, and communicate with stakeholders to manage end dates.

Explore how to delete or dissolve activities, adjust links and lag, and decide between retaining or overriding progress to reflect real project updates in project scheduling.

View project control as a process of monitoring progress and comparing it with budget and schedule baselines. Track progress against baselines and ensure contractors implement corrective actions when deviations occur.

Calculate percent complete for each activity using site data, then derive project completion via a weighted average of activity progress, informing payments and remaining duration.

The lecture presents six methods to measure construction work progress, including unit completed, cost or time ratio, start–finish, incremental milestones, supervisor opinion, and weighted methods.

Compare progress measurement methods against a baseline to understand differences and select the approach that best represents work progress. The lecture highlights unit completed, actual cost, and earned value concepts.

Explore earned value analysis fundamentals, including ACWP, BCWP, and BCWS, and learn to compute CV and SV and CPI and SPI to forecast project outcomes.

Perform earned value analysis on a construction project by calculating earned value, actual cost, and planned value, then assess cost and schedule variances using CPI and SPI.

Learn to draw an s-curve by plotting budgeted cost of work scheduled, actual cost of work performed, and earned value to forecast budget at completion and estimate at completion.

Learn to plot and interpret a project s-curve using budgeted cost of work schedule, budgeted cost of work performed, and actual cost of work performed.

Explore the time-cost tradeoff by analyzing how increasing or decreasing activity duration through additional resources accelerates projects, affects direct costs, and impacts the schedule on the critical path.

Examine how schedule compression in the Northridge earthquake case uses fast-tracking, overlapping activities, and 24/7 work to beat a 140-day target and secure a large bonus.

Learn to accelerate a construction project by fast tracking, overlapping activities, and using overtime and more resources, with time-cost tradeoff analysis on the critical path.

Explore how accelerating a project alters direct and indirect costs, revealing an optimal point where total cost is minimized by balancing exponential direct costs and linear indirect costs.

Explore building a project network, identifying the critical path, and trading time for cost by crashing activities using cost-per-day analysis in construction project scheduling.

Optimum project scheduling achieves the least cost with the optimum duration by understanding physical and practical limitations and aligning project managers and controllers to meet deadlines.