Construction Project Planning and Scheduling

by Patrick, Charles

• ISBN13: 9780130924803
• ISBN10: 0130924806
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-02
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

Summary

This book thoroughly covers the topic of the need and use of project planning, scheduling, and control in the construction industry. It approaches the subjectand its related terminology and techniquesfrom a conceptual viewpoint that reinforces learning with increasingly difficult levels of analytical problems.KEY TOPICSChapter topics cover the development of work breakdown structures, precedence grids, precedence network node diagrams, analytical methods for network solutions, resource scheduling, leveling and allocation, and project-scheduling simulation with PERT application.For use in construction management and technology, and civil engineering.

Table of Contents

Project Management in the Construction Industry

Construction Project Management Organization

The Network Plan

Scheduling Logic and Computations

Precedence Networking

Resource Scheduling, Leveling, and Allocation

Project Time Reduction/Time-Cost Tradeoffs

Project Scheduling with Uncertain Durations

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

This book is appropriate for freshman- and sophomore-level project planning and scheduling courses in construction management, construction technology, civil engineering, civil engineering technology, and related engineering/technology programs. The book is particularly useful as a text for a first or second course in construction project management. The text thoroughly covers the topic of the need for and use of project planning and scheduling in the construction industry. The primary focus of the text is the development of work breakdown structures; precedence grids; precedence network node diagrams; analytical methods for network solutions; resource scheduling, leveling, and allocation; and project scheduling simulation, including the application of PERT. Chapter 1 introduces the concept of project management from a broad business and industry perspective. This chapter provides a brief history of project management and traces the influence of the development and use of accelerating computer hardware and project management software. Categories of construction projects and the unique nature of construction work are discussed. The application of project management in various types of construction projects is described as well as the need for organized planning and scheduling of construction projects. Chapter 2 describes the life cycle of a construction project, including the owner''s need, conceptual planning, location considerations, design, estimation/ bidding, procurement/construction, and owner occupancy. The work breakdown structure is defined, and the process for developing a WBS is provided as well as the general criteria for an appropriate level of detail. The chapter identifies the key players in the construction process, describes their roles, and shows and characterizes the three common organizational structures for construction projects. Typical construction management techniques and participants during the design and build phases of construction projects are presented. Chapter 3 details the development of the network plan, including reviewing plans and setting objectives, analyzing the design for alternative construction methods, and developing the network model. The majority of the chapter explains the steps in developing the network model, including defining, sequencing, and diagramming project activities, assigning durations, and calculating schedules. Descriptions of four schedule-diagramming techniques--bar charts, activity on arrow, activity on node, and time-scaled networks--are provided along with advantages and disadvantages of each. The critical path method is explained as the basic methodology used widely to perform project scheduling for projects with particular characteristics. Chapter 4 describes the construction project in network format--a graphical diagram of the order of events or sequence in a construction project. The network model graphically represents the project typically in activity-on-node (AON) format. The AON network format is used to perform analytical computations by the forward and backward pass method by the critical path method (CPM). These computations determine the project''s critical path, the project duration, and the start and finish times of all project activities. Chapter 5 provides an extension of the critical path method from Chapter 4, called precedence networking (PN), and allows the use of complex relationships between activities including the start-to-start and finish-to-finish relationships with associated lag time. Computations for the PN method are explained and detailed through examples. This chapter includes an overview of Primavera''s SureTrak project management software. The chapter explains the use of the software by using an example project. Chapter 6 presents general resource management in construction projects, including a discussion about construction resources and resource management in the construction industry. The chapter explains the general trends of resource-constrained schedules as well as the analytical methods used for resource management--scheduling, leveling, and allocation. The sum of squares analytical method of resource leveling and series/parallel methods of resource allocation are described. Chapter 7 explores methods to reduce project duration that minimize project costs. Reasons for the need to reduce project duration are discussed, and the time-cost trade-off process is explained. The chapter discusses methods to reduce project duration without increasing total project costs and explains how time reduction can be achieved by expediting or buying time along the critical path. Included is an explanation of time-cost relationships for project activity duration reduction as well as cost slope computations and comparisons. Chapter 8 focuses on uncertainty in activity durations and examines a method, the program evaluation and review technique (PERT), to manage this uncertainty. A limitation of the traditional network models (CPM and PN) is detailed--that is, activity duration estimates are fixed and known. The PERT procedure is a probability modeling method for scheduling projects that have highly variable and uncertain activity durations. The chapter outlines a conceptual framework of the PERT process, explains the procedure formulation, and gives several examples.