Construction Planning and Scheduling

Chapter One
Fundamentals of Construction Planning
1. Fundamentals of Construction Planning
Construction plays vital role in
nation economic development
which demands huge
investment.
Investments emanate proper
management to meet project
objectives.
In order to meet the objective, it
is vital to plan a given project.
Planning
 It is setting a clear road map that
should be followed to reach a
destination.
 It aims at formulation of a time
based plan of action for
coordinating various activities
and resources to achieve
specified objectives.
 Construction Planning
• The major concern in most complex
projects is project planning, monitoring
and controlling of cost, scheduling over
time and quality of work which are the
key performance indicators in any
project.
Project Planning
 Project planning is the process of identifying all the

activities necessary to successfully complete the project.

 Planning leads to a refinement of the scope of work as

established in the contract documents.

 A good plan reduces uncertainty and improves efficiency.
Planning
 The process involved in construction planning
can broadly be divided into two stages;
 Planning time
• what is to be done?
• what are the activities involved?
• how it is to be done?
• when it is to be done?
• where it is to be done?
 Planning resource
• what is needed to do it?
• who is to do it?
Construction Planning

Outputs
Inputs •Activities
•Contract Information
•Relationships among
•Drawings
activities
•Specifications
•Method statement
•Available resource Planning
•Responsibility
•Bill of quantities
•Reporting levels
•Site reports
•Project network diagram
•Organizational data
•Activities duration
•Construction methods
•Activities cost
 Proper design of each element of the project

 Procurement of materials well in advance

 Proper arrangement of repair of equipment and machinery

 Employment of trained and experienced staff on the project

 To provide incentive for good workers

 To arrange constant flow of funds for the completion of

project
 To provide proper safety measures and ventilation, proper

arrangement of light and water.

 Construction Project Planning:
 Activities involved in construction planning
1. Define the scope of work, method statement, and
sequence of work.
2. Generate the work breakdown structure (WBS) to
produce a complete list of activities.
3. Develop the organization breakdown structure (OBS)
and link it with work breakdown structure to identify
responsibilities.
4. Determine the relationship between activities.
5. Estimate activities time duration, cost expenditure, and
resource requirement.
6. Develop the project network.
 Type of Project Plans

Time Plan

Resources Plan

Manpower Plan

Material Plan

Construction Equipment Plan

Finance Plan
 Time planning
 Time is the essence of all construction projects, and

contracts often have clauses outlining awards

(bonus payments) or penalties (as liquidated
damages) for completing a work ahead or later than
a scheduled date.
 some of the common reasons for delays could be a

sluggish approach during planning,

 delay in award of contract

 changes during execution

 alterations in scope of work

 delay in payments

 slow decision making

 delay in supply of drawings and materials and

 labor trouble.
 Resources planning
It combines manpower, materials,

equipment, budget or cash flow

which show the overall requirement of
the different resources in the project.
• Such a plan can be prepared only on
the basis of the schedule of a project.
Manpower planning
This plan focuses on :
estimating the size of work force,

division in functional teams and scheduling the

deployment of manpower.
establishing labor productivity standards,

providing suitable environment and financial

incentives for optimum productivity, and
grouping the manpower in suitable functional team

in order to get the optimum utilization.

 Material plan
The material plan involves
 identification of required
materials, estimation of required
quantities,
 defining specification and
forecasting material requirement
besides identification of
appropriate source(s),
 inventory control,
 procurement plans, and
 monitoring the usage of materials.
 Construction equipment planning

Modern construction is highly

mechanized in order to ensuring
timely completion of projects.
The characteristics of equipment are

kept in mind when drawing up an

equipment plan.
Finance plan
 It shows financial requirement
each task as per their
schedule.
 Contractors fund their
projects from their
 Working capital either of loan
and owner equity
 Advance payments, and
 Suppliers’ credit against work
done.
Finance plan
 Once the mobilization is complete; work proceeds at a rapid pace
until the end with the same financial requirement.

TIME
Production Curve (s-curve)
Projects build up slowly as workers and equipment are
brought to the project and mobilized.
 Definition of Scheduling

 Scheduling is the determination of the timing and

sequence of operations in the project and their

assembly to give the overall completion time.
 Schedules establish the start, duration and completion

date of a project or task.

 It is a timetable which formulates the activities that

must be accomplished to reach a certain goal or

objective.
Planning Versus Scheduling
 A plan
 shows the activities and their logic relationships.
 The activities in a plan do not have specific start and

end dates.
 A schedule
 establishes the specific start and end dates for the

activities and establishes the total project duration.

 determines what resources are needed when for

how long for which activity