Planning Scheduling and Control

Chapter 1: Introduction to Project Planning

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 Project, Subprojects, Program and Portfolio

What is a Project?
 A project is a temporary effort undertaken to create a
unique product, service or result. A project must not be
repetitive work.
 Same design doesn't mean same project

 Major Characteristics of a Project:

 Established objectives.
 Defined life span.
 Working in cross functional teams.
 Introducing something new.
 Specific time, cost & performance requirements.
.
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 Project, Subprojects, Program and Portfolio

What are the Subprojects?

 Subprojects are segments of the original project

 Divided according to specialty, responsibility, phase, area, or
other criteria.
 Viewed as a project by the person in charge, but he should
consider the external activity relationships not only the internal
ones (activities in other subprojects in the same project).
 For example, in a residential or commercial development
project, building the infrastructure may be regarded as a
subproject.

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 Project, Subprojects, Program and Portfolio
Program vs. Project
 The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines a program as ‘‘A group of
related projects managed in coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not
available from managing them individually. Programs may include elements
of related work outside of the scope of the discrete projects in the program.’’
(PMBOK 2008)
 note: In the UK, and some other countries use British terminology, the
schedule (timeline) of the project is called program. This is not the program
that we are discussing
 Programs may be:
 Temporary/one-time programs
 Ongoing (usually periodic/annual) programs:
 These include projects such as road maintenance and storm water programs
 The program usually lives as long the facility does 4
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 Project, Subprojects, Program and Portfolio

Portfolio vs project
 Portfolio is a group of projects, not necessarily related or dependent,
usually under one project manager or department.
 The PMI defines it as ‘‘A collection of projects or programs and other
work that are grouped together to facilitate effective management of
that work to meet strategic business objectives. The projects or
programs of the portfolio may not necessarily be interdependent or
directly related.’’ (PMBOK 2008)

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 Project Life Cycle

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 The Challenge of PM

• Project Managers:
– Plan, schedule, motivate, track and control.
– Manage temporary non-repetitive activities to complete a project.
– Manage project teams, customers, performance, trade-offs &
risks.

• Factors leading to increased use of PM:

– Compression of the product life cycle.
– Knowledge explosion.
– Triple bottom line (planet, people, profit).
– Corporate downsizing.
– Increased customer focus.
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 PM Integrative Approach

• An overview of all project management activities.

• Resources assignment.

• Risk assessment.

• Performance improvement.

• Communication with upper management.

• Portfolio management through a project office (PO).

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 Project planning

Definitions
 ‘‘The process of choosing the one method and order of work to be adopted
for a project from all the various ways and sequences in which it could be
done’’, Antill and Woodhead 1990.
 ‘‘Those processes performed to establish the total scope of the effort, define
and refine the objectives, and develop the course of action required to attain
those objectives’’. PMBOK (4th edition, 2008)
The term planning is restricted to meaning project planning, with an emphasis
on construction projects
Project planning serves as a foundation for several related functions, such as:
• cost estimating, scheduling, project control, quality control, safety
management, and others.

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 Project planning

Project planning includes:

 Outlining your project timeline

 Assigning roles and responsibilities
 Creating a work breakdown structure (WBS)
 Identifying stakeholders
 Creating project objectives
 The budget planning and the estimation of future costs.
 Preparing for what’s coming is part of the control process because it
keeps your project on track before it begins
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 Project planning

Planning and Scheduling

 Project planning serves as a foundation for several related functions, such

as:
• Cost estimating, scheduling, project control, quality control, safety
management, and others.
• Answers the questions What is going to be done? How? Where? By
whom? and When (in general terms, the project’s start and end)?
 Scheduling is the determination of the timing and sequence of operations
in the project and their assembly to give the overall completion time.
• focuses on one part of the planning effort.
• deals with when on a detailed level.
 Note that not only the plan and the schedule are related, but also many of
the elements of the plan are interrelated example the budget
 In real projects, it may lead to huge budget overruns, schedule delays, and
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 Planning a construction of office building project
A typical plan for an office building project may include:
 A scope definition,
• a five-story office building for commercial use with of 30,000 square feet.
• The location is also part of the planning
• in some cases, the exact location may be selected later or a few sites are mentioned as candidates.
 A schematic or conceptual design.
• not a must but helps one to visualize the project.
• The final design may later differ significantly.
 A budget number (e.g., $6 million).
• Be aware of all project-related expenses, (land cost, permits, design fees, construction, etc..).
 A time frame (i.e., when the project is expected to start and end).
 Other pertinent information that may be
• Used to justify the project or clarify some of its aspects.
• A pro forma helps predict the return rate and helps in making the decision whether or not to build.
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 Project Control
 Project controls are a set of processes used to understand and influence the amount of
time or money spent on a project.
 Each project control focuses on a distinct part of the project plan, like the schedule,
resources, or potential risks. 

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 Project Control

 Certain aspects can easily deviate

 Schedule slippage, a departure from the objective/scope
 It is importance to know—at all times— where you stand in relation to where you
planned to be (the baseline).
 If behind schedule or over budget, you must know why and then
 take corrective action to get back on track or
 minimize the deviation.
 If the deviation is positive (i.e., the project is ahead of schedule or under budget)
 Performance was probably better than that expected
 The concept of project control covers all aspects of the plan (budget, schedule, quality,
etc.), our main focus is on schedule and budget control

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 WHY SCHEDULE PROJECTS?

 Several parties are involved in any project (stakeholders).

 Reasons for why project scheduling is needed, from two
different perspectives:
 Contractors
 Owners
 Other parties involved may also need a CPM schedule
 designer,
 project management
 consultant
 financial lending institution.
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 WHY SCHEDULE PROJECTS?

Contractors need project scheduling to:

1. Calculate the project completion date
2. Calculate the start or end of a specific activity
3. Coordinate among trades and subcontractors, and expose and adjust
conflicts
4. Predict and calculate the cash flow (make sure that does not exceed
a certain cap)
5. Improve work efficiency
6. Serve as an effective project control tool
7. Evaluate the effect of changes
8. Prove delay claims (generally, only a critical path method (CPM)
schedule can prove or disprove a delay claim)
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 WHY SCHEDULE PROJECTS?

Owners and developers need project scheduling to:

1. Get an idea on project’s expected finish date

2. Ensure contractor’s proper planning for timely finish
3. Predict and calculate the cash flow
4. Predict and calculate the cash flow
5. Evaluate the effect of changes
6. Verify delay claims

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 THE SCHEDULER

Who can be a Scheduler

 A civil engineer, an architect, a computer programmer, a
mathematician, a project manager, an artist, or a communicator?
 Three types of knowledge that a scheduler must have:
 Knowledge of computer software (and perhaps hardware as well)
 Knowledge of the principles of scheduling and project control (as
part of project management)
 Knowledge of the specific technical field, such as commercial
building, industrial, transportation, and so forth
 The combination of good tools and an educated, experienced operator
is the only path to success in project planning.

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 The Scheduler Certification

Certification organizations
 Several organizations now have a process and exam that lead to certification
in project scheduling.
 The most prominent ones are:
 The AACE International’s Planning & Scheduling Professional (PSP)
 The PMI’s Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP)
 Usually, an applicant to a certification exam has to fulfill certain conditions:
 Minimum education requirements
 Minimum experience requirements
 Pass the certification examination
 Submit application and fees
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 The Tripod of Good Scheduling System

1. The Human Factor: A proficient scheduler or scheduling

team that understands the concepts, definitions, and
applications or project scheduling
2. The Technology: A good scheduling computer system
(software and hardware) along with capable IT support
3. The Management: A dynamic, responsive, and supportive
management that believes in the use of scheduling as part of
the management effort
If anyone of the above three ‘‘legs’’ is missing, the system will
fail.
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 SCHEDULING AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT

 Planning, scheduling, and project control are extremely important components

of project management.
 Project management includes other components
 Cost estimating and management,
 Procurement
 Project/contract administration
 Quality management
 Safety management.
 These components are all interrelated in different ways.
 The group of people representing all these disciplines is called the project
management team. It is usually headed by the project manager (PM).

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 Thank You.

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