NICMAR

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CONSTRUCTION

MANAGEMENT AND RESEARCH
GOA
MCM 211: PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

ASSIGNMENT ON
PROJECT CONTROLLING
Submitted By
Mr. Jaydeep R. Pat! "G#11$$%
Mr. Rya& M. Attar "G#11#'%
Mr. Patdar Ga(ra) J. "G#11$*%
Mr. Pa+,a& S+-. "G#11//%
POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN AD0ANCED CONSTRUCTION
MANAGEMENT
TIME CONTROL
Introduction
A modern construction project involves a good number of activities such as
investigation, planning, scheduling, and control at every stage. Besides, it might need
the involvement of a number of specialized agencies and failure of one to deliver goods
in due time might cripple the activity of others or stall the entire project. A close
coordination is necessary between these agencies and in case of failure of one, pre-
planned alternative routes are to be chosen or new routes are to be evolved such that
other activities may continue.
Modern techniques of project management are made use of by managers who deal
with planning, scheduling and control of the projects. lanning involves listing of jobs
or activities that have to be done to complete the project. !he requirement of men, material,
equipment, estimate of cost as also the duration of each of the activities are part of
planning. "cheduling on the other hand, deals with the time order in which these activities
are to ta#e place, as also the manpower, material, etc. required at every stage of
production should be shown in the scheduling. $t is a common e%perience that even after a
lot of e%ercises on project planning and scheduling, no project follows the programme
e%actly as chal#ed out due to unforeseen reasons. An efficient technique helps the
management to control the progress of wor# as &lose possible to the original schedule by
reviewing and reprogramming under the changed condition in order to adhere to the
target time of completion. !he analysis and correction of this difference form the basic
aspects of control.
'hatever technique is adopted for the presentation of plan, programme and
schedule, graphic representation of the activities through diagram is found to be helpful to
maneuver the project. $n this connection, the following four techniques of project
management are presented(
A. Bar chart method
B. )ine of balance
&. &ritical path method *&M+
,. rogramme evaluation and review technique
A) Bar Chart
$n any construction project, men material and machines are generally arranged by
the contractor in manner that there is steady progress of wor# according to the
programme. !he original programme of construction made by the consultant or the
client might not be adhered to in during construction, since the contractor could not
participate in drafting the programme as he was not selected at that time. After the job is
awarded, the contractor is as#ed to submit a wor# programme, and he then submits it
ta#ing into consideration his own problems and difficulties. !his programme may be
submitted in tune with the original one suggested by the consultant or he may modify it in a
manner he thin#s best for the smooth progress of the project #eeping in view of his
own constraints. !he form, in which these commitments are made, consists of certain
dates by which certain jobs or activities are to be finished. More detailed wor# would
translate these dates into a bar chart which present the programme of wor# in a graphical
form and this gives the date of starting and date of finishing of each item, etc. A variety
of forms of such charts are available. !he choice of the most of the items of wor#
overlapping of these items, chronological order of most suitable one depends on the type
of the project wor#. -udgment is required to be e%ercise to choose the correct one.
!he bar chart gives the following information at a glance(
.. !he date of actual starting of an activity against the proposed date of starting
of the same.
/. !he proportion compared to the total job completed.
0. !he period of time *may be e%pressed in days, wee#s, or months+ by which the
activity is moving in advance or lagging behind.
1. !he time by which the remaining wor# is to be done.
!he bar chart, though very helpful and popular for small projects, it has got the
following inherent limitations(
1. Bar chart does not depict the inter-relationship among the activities showing their
interdependence.
2. $t does not consider the cost since it is a project controlling method which consider
only time.
B) Line of Balance
)ine of balance is particularly suited for repetitive wor#s li#e pipelines, multi-
storeyed building or row housings )ine of balance is basically a graph m which the
progress of wor#s is plotted in the vertical a%is and the passage of time is plotted in the
horizontal a%is.
At any given date one may draw a vertical line and estimate the proposed
progress of wor# from the intersection of the vertical line and the starting or completion
date of the activities. !he steps of preparing the line of balance diagram are presented
here(
1 repare a logic diagram.
2 2stimate the minimum time requirement for each activity.
3. 2stimate the proposed time requirement for each activity to
achieve the schedule.
3. ,raw the schedule.
4. 3eviewing the line of balance diagram to assess the possibility of
improvements.
C) Critical Path Method (CPM)
!he bar chart method is suitable for small projects where the manager has a
clear idea about the mode of e%ecution of each operation or activity. But when it
concerns a number of technical trades the bar chart method becomes inadequate
and needs a more rational and scientific method of project planning and this is
represented in a graphical form. !he graphical presentation of the activities is called
a networ# diagram or simply networ#. !his deals with events and activities and
considers both time and cost.
A networ# depicts the relationship between different activities by means of arrows in
a logical sequence. 2vents are denoted by nodal points which indicate the start or
finish of an activity or a group of activities. 2vents are denoted by circles. !hese are
numbered for easy identification. An event has no time dimension of its own since it
gives the starting or finish of an activity.
!he activity is the actual wor# to be clone in a project, so it must indicate
time and resources by arrows. !his has two functions( it indicates the passage of time,
and it gives the sequence of activity in an orderly manner.
D) Programme Ealuation and Reie! Techni"ue (PERT)
!he programme evaluation and review technique is also presented in the form of
a networ# diagram whose logic is based on similar lines li#e &M, but those two
techniques were developed independently and have got distinct applications to different
industries and settings.
23! is preferred when there are some uncertainties in the choice of
methodology, availability of materials, and the final answer is not clearly #nown. !he
duration of any activity in the case of a 23! programme is calculated as a weighted
average of three time estimates, namely the optimistic time t
4
, the pessimistic time
t
p
and the most probable time t
m
, further, since it is assumed that the most probably
time is four times more li#ely to occur compared to the other two, the e%pected time
of completion of an activity is presented as
t
c
5 *to 6 t

6 1t
m
+78
Time Control Methodolog#
roject time control aims at the timely e%ecution of wor# according to the
project planned scheduled and applies corrective measures in cases of time deviation.
!ime control concentrates on time performance and the sequence of e%ecution of
activities. !he activity time progress is measured based on project master schedule of
wor#. !ime-control monitoring starts with measuring of time status of completed, in-
progress and non-starter balance activities. $t uses time plan updating techniques to meet
the scheduled time completion. !he updated time analyzed plan indicates the assessed
project completion period for the balance wor#. A what-if analysis highlights the
implication of imposed constraints on the balance wor#. !ime compression and time
crashing techniques are employed to reduce time overruns. !hus, the time control
emphasizes on the following(
A$ !ime progress monitoring methodology
B$ 'hat-if analysis
C$ !ime reduction techniques
D$ 'or# progress reviewing procedure
A) Time Progre%% Monitoring
!he base line for time monitoring is the roject Master &onstruction "chedule
*M&"+. $t is generally drawn in a bar chart format. !hese bars may also show the e%tent
of total float and free float available against each wor# pac#age. !ime monitoring of
simple projects can be carried out by directly reflecting the time progress of activities
on the project master schedule and then analyzing the implications of deviations from
the schedules. But in the case of comple% projects a critical e%amination of the project
master schedule is only feasible after sub-project plans of the wor# in-progress are
analyzed, as the bar chart master schedule generally does not reflect the logical
relationship activities. Accordingly, time monitoring of comple% projects can broadly be
divided into the following three stages(
.. Measuring the progress of current activities
/ 9pdating sub project plans
0. 9pdating the project master schedule
Mea%uring the Progre%% of Current Actiitie%
,uring e%ecution at any point of time, activities can be classified into completed
activities, in-progress activities, and still-to-start activities. !he state of activities is
measured by comparing their actual progress against the monthly or quarterly bar chart
wor# programme and7or the sub-net wor#s. 'hile the completed and non-starter
activities can easily be identified, the in-progress activities can be measured in two
different ways.
& Ba%ed on time 'erformance
!he in-progress time performance of an activity indicates the time lapsed
since its commencement and the time required for completion of the balance activity.
Both these aspects are e%pressed in term of time units.
& Ba%ed on 'h#%ical 'erformance
!he in- progress performance shows the wor# done quantity *or value+, and the
remaining quantity *value+. :enerally, physical performance is e%pressed in
percentage of wor# done or earned value.
('dating )u*+Pro,ect Plan%
A project is said to be proceeding smoothly as long as the activities are performed as
per schedule. But at times, deviation from the schedule does occur. ,eviation ta#es
place when some of the activities tend to ta#e more time and7or, some of the activities
may need less time than planned. !hese time changes can be measured activity-wise
from the sub-project current schedule of wor#, and these changes are recorded in wor#
progress reports. !hese reports include the actual data regarding the completed
activities, the in-progress activities and the future planning for the balance of
activities, in the case of activity delays, the progress reports also indicate the e%tent of
delay and the availability of activity float.
A progress report does not ma#e much sense unless it is depicted ;
pictorially on a networ# and a schedule in a comprehensive form the method used for
displaying progress of activities on the planning charts corresponding to a given time
is called updating. !he procedure of updating and the symbol used vary with the
technique adopted for planning projects.
(PDATIN- T.E PRO/ECT MA)TER )C.ED(LE
0$ Bar Chart
Bar chart schedules are easy to construct, understand, communicate and
update. !he updating of a typical bar chart schedule involves the following
steps(
,raw time scaled second bar, below the scheduled activity.
,epict its date of commencement, and its time status.
"how the physical progress of activities as percentage of wor# completed
either below7above the end of the progress bar.
1$ CPM2PERT Net!or3
<or completed activities, delete the duration and draw wiggly line,
preferably on the horizontal portion of the arrow.
<or partially completed activities, delete the e%isting duration and insert the
e%pected duration for balance wor#. referably, draw a wiggly line on the
horizontal part of the arrow in proportion to the wor# done.
= <or the remaining activities, e%amine their duration reflected in the
networ#. ,elete the original duration and insert the revised duration if it needs
to be changed.
>ew activities visualized as a result of changes in the scope of wor#, should
be incorporated logically into the networ#, and their durations written.
&ompute the earliest finish time of the networ# to determine the
minimum time required for the completion of the remaining wor#.
"et the latest finish time equal project time objective in the networ#.
!ime analyze the updated networ#.
4$ Line of Balance Chart
!he )?B schedules are easily updated by plotting cumulative physical progress
lines on the activity schedule and )?B control chart. !he actual progress lines thus
formed can indicate the following with respect to each activity(
= lanned versus actual progress in terms of the number of units completed.
lanned versus actual rate of progress.
3is# of interference in progressing wor# of interdependent activities.
<orecast rate of progress for e%ecuting activities, within the specified
time targets.
B) 56hat+if7 Anal#%i%
A project, specially, in case of comple% projects, faces situations which tend to divert the
project from its planned path. !here may also be instances when the project management
wants to alter the planned schedules for various reasons. ,uring project review,
questions may also be raised to devise courses of action for achieving certain specific
targets. All such cases start with the question @what-if and they follow it up by possible
constraints with the aim of feasible alternate options to overcome time delays and its cost
implications.
@what-if analysis aims at e%ploring alternative approaches to meet desired
constraints, with a view to provide information for ma#ing decisions regarding the
incorporation of changes in the current schedule of wor#. !he project constraints needed
for analysis are classified as follows(
!ime constrained
3esources constrained
!ime constrained
!here are times when the scheduled dates get affected due to actual7anticipated situations.
$n such cases following types of time constraints are imposed(
"tart not later than................
<inish not later than..............
"tart not earlier than..............
<inish not earlier than.............
Mandatory start on..............
Mandatory finish by
"cheduled within the activity total float............
"cheduled within the activity free float.
"cheduled activity at the earliest start time.......
!he implications of imposing time constraints can be studied by updating, and
time analyzing the project networ#, and rescheduling activities.
0$ Re%ource% con%trained 8!hat+if anal#%i%8
,uring wor# scheduling, vital resources are generally leveled to allow the
normal build up at the beginning of the connected tas#sA a constant level of
employment during the major period of e%ecutionA and the normal tapering- off
towards the end of the operation. !hese schedules also assume that resources when
required shall be available. But in actual practice, costly resources are mostly
limited. &onstraints imposed on resources can be grouped as followsA
!ime limited resource availability
!hese are situation when sufficient resources are available during a
limited period of time. $n such cases, the wor# schedule may have to be revised to
e%ecute affected activities during the availability period of resources.
3esources limited condition
"uch situations occur when there are insufficient resources to meet the
scheduled wor# requirements. "uch situations call for rescheduling the wor# within
limited resource constraints.
C) Time com're%%ion of critical 'ath
!he two commonly used techniques for reducing time overruns are
@compressing the critical path@ and @trading time with cost@.
0$ Time com're%%ion of critical 'ath
!ime compression is the process of reduction of the project completion time
without any appreciable change in the cost of activities. $t involves splitting of the
critical activities into smaller activities, either by changing method of e%ecution
without any appreciable change in resources, or by changing to lower levels of activity
details. "ome of these smaller activities may form a chain of activities and the others
may be parallel. :enerally, it is the paralleled component of the critical activity that
compresses the project completion time.
1$ Time+co%t trade off techni"ue
roject time and cost are interrelated. !he project cost function shows the
relationship of the cost versus the completion time. $ts ordinate represents the cost and
abscissa has a time scale. $n the formulation of project cost function, the direct and
indirect costs and the financial gains resulting from early completion are considered.
!he project time corresponding to the minimum value of the cost function gives the
most economical duration of the project. !he project cost curve also gives the minimum
cost of reducing the project duration from its optimum completion time But the
project cost function varies from project to project and it is not easy to formulate the
time-cost relationship.
!he basic concept behind the formulation of project time - cost function is that
the normal time duration of an activity is based on considerations of normal cost
using an efficient or desired method of performance of the activity. 2ach activity is
considered in isolation while wor#ing out normal time and normal cost. !he reduction
in duration below the normal time by a &hanged method of e%ecution implies an
increase in cost .!here will also be a stage beyond which the activity duration cannot
be further reduced. !he lower limit, up to which an activity time can be reduced, is
called crash time, and the corresponding cost is referred to as crash cost.
!he difference between the normal time and crash time of an activity indicates
its potential to undergo crashing. !he slope of the activity cost function shows the
rate of increase of cost, with the reduction in time for the activity.
&rashing potential of an activity 5 normal time - crash time.
3ate of crashing 5 *crash cost - normal cost+7*normal time - crash time+
!here are a number of ways of reducing the activity duration from normal
time and these will depend upon the activity under consideration. !he most common
methods of time reduction are as follows(
1. $ncrease the resources allotted and7or wor# over time.
1. &hange the mode of e%ecution7 performance of an activity.
<ormulation of a project cost function involves the following stages(
,etermination of activity cost
2stimation of activity crashing potential
,etermination of the rate of crashing
&rashing critical activities
D) 6or3 'rogre%% reie!ing 'rocedure
Activity duration and logic are not rigid. "ome odd activities may be completed
earlier than the scheduled dates, whereas few others may be delayed. !here is
inherent overlapping in the logic of activities, and in some rare cases, succeeding
activities may start earlier than the preceding activities. !he updating methodology,
mentioned above, brings out the deviations from the current project master schedule. !he
e%tent and implications of deviations are considered under review. !he stages involved
in review technique are as follows(
1. resenting updated current wor# programme and sub-networ#s showing
completed, in-progress and still-to-start activities, together with start and
completion dates.
2. &omparing the actual wor#-pac#age progress with its base line
schedule and costs, as per the project master plan.
1. 2%amining what can be done to neutralized time and cost overruns.
3. replanning and rescheduling balance wor#s, if necessary, to ensure
completion of the project on time.
B "tudying the emerging critical and near critical activities to anticipate
problems and device means to overcome them.
6. &hec#ing the resources at site to see if adequate resources are
available to e%ecute the "cheduled wor#A and to verify those additional resources,
when required, shall arrive on time.
7. 2valuating the project cost status and updating forecasts for the future
resources and costs for the remaining wor#s.
C Derifying the health, safety and security measures to prevent mishaps.
<requency of updating and reviewing will depend upon a number of factors
such as degree of control, purpose of the project, magnitude of wor#, phasing of wor#
and so on. :enerally, wee#ly updating and monthly reviewing is adopted for a
medium-sized project. !he review should loo# ahead to e%plore alternate ways of
e%ecuting wor# to save time and costs, rather than diagnosing historical mista#es
resulting in delays.
9ARIANCE ANAL:)I)
!hree types of variances are calculated from the data compiled m project cost
reports.
)C.ED(LE 9ARIANCE
$ndicates how far the wor# is progressing according to schedule from cost angel
; it is estimated as under (
lanned commitments to ,ate-2arned
"chedule variance 5 ----------------------------------------------------------------
&ommitments to ,ate
$f, -ve, more accomplished than planned
6ve less wor# accomplished than planned
2arned !o ,ate
"chedule erformance 5 -----------------------------
lanned !o ,ate
$f more than $, more efficient than planned, i.e., ahead of time schedule *time under run+
$f less than ., less efficient than planned, is, behind time schedule *time over-run+