CHAPTER 7

SCHEDULE UPDATING
THE NEED FOR SCHEDULE UPDATING

Construction projects rarelyif evergo as planned.
Thus, we expect some deviation from the baseline.
We need to know where and how much, then take
corrective action whenever and wherever needed.

PROJECT CONTROL DEFINED
Project control comprises following continuous process:
1. Monitoring work progress
2. Comparing it with the baseline schedule and budget
3. Finding any deviations, determining where and how
much, and analyzing them to discover the causes
4. Taking corrective action whenever and wherever
necessary to bring the project back on schedule and
within budget.
Another function of project control is to help to
identify areas in which to improve work efficiency, to
help accelerate the schedule, to help reduce cost, or
to help the project in other ways.
Project control involves both budget control and
schedule control.
It can also include quality control and safety control.
SCHEDULE UPDATING
Baseline Schedule:
A baseline schedule is prepared by the contractor,
before the start of the project, and used for
performance comparison. (contract documents.)
The baseline schedule is also called a target schedule
and used by contractor and owner.
It may provide a foundation for resolving any
subsequent delay-claim disputes.
It may also be used as a legal document in case of
litigation.
The baseline schedule must incorporate design and
other changes for fair and realistic comparisons.
Therefore, a project may have two or more baseline
schedules: one before and one after changes.

Baseline schedules must be reasonable, realistic and
take into consideration:
work and weather conditions;
the size and complexity of the project;
local codes and regulations;
the location of and access to the project site;
the labor market;
materials and equipment availability, prices, and
delivery and other issues.
What Is an Updated Schedule?
Schedule updating is simply reflecting actual
performance information
including time of occurrence and
amount (or percentage) of work completed
on the schedule and indicating on the schedule any
changes to future work.
Popescu and Charoenngam defined an updated
schedule as
" a revised schedule reflecting project information at a
given data date regarding completed activities, in
progress activities, and changes in the logic, cost, and
resources required and allocated at any activity level .
What Is the Data Date?

The data date is the date as of which all progress on a
project is reported.
It is also called the as-of date and the status date.
It is not the " current date" or the " time now" because
the word current or now is moving along with time and
is not tied to a specific time or date.
Information for Updating Schedules
Any new information that was not known for the previous
update and relates to the schedule.
This information falls into two main categories:
1. Past information: What has happened since the
last update?
a) Activities that have started, and the actual start
date, percent complete, and remaining durations
b) Activities that are completed, and the actual
completion date
c) The actual budget spending or resource
consumption for each activity
Past information can be divided into past and current categories.
Past represents information occurred prior to the previous update.
(This is called history and must not be changed during this update).
Current information occurred between the last update and this
update.
This category is the main focus area for updating past information.
2. Future information. Comprises any changes such as:
a) Any activities that have been added, along with their
information (duration, logic, budget, resources, etc.)
b) Any activities that have been deleted (the scheduler
must be sure to maintain proper logic after the deletion)
c) Activities that have changed in duration, logic, budget,
resources, constraints, or otherwise
d) Any change to the imposed finish date for the entire
schedule or the constraint date for certain milestones
e) Any schedule change, such as change in the cost or
availability of resources, change in calendar workdays,
or change in responsibility (a subcontractor took over a
portion of the general contractor's work)
Future changes are of two types:
a. Logic-driven changes: are not made directly by the
scheduler but that occur as a result of changes in
planned dates or logic.
b. User's changes: are made directly by the scheduler.
Frequency of Updating
Schedules may be updated monthly, biweekly, weekly.
Weekly and biweekly are probably the most common.
Waiting too long to update a schedule may eliminate the
effectiveness of updating as a control tool. (being late in
corrective action, create de-motivation on staff.)
Having a long reporting period may encourage
procrastinators to put off corrective measures by using
the logic " We'll do it later. There is plenty of time!
Conversely, a reporting period that is too short may be
costly in terms of time consumption and overhead and
reporting costs.
Effect of Adding or Deleting Activities on Logic
An activity in a schedule is usually like a link in a chain;
removing a link may disturb the whole chain if it is not
done properly.









This may have a devastating effect on the schedule.
Therefore, it is strongly recommended that the
scheduler review the logic before making any change.
Effect of Adding/Deleting Activities on Logic (contd)
Some computer programs, such as Primavera Project
Planner, have a function called Dissolve an Activity,
which automatically assigns the predecessors of the
dissolved activity to its successors (see Figure 7.4).
The user must be careful when dissolving an activity that
is tied to other activities with relationships other than the
FS relationship or that has lags.
Effect of Adding/Deleting Activities on Logic (contd)
Adding a new activity usually has less potential for
harming the logic than does deleting an activity.
The usual problem with adding an activity is redundant
relationships.
EXAMPLE 7.1
In this example, 10 days after the project has started, you
receive the following report:
Activities A and D are complete (actual start and finish
dates are given). Activity B started on day 5. Remaining
duration = 2 days. Activity C started on day 2. Some
problems were encountered. Remaining duration = 4
days. The duration for activity F was adjusted to 8 days.
Activity J has been canceled. The duration for the new
activity P is 4 days. IPA= E. ISA (immediately succeeding
activity) = K.

Update the logic. Note: When we delete activity J, the
schedule must verify whether we should assign its
predecessor to its successor. In other words, would
activity F become a predecessor to activity K?







Figure 7.6 (a) (example 4.6)
SOLUTION OF EXAMPLE 7.1
SOLUTION OF EXAMPLE 7.1 (continued)
SOLUTION OF EXAMPLE 7.1 (continued)
Steps for Updating a Schedule
Updating a schedule includes the following six steps:
1. The project manager prepares a list of actual progress,
changes for individual activities, and all related
information.
A simple tabular report format contained columns for
the activity ID, activity description, original duration,
remaining duration, percent complete, and three
empty columns with these titles: Actual Start, Actual
Finish, and Notes shown in Figure 7.7.
2. The scheduler feeds the information into the computer
scheduling program and updates the schedule.
3. The scheduler obtains the project manager's approval
for producing the reports.
4. The scheduler prints new reports that show the updated
schedule and delivers them to the project manager.
5. After producing the reports, the scheduler may receive
feedback from different parties.
THANKS FOR
YOUR ATTENTION