Building construction programmes from first principles

We are often asked via our network for planning engineers that are able to build programmes from first principles We thought we would share this article written by a Senior Planning Engineer who was asked to illustrate this prior to attending an interview. Here is an example of one technique that can be used.

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Write down the following from the contract document which should include?:

• work information ?
• Access dates for parts of the site.?
• Key dates in the contract and the conditions to be met for each key date i.e., the start and completion date.?
• The sequence of works stipulated by the client.?
• Requirements for health & safety set out in the Contract.?
• Plant and material provided by the client and associated conditions thereof.?
• Establishing the Work Breakdown Structure in a high level (WBS level 2), for example - Contract Data, Engineering (Design), Procurement, Main Physical Work, Assurance and Handing Over. ?
• For design work, the best bet is to create more WBS as appropriate, then ?build the programme considering the various design gate meetings. ?Creating milestones and linking them for the beginning of physical work at appropriate WBS would also be beneficial. Creating a separate WBS for the procurement of long lead and critical items would be helpful and useful.?
• Start and complete your design for the WBS of the main physical works – based on geographical area or by final structure/product for main works. It would be good to take into consideration a combination of both since it will allow you to go deep into level 5 or 6. Definitely check this against the schedule of works given in the Contract. You’ll want to establish the relationship with the Activity Schedule & its cost as provided in the Contract. ?
• Look into the data source to ascertain the productivity if the contractor has not already provided this information for you. Once located use the information to figure out the duration for each of the activities identified. Meanwhile ascertaining the duration of activities, a special thought would be given to assign Time Risk Allowance, considering other risks associated with the activities.
• Reflect on the sequence as stipulated in the Contract and other contractual requirements. If needed the next thing to organise are workshops with pertinent team members to ascertain the relationship between activities. Once done you’ll also want to cover testing & commissioning activities and other assurance activities like Health & Safety file, As Built drawings, Engineering Safety Justification, Preparation of Snag list etc.?
• If needed, iterations can be done until Contract requirements are met. Programme Integration Check is next – this is where you’ll be using Defence Contract Management Agency’s (DCMA) 14 rules or a similar integration test. Furthermore, you’ll need to establish the Critical Path of the programme. ?
• Once all 14 rules of DCMA completed and checked, make sure that all the Key Dates in the Contract Data have been reviewed and rechecked against the Contract. Once the Planned Completion Date and Terminal Float have been established you will load the Cost at WBS level 4 and reconcile with the Project Cost.?
• Ask a member of the Risk Team to do a risk workshop and identify risks associated with the programmes. Identify the activities and its risks and keep a copy of this document. You could also identify the duration of each activity in terms of “Most Likely”, “Most Pessimistic” and “Most Optimistic”.?