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Delay Analysis

7 replies [Last post]
Wed, 2002-12-04 23:59
Nishikant Choudhary
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Hello Specialists,

I am running out of knowledge for Delay analysis. My project is running into delay with -ve floats of 107, 133,158 days for Construction, Procurement and Engineering.

I will appreciate any suggestions in this subject which apart from the regular practice of tracking the activities with negative total floats and minimising any further durations on the critical path by reducing the constraints on activities.

Thanks in advance guys.

Cheers.

Nihikant
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Replies

Sat, 2002-12-14 12:48
#1
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In most cases in the US, the contractor is the one who creates and maintains the schedule and the Owner (or their Construction Manager representative) has the option to review these schedules. This means that the schedule can (and usually should) change from update to update to reflect the most current information.

In any given update, it is possible that relationships were modified, activities added or deleted, activity durations changed; the list is endless. This is usually the case when the Contractor decides to change his workplan or has unexpected work added to the contract.

In fact, it is also possible that actual data shown on previous updates has also been changed. Perhaps this was to correct an earlier error. Perhaps the data was changed inadvertently. Perhaps the change was made to cover-up a delay from the Contractor or to prove a delay by the Owner.

Regardless of the reason, for the change, the first step in the review process is to notice the change. Then you can decide for yourself if the change is acceptable. Until you spot the changes, you are at a distinct disadvantage in dealing with the schedule.

This process if spotting changes is very difficult to do manually. In fact, it is practically impossible to do this manually with a 100% accuracy rate. That is why there are companies that sell software that do this for you. Look to the web to see more about the following three packages.

Schedule Analyzer Pro at www.RonWinterConsulting.com
Claim Digger at www.hstsoftware.com
Investigator at www.primaplan.com

They all work on P3 schedules.
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Mon, 2002-12-09 16:49
#2
Tomas Rivera
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Nishikant:

Let me start by saying that I have been the planner and/or the executor in all the projects I have been involved. Therefore, I have been in charge of the schedule all the time. I know how the schedule was developed and what changes are being made to it.
In the case you just analyze a schedule developed and updated by someone else, this would require to perform the work in a different way. I would separate my effort in two parts. One would be the review or analysis of the initial or target schedule. The second part would be analyzing updates.
For the initial schedule, I would look for preferential relationships or constraints in several ways. One would be to group activities by discipline or trade. This way I would be looking at activities with similar logic or construction sequences. Then I would question this logic or relationships to see whether they are strictly required or not. An example of a mandatory relationship is having the formwork in place before the concrete pour. An example of a preferential relationship might be to pour footing B after pouring footing A. This kind of questioning might arise an argument between the contractor and the consultant and get to issues of at least two types. One type is technical issues that very well might have a solution. The other type is management issues. The contractor might say: I have the right to decide the way I am going to do my job as long as I meet the contractual requirements (i.e. the finish date). I am not sure how to resolve this one. But you might say that if the critical path ends up having preferential relationships, and therefore the job can be done in a different way without causing a delay, then this is, in a way, not a valid delay.
Let us jump to the second part of the analysis: the schedule updates. After having agreed upon an initial or target schedule, probably the best way to look for changes to the schedule would be to use a software package specifically designed for this purpose. I believe a couple of third parties listed in the Primavera site sell this kind of software. Once you identify the changes in logic you can question their validity.
I am sure and hope this message will arise some comments.

Tomas Rivera
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Mon, 2002-12-09 07:09
#3
Mohamed Gebriel
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Hi Gents,

In addition to the very much valuable advice that was given, another important thing to do is to revise cycle durations and rates to verify if they were properly planned or not and also to see if the contractor and engineer are working according to planned durations or not.

Main items to look for would be:
* Material submittal approval
* Shop Drawing preparation
* Shop Drawing submittal approval
* P/O, manufacturing and deilvery cycle
* Installation productivity rates specifically for concrete pouring

If any of the engineering or procurement activities are not represented in the schedule, this could likely be a reason for not showing exactly where the delays are coming from.
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Sun, 2002-12-08 23:13
#4
Nishikant Choudhary
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what i meant was how can anyone track the changes apart form the updates made periodically ( read , weekly and monthly )by my contractor to the schedule because of the so called " Preferential constraints ".

what i want to do is to find out the reasons in terms of Logic, ( and if any wrong constraints that may have been put )that results in showing me a delay .

cos there may be wrong constraint put into the schedule that may affect the entire critical path.
How can i track them?????? .

I short , How do i reconcile the delays and have a thorough check on what my contractor has put forward me.

please advise.

Nishi.
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Sat, 2002-12-07 03:33
#5
Tomas Rivera
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Nishikant:

I was thinking that you were in charge of the schedule. Also, I understood that your schedule, or your project, was being delayed all the time and you had to make changes to your logic in order to avoid reflecting so much delay as you mentioned.
Before going any further, let us clarify the situation. You said that your project was running into delay with negative floats of 107, 133, 150. You also said that you were minimizing any further durations on the critical path by reducing constraints on activities.
The above tells me that you were aware of changes made to the logic. Now in your reply you tell me that you might not know whether your contractor makes changes to the schedule. So, do you sometimes know of changes and sometimes you might not know?
You are just analizing delays or are you also involved in changing the schedule to look for ways of meeting the deadline?
If you can give me more information I will be able to give a better opinion.

Tomas Rivera
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Fri, 2002-12-06 22:54
#6
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Thomas , Thanks for the reply, but coud you be more specific.
Do you mean that these preferntial constraints can be removed by my conttractor as he pleases without us realising this.
And how can i track any changes in constraints that he has made and to what activities,,Plz, advise.


I am not clear on this issue Plz.

Thanks again.

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Thu, 2002-12-05 17:15
#7
Tomas Rivera
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Nishikant:

I have the suspicion that you have in your schedule too many preferential (as opposed to mandatory) constraints or relationships, which at the end you are able to drop or remove. If this is occuring too often, then people at the site are executing your project in a different way you prefered to do.
I try not to include preferential constraints or relationships unless are deemed important for ssome reason. By doing this I give latitude to the field people to decide for themselves.

Tomas Rivera
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