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Truth or Hide - Project Status

3 replies [Last post]
Jithin Kambhikanam
User offline. Last seen 1 week 9 hours ago. Offline

Hello Everyone,

Just a senario which happens a lot in Projects. So wanted to know your suggestions.

Considering I am a Contractor should I HIDE the actual situation from the Weekly Report which is issued to Client or be TRUE. Say for example Project has a duration of 12 months and there are some activity which are delayed but it may or may not impact the end date. So in the Weekly Project Status Report should you hide the concerns.

 

Regards

Jithin

Replies

Jithin Kambhikanam
User offline. Last seen 1 week 9 hours ago. Offline

Hi Emad,

Thank you very much. The thought what I have is same as yours. Its better to report that their would be a delay or impact early than hiding it so that the Client is well aware and they can Plan accordingly (their revenue) & they would be more forgiving too.

If we do report the delays early of every senario, a mitigation plan can be taken by the Client itself which a Contractor could not as it might require Cient involvement.

In a project their would be lot of delays and as you said some delays would consume the Free Float.

Regards

Jithin

Emad Mofarej,PMP,...
User offline. Last seen 2 years 48 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 18 Feb 2012
Posts: 39
Groups: None

Hiding delay is not ethical. But does it serve contractor well? It depends!

 

You are a scheduler. So you know based on the current situation delay and with your best knowledge which is employed to the current schedule update there is an impact to the project completion date or not. So based on the contempreneous data and as-built dates you are in one of the following two situations:

1- there is no impact to project completion or any of the contract milestones: You are way better of showing that in the report and schedule as you have proof of it. A well maintained schedule is a very powerfull tool in claim disputes for possible future employee caused delays and you don't want to risk it with faulty data. Besides if there is no delay on CFC or other milestones your contractor caused delay is using float that is totally ok as float belongs to project and contractor used it first so no one else can claim it! It is a fairly hard task if not impossible to convince the other side/jury/ arbitrator that the float was consumed before if any EDE happes after your delay. And it is always a good idea to notify all the parties that there is less float available now and ask them to be more vigilant and cautious to not let the project slide.

2- there is some impact to project completion or any of the contract milestones:  In my honest opinion and ethical reasons aside, these days it is still in the contractor's best interest to show the delay. Ten- twenty years ago (depends on what industry/country you are in) clients were more forgiving about delays, not because they wanted but because they were forced to. They didn't know much about the forensic analysis (or even schedules!), the AACEi's Forensic Scheduling RP was non existent, jury's and arbitrator's knowledge about this subject matter was fairly narrow and based on the articles. The contractor's normally never followed the scheduling specs(if there was any) and clients mostly never kept their record. On those days the best strategy for a lazy contractor was to not have a schedule if possible and to find some excuse and stick their delay to the client. It worked well then but not anymore. Now if there is a delay the contractor is required to show the effect and it is a lot easier and cheaper to win these cases (or negotiate it with client) if they keep a clean and honest record of contempreneous data.

When there is a delay, in the long run, it is in everyones interest to show that in the schedule. When the contractor realized there is a delay in project he can share it with client. They can discuss the possible method for recovery. Recovering a delay can be tackled much easier if it discoveres early. Even if it is not recoverable it is better to inform the Client now than future as the client would be more forgiving and helpfull if the delay didn't catch them by suprise. and as I said before you are claiming project float which is a good thing when dealing with multiple delays!

I've reviewed hundreds of delay claims cases in my life and with very slim exceptions they contractor never get away with hiding their delays. 

Emad Mofarej,PMP,...
User offline. Last seen 2 years 48 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 18 Feb 2012
Posts: 39
Groups: None

Hiding delay is not ethical. But does it serve contractor well? It depends!

 

You are a scheduler. So you know based on the current situation delay and with your best knowledge which is employed to the current schedule update there is an impact to the project completion date or not. So based on the contempreneous data and as-built dates you are in one of the following two situations:

1- there is no impact to project completion or any of the contract milestones: You are way better of showing that in the report and schedule as you have proof of it. A well maintained schedule is a very powerfull tool in claim disputes for possible future employee caused delays and you don't want to risk it with faulty data. Besides if there is no delay on CFC or other milestones your contractor caused delay is using float that is totally ok as float belongs to project and contractor used it first so no one else can claim it! It is a fairly hard task if not impossible to convince the other side/jury/ arbitrator that the float was consumed before if any EDE happes after your delay. And it is always a good idea to notify all the parties that there is less float available now and ask them to be more vigilant and cautious to not let the project slide.

2- there is some impact to project completion or any of the contract milestones:  In my honest opinion and ethical reasons aside, these days it is still in the contractor's best interest to show the delay. Ten- twenty years ago (depends on what industry/country you are in) clients were more forgiving about delays, not because they wanted but because they were forced to. They didn't know much about the forensic analysis (or even schedules!), the AACEi's Forensic Scheduling RP was non existent, jury's and arbitrator's knowledge about this subject matter was fairly narrow and based on the articles. The contractor's normally never followed the scheduling specs(if there was any) and clients mostly never kept their record. On those days the best strategy for a lazy contractor was to not have a schedule if possible and to find some excuse and stick their delay to the client. It worked well then but not anymore. Now if there is a delay the contractor is required to show the effect and it is a lot easier and cheaper to win these cases (or negotiate it with client) if they keep a clean and honest record of contempreneous data.

When there is a delay, in the long run, it is in everyones interest to show that in the schedule. When the contractor realized there is a delay in project he can share it with client. They can discuss the possible method for recovery. Recovering a delay can be tackled much easier if it discoveres early. Even if it is not recoverable it is better to inform the Client now than future as the client would be more forgiving and helpfull if the delay didn't catch them by suprise. and as I said before you are claiming project float which is a good thing when dealing with multiple delays!

I've reviewed hundreds of delay claims cases in my life and with very slim exceptions they contractor never get away with hiding their delays.