TAMU COSC 475 - Exam 1

Five Branches of Critical Thinking

Problem Identification

Creative Thinking

Logical Analysis

Decision Making

Coordination

Problem Idnetification

Visualization

Fact Finding

Creative Thinking

Green Light Thinking

Brainstorming

Logical Analysis

Red Light Thinking

Reasoning

Decision Making

Gain Consensus

Decision Matrixes

Coordination

Plan Implementation

Control Stress

Notice to Proceed

implies that the site is free of encumbrances and the contractor can occupy the site

The date of the NTP establishes the reference date from which the beginning of the project is calculated

Fast Track

schedule method that starts activities at their ealiest possible time to push subsequent activities up in their execution

Substantial Completion

the date is provided in the contract and represents the earliest day that the owner can use the facility "for its intended purpose"

this date also specifies when liquidated damages will begin

Liquidated Damages

an assessment against the contractor for late completion

intended to compensate the owner for lost revenue, the dates that control this are notice to proceed and substantial completion

Stakeholders in Planning

Owners

Design Team

Builders

Agencies

Providers

Reasons for project changes

People (different owners rep or superintendent)

Societal

Building Codes (every 3 years)

Environmental (Weather)

Unknown Conditions

Uncontrolled changes

Risk Scheduling

All high-risk items should be an activity in your schedule

Link high-risk activities to all affected activities

Delays lead to delays

4 Levels of WBS

Proposal

Pre-Construction

Construction

Look Ahead

Level 1: Proposal

goal is to summarize the overall project for client and management

show start & finish dates for major project phases and milestone and include the project time, goals, and objectives

Level 2: Preconstruction

contain more details for each summary phase based on the level 1 schedule

Level 3: Construction

includes start and finish dates and links for all activities

critical path method is utilized

used as the project baseline for tracking progress

durations should not be longer than 10 days

Milestones

important items to watch that have zero durations (0 days)

May trigger the beginning or end of a phase

Ex: NTP, Dry-In, Substantial Completion, Top-Out, etc.

Information needed to determine a duration

Quantity of Work

Production Rate (Crew sizes, special productivity factor)

Hours per workday

Calculating Duration

Quantity of Work / Production Rate = Work Hours

Work Hours x Productivity Factor = Adjusted WH

Adj. Work Hours / Hours per workday = Activity Duration

Productivity Factor

production rates can be affected by multiple factors

EX: weather, congested space, layout, material handling, crew expertise, safety requirements, complexity, etc.

Activity and/or Tasks

smaller components included in an overall schedule that are identified for the purpose of planning, scheduling, monitoring, and controlling the project

Activities are described in terms of time and will generally consume resources

Duration

the length of time for an activity, series of activities, or a project

Resources

can be people, equipment, or materials

Relationship

Defines how an activity relates to the start or finish of another activity or assignment

4 different types: Finish to Start (FS, basic), Finish to Finish (FF), Start to Start (SS), Start to Finish (SF, not used)

Predecessors

a task that comes before another task and its completion is dependent upon the following tasks start

Successors

A task that comes before another task and is dependent upon the previous task

Float/Slack

the time a task can be delayed without affecting the interdependent tasks dates

Lag

a planned delay between tasks

7 + 1 Forms of Waste

Transportation (excess movement of ppl, tools, inventory)

Inventory (too many materials on site = clutter)

Motion (any unnecessary movement)

Waiting (waiting for something else in order to continue)

Over-processing (unnecessary steps taken during production)

Over-production (more products produced than needed)

Defects (errors or mistakes)

Wasted human potential (most important)

5 principles of LEAN

Define Value

Map the Value Chain

Create Flow

"Pull" Work (just in time, balance crews)

Measure and Perfect

Who should us the last planner system?

owner

architect/ designers

general contractor

specialty contractor

Calendars

assigning them to projects and tasks, defines the working and nonworking days on the project

they also account for weekends, holidays, shifts, special events, weather

Weather Days

There are at least 3 approaches to incorporate weather into your CPM schedule:

1) Incorporate non-workdays into schedule calendar to represent the workdays that might be lost to adverse weather

2)Adding an "adverse weather" activity at the end of project with a duration that equals the # of workdays lost to weather

3) increase durations of weather-sensitive work activities to represent the workdays that might be lost to weather

Calendars by Tasks

some tasks may have different working days than other tasks

create additional calendars for all other schedules

EX: interior trades not impacted by weather, or one crew works (4) 10 hr days or 6 days a week

Pros and Cons of Pre-Fabrication

BIM Coordination, labor shortages, controlled fabrication conditions, LEAN process, schedule enhancements, higher quality, coordinated fabrication

There are no cons besides possibly taking up space

Critical Path

the longest path to complete the project

the longest continuous chain of activities through the network schedule which establishes the minimum overall project duration

summary task

a single line task which summarizes all the tasks indicated within its group

usually shown to indicate the total duration of a phase

Free Float

the amount of time that a task can slip before it impacts the start of the successor task

Letter of Intent

from the owner, indicates selection and acceptance of the proposal and states intent of entering into a suitable contract at a later date

this is used if a burden on the site has not been reconciled or the funding has not been secured later date because of certain activities not being met at the notification time

Variance

the measure of change in a task duration either in a positive or negative connotation

Keys to a Successful Project

1) Get the team together as early as possible

2) Open Communications - Mutual Trust and Respect

3) Early Participation of Subs

4) Budget

5) Schedule

Hierarchy of which documents are more important

UGC (State of TX)

CMR Contract (Texas A&M University)

Schedule Specification from ODR

RFQ/RFP

Five Keys to Successful Temas

1) Established Roles and Responsibilities

2) Defined Goals and Objectives

3) Know the system in which you are working

4) Identify problem and barriers

5) Know your PEOPLE (most important)

Lean Construction

a project operating system used to create value by reducing cost, time, and effort

Muda

Japanese word meaning uselessness, waste, futility

Promised Percent Complete (PPC)

tracking weekly % for individual companies and the team as a whole

to know if we are reliable

to build accountability

Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

to understand why we are not reliable

to stabilize the problems with countermeasures

to ultimately implement preventative measures

Desired Scheduling Outcomes

finish on time

continuous workflow

logical progression of the work

meaningful and timely reporting (communication)

pro-active

accountability and momentum

Gantt Charts

bar charts from early 1900s

activity and/or tasks listed on the left

timeline across the top

bars to show the relationships between tasks

Critical Path Method (CPM) early 1950s

same format as Gantt charts

durations listed in work days

start dates and finish dates in calendar days

includes logical relationships

identification of critical path and float

Microsoft Project

Known as tasks

Primavera P6 = activities

known as activities