Construction Scheduling Terminology

Vocabulary flashcards covering core project management and construction scheduling concepts, methods, and terminology.

Backward Pass

A scheduling technique used to calculate an activity's late start and late finish.

Critical Path

The longest path through a network diagram schedule that includes those activities that have zero days of float; it determines the overall project duration.

Forward Pass

A scheduling technique used to calculate an activity's early start and early finish; must be completed before the project duration can be determined.

Gantt Chart

A type of bar chart created by Henry Gantt in 1910 that illustrates a project schedule by showing the start and finish dates of various activities of a project.

Network Diagrams

A common type of construction schedule, also called the Critical Path Method (CPM), which depicts a continuous chain of activities showing both activity durations and the relationship of activities; usually uses a precedence diagram scheduling method.

Network Logic

The order in which activities are sequenced in the network diagram relative to their interdependent relationships.

Precedence Diagramming

A graphic presentation of a schedule depicting project activities on a node, with an arrow that depicts the dependencies that exist between the activities.

Short-Interval Schedules

Also called look-ahead schedules, these are typically prepared by superintendents to focus on relatively short periods of time, such as two to six weeks, providing trade contractors with greater detail on specific work areas than the overall project schedule.

Total Float

The amount of leeway available to start or complete an individual schedule activity before it affects the planned project completion.