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Practice Areas: Construction, Legal Project Management, Scheduling
Delay is the ugly truth on most construction projects. Delays could lead to disputes on who is responsible for them.
This has created the need for forensic planning to assess the true cause of delay (and the responsible party for this
delay) based on project facts.
The terms delay analysis and forensic planning are usually used interchangeably. They describe the techniques
used to analyze the actual delay on the project and forecast the impact of the current delay on project completion
dates.
Delay analysis is analyzing why the delay happened or what the expected impact of an event is. Forensic schedule
analysis refers to the study and investigation of events using CPM or other recognized schedule calculation methods
for potential use in a legal proceeding; the study of how actual events interacted in the context of a complex model
for the purpose of understanding the significance of a specific deviation or series of deviations from some baseline
model and their role in determining the sequence of tasks within the complex network. (AACE International
Recommended Practice No. 29R03 Forensic Schedule Analysis TCM Framework)
The term delay analysis is sometimes confused with time impact analysis. Forensic planning looks into analyzing the
schedule to identify why a delay occurred to the project and how it affects the projects critical path, while time impact
analysis is a one of the techniques used for delay analysis.
There are several delay analysis/forensic planning techniques that can be used. This article will provide a brief
explanation of eachand when each method is best used.
What is the difference between critical path and longest path? The terms are often used interchangeably when
discussing your projects high-priority sequence of work to deliver on time. Its confusing to many, but there is an
important distinction between your projects critical path and the longest path.
A popular definition of critical path: It is the path of zero total float through the project. This is true in the following
conditions:
1. No project deadline
2. No constraints
3. No actuals
However, if any of the conditions above change, it could be the path(s) with the least total float. The longest path is
the longest path; theres no debating that descriptor. It is the path through a project network from start to finish where
the total duration is longer than any other path. It makes sense to focus on a projects longest path as it is definitely
the path where deviations from the plan will affect the projects finish date.
The longest path is a critical path, but not all critical paths are the longest. The projects longest path is the main path
to monitor. What the client wants to see might be something else, but the timely completion of longest path activities
leads to your project finishing on time.
Prospective analyses, which means looking forward to analyze what will happen:
1. Timeimpact analysis
2. Impacted asplanned
Each of these five techniques has it is own characteristics, strengths and weakness:
1. As-Planned vs. As-Built: The most basic method of analysis. It is observationalno changes are made to the
program. It is a straightforward comparison between the planned versus the actual performance of the work. It can
only be carried out retrospectively; requires asbuilt program, or at least the overall asbuilt completion date.
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
2. AsBuilt But For (Collapsed As-Built): It is a retrospective method also known as collapsed asbuilt (CAB). It
relies on a detailed reconstruction of the asbuilt program. It is normally restricted to aftertheevent analyses in
forensic work. It has a limited prospective capability (can be used to demonstrate the effect of a delay on the
completed part of an incomplete project). It has been proven to be reliable in dispute resolution/claims. If done
properly, it can demonstrate effect and cause/takes account of concurrence.
Strengths:
Greatest strength for forensic work is that it is fact based (based on as-build)
Not reliant on an asplanned program
Weaknesses:
3. Windows Analysis: It is a retrospective method also known as time slice. The windows method breaks the
construction period into discrete time increments and examines the effects of the delays attributable to each of the
project participants as the delays occur. It adopts the as-planned schedule as its baseline, but the as-planned
schedule is periodically updated at the end of each planned time period.
Strengths:
Requires significant time and effort since it requires a large amount of information and the schedule needs
to be periodically updated
May not be appropriate for projects that lack strict administrative procedures and updated schedules
Expensive
Contemporaneous basis, but no future changes considered
4. Time Impact Analysis Technique: It is a prospective and dynamic method, but can be applied retrospectively. It
takes account of progress and timing of delay events on the works. It requires reliable asbuilt data to update the
program (hence, if detailed and regular progress data is not available, then this method cannot be used). It is a
reliable baseline program that is essential (ideally reflects the execution of the planned project using sound
construction logic).
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Time consuming (to determine the factual background and correct logic associated with progress records
and delay events)
Requires considerable degree of expertise and technical knowledge
Difficult to communicate, highly complex
5. Impacted As-Planned Technique: It is a prospective methodology. Delay effect is measured by imposing events
on a model of the original program (baseline). It does not rely on any actual progress that has been made. It requires
a robust and reliable original program that reflects the indented sequence and the scope of work.
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Which method is appropriate, correct and suitable? To decide which method should be used, several points should be
taken into consideration:
1. The legal and contractual requirements. What does the jurisdiction or contract require? Is the delay
analysis technique specified? Is the contract silent regarding concurrency? Is the float owner specified in
the contract, or the contract is silent on the issue?
2. What is the information available regarding the project? Is the delay an actual fact, or is it a forecasted
delay? Is there an approved baseline schedule? Are there frequent updates, and are they approved? Is the
asbuilt information available? The lack of information can preclude the use of some of the methods.
3. The time and/or money available to carry out the analysis can also determine which method to use. For
example, if the as-built data is not available and it needs to be recreated, this will require time and cost money,
whichif not availablewould mean that some techniques will be excluded. That is why record keeping
during the project life time is so important. When the project ends, the staff that worked on the project could
either not be available to help recreate the records, orif available and the project was of long durationthe
staff may forget unrecorded details and records.
4. Other issues that can impact selecting a method can include the type of project under analysis, the party
preparing the claim (is it the contractor or the client?) and the stage of the dispute (is the delay analysis
performed at the beginning of the project or during execution or after completion?).