Professor Jean-Daniel Saphores AIRB Room 4028, 824-7334, saphores@uci.edu. Teaching Assistant: Ankoor Bhagat (abhagat@uci.edu).

Spring 2012

EngrCEE 110 METHODS III: MODELING, ECONOMICS, AND MANAGEMENT

Class Project [Homework 6] Due Monday, June 11th at noon in CEE (no exception).
Attached is information about a construction case study as reported in Project Management: Principles and Practices by M. Pete Spinner (Prentice Hall, 1997). This information includes the project Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and an ADM schedule. Input all tasks into MSProject and answer the questions below after reading the text carefully. Full credit=36 points (up to 4 bonus points as the maximum number of points is 40). For full credit, you must give explanations for your answers and provide a printout of your work in MSProject. 1. [10 points] Find the critical path for the project. What is the total project completion time? 2. [10 points] The present construction plan allows for completion of the project on February 10, 1997. The City of Southfork has asked the contractor, Lawrence Construction Co. (LCC), to reduce the completion time by two weeks. What changes could be implemented to reduce project duration? Hint: Some critical tasks could be split in two and preformed concurrently with other activities. For example, three weeks of painting could be done while woodwork is being completed. Use your engineering judgment. 3. On March 18, Nardan Constructors, one of the contractors, informs LCC that the following activities will be finished later than originally planned: Build floor forms will now be finished on April 20, 1996. Install underground piping and electrical will now be finished on May 24, 1996. a) [4 points] If LCC simply accepts these changes, what will the new project date and duration be? b) [6 points] To keep the whole project on schedule, however, LCC would like to reassess its plans. What activities could be performed faster in order to complete the project within the initial time frame? 4. When planning for personnel requirements for this project, LCC believes that supplying carpenters may be a problem for May 4th to August 8th (laborers, carpenters, and electricians are a resource for MSProject). a) [6 points] Assuming that all activities start at their EST, prepare a report on the carpenters workload from May 4th to August 8th. b) [4 points] If six carpenters are available for the project, will they be able to handle the workload? Will they need to work overtime? Justify your answer.

BACKGROUND: SOUTHFORK CONSTRUCTION PROJECT The City of Southfork plans to construct a building addition to the library building at its CIVIC center. The addition consists of a 50,000-square-foot structure with exterior and interior characteristics similar to those of the main building. Southfork has already retained S&E Associates, an architectural and engineering firm, to prepare the construction drawings, specifications, and bid documents. The city awarded the construction manager contract to Lawrence Construction Company (LCC) for a not-to-exceed price of $4,450,000. Besides the construction manager fees, the contract provides funds to furnish labor, material, and equipment to complete the project. An exception to this contract is a provision that the City of Southfork will furnish several major long-term delivery building equipment items. This type of arrangement is necessary for timely shipments of any critical items to avoid jeopardizing the construction schedule. A separate responsibility of this nature may be awkward-how to accept shipment at the job site, problems associated with defects, potential uncoordinated responsibilities-and all of these require special details in the specifications S&E, which will be designing the long-term equipment, will also assume responsibility for preparing the purchase order documents, processing the order, and coordinating the fabrication process and shipment to the job site. To complete the long-term equipment installation, S&E will include in the specifications that the successful contractor (LCC) will be responsible for acceptance of this equipment and be accountable for proper installation and tryout. Terms of the contract provide for construction to start March 4, 1996 and finish by February 10, 1997, when the city of Southfork will begin occupancy. PLANNING THE PROJECT Under the terms of the contract, LCC will provide a detailed plan of action to satisfy the City of Southfork that the operational plan meets the city's objectives. To administer the project, LCC has divided it into three phases: planning, scheduling, and controlling. The planning phase has three main steps: 1. Establish project objectives. 2. Develop the project plan. 3. Prepare the project planning diagram The Project Objectives After reviewing proposals on the major work divisions to be done, LCC selected the following contractors: Contractor Nardan Constructors Kanes Steel Beede Builders Major Work Responsibilities . Excavation, concrete Structural steel, roofing and siding Building exterior, building interiors, cleanup and approval

At the initial organizational meeting, LCC reviews the main timing and cost objectives set by the City of Southfork: Start project March 4, 1996 Complete project; building ready for occupancy February 10, 1997 Authorized budget Not to exceed: $4,450,000
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Using the starting and completion dates as the base, LCC and the designated contractors set up the interim objectives or milestones. Milestones are defined as the significant events to be achieved before meeting the main objectives. The milestones set with the responsible contractors are as follows: Milestone Start project Excavation Concrete Structural steel Roofing Building exterior Building interiors Cleanup and approval Complete project Contractor LCC Nardan Nardan Kanes Kanes Beede Beede Beede LCC Start 3/4/96 3/4/96 3/4/96 3/4/96 6/17/96 3/4/96 7/29/96 12/16/96 -Complete -5/20/96 6/17/96 7/29/96 9/07/96 10/04/96 12/16/96 2/10/97 2/10/97

The Plan of Action The plan of action is made up of the activities needed to meet the project's objectives and milestones. When all the contractors make up a list of the activities needed to complete their work, the construction manager will organize them in a logical sequence to prepare a project planning diagram. The completed diagram will supply the necessary input data to produce the computerized time and cost schedules. Added to the time and cost information will be resource planning data, also identified on the diagram, for generating the construction labor/personnel loadings. The steps leading to construction of the project planning diagram using the project management approach are as follows: 1. List the important activities. 2. Develop the work breakdown structure (WBS). 3. List the personnel/Iabor required to complete each activity. 4. Identify personnel/labor costs, material and other costs to complete each activity.
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Work Breakdown Structure. Figure 9.2 shows a completed WBS for the Southfork Building Project. The WBS is a format that the contractors use to identify and organize the activities necessary to complete a project. It is an excellent way to show the role of the significant activities. It also helps point out any omissions or duplications before they cause schedule inaccuracies. Preparing the WBS for many projects is difficult and tedious. Nonetheless, when completed, it proves most rewarding as the process compels the participants to think through their project. There are varying styles of WBS formats which will show the responsibilities and/or resources with each activity. This may be a more desirable option for reporting purposes. Those not familiar with network diagramming might prefer to review the organizational charting used in the WBS format. They could be confused with the appearance of a project panning diagram and uncertain of its purpose. Regardless, identifying all the data on the project planning diagram is important for preparation for computer analysis. The Project Planning Diagram. Once the WBS has been completed to the mutual satisfaction of the construction manager and the contractors, they investigate the relationships of the activities it shows. Each contractor examines its own activities, determines how they are connected, and then prepares a preliminary diagram (or subdiagram) as shown in Figure 9.3. Once each contractor has completed its respective subdiagram and reviewed it with the construction manager, there will be a joint meeting among all of the contractors to investigate the relationships among all of their work activities. Figure 9 4 shows the completed subdiagram of this effort. Preparing subdiagrams will simplify constructing the final project plan. Constructing the final project plan diagram, using the stated rules of arrow diagramming, gives an accurate portrayal of the project. Added to this diagram will be the costs and resources required for each individual activity. The construction manager will test the validity of the costs, resources, and timing estimates while the contractors are completing the final project plan. Figure 9.5 shows the completed project planning diagram for the Southfork Building Project with durations, costs, and resources of each activity. After reviews and approvals of the project planning diagram, the data is now available to develop the computerized schedule. While most software programs can generate schedule reports showing the timing and required resources using data entered from the planning diagram, few can effectively draw a thorough, logical plan structured in the desired WBS form. Drawing it manually or with computer-aided design (CAD) provides a clear, concise, workable plan. The quality of computer graphics used to display a project diagram is improving; eventually, it will likely meet the required standards. THE PROJECT SCHEDULE The scheduling phase concerns when the w& will be done. The scheduling techniques used will give LCC and the contractors useful timing information by: Establishing a supportable project duration for the plan Identifying the critical activities that make up the critical path through the project Identifying the activities where schedules can be altered without affecting the project duration

Project Time Estimates Time estimates are the basis of project scheduling. To eliminate any potential inconsistencies, LCC and the contractors jointly prepared time estimates needed to complete the activities in the project. Their knowledge of their own work is the key to achieving acceptable estimates. They had to ensure that contingency factors that contractors would want to include in their estimates for unforeseen conditions did not become excessive. The time estimating process can also become a series of compromises among the contractors. The "give and take" discussions continue until all parties are in accord. The acceptable time estimates finally decided upon were placed below each activity arrow on the approved planning diagram. Manual Timing Before using computer scheduling programs, LCC will use certain parts of the manual scheduling method for several quick timing checks. This is a quick way to determine if the project duration (as defined by the objectives) conforms with the timing data shown on the project planning diagram. Calculating the earliest start times of each project activity will give an immediate estimate of project duration. It will also acquaint those working on the project with the analysis and logic used in scheduling projects by this technique. Figure 9.6 illustrates these efforts. It displays the estimates and earliest start calculations for the activities on the project planning diagram that produce the acceptable project duration date. Also shown is the project duration, which is the earliest start time of the last activity of the project. It is 47 weeks from the March 4, 1996 start date (using a calendar or the date calculator, that would be February 10, 1997). Manual scheduling may be used when (1) computer time is restricted, or (2) using a computer is not feasible for scheduling small projects. It is important to understand both manual schedule calculations and computerized scheduling. Use whatever method requires the least time and effort to validate the main objectives before starting the larger scheduling task. If the calculated project duration is not acceptable, then keep adjusting estimates and the logic until the timing objectives of the project are satisfied.

Figure 9.2: Work Breakdown Structure for the Southfork Building Project.

Figure 9.3: Connections among each contractor s activities

Figure 9.4: Interrelationships among contractors.

Figure 9.5: Completed Planning Diagram.

Figure 9.6: Earliest start times.

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