Programming and Planning Flashcards
What is the difference between Total, Terminal and Free Float?
- Total float is the amount of time an activity can be delayed before affecting the overall project end date
- Terminal float is difference between the planned completion date and the practical completion date.
- Free float is the amount of time an activity can be delayed before affecting a subsequent activity
What is the Critical Path?
Identifies the longest route from start to completion and has no float.
This determines the earliest the project can be completed.
It is the most efficient duration of the programme
Critical path activities have no float. If critical path activities are delayed, they will lead to a delay to the overall completion of the project.
Explain Earned Value
Earned Value looks at the value earned by the project by a point in time. Two key metrics are the Schedule Performance Index and the Cost Performance Index (SPI and CPI)
How do you create a programme?
- Scope of programme
- WBS
- Plug in constraints
- Fill in what I know
- Consult wider team
- Add risk and opportunity
- Run analysis of scenarios
- Identify the CP
- Identify assumptions
How can you show progress on a programme?
- Drop line
- % Complete metrics
- Jagged drop line
What are some alternatives to a Gantt Chart?
- Network Diagrams
- WBS
- Kanban board/task list
- Sprint cycles
What is the difference between resource levelling and resource smoothing?
Both are used to avoid peaks and troughs, but:
Levelling = when resources are constrained, what is the programme going to be?
Smoothing = when time is constrained, can resources be smoothed out to achieve the end date? I.e. delay some tasks to get the CP done.
What are the RIBA Stages of Work?
Stage 0: Strategic Definition
Stage 1: Preparation and Brief
Stage 2: Concept Design
Stage 3: Spatial Coordination
Stage 4: Technical Design
Stage 5: Construction
Stage 6: Handover
Stage 7: In Use
What is a programme?
A tool used to identify activities, their phasing and sequencing.
The programme is used to both plan work and monitor progress and identifies the sequence of activities that need to happen to complete a project.
What information does a programme show?
- Activities, sequencing and activity duration
- Task dependencies
- Milestones
- Float and lag
- Critical path
- Actual start / finish date
- Start / finish dates of each task
- Can be used to predict cashflow and resource requirement
How do you monitor progress?
- Programme software such as MS Project, P6
- Review photos and position on site
What is programme float?
Float is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the subsequent activity or critical path.
What are milestones?
- A project milestone is a task of zero duration that shows an important achievement in a project.
- They can signify when certain goals are achieved for example site on site or planning permission granted
What are some different forms of programmes?
- Gannt charts
- Flow diagrams
- Activity schedules
- Excel schedules
What are the different types of programme that can be used on a project?
- Master programme
- Design programme
- Strategic programme
- Construction programme
What does WBS stand for?
Work breakdown structure.
WBS is a deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables.
Each descending level represents an increasingly detailed definition of the project work.
What is a Gantt chart?
A visual representation of tasks over time.
Start with a WBS then allocate time to each task.
What is a master programme?
A high level summary programme including high level details of all aspects of the project.
What is a concurrent delay?
- Two or more delays caused by different parties occur independently of each other but during the same period and it affects the critical path
- Or, where the events may have happened at different times, but their effects (at least in part) are felt concurrently
What is time at large?
- Construction contracts will usually include a date by which the works described in the contract should be completed. This is generally the date by which completion must be certified.
- The phrase ‘time at large’ describes the situation where there is no date for completion, or where the date for completion has become invalid. The contractor is then no longer bound by the obligation to complete the works by a certain date.
- Time can become at large because there is no completion date specified in the contract, or can be a situation that arises as a result of events (typically by agreement of the parties or by failure of the contract ‘machinery’), or if the contract does not allow the construction period to be extended.
What is your responsibility to monitor programmes under different contracts?
- JCT only date to meet is the Completion Date and any relevant Sectional Completion Dates
- NEC requirement to monitor against each activity completion date
Why assign resources to tasks?
- Assigning resources such as plant and labour to each task allows a resource profile to built, determining the resource requirements of the project.
- Several tasks may well overlap, which use the same resources, resulting in a greater number needing to be used at one time than is actually available.
How do you put together a programme?
- Understand the purpose of the programme and the level of detail required
- Identify all tasks to be completed, project deliverables & contractual / key milestones
- Assign durations
- Use arrow links to determine interdependencies / constraints (identifies order of tasks)
- Arrange tasks accordingly into summaries e.g. Feasibility, Design Stage, Pre-Construction, Construction, Post Construction
- Identify float and critical path
- Monitor and review
Name some alternative methods to a Gantt chart?
- Flow chart diagram with sequence tasks
- Activity schedules
- Excel schedules
