Do you review the actual performance of work that was driving the Critical Path at the start of this update period?
Do you know if the Critical Path work for this update period was completed as planned, delayed, or maybe even completed ahead of schedule?
Figure 1 – Current Update Critical Path
The current progress update may model the project finishing on time, but this doesn’t mean the work on the Critical Path was adequate. Without comparing the current progress update as-built data to the previous period progress update Critical Path, we cannot know if the progress was completed as planned or if there was work slippage.
Figure 2 – Current Update Completed Activities
Reviewing the Critical Path actual progress for the current update period is well, critical!
There are several ways to accomplish this. This article will provide one option you can request your contractor use to provide a simple comparison. This doesn’t take much time and is simple for them to do.
Ask your contractor for a Critical Path layout with current data based on the previous period progress update schedule (This will need to be done using the previous period progress update schedule in Primavera P6).
The contractor simply copies the current progress update schedule and then imports it as a baseline to the previous period progress update schedule.
Figure 3 – Copy Current Period Update Schedule
Figure 4 – Import Current Period Update Schedule into Previous Period Update Schedule
The contractor can then show the baseline bars on the Gantt Chart.
Figure 5 – Previous Period Update Schedule with Current Period Actual Progress Shown
This will allow you to look at the previous period progress update schedule Critical Path and see the bars representing the actual progress based on the current period progress update actual data. You can quickly see how the work performed this period. This will help you make informed decisions when addressing project completion slippage and show your contractor you are serious about using the project schedule as the management tool it was developed to be used as.
Do this every update and you will know exactly how the planned Critical Path work actually progressed through the project.
Plan your schedule…
Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP
Paul has extensive experience as a Construction Manager. Over time, he became convinced that there is a critical shortage of skilled planning and scheduling professionals in our industry. In 2009, he backed away from his work as a Construction Manager and began focusing on planning and scheduling. He now serves our industry as a subject matter expert in this area.
You can visit Paul’s LinkedIn account to learn more about him and his website is http://www.conschmanservices.com