Title Details

WAYNE J. DEL PICO, CPE, is President of W. J. Del Pico, Inc., which provides construction management, litigation support services for construction-related matters, and construction education. He has more than thirty years of experience in construction project management and estimating and has been involved in projects throughout the United States. His professional experience includes private commercial construction, public construction, retail construction, and residential land development and construction.

Foreword xiii

About the Author xv

Introduction xvii

1 The Basics 1

The Concept of Project Management 1

History of Project Management 2

Approaches to Project Management 3

The Traditional Approach 4

The Initiating Process 4

The Planning Process 5

The Executing Process 6

The Monitoring and Controlling Process 6

The Closing Process 7

Benefits of Proper Planning 8

The Role of the Project Manager 9

Lead the Project Team 10

Create the Project Plan 10

Develop the Project Schedule 11

Monitor the Progress of the Project 11

Control the Project 12

Take Corrective Action 12

Achieve the Project Goals 12

Goals of the Project 12

Contractual Performance Obligations 13

Financial Objectives 13

Prevent or Minimize Delay 13

Avoid Claims or Litigation 14

Control the O?]P?]C Relationship 14

Increase Market Share 14

Role of the Contract Documents 15

Study the Plans and Specifications 15

Identify Discrepancies Early 16

Visit the Project Site 16

Understand the Project Constraints 16

Determine Potential Problem Areas 17

Understand Contract Procedures 17

The Schedule and Budget 18

Summary 18

2 Introduction to Project Control 19

Overview of Project Control 19

Project Control Terminology 21

Project Control Formulas 30

The Project Control Cycle 30

Plan to Achieve Goals 31

Execute Work According to Plan 32

Measure the Progress 32

Identify Variations 32

Analyze Cause of Variations 32

Implement Corrective Actions 33

Execute Work and Measure Changes 33

Summary 34

3 Pre?]Construction Planning 35

Initiating the Control Process 35

Pre?]Construction Planning 36

Key Personnel and Responsibilities 38

The Contractor’s Group 38

The Design Professional’s Group 42

Owner’s Group 43

Regulatory Group 44

The Plan—the Roadmap 45

Establishing a Baseline for Schedule Control 47

Establishing a Baseline for Cost Control 48

The Communication Plan 49

Summary 50

4 The Schedule 53

Basic Scheduling Concepts 53

Types of Schedules 54

The Checklist 54

The Schedule Board 56

The Bar Chart 56

The Look Ahead 57

The Linear Schedule 57

Advanced Scheduling Methods 58

Program Evaluation and Review Technique 58

Critical Path Method (CPM) 59

The CPM Schedule as a Management Tool 59

Tasks 60

The Work Breakdown Structure 60

Task Types 61

Task Descriptions 63

Task Durations 63

Interdependencies 67

Complex Relationships—Lags and Leads 68

Milestones and Constraints 70

Float 71

Updating the Schedule 72

Summary 73

5 The Budget 75

Fundamentals of the Estimating Process 75

Types of Estimates 77

Organization of Estimates 77

The Budget 83

Deconstructing the Estimate to Build the Budget 87

Project Cost Report 91

The Budget as a Management Tool 91

Summary 92

6 Integrating the Schedule and the Budget 93

Schedule of Values 93

Matching Cost Values to Tasks 96

Planned vs. Actual Values 99

Summary 102

7 Calculating and Analyzing Progress 103

Measuring Performance 103

Units Completed 103

Incremental Milestone 104

Start/Finish 105

Cost Ratio 105

Experience/Opinion 105

Weighted or Equivalent Units 106

Earned Value 107

Fixed Budget Approach 107

Variable Budget Approach 108

Choosing a Fixed or Variable Approach 109

Schedule and Cost Performance 110

Summary 114

8 Analyzing and Reporting Variances in Schedule and Cost 115

Understanding Project Analyses 115

S?]Curves 115

Tracking Gantt Chart 120

Control Charts 121

SPI and CPI Charts 122

Causes of Variances 123

Cost Variances 124

Schedule Variances 124

Variance Thresholds 125

Root Cause Analysis 127

Reporting Project Status 129

Summary 132

9 Recognizing Trends and Forecasting Performance 133

Recognizing Trends 133

Using Trends to Forecast 136

Estimate at Completion 136

Estimate to Complete 137

Variance at Completion 138

To?]Complete Performance Index 138

Project Percentage Analysis 140

Summary 141

10 Productivity 143

Understanding Productivity 143

Productivity Index 144

Factors Affecting Construction Productivity 145

Controllable Factors Affecting Productivity 146

Uncontrollable Factors Affecting Productivity 146

Recommendations for Improving Productivity 147

Summary 148

11 Acceleration and Schedule Compression 149

Acceleration 149

Actual Acceleration 150

Constructive Acceleration 150

Forced Acceleration 151

Schedule Compression 152

Time?]Cost Trade?]off Analysis 153

Time?]Cost Trade?]off Concepts 154

Recovery Schedule 158

Summary 159

12 Resource Management 161

Resources 161

Resource Allocation 162

Resource Management 163

Resource Profile 164

Splitting Tasks 166

Material Management 167

Material Management in Practice 168

Summary 169

13 Risk Management 171

Components of Risk Management 171

Risk Identification 172

Risk Assessment 172

Risk Response Plan 175

Risk Response Control 177

Risk Contingency Planning 178

Contingency Plan Funding 178

Probability Analysis 179

Contract Modifications and Impact on Risk 186

Summary 187

14 Project Closeout 189

Initiation of Project Closeout 189

Objectives of the Closeout Process 190

Contract Closeout 191

Administrative Closeout 192

Archiving Project Files 192

Lessons Learned Meeting 193

Lessons Learned Documentation 194

Project Closeout Report 195

Summary 195

Appendix A Practice Review Questions 197

Appendix B Answers to Practice Review Questions 205

Index 215