PROJECT PLANNING AND CONTROL

Assignment

A New International cricket facility is to be constructed outside a mega city over a piece of land. Facility to include:

1. Capacity of Spectators : 80,000
2. day/Night play facility
3. TV Camera platform in six directions
4. Safety of players from spectators
5. Pavilion for VIPs to sit : 300 seat
6. Parking (adequate space for all above)

Time available is 16 months including monsoon. Cost of construction need to be recovered in 5 years. Average cost of Ticket is 100/-. Approximate 4 matches per year.

Submit the Project Report:
1. Identification of Project
2. stages in development of Project
3. work break down structure to undertake the project
4. Milestone and CPM chart for corporate control
5. Cost of project.

PROJECT IDENTIFICATION

The primary thing about the any project is its necessity as well as its feasibility. Now the necessity of the project like a cricket stadium is created by the people of the city as well as a mega city demands a cricket stadium in its vicinity. The feasibility demands a deep thought like for a location of stadium i.e.

(a) Where can the plant be located?
(b) What is the present and future projected cost of resources?
(c) The sources for Financing of the project?
(d) Are there enough raw materials as well as skilled and productive labour available in the area or can be created?
(e) Are there adequate electricity and communication facilities available?
(f) What political or institutional factors may cease or impede the development and operation of the facility?
(g) What will be the sociological, economical and environmental impact of entire project on community, like mushrooming of good hotels and restaurant in the vicinity of the stadium?

In short, what do all these factors taken as a whole mean for the technical and economic feasibility of the project?
The project can be defined as,” Organization and performance of resources such as men, machinery, money, material, space, and technology into logical sequence of activities.’’ So, when we deal with the project, we are primarily dealing with resources like time, money, equipment, technology, space usage, material and last but not least people. We have to organize these resources and platform activities in their logical sequence to complete the project. So one thing must be clear in one’s mind that whether it is to construct a small house or to construct a cricket stadium costing several crores of rupees or any other multi crore project of construction of Dam etc. the general pattern remains same.

Projects are usually a part of an overall strategic programme. A programme at the micro level comprise one or more projects. A programme is managed in a co-coordinated way to achieve its overall objectives through the implementation of its projects. 

Project Report

Project report is a basis for communicating what has been planned for the project. In this project I have assumed the site in Punjab as there is no other such type of facility is available yet. Following are some important points for the report;

• Feasibility of the project is to the calculations 
• Internal money of the state would remain with in the limits. 
• City itself is an attractive place.

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

From conceptualization to implementation the stages in the development of construction projects fall into broadly consistent patterns but in timing and degree of emphasis each project takes on its own a unique character. 

Conceptualization

Most projects start with a need to have a new facility long before designers start preparing designs and drawings of the projects and certainly before field construction work can commence. Considerable thought goes into broad scale planning. Elements of this phase include
(a) Conceptual analysis
(b) Technical and feasibility studies
(c) Environmental impact reports

Engineering and design

Architects and design engineers primarily handle these phases. Increasingly, however, the client operation and utilization of Knowledge and field constructors’ experience are more strongly injected at this stage through direct participation and stringent review procedures. There are two phase of engineering and design:

(i) Preliminary engineering and design
(ii) Detailed engineering and design 

(i) Preliminary engineering and design stages

(a) Architectural concepts, like form of the stadium, capacity of the stadium, functions fully filled state of the all art facilities etc.
 (b) Evaluation of alternatives in regard to the ecological process, size and capacity.
 (c) Economic feasibility studies : For instance of a high – rise building, the owner specifies the area he would like to utilize. So, Architect will make preliminary planning of floor of the building required, taking into consideration all the prevailing laws of the area. He will also go through requirement of general functional areas such as parking and service areas and also overall design approach. Similar is the case of cricket stadium, here architect will make preliminary planning for general site lay – out , form of the stadium keeping in mind the sitting facility , day- night facility with proper camera platform , proper entrances and exits for the manual as well as vehicular traffic with adequate parking facilities etc. 

 (ii) Detailed Engineering and Design

The process involves successively breaking down, of the project in to the parts that is the different type engineering requirements such as structural design, HVAC, Electrical plumbing & other services for analyzing and designing the structure in to its elements so that it complies with all the recognized standards of safety and performance. This is most important for a project like stadium where people are very large in number and secondly due to the structure of the stadium which should be column free and light weight as well as sound in aesthetic sense . so , a set of drawing and specifications are prepared for use by the constructors covering civil, electrical , mechanical , interior drawings etc. as the case may be. 

Procurement

Procurement involves two types of activities. One is to contract and subcontract to several parties for different types of work activities. These contractors and subcontracts make arrangements or supply of all men, materials and machines required to complete the part of the work allotted to them . The other is to take responsibility to procure all resources to complete the project. 

Construction

It is the process whereby the Designer’s plans and specifications are converted into physical structures and facilities. It involves the organization and co-ordination of all the resources time, money, material, technology, people, equipment etc. The target will be to complete the project on schedule and within stipulated costs complying all the standards of quality and performance specified by the designers, as in this case the total time allotted is 16 months including monsoon period.

 Commission

Most structures and facilities of any significance involve commissioning phase . During construction large amount of testing is done, so as to be sure that all components function will individually and together as a total system. Electrical and mechanical systems are tested, adjusted, corrected as required to bring them to a level to perform at an optimum output, like in this case of stadium having a day/night facility all the electrical systems are tested repeatedly and it should match the international standards. 

Maintenance

This is the phase where we need maximum attention and here we lack which is the main cause for the failure of the project. For instance PCA stadium, Mohali that is a state of the art cricket stadium but there is no regular maintenance, but whenever there is a much of international standards a huge amount of money is expended for its renovation like 85lakh rupees were spend for the test match between India and England, so whenever the project is handed over to the owner either to operate or utilize where he takes services of all production engineers, maintenance engineers, service people and people of different trades as required to have a smooth functioning of the project over its lifetime.

PROJECT PLANNING & CONTROL

The construction planning process is stimulated through a study of project documents. These documents include- but are not limited to the available technical and commercial studies and investigations design and drawings, estimate of quantities, construction methed statements, project planning data, contract documents, site conditions, working regulations, market survey, local resources, project environment and the client’s organization. The planning process take in to the account the strength and weakness of the organization as well as the anticipated opportunities and risks.

(i) Planning is the creative and demanding mental activity of working out what has to be done, how , by when, by whom and with what – ‘ doing the job in the mind .’ plans are not just pieces of paper . Plans represent the result of careful though, comprehensive discussions, decisions and actions, and commitments made between people and contractual parties.

(ii) Planning techniques form the planner’s toolbox. They assist in the analysis of the plan, organizing the information, and have a crucial effect on the way in which the plan is communicated to others. Taken together, these to elements of planning produce “the plan” a strategy and tactics for the execution of the project. In terms of activities, time quantities, resources and perhaps costs and values, now the point is how and by whom this planning and planning techniques use to convert all these theories of planning and planning techniques in to a practical shape. Planners cannot plan without managers. It is the manager’s task to plan: that is to decide on strategies and tactics, to break down the work to be done into tasks and sub-tasks and to assign the responsibility for completing these tasks to individuals or organization. So in short, planners and implementers should go side by side for any project and act as a team. 

CONTROL

Planning can be described as a process of thinking in advance. It is based on experience, sound judgment and some quantitative techniques. It deals with the future and as such there are bound to be uncertainties, which may cause deviations from the target proposed to be achieved. So, one should not hope that everything will be fine, because plans and schedules do not work by themselves. It is rightly said that we must plan the work first and then work the plan. So for working the plans and schedules effective controlling is necessary. “Planning is looking forward while controlling is looking back.”

Project Control covers:-
(i) Deviation: Deviations occur due to following reasons 

While doing original planning and scheduling activity duration might have been over estimated or under estimated.
1. Some activities are delayed due to reasons beyond control like change in foundation condition, bad weather, monsoon as in this case, non availability of certain resources, labour strike, break down of equipment etc. So covering these risks the total time allotted to complete the cricket stadium is 16 months.
2. Natural calamities like floods, earthquakes, epidemic etc., festivals etc.
3. Addition deletion or major modification in the work by client.
4. Introduction of new material, equipment or construction techniques. It is necessary to review the actual progress against the predetermined targets. By assessing the reasons of deviations and decide whether a new network is necessary for the remaining work. If not, what is the effect of this deviation on the remaining portion or what remedial actions are possible to retain the target date of completion unchanged.

Updating Network

It consists of review of the planning and scheduling at regular intervals. But for that updating, the information required will be, period at which review is taken either in terms of days or weeks. List of activities completed and partially completed with the period required to complete the balance of the activity etc. Now after getting the required updating should be done at regular intervals, which depends upon magnitude of work, rate of progress etc. At short intervals as the scope of absorbing delays is limited as the period advances, for small projects. At certain stages such as foundation level, plinth level, sub structure and super structure etc. Whenever new techniques or equipment are available , when work has stopped for a long period for some reasons the updating of a project also helps in rescheduling of the activities which are delayed or lagging behind so that the project can be completed within the stipulated time. 

Calendaring the Network

While preparing the network we consider the working days while on work sits there will be holidays such as weekly of day, festivals etc. these holidays have therefore to be incorporated in calendaring the network. 

Cost control

 Project control must be linked up with the cost. The objectives of the cost control are the method must give the program of expenditure so that requirements of fund can be assessed. At the time of review we should have a clear picture of , actual expenditure incurred vis-à-vis program expenditure, actual expenditure vis- a vis the expected returns. In case deviations, what are the reasons and what will be the estimated cost of remaining portion of the work . Improper Cost estimation & Controlling can bring a project to a stand still , if the project is under budgeted the project will be stopped mid way , similarly proper planning is to be done stage wise requirement of the funds for the various stages of the project & the sources for the same 

PROJECT WORK BREAKDOWN

Project work breakdown is the division of the project into the small Identifiable activities or events with some milestones also. These activities are also called as levels, which can be classified very well. For instance the activities of the cricket stadium are:

Pre Construction Phase

- Selection of land
- Preliminary design
- Final design & preparation of working drawings
- Selection of the vendors for the execution of the work & supply of equipments & materials

Construction Phase

- Demarcation of the field area.
- Construction of foundation for the stands and other sitting areas.
- Construction of boundary walls.
- Construction of steps with proper risers.
- Construction of roof.
- Provisions of services application of wall, floor and ceiling finish.
- Completion of electrical and mechanical works.
- External works: drainage etc.
- Parking facility etc.
- Structure for Lights.
- Road work.

Commissioning & Handing Over.

- Testing & Commissioning of the Electrical Equipments.
- Testing & Commissioning of the HVAC system.
- Testing & Commissioning of the other services such as Fire Fighting, security system, fire detection system etc.
- Final Handing over of the facility to the client. 

Work Breakdown Methodology

The project is divided into activities and events. In the preparation of the network for the project, the arrows indicate the activities and events are identifiable instantaneous stages they are represented as Nodes in a network. So, arrows of the network are joined in accordance with the interdependence of the activities, which they represent. In small and simple work this interrelationship is obvious but in a large project it is necessary to establish it systematically. The Work Breakdown Break Methodology involves the breaking down of the project into Major activities involved & further these activities are broken into further smaller activities & so on. The interrelationship of the dependent activities is worked out & a sequence of the execution of the activities involved is prepared, this interrelationship is represented in the graphical from & is called as network. This project can be broken down into activities as Civil work, Electrical work, Plumbing work etc., further the Civil work can be further broken down into Foundation work, Superstructure work, Road work etc., similarly the foundation work can be broken down into layout, excavation, PCC, RCC etc & further these works can be fragmented as RCC work will involve the following activities
- Preparation of form work.
- Cutting , bending , laying& binding of steel.
- Pouring of concrete.
- Curing.
- Removing of shuttering.

PART OF A WORK BREAK DOWN STRUCTURE

Assessing Duration

Once the Work Breakdown structure is formed, all the activities are assigned time duration and logically interrelationship of activities is formed as the following activity can start how many days after the preceding activity

How to evaluate the total time taken to complete the project? In construction work, estimates of activity duration cannot be anything other than approximation. In repetitive construction where the activities and trades follow in sequence, any delayed in the planned completion of an activity will result in the following trades waiting unproductively for its completion. Therefore it is prudent to make some provision for late completion by planning a short delay or buffer between each activity. For example in this case of cricket stadium , the monsoon period can delayed the project to complete according to its actual planned completion so that’s why covering the risks there is a provision for late completion by planning a short delay or buffer between each activity. So, 16 months of time to complete the stadium covers the short delay (either natural or due to human failure) as well as a little buffer between each activity.

Now what is this buffer stands for? The estimate of buffer time is related to the project manager’s assessment of the reliability of the estimate of activity duration ; where the reliability is poor , large buffer must be used . Taking the case of foundation of a simple house,

Activity; Foundation ---------------time taken 5 days
Buffer time ---------------time 2 days
Total time taken = 7 days .

So, project manager assess the total time for foundation as 7 days (not 5 days) including the delay period or buffer time .

Costing activity

The discussion above considered only the direct cost of activity (or project ). Actually activity ( project ) cost consists of direct and indirect costs. These comprise of the following components;

(a) Direct cost: 

(i) Cost of material
(ii) Wages paid to labor
(iii) Expenditure on tools and equipment used on the activity.

(b) Indirect cost: 

(i) Supervision charges
(ii) Administrative charges
(iii) Interest n capital
(iv) Revenue due to early completion of work and loss due to delay.

Indirect costs is worked out per day of the project execution or it is allocated on the basis of certain stages of work packages e.g. foundation, sill level, lintel level in the case of building or foundations substructure super structure, approaches etc.

Indirect cost increases as duration increase and direct cost goes on decreasing as duration increases. Now in this case of cricket stadium given data,

(i) Capacity of spectators 80,000
(ii) Capacity of V.I.P stands 300
(iii) Time available 16 months (including monsoons)
(iv) Cost of construction to be recovered in 5 year
(v) Average cost of ticket is Rs.100
(vi)Approximate matches in a year is 4

So, total cost of the project:

Total earning of tickets for a single match if pack to full capacity =80,000 X 100
(Excluding any other earning received from sponsors or telecast right)=80, 00,000/-
Total earning in a year having 4 matches per year
=80, 00, 000 X 4 =3, 20, 00,000/-

Now as given earlier that the cost of construction to be recovered in 5 years,
So, total cost of the stadium =3, 20, 00,000 X 5 =16, 00, 00,000/-

So, a total cost of construction of stadium is nearly 16crores and total time taken to complete is in 16 month duration.

After the preliminary planning of the project the detailed estimates of the cost is prepared for the project which involves the land costs, project construction cost, fee for the consultants, indirect cost such as supervision cost, administration cost etc. 

CPM/ NETWORK ANALYSIS

Network elements

Network is defined as the pictorial representation of the activities of a given project in the form of arrows, which form an essential element of network. Arrow represents an activity, task of operation of the work since activity consumes resources. Arrow has a directional sense, which can be represented by an arrow head it is used to indicate the general direction of flow of work. It is conventional to show arrows directing from left to right. Tail of arrow indicates the start of the activity and its had indicates the completion of the activity. Beginning of completion of an activity marks a phase or stage of work. This is represented by a suitable geometrical figure like circle, triangle and rectangle. This is known as event. Events naturally do not consume any resource by itself. There is another type of activities, which do not require any resources and which are basically imaging activities called dummy activities, these activities only show the interdependency of the activities but doesn’t consume any resource.

Development of network:

Network can be developed in two ways,

(i) Preceding and following activities:
Some activities cannot be started unless certain activities are completed. For e.g. excavation of foundation must be completed before foundation concrete is poured. These types of activities are known as sequential activities

(ii) Concurrent activities:
a few activities can be carried out concurrently. For e.g. excavation for foundation of four walls of a room can be started simultaneously. Let us take the case of erecting steel framework (for lightning) on cement concrete foundation in a cricket ground, the following operations are identified in the network:

• Clearing and leveling the site. 
• Giving lineout. 
• Procuring material for concrete. 
• Procuring steel for foundation. 
• Excavation-1 
• Excavation-2 
• Formwork foundation steel -1 
• Formwork foundation steel -2 
• Concreting-1 
• Concreting-2 
• Backfilling-1 
• Backfilling-2 
• Erection & painting of steel work 
• Clearing & leveling site 
• Preparation of ground& pitch 

These are the general activities for the development of Master Control Network (MCN), however we can divide each activity in to sub activity to develop a sub- network .e.g. concreting can be divided as conc. In foundation, in boundary wall, in superstructure etc. the activities of excavation, formwork, concreting and backfilling are divided in to two parts to make these activities concurrent to further reduce the time o completion and thus cost.

The logic table is as shown below:

Activity no	Activities description	duration	Preceding activity	Following activity	Concurrent Activity
A	Site clearing & leveling	30		B	C
B	Layout	15	B	D	C
C	Procurement of material	180		V
D	Excavation for foundation	45	B	E,L
E	Foundation work	60	D	F,H,I,J	L
F	Waterproofing	21	E	G	H,I,J,M
G	backfilling	15	F	X
H	Construction of boundary walls	90	E	S	F,I,J
I	Construction of super structure	150	E	K,N,P,R,T,U	F,H,J
J	Construction of toilets	60	E	Q
K	Services work(electrification, AC, plumbing)	90	I	V	G,N,P,R,T,U,Q
L	Foundation for light structure	25	D	M	E
M	Fabrication of structure for lights for d/n facility	90	L	V	F,H,I,J
N	Construction of drains	100	I	O	G,K,P,R,T,U,Q
O	Construction of Roads	120	N	S	V
P	Construction of parking area	90	I	S	G,K,N,R,T,U,Q
Q	Finishing works in toilets	50	J	S	G,K,N,R,T,U,P
R	M/S railing works	60	I	S	G,K,N,R,T,U,P
S	Painting work	90	H,K,N,P,R,T,U ,Q	V	O
T	Structure of welded wire mesh around the Ground for safety of players	60	I	S	G,KN,P,R,U,Q
U	Preparation of Ground and pitch	150	I	X	G,KN,P,R,T,Q
V	Installation of Gadgets	15	S,c	W
W	Commissioning of Services	20	V	X
X	Handing over	5	W

Analysis Procedure

The project can be analyzed in a no. of ways, through precedence network and PERT/CPM networks. Precedence network is the way of representing the project through the activity-on-node approach. In precedence network, an activity is shown on the node, which is represented by a box. The precedence diagram is shown as a straight line, called connectors, if an activity a is followed by another activity B, it is known as

 Sequential Activity

 

              

Sequential activity and it will be represented in CPM/PERT network as in the figure given below. However if the some activity A is followed by another activity B, then it will be represented in precedence diagram as:

Sequential Activity

Precedence network is easier to understand than arrow networks to draw as well as to understand . It is also easier to explain to a non technical person who does not have much knowledge about a network. Now time analysis in both the networks (precedence and PERT/CPM) is done on the same lines. Every event is associated with two timings,

Earliest occurrence (ET) and Latest occurrence (LT) Similarly each activity is associated with four times:
Earliest start time (EST)= The earliest time by which an activity can start.
Latest start time (LST)= The latest time by which an activity must start.
Earliest finish time (EFT)= The earliest time by which an activity can be finished.
Latest finished time (LFT)= The earliest time by which an activity must be finished.

So far the networks were discussed with respect to only time and it is assumed that resources required for carrying out various activities are as and when needed. But such a situation is rarely possible and even if possible is neither desirable nor it will be economical. So, the aim should be to use the resources in the optimum manner and at uniform rate as is possible. But at times there are constraints on availability of some resources such as some equipment or some special type of labor. So, activities have to be planned and schedule in such a way as to satisfy these constraints without extending the project duration: however if the constraints are of critical nature even project duration has to be altered to satisfy them. In the end let us give a look at step –by – step procedure for large network,

(i)Prepare project network.
(ii)Calculate event timings, activity timings & Floats
(iii)Prepare a bar chart to suitable scale. List the activities in a proper scale.
(a) The activities should be listed in increasing tail event number
(b) If there are more activities with the same tail event number they should be so arranged that head event numbers in increasing numbers
(iv) First schedule all activities at EST and work out resource requirements. If the distribution is not satisfactory find out sum of the squares.
(v) Reschedule the activities. Start with the last activity. It should be shifted towards LST stage by stage
(vi) Next activity is then taken up and same procedure is followed till we finish all the activities.
(vii)While scheduling activity from whose head event more than one activity is emanating, care is necessary. The latter are rescheduled; hence the preceding activity must be over by the earliest time worked out by rescheduling. Of subsequent activities. 

CPM Network:

Essentially it was a problem concerned with obtaining tradeoff between completion time of work and the cost. The method known as critical path method is therefore based on the assumption that the time required by various activities is known. It is deterministic in nature and is not concerned with uncertainties. CPM is more suitable in construction situation where some experience in handling similar activities in the past is available.
Once a commitment to CPM is made the implementation should be thoroughly planned in advance, with frank and open discussions and involvement if success is required. It must be understood that no amount of good office planning will cover up lack of production and efficiency in the field. Critical Path Method is capable of serving on the basis of an integrated company-worldwide management, ranging from pre bid feasibility studies though estimating, planning, cost accounting, progress control and financial control.
Critical Path Method is the path of events having longest duration i.e. A-B-D-E-I-N-O-V-W-X having duration 482 days=16 months, which is required completion time. This means that any delay in completion of any activity in critical path is not having Float. 

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

For various projects, irrespective of their magnitudes, network techniques are very useful aids for project planning and controlling. Some of the features and characteristics make them powerful and flexible tools of decision making. They are useful at various stages of project management from early planning stages, when various alternative programs of procedures are being considered to the scheduling phase, when time and resources schedule are laid out and finally in the operational phase, when used as a control device to measure actual versus planned progress. They also make it possible to evaluate the requirement of the resources such as Man, Money and Material at the various stages of the Project. They are straight forward in concept and easily explainable to the layman. Data calculations, although tedious for large projects, are not difficult. Computer programs are readily available for large projects like a cricket stadium as in the case. It is very useful tool in the hands of the construction managers because it is very well suited for taking care of the peculiar relationship within the construction projects. 

BOOKS REFERRED

• Nicmar Study Materials 
• Lt. Col. K.K.Chitkara “Project Management” Tata Mc. Graw,1998