Construction Project Scheduling And Control 3rd Edition Saleh A. Mubarak - Solutions

The scheduler must include a time contingency in the schedule. How many ways can you implement such a contingency? What are the pros and cons of each method?
In a highway project, both the contractor and the government schedulers must keep track of the schedule. However, their roles differ significantly. Explain.
When using the “master project” and “subprojects” approach, what pitfalls may occur in the schedule? How should you deal with them?
When you take on a large project made up of several smaller projects, how can you handle this situation in the schedule?
What can the scheduler do to account for potential delays during the submittal cycle?
Explain the cycle of submittal management.
How does procurement relate to scheduling?
Define procurement. What are the main objectives of procurement?
What is the “total project management suite” computer program?
How do change orders affect a schedule? What should the scheduler do for objective project control when changes occur?
How does accounting relate to scheduling? Discuss briefly.
What are the two methods of loading cost into a schedule? Which method is more powerful? Why?
What is a cost-loaded schedule?
What is an estimate-generated schedule? What precautions must the scheduler take before using such a schedule?
Discuss the evolution of a cost estimate. How does this relate to the creation of the schedule?
Discuss three ways in which cost estimating and scheduling are interrelated.
Can you mention any situation in which not understanding a particular language or a culture resulted in an embarrassment or a loss to a company? This experience does not need to be personal. You may use any real story.
Mention some tips for a project manager who will be taking over a new project in the Middle East. Bear in mind, this is the project manager’s first trip overseas.
In the previous exercise, since you are the only “computer guru” in the company, you are also given responsibility for the company’s information technology.Outline your plan to back up and secure the company’s files.
Your company is trying to “go electronic.” It just bought new computers and a new server. You are given the task of writing a set of instructions for all project managers and their personnel on the procedures for storing and managing the projects. Outline your plan.
You are the scheduler for a shopping center project. You just finished an update on many activities occurring in the project. You printed the updated bar chart and cost tables, but you missed something important before submitting the report to the project manager. What was it? What kind of
Provide some tips on saving paper when you are printing reports.
Why is it important to review a report before and after printing it?
In addition to the main data in the report, what type of information should a report contain?
“The report must focus on certain issues.” Discuss this statement and mention some helpful tips.
List some tips for giving a successful presentation.
Indicate which type of presentation is required for each of the following situations.a. The owner of a large project has a short list of three contractors. They all seem qualified, but the owner wants each contractor to present the way he or she will build the project so that the best contractor
What are the major differences between reports and presentations?
Mention and briefly describe the various types of presentations.
You were hired by a company that does not have a formal policy for managing schedule files. Schedules are currently on the project manager’s laptop (created with SureTrak Project Manager software7). What precautions do you recommend to ensure the uniformity and security of the schedules?
You are a new scheduler for a medium-sized project. You joined the company after the project started. The project manager asks you to prepare a report that tells her “everything about the schedule.” Does this statement provide sufficient instructions for you to create the report? If not, list
What is the lazy designer syndrome?
Why do you think communication is an important issue? Can you mention a situation in which the lack of good communication resulted in negative consequences?
List the characteristics of good communication. Briefly explain each.
Finishing the project early is always a reason for a contractor to be happy. Are there exceptions or precautions? Elaborate.
Pick a few types of materials and prepare a table with productivity and cost multipliers for your locale. You may need to consult contractors and materials suppliers.
Arrange a meeting with a project manager and discuss the concept of optimum scheduling. In particular, discuss the choice of the starting point and whether the project could have benefited from shifting the starting point.
Using ENR magazine and other resources, prepare a case study on the Northridge earthquake and the C. C. Meyers’ project. Determine how the contractor achieved these results (mention them as itemized factors).
When you accelerate projects by using a computer, what steps do you follow?
Calculate the normal, least-cost, and crash durations for the following project.Calculate the cost associated with each duration. Indirect (overhead) costs are$200 per day.Duration (days) Cost ($)Activity IPA Normal Crash Normal Crash A – 1 1 800 800 B A 7 4 1,000 1,600 C A 6 4 300 500 D A 3 2
Calculate the normal, least-cost, and crash durations for the following project.Calculate the cost associated with each duration. Indirect (overhead) costs are$120 per day.Duration (days) Cost ($)Activity IPA Normal Crash Normal Crash A – 5 4 770 900 B – 3 2 660 700 C A 7 4 800 1,070 D A, B 4 3
Calculate the normal, least-cost, and crash durations for the following project.Calculate the cost associated with each duration. Indirect (overhead) costs are$100 per day.Duration (days) Cost ($)Activity IPA Normal Crash Normal Crash A – 7 5 500 640 B A 6 5 550 630 C A 8 5 800 935 D B 10 7 1,200
What is a recovery schedule?
Visit a construction site and meet with the project manager. Ask the project manager what it would take to reduce the project’s duration by 5 days. Try to quantify the extra cost and benefits for such an acceleration. Ask the project manager about the means he or she would use to achieve such an
Explain your answer to the previous question graphically. Make sure you show the points of normal duration (ND), normal cost (NC), least cost (LC), least-cost duration (LCD), crash duration (CD), and crash cost (CC).
In general, what happens to the total cost of a project when you start accelerating and keep accelerating the scheduleuntil you reach the least possible duration?
What is the effect of accelerating an activity on the indirect costs of a project?Why?
In general, what is the effect of accelerating an activity on the direct costs of a project? Why?
You are the scheduler for a large commercial building project. The schedule that you prepared (based on feedback from the project manager) falls 15 days short of the owner’s deadline. The project manager decides to write a memo to all of the subcontractors, requiring them to work 6 days per week,
You are the project manager of a construction project. Your project is falling behind schedule. You meet with your team (including the scheduler) and discover that accelerating the schedule to bring it back on track will cost you an additional$20,000. Would you do it? (Hint: You do not know enough
Your critical path is 128 days long. The next longest path is 122 days long.a. If you extend the longest path by 5 days, the entire project duration will increase by 5 days. True or false?b. If you reduce the longest path by 5 days, the entire project duration will decrease by 5 days. True or
Give an example of accelerating a project by improving the communication among the parties involved in the construction activities.
Would you advocate using overtime always, sometimes, or never? Explain your answer.
Explain how accelerating a project works.
Discuss the pros and cons of fast-tracking construction projects and using this concept as a means for accelerating projects.
The decision to accelerate a project may be made early, before the project starts, or in the middle of it. The timing may limit your options for accelerating the schedule. Discuss this statement. Mention any example that comes to mind.
A project manager may shorten the duration of a project in many ways. Mention six of these ways. Discuss each one of them briefly, mentioning its pros and cons.
An owner finds that the 18 months that are needed to complete her proposed shopping center project is not acceptable, so she decides to scale it down by 20%, which allows the contractor to finish it in 15 months. Is this considered project acceleration? Explain your answer?
Why would an owner accelerate a project?
Why would a contractor accelerate a project?
What does the term accelerating a project mean?
A flooring subcontractor must install three types of flooring in an existing building:Type Quantity (SF)a Unit Price ($/SF) Total Price ($)Carpet 2,600 2.30 5,980 Vinyl tile 1,200 2.95 3,540 Ceramic tile 3,330 4.95 16,484 Total 7,130 26,004 aCarpet is usually sold and installed by the square yard.
Draw the S curve for the masonry job in the previous exercise.
A mason contracted with a general contractor to build an exterior wall from 8-inch CMUs. The wall is 82 feet long and 8 feet high.17 The mason must finish the wall in 3 days and gets paid $4 per block. At the end of day 1, the mason has installed 220 blocks. Her actual cost (including overhead and
The EV analysis involves comparing what happened with what should have happened.Explain this statement with regard to both the budget and the schedule.
This exercise is for persons who use Oracle Primavera P6 software: you created a project without feeding the program any budget or resources information. After the first update, the scheduling report says the project is 16.7% complete. Do you know how the program determined this number? How
Explain the procedure for initiating and processing pay requests.
On the basis of the information given in the previous exercise, do you think the project is in trouble (with regard to the budget and the schedule)? How did you conclude this?
When you are calculating the percent complete for an entire project, more than one answer might be possible. The project manager says the percent complete is about 60%, the cost engineer says it is 65%, the computer program says it is 57%, and the owner says it should be 50% (according to her
Which method of measuring work progress is suitable for each of the following activities?a. Laying bricks for an exterior wallb. Safety inspectionc. Installation of a furnaced. Project supervisione. Multiple reinforced concrete footingsf. Setting up a patented formwork system for a wall g.
A roofer is working to cover a 2,500-square-foot roof. He must first install rafters, then sheathing, then felt, and finally shingles. He assumes the previous tasks compose 35%, 20%, 15%, and 30% of the total roofing activity, respectively. At a certain point, the roofer gets the following
List each of the six methods for measuring the work progress of a certain activity.Under what conditions would each be recommended? Give an example for each method.
Management must pay attention not only to critical activities but also to near-critical activities. Explain this statement from a practical point of view.
Can the critical path in a project change during the life of the project? How can such a thing happen? Give an example.
During the life of a project, the scheduler receives a lot of feedback on the schedule from different parties, such as the architect, the engineer, the owner, the subcontractors, and others. As a scheduler, how would you take and implement or reject such feedback?
Does the scheduler have to “explain” the results of the update to the project manager? When? Why or why not?
Explain the steps usually taken in a monthly update of a schedule.
Explain what is meant by the term contractor-created float.
How is project updating tied to pay requests?
“If the logic used in creating this schedule was accurate, there should be no difference between the Retained Logic and Progress Override options.” How much do you agree with this statement? Explain.
Refer to exercise 6 in Chapter 4. Twelve days15 after the start of the project, the following information is received:Activities A and D Completed on time Activity B Completed by end of day 11 Activity C Started on time; finished 1 day late Activity E Not started yet Activity F Duration changed to
Refer to exercise 5 in Chapter 4. Fifteen days after the start of the project, the following information is received:Activity A Completed 2 days later than planned Activity B Completed on time Activity C Started; 4 days left Activity D Completed; took 5 days to finish Activity E Completed Activity
Refer to exercise 4 in Chapter 4. Ten days after the start of the project, the following information is received:Activities A and B Completed on time Activity C Started; 3 days left Activity D Started; 2 days left Activity E Has not started yet but duration adjusted to 5 days Draw the updated
What are the steps involved in updating a schedule?
When you are updating a project, an activity may be added or deleted. What are the mishaps that may occur, and how do you avoid them?
What does the term degressing a schedule mean?
Why is schedule updating important for progress payments?
How frequent should schedule updating be performed?
What kind of information is needed for updating schedules?
What is the data date? What other names are used for it? Which are inaccurate?Why?
What is an updated schedule? What does schedule updating mean?
What is a baseline schedule? Discuss how to adopt a balanced baseline schedule—one that is not too optimistic and not too pessimistic.
Why is project control needed in construction projects?
Are the terms project monitoring and project tracking equivalent to project control?Explain.
Define project control and discuss the roles of schedule updating as part of project control.
Why is schedule updating needed for construction projects?
Define schedule updating.
You are a southern California contractor. You have been awarded two projects:one in downtown Los Angeles and one near the Mojave reservation.a. Each project needs a bulldozer, a tower crane, and a safety manager. Do you share these resources between the two projects? Justify your answer.b. Which
Materials management is a balance between two extreme theories. Explain this statement, mentioning the factors that influence your decision to lean more toward one theory than the other.
What types of costs are associated with materials management?

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Construction Project Scheduling And Control 3rd Edition Saleh A. Mubarak - Solutions

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