In 2005, US Defense Contract Management Agency implemented a 14-point schedule assessment to help the Department of Defense evaluate the enormous volume of contracts and schedules they were tasked with managing. Years later, the DCMA's 14-point Schedule Assessment has become a guideline that is widely used and has been incorporated into many software tools such as Deltek Acumen Fuse and
CPM Scheduling Resource Center
Understanding CPM (Critical Path Methodology) Scheduling is critical for those managing complex construction & engineering projects.
To oversimplify, CPM scheduling assigns dates to activities in software like Primavera P6. Specifically, CPM scheduling:
- assigns dates to activities
- calculates project finish dates
- reveals to the user the critical path for the project
To wield CPM scheduling as an effective weapon in your project controls arsenal, you’ll need to understand the basics. To become a pro, you’ll need to dig into the details.
Plan Academy has created the best library of practical and actionable guides, tips and how-to’s for the project controls professional looking to learn the basics or master complex topics.
How to Show the Critical Path in P6
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Not sure how to show the Critical Path in Primavera P6? Not sure if your project's critical activities might be hiding? Don't worry. Here are 4 easy ways you can laser-in on your project's Critical Path in P6 (including 3 reasons you might not have one). 4 Easy Ways to Show the Critical Path in Primavera P6 1. Check the Gantt Chart By default, the P6 Gantt chart will show your project's
Pull Planning or Traditional CPM – Here’s Why You Should Start Using Pull Planning
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One common question that is always present in every project conversation: how do you engage the stakeholders to provide their input and convert it into a collaborative approach? Pull planning is a collaborative process that can help to get buy-in from all project participants using a backward pass, pulling activities into the process. Pull planning is a lean process and is starting to
Accelerating a Construction Project & Direct Costs
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Accelerating a construction project seems pretty straightforward right? Work more, pay more, save time, right? Well that's pretty close, but not quite. In fact, without digging into this a bit more, you could easily work more, save time, pay A LOT more. Let me explain. When accelerating a construction project, it's pretty self-explanatory that the job's costs will be impacted by our decision to
Delay Claim: Lessons From A Primavera P6 Planner
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A few years ago, I worked on a project where I was asked to document a delay claim. I was working as a Primavera P6 planning for an electrical supplier who had subcontracted out the construction of a number of electrical buildings to a fabrication yard. The main design engineer made a number of fundamental design changes in the first year of the project. Communication and contract issues between
Construction Project Acceleration Won Them Millions: How They Did It
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341,000 vehicles a day traveled that section of the Santa Monica Freeway, making it amongst the busiest stretches of freeway in the Unites States of 1994. When the Northridge earthquake struck in January, 2 bridges fell from the I-10 causing death and devastation and leaving the Calfornia Department of Transportation (CalTrans) in a major pickle. The closure of the highway was estimated to have
Who Changed My Primavera P6 Schedule?
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Do you work in an enterprise environment where so many people have access to the same Primavera P6 database? Have you ever wanted to find out who made changes to your Primavera P6 schedule without leaving any comments in a Primavera P6 Notebook? Here is quick tip to help you track users who made changes to your Primavera P6 schedule. Add the 4 new fields (columns) to your
70 Project Scheduling Terms That Every Planner Needs To Know
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The number of project scheduling and planning terms out there can be overwhelming. Interpreting and communicating a plan can become a task in itself if you are not up-to-date with the planning jargon. So here is a list of 70 Project Scheduling terms every planner should know for smooth sailing – check out the glossary below to brush up on your terms. If you have any terms that are essential
4 Tactics To Understand A Schedule You Didn’t Build
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You stepped into work today and were suddenly whisked away to a meeting, only to hear that you will be taking over full responsibility for someone else’s project plan and schedule. Whether you like it or not you will have to tackle understanding this new schedule. So what now!? Before you freak out in a quiet little corner, breathe and take the first steps of trying to understand as much as you
Monte Carlo 101: How Monte Carlo Schedule Simulations Work
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The term Monte Carlo Simulation just has that aura and feel about it...... it sounds complex. But in reality it's not as complex as we think. Let's see if we lay it out for you in straightforward terms. What is a Monte Carlo Simulation? A Monte Carlo simulation is simply a way to understand how inputs into a system might affect the outputs. Let's say you have a box of coins that you pour out
A Basic Overview Of Construction Submittals
Strolled into your office today to a desk buried under a stack of reports? Chances are they’re Construction submittals – samples of designs, shop drawings, diagrams, schedules, and material data that are delivered to an Architect, an Engineer or your client in general. Submittals are used as a tool to track the progress and materials being used, as well as making sure that everything is in
3 Up-and-Coming Project Scheduling Tools You May Not Know About
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Last week's Construction CPM Conference in San Diego was a big success! It was my first time attending (and presenting at, for that matter) the Construction CPM Conference, and boy am I glad I did. This is a unique conference that attracts CPM Scheduling pioneers, veterans and academic experts. It's a bit overwhelming if you're new to the field of schedule, but the level of the presentations is of
Plan a Festive Holiday Wreath in Primavera P6
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Back by popular demand is another festorial in Primavera P6. Who says the lowly Gantt Charts can't be fun & festive? In the spirits of the holidays (and of using Project Management software in ways never intended), I'd like to present you with an Advanced-level Festorial on creating a holiday wreath (Xmas tree). Show off your skills, impress your project controls manager (or your
Critical Path Analysis in P6 – 5 Things I Wish I Knew Earlier
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When I first started learning planning and Primavera P6, I thought I had it all figured out. But it wasn't until I sat with a client and tried to explain what I was showing him that I realized I still had a long way to go. So my latest video tutorial walks you through 5 Things about Critical Path Analysis in P6 that I wish someone would have told me earlier on as a planner. But fret not! You
Understand Hard Constraints vs Soft Constraints [in under 100 words]
10 Comments![Understand Hard Constraints vs Soft Constraints [in under 100 words]](https://cdn.planacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/hard-constraints-vs-soft-constraints1-264x173.jpg)
Primavera P6 supports 2 types of constraints; hard constraints and soft constraints. In Primavera P6, “Mandatory” constraints are hard constraints. Hard constraints stand out because they can break relationships. An activity that has a Mandatory Start or Finish date becomes fixed to that date. Relationships to that activity are ignored – the activity will not move even if its predecessors push
5 Things You Should Know About Primavera P6 Calendars
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Primavera P6 has a pretty smart scheduling engine built-in, but it's not quite smart enough to know what time to tell the electricians to start in the morning and when to have lunch. That's where Primavera P6 Calendars come in. You can't build a schedule in Primavera P6 without at least one calendar. So to help you master P6's Calendaring features and understand how Calendars work with the
Critical Path vs Longest Path
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When it comes to your project's Critical Path, there are few topics more important to your client. The expectation is that YOU, dear scheduler, are the expert. So YOU had better know your project's Critical Path inside and out. But wait! ......Is it the Critical Path you should be reporting on, or the Longest Path? The terms Critical Path and Longest Path are often used interchangeably when
How can I force an activity onto my project’s Critical Path?
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Last week, I taught a Primavera P6 training course to some great folks in frosty Fort McMurray. As often happens, an interesting question came up about Critical Path. And this is not the first time this question has been put to me. But this time, I thought I would write about it. "How do I put an activity on my project's Critical Path in Primavera P6?" So here's the situation. A project
CPM Scheduling 101: How Primavera Scheduling Works
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You've probably heard of CPM Scheduling at some point. While you may feel like you don't need to concern yourself with it, there's decent likelihood that you'll be up to your armpits in the Critical Path Method once that big project gets rolling. Yes, Primavera P6 does run all sorts of fancy algorithms when you hit F9 - but having at least a fundamental knowledge of how CPM Scheduling works is
Fix Out of Sequence Progress in Primavera P6 Schedule
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What is Out-of-Sequence Progress in Primavera P6? Out-of-sequence progress occurs from a deviation in the original planned logic that was set up in the baseline schedule. It can occur when work is executed in the field in a different order than was planned in the schedule. The result can affect your project's logic, which dictates the order of execution of activities. Checking for
The Ultimate Playlist for Primavera P6 Planning and Scheduling
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We all know that some days feel longer than others. And on those long long long days, we might not be feeling our most productive. It's well known that if you inject a bit of music into your day, things start to look brighter. So we recently sat down and came up with the ultimate list of song to plan by- songs to get you motivated, to get you through that tough bit of planning, and best of all,
Primavera P6 Planning – the Truth in Pictures (fun)
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I'm a huge fan of the art of planning and scheduling. Critical Path, Total Float, submittals, Earned Value...it's all great stuff to me! But man can't it be downright BORING somedays?.... usually Mondays. Am I right? I think we should find a reason for us planners and schedulers to take ourselves a bit more lightly and to enjoy the ironies of our daily jobs. Here's an illustrated guide to the
Do You Make These Project Scheduling Mistakes?
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Do you always document your scheduling methodology BEFORE building a project schedule? Is your schedule littered with relationship lag? Do all of your Activities have a verb in their name? Are you cautious when using Level of Effort activities? Do you know what a "dangling" activity is? Does your project plan have any "danglers"? Don't worry, it's not too late! Nader Khorrami Rad,
