Recommended CPM Schedule Update Submission Items
While the previous posting described the importance of updating the project schedule, this posting identifies essential project schedule information that should be included in a schedule update submission. Clear and timely communication is a key contributor to success on construction projects. These recommended schedule update submission items will ensure that the contractor is effective in communicating its plan for completion, and will promote an environment of trust, transparency, and confidence among the project team.
A contractor’s schedule update submission should, at the very minimum, include a detailed narrative, the native electronic schedule file, and a small collection of printouts. Each of these items is discussed in more detail below.
Detailed Schedule Update Narrative
A properly prepared and detailed update narrative is a valuable tool not only for the contractor, but for the entire project team. By identifying the project’s current status, critical path, and forecast completion dates, and by describing the project’s current problems, upcoming issues, and potential solutions to those problems and issues, the update narrative can be a vital communication vehicle for the project team.
Although the reporting of unresolved change orders, delays, and other project issues in the update narrative may not satisfy the contractual, statutory, or legal notice requirements, reporting of these issues in the update narrative, on at least a monthly basis, should serve to ensure that the project team was aware of these issues in a timely manner.
Below is a detailed list of essential information that an update narrative should include:
- Progress achieved during the update period;
- Status of key contract milestones;
- Description of the project’s critical path, and, if changed from the previous update, explanation for the change;
- Description of all changes, impacts, and delays that occurred during the update period and an explanation of the effect, if any, that these impacts had on the project’s critical path, completion date, and any interim milestones;
- Description of potential future impacts and their possible effect on the project’s critical path, completion date, and any interim milestones; Proposed measures to mitigate or minimize the effect of the current or future impacts;
- List of all changes made to the update, including explanation of major revisions, especially changes that affect the critical path or the project’s overall sequence of work.
Electronic Schedule Update File
While all CPM scheduling specifications should require the submission of the native electronic schedule file; unfortunately, not all do. Even when not required to do so, the contractor’s submission of the native electronic schedule file produces an added level of transparency for the project team. It also provides the owner with the ability to complete its own comprehensive review of the schedule. This review will provide confirmation that the current schedule update represents the contractor’s current plan for completion, as well as confidence that the contractor is not hiding anything in the schedule.
Schedule Update Printouts
Although the native electronic schedule file provides all the information the owner needs, not every member of the project team may have access to the project’s CPM software that is necessary to review the electronic file. Therefore, it’s recommended that the contractor’s schedule update submission include the following printouts from the current schedule update:
- All Activities Barchart Printout sorted by Total Float
- All Activities Barchart Printout grouped by WBS and sorted by Finish Date
- Critical Path (Longest Path) Barchart Printout
- Activities with Reported Actual Start or Finish Dates in the Current Update Period
- Barchart Printout of Activities Expected to Start or Finish in the Next Update Period
These printouts enable the project team to identify the project’s critical path, prioritize the work ahead, review all of the work depicted in the schedule, and identify work completed in the past update period.
Using the project schedule to clearly communicate the contractor’s plan for completion to the project team is a vital component for successful completion of the project. Including the aforementioned items in the schedule update submissions helps to ensure that this communication occurs and empowers, both the owner and the contractor, to address any issues as they arise.
For more on this or any other topic, please call us at 215-814-6400 or email us at mike.ryan@traunerconsulting.com and mark.nagata@traunerconsulting.com.
