Network Construction, Time

Computation and Time Completion

BA17ARC012 CHINDAM MANIDEEP
BA17ARC047 SANYUKTA AWASARMOL
BA17ARC050 SHRUTI TARE
BA17ARC060 VAIBHAV H.
What is a Project Network?
A project network is a graph that shows the activities, duration, and interdependencies of tasks within your project.

The project network diagram displays the duration of activities in the project, their chronological order and logical
dependencies between the activities graphically or in tabular form. The network diagram is the foundation for the
project scheduling.

Benefits of the project management network diagram

A network diagram allows a project manager to track each element of a project and quickly share its status with
others. Its other benefits include:

● Visual representation of progress for stakeholders

● Establish project workflows

● Tracking dependencies and potential bottlenecks

Main functions of a network diagram are:

● Determination of the total duration of the project

● Representation of the logical and chronological order in the project

● Risks: Where is the critical path? Where are potential bottlenecks in the project process?

● Opportunities: Where can the project process be streamlined?

The network analysis enables the project manager to take into account various aspects when creating a

project plan:

● Dependencies between activities

● Buffer times between activities

● Earliest and latest start and end dates, as well as the duration of activities

● Critical Path
Types of project network diagrams:
1. Activity on Arrow (AOA)
2. Activity on Node (AON)
Activity on Arrow (AOA)
● The tail of the arrow represents the start of the activity and the head represents the finish.

● The length of the arrow typically denotes the duration of the activity.

● Each arrow connects two boxes, known as “nodes.” The nodes are used to represent the start or end of an

activity in a sequence. The starting node of an activity is sometimes called the “i-node,” with the final node

of a sequence sometimes called the “j-node.”

● The only relationship between the nodes an activity in an AOA chart can represent is that of “finish to start”

or FS.
Activity on Node (AON)
In the Activity on Node method for creating network diagrams, each box, or node, represents an activity—with the
arrows representing relationships between the different activities. Activity on Node diagrams are frequently used in
project management today

The arrows can therefore represent all four possible relationships:

● “finish to start” (FS): This is used when an activity cannot start before another activity finishes.
● “start to start” (SS): This is used to illustrate when two activities are able to start simultaneously.
● “finish to finish” (FF): This is used when to tasks need to finish together
● “start to finish” (SF): This is an uncommon dependency and only used when one activity cannot finish until
another activity starts.

Activity Activity
Relationship
Rules of Network Construction
There are number of rules in connection with the handling of events and activities of a project network that should be
followed.

● Try to avoid arrows which cross each other.

● Use straight arrows.
● No event can occur until every activity preceding, it has been completed.
● An event cannot occur twice i.e. there must be no loops.
● An activity succeeding an event cannot be started until that event has occurred.
● Use arrows from left to right. Avoid mixing two directions, vertical and standing arrows may be used if
necessary.
● Dummies should be introduced if it is extremely necessary.
● The network has only one entry point called the start event and one point of emergence called the end or
terminal event.
TIME COMPUTATION
Importance of Project Schedules

● Managers often cite delivering projects on time as one of their biggest challenges.

● Fifty percent of IT projects were challenged in the 2003 CHAOS study, and their average time overrun increased

to 82 percent from a low of 63 percent in 2000

● Schedule issues are the main reason for conflicts on projects, especially during the second half of projects.

● Time has the least amount of flexibility; it passes no matter what happens on a project. *The Standish Group,

“Latest Standish Group CHAOS Report Shows Project Success Rates Have Improved by 50%,
Process of Time Computation
● Activity definition: Identifying the specific activities that the project team members and stakeholders must

perform to produce the project deliverables.

● Activity sequencing: Identifying and documenting the relationships between project activities. Activity

resource estimating: Estimating how many resources a project team should use to perform project activities.

● Activity duration estimating: Estimating the number of work periods that are needed to complete individual

activities.

● Schedule development: Analyzing activity sequences, activity resource estimates, and activity duration

estimates to create the project schedule.

● Schedule control: Controlling and managing changes to the project schedule.

Time Computation in Construction
While it might be impossible to stop time, it is possible to overcome its
impending approach as it relates to the project’s end. Looking into the
future to determine how much time it will take complete project tasks
allows for an estimation. But it’s not sorcery, it’s well-executed project
management techniques

1) Don’t Fall for the Planning Fallacy

2) Historical Data
3) Know What Needs to Get Done
4) Talk to the Experts
5) Bottom-Up and Top-Down Estimating
6) PERT
Don’t Fall for Planning Fallacy
● Planning fallacy comes from the work of psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, who came up with
the term in the late 1970s to describe a psychological tendency for people to underestimate the amount of
time it will take to complete a task

● People often neglect to take historical data into their calculations and think only of what must be done, which
makes estimations ill-informed.

● In 2011, Kahneman expanded on planning fallacy in the book Thinking Fast and Slow, stating estimation
mishaps are usually caused by two factors: historical data (failing to look back at how long a task had taken in
the past) and making an assumption there will be no roadblocks to complicate the path forward. The latter is
defined by another psychological term, optimism bias.

● The main lesson to learn from all this psychological profiling is that our gut is a poor estimator of time. Project
managers can factor in intuition, but it’s better to have backed up a schedule with hard data.
Historical Data
● Look back at past examples and see how long they took. More than just anecdotal, historic data is information

on past events and circumstances related to a certain subject. Analysis of this data is informative.

● Historical data is also broad. It’s a wide net around whatever subject to which it is related. There can be a range

of information, here, from press releases to financial reports, log files and project and product documentation.

● In order to have a consistent time estimation, historical data is important, but it’s not cheap. Gathering historic

data costs money, time and effort. That doesn’t even include analyzation. But even a small amount of historical

data is better than none, in that it points to precedent and can lead planning on a path that is more accurate in

terms of estimating the time it will take the project to complete.

Know What Needs to Get Done
● Historical data only works, however, if a project manager meets beforehand with the stakeholders and has a
clear understand of what the goals and the objectives of the project in fact are. This is only the first step
towards a full understanding of the project.

● There are many tools that can help with identifying the tasks necessary to complete the project successfully
and a more accurate schedule can emerge. Just one of those tools is a work breakdown structure
template (WBS), which is a way to take project deliverables and break them down into small tasks. This not only
makes the work more manageable; it helps with time estimations.

● But a project isn’t only executing tasks. There are other, seemingly insignificant, activities that eat up time.
Don’t forget to include time it will take to conduct meetings, both with the team and reporting to stakeholders.
There’s also communications in general, testing and other activities that occur over the course of the project
phases.
Talk To The Experts
● You can do much estimating on your own, and even seek historic data to place your project in a larger context,

but time estimating should not be done in isolation. Speaking to a person who has worked on similar projects

will uncover nuance and details not found in dry data.

● Experts are great, but there might be people close by, untapped. We’re speaking about your colleagues. Teams

are assembled for expertise and experience. Talk to them, brainstorm, listen to their ideas and concerns.

● Chances are team members have done similar projects and have resolved issues that might have sidetracked

them in the past. They can give you thoughts about efficient and effective planning, including a better sense of

how long everything will take.

Bottom up and Top down Estimating
● Bottom-up estimating is breaking down larger tasks into smaller, more detailed tasks. Then you estimate how

much time it will take to complete each task. Estimating time at a granular level also increases accuracy.

● Top-down estimating is an analysis in which you first develop an overview of the expected timeline. Then using

past projects, experience and historic data as a guide, determine what the time estimate is.

● Both time estimate techniques work well together. Compare the results from both, and you’ll have an even

more accurate estimation of time needed to complete the project. If the two don’t align, it doesn’t mean one or

the other is wrong, just that you must refine your estimate.
PERT
● PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) comes from the U.S. Navy, where it was used to estimate

time it would take to develop ballistic missiles. It was a complex, massive project, with thousands of contractors

involved. Thanks to PERT, the project ended two years earlier than expected.

● What PERT does is manage probabilities. It starts with a WBS, breaking down tasks into smaller activities, which

is then placed in a Gantt chart. When comparing PERT Charts to Gantt Charts, on a Gantt chart, any dependent

tasks—tasks that can’t start until another is finished—are linked. Each task is a line on the Gantt chart, starting

at one point and ending at the completion.

The Time Estimation Formula
● For each of these activities estimate these times: optimistic time (O), the fastest an activity can be completed;

most likely time (M), the project manager’s required delivery date; and pessimistic time (P), the longest amount

of time given to finish the activity.

● To figure how long the activity will take, complete this equation, with E representing expected time for

completion: E = (O + 4M + P)/6.

● To calculate variance, with V being variance, use this equation: V=[(P – O)/ 6]^2.

● After calculating E and V for each activity, add up the Es, and you have an accurate time estimate for project

completion.
TIME COMPLETION
● Time may be an important element in any contract, but is particularly so in construction contracts. When is
performance to begin, when is it supposed to end, and under what circumstances may the time for
performance be extended?

● In a construction contract, the concept of time is not the mere elapse of time from execution of the contract
itself — rather, it is the period for performance of the construction obligations. These and other time
provisions found in industry resources, such as those produced by the American Institute of
Architects and ConsensusDocs, should be considered for inclusion in contracts otherwise drafted. What are
some “timely” points for consideration?
Commencement in a Construction Contract
The commencement of a contract depends on multiple variables, and it’s critical to determine which option is right for
a particular project.

Is the date that a contract is signed the point from which the time for performance should start to run? That may be
fine if everything and everyone are ready to go. Have permits been received so that work on site may start? A
contractor may not want the time to start running before it is in a position to actually begin work.

Three potential options for the date of commencement of work, according to Section 3.1 of AIA Document A101 –
2017 (owner and contractor, stipulated sum), are:

1. The date of the agreement;

2. A date set forth in a notice to proceed issued by the owner;
3. Another date or means of determining a date described in the agreement.
Commencement in a Construction Contract
Owner issues, such as site access and project financing requirements, could make the contract execution date
inappropriate as the commencement of the time for performance — in such circumstances, a notice to proceed from
the owner may be suitable.

The third alternative prompts the parties to draft commencement language that suits their circumstances, which
could be:

● A specified number of days from execution of the contract, selected to allow time for mobilization or other
events or that for one reason or another need to occur before work can begin.
● A description of commencement tied to receipt of a permit (e.g., grading or building). While a contractor may
actually be doing some contract tasks, such as mobilizing, ordering materials, entering into subcontracts, etc.,
usually the time for performance is based on a construction schedule that is dependent upon certain events,
like the receipt of permits.
Completion period in a Construction Contract
The time for the completion of work is typically described through a number of days or weeks from commencement,
or by a specified date. The time for completion does not typically mean the end of all work, but rather the point of
substantial completion. What will constitute substantial completion needs to be expressed in the contract. Substantial
completion is defined by AIA Document A201 – 2017 (which provides general conditions that become part of the
owner/contractor agreement) in Section 9.8 as follows:

Substantial completion is the stage in the progress of the Work when the Work or designated portion thereof is
sufficiently complete in accordance with the Contract Documents so that the Owner can occupy or utilize the Work
for its intended use.  

Note the “occupy or utilize” standard — as opposed to final completion of all work by the contractor. This standard is
common, and reflects the fact that owners often occupy or utilize, and thus receive benefits of the construction
contract, prior to the point when the contractor finishes every single item of work.
Completion period in a Construction Contract
Parties and their lawyers may seek to define substantial completion with more objective specificity, such as by making
the issuance of a certificate of occupancy a condition precedent to substantial completion. If so, the contractor will
need to make sure that such event is within their company’s control. For example, certain landscaping may be
required for a certificate of occupancy, and if the owner is self-performing or contracting with another for
landscaping, actual substantial completion may be delayed even though the reason for the delay may be outside the
scope of the general contractor’s work. There should be clarifying language for these types of circumstances.

Ascertaining the date of substantial completion is important. Warranties required by the contract documents typically
begin on this date. Additionally, the date of substantial completion has financial consequences. It is fairly standard
that a contractor is paid retainage, less a sum for outstanding punch list items, upon substantial completion.
Completion and Liquidated Damages
If the parties have agreed upon liquidated damages, the relevant point to start, or stop, liquidated damages is usually
substantial completion. Liquidated damages are a contractually stipulated amount the parties agree in advance will
serve as damages for untimely completion of work and usually take the form of a specified daily amount that accrues
for each day of work that continues past the contractually required completion date. Legally, liquidation damages
must not be deemed to be a penalty, but rather a good faith estimate of actual damages. Negotiation strategies
include:

● Establishing a grace period (i.e., liquidated damages begin on the seventh day after the required date of
substantial completion),
● Some increase in the contract sum to account for the risk,
● Increasing liquidated damages over time (i.e., $500 for the first 10 days, $1,000 for the following 10 days, etc.),
● Placing a cap on liquidated damages (i.e., in no event shall liquidated damages exceed a certain amount), and
● An early completion bonus.
Extension of Time in Construction Contracts
Before a contractor or owner approaches legal counsel to draft or review a construction contract, a construction
schedule has likely been developed, which naturally will be a factor in setting commencement and completion terms.
The better the schedule, the better the contract terms.

However, because the schedule is based on assumptions, future events, and many factors (which may not turn out as
anticipated), the contract should provide for extensions of the completion time. Standard time extension clauses do,
but as with other “standard” provisions, attention should be given to ensure that project specific and non-standard
circumstances are appropriately addressed in the contract.

The primary point is for the contract to acknowledge that events may occur outside the reasonable control of the
contractor, and that this should result in extensions of time for completion. This may include:

● Acts of the owner or architect,

● Acts of a separate contractor retained by the owner,
● Change orders,
● Force majeure delays,
● Adverse weather conditions, or
● Other causes, such as certain unanticipated labour or material delays, and unexpected governmental delays.
Time is of the Essence
● Practically speaking, it is common for all participants in a construction project to think that time is important –

of the “essence.” Benjamin Franklin is credited with the phrase that “time is money.” However, legally speaking,

unless a contract includes language that “time is of the essence,” the law may not deem it to be so.