Schedule Assessment and Evaluation

Contractors are frequently required to provide detailed schedules soon after award of contracts. Owners are to evaluate and subsequently approve these schedules. The approved schedules are then used to generate project's baselines; necessary for tracking and progress reporting as well as administration of construction disputes. As such, it is important to insure the goodness of these schedules. This paper provides a structured methodology to assist owners in performing such schedule assessment and evaluation. In essence, the developed methodology serves as a check list that covers a set of overall requirements for good schedules. The methodology is based on integration of scattered knowledge. The developed methodology has been implemented in automated computer application encompassing three tiers of schedule assessment to facilitate effective evaluation of detailed schedules. This is particularly useful in performing schedule assessment of large projects, which have hundreds, if not thousands, of activities and may involve owners' participation in schedule development. This paper provides an overview of the developed system and describes its basic components. An actual project schedule is analyzed to illustrate the essential features of the computer application. The developed application can also be helpful to contractors; serving as guideline and recommended practice in scheduling.