Schedule update

We update every week, update quantities / update cost, monitor critical path & total float and tabled for weekly planning meeting.



We have data sheets for each package and respective managers sumbit every week.

We do our schedule updates depending on the CPM scale, in the Construction Business usually you are required to update on a monthly basis, and therefore you are required to set your activities with a maximum duration of one month or 20 work days.



Your job might require to be updated weekly, in such case the scale or maximum activity duration shall be adjusted accordingly.



You can discuss the progress on your weekly meetings. Probably you can attend to the weekly meeting and discuss the progress at the very beginning so you leave and let the others discuss their own issues. Another common option is for the PM or Superintendant to fill the actualization data, then you generate a preliminary update and sent PDF reports to the field as to make sure update is accurate. Usually we go with the second option and only meet when there is a request for an EOT that requires an impact analysis. For internal jobs this is not necessary.



I start by generating a two month look ahead and copy the table on an electronic worksheet or use Primavera Mail a very useful utility for these purposes. The columns in my table are: Activity ID, Description, Early Start, Early Finish, Actual Start, Actual Finish and Remaining Duration. Only the last three columns will be updated by the person providing the actualization data. Then after you enter actualization data with your new Data Date the software will actualize any computed changes in ES and EF.



I use the method of remaining duration as the method of % complete might yield unrealistic remaining durations, I keep separate %complete and remaining duration.



So all the data we need is Actual Start, Actual Finish and remaining duration. This is because we don’t track cost using CPM schedules but using a Job Costing System integral with our accounting system. If you keep track of costs and resources use then it complicates things a little bit but it can be handled with extra spreadsheet columns as well as with the Primavera Mail utility.



I am a Spider Project convert, but because everyone uses SureTrak I am still using it, not because of my choice. Primavera is outdated, including P6 even when still a Beta Product as the Bug list is endless, also their resource leveling algorithms are among the worst, a sample resource leveling job can prove it.

In most projects it is done weekly.

When actual data are entered there is a need to reschedule the remaining part of the project.

If there are problems some corrective actions may be planned (like adding resources, or including some preventive actions, etc.).

The new schedule is discussed at the meeting and if no objections it becomes work plan at least for the fitire week.