Hi All,
I am trying to complete a schedule that another planner has already started. Unfortunately, he hasn't linked his pre-construction activities together. For example, there are preparation for submittal activites with predecessor "effecvtive start date"; they all start at the same time.
My Question is, How can I link those activies in a way that I do not have them all start at the same time and not delay my construction activites. Should I look at the free float? please explain as I am new to planning.
Thanks
Nicky,
I disagree.
It seems highly unlikely that you would have the available manpower to start all your general submissions on day 1.
And using SF links (presumably with negative lag?) for technical submissions is a bad idea -it means delayed submissions will never delay site works -which is of course not true.
some technical submittals should be completed before starting the work on site and some submittal can go in hand with the construction work for ex.mobilization submittals. For general submittals, it all can be started in same date as soon as you complete the mobilization of manpower to site. But for technical submittal try to use SF relationship and find the best period to fit in.
Depending on the project scope, some of the pre-construction activities will have a logical sequence in themselves that you should enter.
For example, you wouldn't design an MCC until you have designed the motors it will be controlling.
Once you have done this, you can then schedule the remainder based on total or free float, as the previous answer suggests.
Most software has the capability to do "resource levelling", which will automatically adjust the activity dates to fit with available resources, based on user-defined priorities (eg total float). Some software is good at this, some not so good. And it only works if you have a resource loaded programme.
If you can't or don't want to use resource levelling, you can either use logical links to spread the activities out, or early start constraints. There are pros & cons to both approaches.
if you plan to make an adjustment without affecting your predecessor activities, you can made ammendment based on available Free Float. if you have no constraint other than meeting your project completion date, you can use Total Float as a refference.