Schedule Delay Analysis Techniques in Industry & - Research Paper Example

SСHЕDULЕ DELAY АNАLYSIS ТЕСHNIQUЕS IN INDUSTRY & RЕSЕАRСH Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Abstract Delays are common in various construction industries worldwide. Many customers consider time as an important resource and such delays causes disputes among them and the construction industries. Therefore, there is a need to study the methods of analyzing the delays and give a recommendation on the appropriate technique that would help in reducing disputes with the clients. Agreeing in an effective method of analyzing delays helps in minimizing the time spent on negotiations with the customers. SСHЕDULЕ DELAY АNАLYSIS ТЕСHNIQUЕS IN INDUSTRY & RЕSЕАRСH Table of Contents Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Literature Review 4 Research Objectives 8 Schedule delay analysis in industry 9 Schedule delay analysis in research 13 Conclusion 15 References 15 Introduction Various studies show that construction industries are prone to delays that lead to most of the customers being dissatisfied. When such delays are mitigates the chances of giving clients extra money will be avoided and this reduces the wastage of time. These delays can also have great impacts to the management because of claims. This implies that there is a rise in costs resulting to reduced profitability. Based on this, this paper conducts an analysis of the delay techniques in industry and research. Literature Review Causes of delays There are various causes of delays. One of them arises from either making errors or the omission of critical information when entering into contracts. When there is a missing information in a contract, delays may arise when one of the contracting parties wants it included in the contract. This is so because adjusting to such information may need allocation of additional time and resources. Another cause of delay related to errors is the presence of conflicting information that may call for the contract to be redesigned again (Yu, 2008). This also proves to be time consuming and may cause delays. The delays can also arise from contractors. The contractor could easily control such delays. A contractor having inadequate labor acts as a major course of delay. The available labor force end up being overworked and this lowers their efficiency. Thus, they require more time to ensure that they are not overworked on a daily basis (Yu, 2008). Delays also arise when the contractor and subcontractor agreements are not in line. This leads to the failure to deliver what is required and correcting such errors may require additional time leading to delays. A contractor failing to properly plan and manage the project could also lead to delays. This would mean that the completion of certain parts of the project would not have some scheduled time resulting to the contractors taking long time in the completion of their projects (Keane & Caletka, 2009). Some delays arise from factors, which are beyond the control of the contractor. Such factors include strikes of workers that thwart human labor force. Another factor in this case is the closing of companies that manufacture the necessary products for construction, which stops the project in search for a new manufacturer. Changes in weather also affect the time taken to complete a particular project. Such weather conditions may include heavy rains that lead to flooding and landslides (Keane & Caletka, 2009). The owner of the contract can also cause delays in the execution of the contract in various ways. One of them is the limiting of the contractor in accessing some parts of the sites making difficulties in reaching the site through the unlimited access routes. Some contract owners also limit cash flows and this in turn limits the full-time availability of materials. Delays also arise when the contractor delays some requests from the contractor (AbouRizk, 2010). The more the owner delays the more time it takes to execute the project. The final cause of delays is the existence of conflicts between the teams responsible for the execution of the project. This affects the effective flow of information and reduces coordination among those teams. As a result, none is willing to cooperate well with another and the resultant effect is the delay in the execution of the project (Keane & Caletka, 2009). Classification of delays Delays can be grouped in various clusters. One of them is the critical and non-critical delays. Non-critical delays are the delays in the execution of a subproject that cannot result in the delay of the entire project. Such delays may be for a limited time like five days or so maybe due to offs. Critical delays on the other hand are those delays that impact the execution of the whole project in relation to delays (Fathi & Pandey, 2013). Therefore, the contractors have to make efforts to eliminate the causes of such delays. The other group is the non-compensable and compensable delays. Delays may be compensated when the party, which has been delayed, has reasonable demands that substantiate the compensation for the loss arising from the delay. A delay may be non-compensable when one party has requested to be added more time for the delivery of the part of the project. The reasons for calling for additional time may be due to the occurrence of some phenomenon that may be beyond human control (Fathi & Pandey, 2013). The final method of clustering delays is based on excuse. Excusable delays arise when the party responsible for the delay had some issues that affected it making it impossible to do the required part on time. In this case, the reasons for excuse should be valid and should not be formulated for the sake of escaping compensation to the affected party (AbouRizk, 2010). Non-excusable delay on the other hand arises when a party fails to execute its part without any reasonable excuse. This affects the other party and thus requiring compensation. Failure to compensate the affected party may make it engage in activities that cause delays without any reason and this can greatly affect the time taken to complete the project (Fathi & Pandey, 2013). Methods of analyzing delays There are various methods used in analyzing delays. The first one is the As-planned and As-built technique. This method involves looking at the time planned for the duration of a project based on the schedules on which they were planned and the actual time taken to complete the project. The time difference between the two is the delay in the project. This method is very simple and may not be appropriate because it does not consider relevant factors such as the reasons for the delays and the timing of specific subprojects that lead to the delay of the entire project. In addition, it does not put into consideration the fact that the logic and structure of the project may change because of some factors (ForensisGroup, 2013). The other method of analysis is the obstructed As-planned method. This method involves the listing of excusable delays extends duration of the project relative to the excusable delays. After that, the revised completion date is compared to the time taken in completing the project and then delay is determined. Errors usually arise in this method because it ignores some important schedules in the operation site by assuming that As-planned logic matches the one on site. This method does not effectively analyze the excusable delays and they may be inserted in the delays that affect the time payable to the worker. It is also ineffective because it does not integrate out of order work and logic (ForensisGroup, 2013). The other method is the collapsed As-built. This method involves taking the schedule as it is built and subtracting the delays that result from excusable circumstances and this forms the collapsed schedule. The analyst then calculates the delays after the collapsed schedule and this forms the days that should be paid to the contractor (AbouRizk, 2010). Like other methods of analysis, this method is only accurate if the as-built schedule is accurate. The method also has a weakness in that it does not consider some changes in the site such as acceleration of the activities and it not applicable where there is no as-built schedule (ForensisGroup, 2013). Window analysis is also a method of analyzing delays. In this case, the entire project is divided in windows and each window is selected a duration. Activities in each window are then analyzed and delays incorporated in them. This helps in determining the time required to complete the project and it is incorporated in the entire project. For this method to be effective, the as-built information and the original base must be accurate. Other delaying activities outside the project should be eliminated to make it more efficient (ForensisGroup, 2013). The most preferred method of analyzing delays in industry and research is the contemporaneous method that involves looking at how the activities at the site are progressing and the actual schedule. Each delay is inserted in the schedule and the actual completion date compared to the scheduled date. This helps in analyzing the impacts of delays and their causes (AbouRizk, 2010). It thus cannot work with people who are not accurate in the updating of the schedules because they might determine the wrong completion date (ForensisGroup, 2013). This technique also requires that the method of documentation should be accurate enough and the actual activities in the site are the ones that should be documented in it without any form of extrapolation. Research Objectives Research questions 1. What are the various causes of delays in Industry in research? 2. Are there ways of analyzing the delays to mitigate them effectively? 3. What are the various methods used in analyzing the delays? 4. What are the measures taken against the delays? Research objectives 1. To find out the causes of delays in industry and research 2. To study the various ways of analyzing delays in order to establish effective ways of mitigating them 3. To find out various methods used in analyzing delays 4. To establish various measures against delays in industry and research Schedule delay analysis in industry In industries, this process is undertaken to analyze the various reasons that lead to delays in the execution of projects or the failure of the entire project. After analyzing the delays, the significance of various variations should be established based on the plan of the industry process. This helps in quantifying the level of damage of the delay to other activities undertaken by the industry based on milestones and the completion date of other industry projects. This in turn determines the liability of delays and its causes (Blue Marble, 2013). The information gotten is helpful in establishing the various mitigation procedures in as a way of making the industry processes better and efficient. One reason for doing this is that delays can affect the image of the entire industry especially when no measures are taken against it. If such and industry is a consultancy or a construction firm, it may end up losing customers and this could result to its downfall. This means that industry executives need to be cautious in matters related to delays for their industries to remain profitable and active. At this point, it is important to understand that customers base their satisfaction based on timely completion of work and they only accept delays when it comes from their side or when it results from an uncontrollable situation (Blue Marble, 2013). Analysis of the delays involves the use of CPM techniques of scheduling, which is currently the most used technique. These because courts have increased awareness on this technique and many industries rely on it. Experts have been put in place to explain to industries to explain the various concepts associated with the technique to eliminate an element of technicality in its use (Blue Marble, 2013). What this process involves is the comparison of planned and the actual outcome in the execution of the project based on the estimated time of completion. Analyses involved in schedule delay analysis The process of schedule analysis of delays involves various analyses. The first one is the cost analysis, which involves the auditing and performance reviews based on control to ensure that all industry contracts follow proper accounting process. The aim of this analysis is usually to eliminate cost misappropriations, overhead misallocations and the availability of allowance costs (Navigant, 2014). Costs also result in delays especially when they are misappropriated because some parts of the project may lack funds for execution and this may lag it behind. The other analysis conducted in the process is damage analysis. When damages are effectively analyzed and calculated, funds are effectively allocated and this helps in the avoidance of cost overturns that result to inefficiencies in industries. Effective analysis in this case helps in the isolation of various events that affect costs both directly and indirectly. It is important in this case to conduct an in depth evaluation of procedures used in calculating delay claims. This also involves critically examining the various documents that support the delay claims. It is clear that delays affect both the industry and the clients and damages should be analyzed effectively to ensure that there is fairness to both parties (Navigant, 2014). The entire process should involve support through witness from qualified experts. This provides the counsel with some advantages that can be of importance in the formulation of some strategies against delays. This is especially in the cases where the expert witness draws his/her testimonies from leveraged and well trained resources that are of global process. The witnesses should have experiences in architecture, engineering, project management, and financial analysis because these are the relevant areas resulting to industrial delays. The schedule analysis involves a thorough examination of As-planned and As-built methods of analysis to establish the causes of the various delays and isolates the impacts from each party, that is, the client and the industry. The analysis should focus on unprejudiced bill and the relevant quantification of the effects of the projects (Navigant, 2014). This is beneficial as it provides the clients with realistic examination of the liability carried by the industry that they entered in contract with. The procedure involved in scheduling industry delay analysis In order to effectively analyze a project, some procedures re usually followed to make the process more efficient and effective. The first process involves determining the plan of the entire project in terms of construction based on the activities involved, various work sequences, the duration of the whole project, work force and all expenses (LLC, 2013). This helps in determining the projected completion date and helps in the easy analysis of the issues that result in the deviations from the planned date. The second process involves determination of the actual time taken in executing the project. This helps in assessing the time gap and the various factors that could lead to the deviation from the planned time (LLC, 2013). This should take into account the natural causes of delays and consider them as part of causes of delays. This is important when it comes to the liability of each player because it is considered as a natural element of delay that should not be given a liability. The third step involves the variance analysis. This analysis assesses the actual time taken to complete a project and the various sequences used in performing the activities of the industry project (LLC, 2013). This helps in determining whether the delay resulted from site operations or from delays in the delivery of resources. This process is also important in that it assesses the time taken by the delays arising from the natural causes. The fourth step involves the actual determination of the variance causes that leads to deviations from the planned date of completion of the project and the actual time taken to complete the project (LLC, 2013). This process involves the apportionment of variance and analysis of delays based on the side that they came from, which can be either from the industry or from the client. This establishes the liabilities that each party should take and the methods of compensation to the damages caused by the delay. The final step involves the cost analysis. This analysis is based on the effects of work sequence variances, duration of the entire activity, work force, and capitals with relation to the cost incurred by the whole process (LLC, 2013). This step analyzes the variations in costs because of delays and assesses their origin relative to either the client or the industry. It should be understood that to unravel the relationship between various events and circumstances, which helps in the identification of the causes of delays, there should be collaboration of experience and expertise. Best practice in this process leads into effective analysis of industry delays and generation of best solutions to them that result to the prevention of management issues within the industry. Schedule delay analysis in research The process of research can also experience delays due to some circumstances. Majority of people would think that delays in research come from natural causes but it is clear that some human issues can also lead to the delay in the research process. Effective analysis of research delays that result from human activities helps in the mitigation of future occurrences of such delays. This is because it helps in determining the various practices that lead to research delays (Cooper, Hedges & Valentine, 2009). Even though there is an element of similarity in the analysis of delays in research, the procedures slightly vary from each other. The first step in the analysis of research delays involves the determination of the actual plan of the research with respect to field activities, the required tools, number of people required and field operation durations. This helps in the allocation of resources and the associated costs of the resources (Cooper, Hedges & Valentine, 2009). This process should be thoroughly conducted to determine time that the process should take and to ensure timely completion of the research process. The second step is the determination of the actual time that the research. This comes after effectively studying the study area and study population and analyzing it so that resources can be allocated effectively (Cooper, Hedges & Valentine, 2009). This analysis estimates the time that the entire process should take if the natural conditions of the area are not disrupted and in the absence of uncontrollable circumstances that may affect the normal performance by the research team. The third step is the determination of the various variances that prevented the work form being completed within the scheduled time. This process identifies the forces behind the delays which can both be natural and manmade and eliminates the natural ones considering the fact that their occurrence is beyond human control (Cooper, Hedges & Valentine, 2009). It is in the step that deviations from the actual date based on the avoidable errors are established and the failure of each party in the mitigation of such errors that results in the delays. The next process involved in analysis of research delays involves the appointment of delays to each player in the research process. It is important to understand that delays in the process of research could come either from management or from the team in the research field. Thus, this process highlights the responsible party for a delay and determines the liabilities that the responsible party has on the other party. Allocation of responsibilities helps in eliminating delays in one way or another because it may even propose a compensation procedure. This means that each party will deliver its services to eliminate chances of compensation to the other party (Cooper, Hedges & Valentine, 2009). The final step involves the calculation of the effects of the variances in terms of the duration of the research process, work force, and the costs incurred because of the delay. This process estimates the value that the liable party should give to the other party as compensation and also helps in coming up with effective strategies and policies on research processes which are aimed at preventing delays in future research processes (Cooper, Hedges & Valentine, 2009). The process of delay analysis should be effectively conducted to prevent imposing unfair liabilities in the responsible party and in effective planning of future research in terms of what each party needs to do in order to avoid delay in the research process. Conclusion Schedule delays stands as a big issue in both in industry and in research. Even though there are various procedures used in analyzing the delays, there are two major problems that affect the efficiency of the analysis method, they are difficulty and inadequate references when developing software that can effectively analyze the delays. This means that the analysts do not have the knowledge on the tools that they can use in constructing the schedules that can analyze the methods. There is therefore a need to develop computer related methods of analysis that would avoid the tedious work of manually analyzing the process. This should follow an approach that helps in the development of these computer-based analysis methods. In addition, it is important that each party both in industrial and research processes should effectively play their parts to avoid chances of delay. This is because delays have proven to be costly can adversely affect the liable party. References AbouRizk, S. (2010). “Role of Simulation in Construction Engineering and Management” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol. 136, No. 10, 1140–1153. Blue Marble. (2013, January 1). Schedule Delay Analysis. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://www.bluemarblerisk.com/services/capitalprojectprogram/construction-dispute- resolution/construction-forensic-analysis/scheduledelayanalysis Cooper, H. M., Hedges, L. V., & Valentine, J. C. (2009). The handbook of research synthesis and meta-analysis. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Fathi, E. & Pandey, R.K (31 December 2013). Schedule Delay in Construction Project Using Time Impact Analysis. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/5036077/Schedule_Delay_in_Construction_Project_Using_Time_Impact_Analysis ForensisGroup (2013). Construction Delay Analysis Methods. Retrieved from http://www.forensisgroup.com/expert-articles/construction-delay-analysis-methods Keane, P. J., & Caletka, A. F. (2009). Delay Analysis in Construction Contracts. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. LLC (2013, November 18). Disputes in Construction. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://www.disputesinconstruction.com/construction-schedule-delay-analysis-techniques/ Navigant (2014, January 1). Cost/Quantum and Schedule/Programme. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://www.navigant.com/industries/construction/dispute_resolution_services/cost_quant um_and_schedule_programme/ Yu, G. (2008). Operations Research in the Airline Industry. Boston, Mass. [u.a.: Kluwer Academic Publ. Read More