Article #146 Capturing and Documenting As-Planned Schedule, As-Built Schedule and

Periodical Updates Needed for the After-the-Fact Schedule Delay Analysis Methods on
Construction Projects
On construction projects, schedule delay claims that affects the project completion date are becoming a common
event. Those are the delays that are beyond the contractor’s control and the events that entitle the contractor to
delay claims are normally specified in a contract provision. For example, in the FIDIC Red Book, those include the
clauses of Ambiguities (5.2), Engineering Drawings Delays (6.2 and 6.3), Physical Conditions (12.2), Fossils,
Antiquities, Structures (27.1), Tests (36.5), Suspension (40.2), Employer's Failure to Give Possession (42.2) and
Defaults by Employer (69).

To prove the contractor entitlement for delay, there are a number of after-the-fact delay analysis methods that can
be used. Those include As-Planned Vs. As-Built, Impacted As-Planned. Collapsed As-Planned, Window Analysis and
Time Impact Analysis. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages that is usually driven by the quality
and availability of baseline schedule, schedule delays, progress and project documents, level of effort to be spent on
the delay analysis among others. Regardless, of the selected delay analysis method, the team carrying out the delay
analysis needs to have access to the as-planned schedule, final as-built CPM schedule with periodic updates, Project
daily reports, meeting minutes and other project’s records that are related to the different schedule delay and
disruption events.

The as-planned schedule, final as-built CPM schedule, all periodic updates and schedule delays analysis needed for
the Window Analysis and Time Impact Analysis (TIA) methods, will be usually completed using Primavera P6
software. Those schedules could be available in an electronic format that can be used by the delay analysis team,
need to be converted from earlier Primavera P6 versions (sometimes from P3), need to be converted from other
applications like MS Project, need to be created from bar charts and project records or even need to be created from
scratch.
To keep track of all schedule versions, revisions and periodical updates that will be used to analyze delays, regardless
of the after-the-fact delay analysis method used, it is highly recommended that all documents and records used in
preparing schedules are properly documented and associated with their relevant schedule. Using a Project
Management Information System (PMIS) like PMWeb can prove to be of great value even if PMWeb was not used to
generate and capture project records and documents during the project’s execution life cycle.

Every single Primavera P6 schedule that will be used in the delay analysis will be imported into PMWeb scheduling
module. This will provide the delay analysis team with immediate visibility into all the schedules that will be or could
be used in the delay analysis. PMWeb will import all needed information needed for the delay analysis such as the
activity number, description, planned and actual start and finish dates, planned, remaining and actual duration,
percent complete, total float and WBS level.
The notes tab enables the delay analysis team to capture all comments and text notes on the imported project
schedule. Those date stamped notes will identify the PMWeb user who created the note as well as if the PMWeb
user who could have edited this note and when. Since PMWeb allows adding content in rich text, pictures and other
images can be embedded in the text note.

For each imported project schedule, the attachment tab will be used to attach all relevant documents which will be
usually uploaded and stored in PMWeb document management repository although it is possible to upload
documents directly. PMWeb document management repository will be configured to include folders for each
schedule version, revision or periodical update. This will ensure that all those documents are properly filed to enable
the delay analysis team as well as the claim preparation team to review and analyze those documents when needed.
In addition, PMWeb allows linking imported MS Outlook emails as well as other records created in PMWeb to the
schedule.

To ensure that all those schedule versions, revisions or periodical updates are formally approved to be used in the
delay analysis, a workflow can be assigned to formalize the review and approval process for those schedules. This
will ensure that only approved schedules are used in the delay analysis.
The schedule data captured in PMWeb will become available for the delay analysis team to report on in any desired
tabular and graphical format including bar charts. Those reports can be saved as PDF files as well as MS Excel file
formats among others. For example, a report can be created to compare schedule versions and calculate the start
and finish days, duration and total float variances.

Should there be a need to share those reports with other project team members whether they have access to
PMWeb or not, PMWeb notification tab will be used to send emails to those team members including the selected
reports as attachments. PMWeb will keep a register of all notifications sent for each project schedule.
In addition, PMWeb custom form builder can be used to create forms to capture the data details of all delay events,
time impact analysis and any other form that the delay analysis team might find it necessary to have to ensure that
their analysis is well-structured, complete and had been formally reviewed and approved. The design of those forms
could also include fields for specifying the project schedule activity and project schedule WBS level that is relevant to
the content of the form. The project schedule activities list and WBS levels list will be automatically become
available when the Primavera P6 schedule was imported. In addition, the forms could include many other fields for
which the values will be selected from other predefined list of values to ensure standardization and consistency as
well as easing the process for completing those forms.

Similar to all other PMWeb records, documents can be attached to those forms as well as links to other PMWeb
records and imported MS Outlook emails can be created. Of course, a workflow can be assigned to each on one of
those forms to ensure that they had been formally submitted, reviewed and approved by their intended project
team recipients.
About the Author
Bassam Samman, PMP, PSP, EVP, GPM is a Senior Project Management Consultant
with more than 35-year service record providing project management and controls
services to over 100 projects with a total value in excess of US $5 Billion. Those
projects included Commercial, Residential, Education and Healthcare Buildings and
Infrastructure, Entertainment and Shopping Malls, Oil and Gas Plants and Refineries,
Telecommunication and Information Technology projects. He is thoroughly
experienced in complete project management including project management
control systems, computerized project control software, claims analysis/prevention,
risk analysis/management (contingency planning), design, supervision, training and
business development.

Bassam is a frequent speaker in topics relating to Project Management, Strategic

Project Management and Project Management Personal Skills. Over the past 35 years he has lectured at more than
350 events and courses at different locations in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and South America. He has
written more than 250 articles on project management and project management information systems that were
featured in international and regional magazines and newspapers. He is a co-founder of the Project Management
Institute- Arabian Gulf Chapter (PMI-AGC) and has served on its board of directors for more than 6 years. He is a
certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI), a certified Planning
and Scheduling Professional (PSP) and Earned Value Professional (EVP) from the American Association of Cost
Engineers (AACE) and Green Project Management (GPM).

Bassam holds a Masters in Engineering Administration (Construction Management) with Faculty Commendation,
George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA, Bachelor in Civil Engineering – Kuwait University, Kuwait and
has attended many executive management programs at Harvard Business School, Boston, USA and London Business
School, London, UK.