Understanding the Importance of Project Planning and Scheduling in Indian Construction Projects

Abstract

The construction sector in India aims to be the world's 3rd largest construction industry, with a 7.1 percent annual growth rate predicted by 2025. The Indian construction industry is accountable for a 9% share of India's GDP and provides employment to more than 50 million people. India is a project driven country and around 60% of the Indian construction Projects are running behind Schedule. Hence, Planning & Scheduling plays a vital role in completing projects within time and cost. The Project Planning & Scheduling is the second phase of the project life cycle. In this phase, the planner understands the contract and define Project Deliverables/ Key Milestones. The planner then creates a detail project plan (also known as Detailed Work Programme (DWP)) to guide the execution team. Planner breaks the Project Deliverables in Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and further into activities and assign the required resources to complete those activities. Activities are tasks which needs to be performed by the execution team like excavation, concreting and so on. While resources are Manpower, Equipment and Material which are assigned to these activities for estimation of activities duration. A detail list of WBS and activities are created along with the required resources. All these activities are interconnected (using relationship like FS, SS, FF & SF) from start till end to create a working project plan. The planner then coordinates with Construction Manager/ Project Manager for validation of the project plan. The project planning & scheduling helps to cover the full scope as per contract into a plan which benefits the project by reducing the time, cost, and risk on the project. This phase is a vital step in conducting the construction work smoothly. There is a need to understand the importance of Project Planning & Scheduling in success of a project. Project Planning & Scheduling directly affects the HR functions in an organization. Not limited to this, other departments are affected by the Project Planning & Scheduling phase. There are various available software’s like Primavera P6 or MS Project to assist planner in preparation of project plan. Further, AACE provide recommended guidelines (RP) like 39R-06 or 91R-16 on Schedule Development which is very helpful and comes handy while preparing the Detailed Work Programme (DWP). Lastly, Risk Register needs to be prepared, updated and incorporated in project plan.