Construction Delays and Other Claims - Construction Project Scheduling and Control - page 353

early dates that assumes unlimited resources is not a realistic or rational sched-
ule. Resource “loading” is only estimating the resource requirements, not
scheduling them to smooth the demand in accordance with availability.
PROJECT DOCUMENTATION
Characteristics for good communication were discussed in Chapter 9. This includes
both oral and written communication. Written communication includes both text and
graphic reports. The importance of good communication cannot be overemphasized.
Most construction companies list “good communication skills” as one of their top cri-
teria for hiring any project management personnel. Communication generally means
conveying information from one party to another party within the same organization
or across different organizations. Documentation, on the other hand, generally means
saving the information in an organized manner for possible retrieval in the future.
What should be in common between communication and documentation is the need
for information to be clear, providing the right amount of details, and efficiently stored
so that it can be easily retrieved.
Project documentation includes both home office and field office documentation.
Since many types of information may be documented in the home office or on-site, we
will list all the information to be documented wherever its location. With the advance-
ment of communication technology, the home office and field office information are
more and more integrated to make one comprehensive project database. There are
several software packages that construction companies use for this purpose. 18 They
are getting better, more powerful, and more capable of integrating with other sys-
tems, such as drafting, scheduling, estimating, accounting, Web publishing, and e-mail
communications.
For the purpose of prevention and resolution of delay claims, the following infor-
mation should be documented:
1. The project baseline schedule that was approved by the owner. Both an elec-
tronic copy and a printed report (bar chart, predecessors/successors table,
etc.) should be kept both in the main office and the field office.
2. Periodic updates for the schedule. The scheduler should name and store
updated schedules in a clear and consistent fashion. It is also a good idea
to keep copies of these updates in the main office. Updates should include
both the printout (bar chart and/or other reports) as well as an electronic
copy of the CPM schedule.
3. Change orders, including the administrative and technical correspondence.
18 The author is familiar with Oracle Primavera Contract Management (formerly Expedition), Meridian's
Construction Project Management (formerly ProLog Manager), and Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate
(formerly Timberline's Project Management).