Construction Project Planning for Civil Engineers : MS Excel

Construction projects are never easy. That's why this course has taken  to carefully study it and make a schedule.

Planning is a vital project phase and it would take an enormous amount of time if it is done manually. So You have to understand the main concepts of planning first to plan any project successfully.

Project planning is inherently uncertain as it must be done before the project is actually started. Therefore, the duration of the tasks is often estimated through a weighted average of optimistic, normal, and pessimistic cases.

Then the necessary resources can be estimated and costs for each activity can be allocated to each resource, giving the total project cost. At this stage, the project schedule may be optimized to achieve the appropriate balance between resource usage and project duration to comply with the project objectives.

Once established and agreed, the project schedule becomes what is known as the baseline schedule. Progress will be measured against the baseline schedule throughout the life of the project.

A project plan is a set of documents that can change over the course of a project. The plan provides an overall direction for the project. If unexpected issues arise (e.g. delivery delays), the plan can be adjusted by the project manager.

Project plans are coordinated by the project manager with input from stakeholders and team members. Plan components cover the “what” and “how” of a project.