PROJECT TIME ACCELERATION

7.1 TIME SCHEDULE ADJUSTMENTS

Frequently, project work schedules must be adjusted to accommodate adverse job circumstances.
These revisions are often essential so that contract time requirements can be met.

• Weather
• Equipment Failures
• Labor Shortages
• Missing or Incorrect Data
• Conflicts
7.2 NEED FOR TIME REDUCTION

There are many practical examples for which shortening the time of selected job elements can be desirable as a means of
meeting important project target dates. For example, by terms of the construction contract, the owner may impose a job
completion date that the current project plan will not meet. Failure to meet this contractual time requirement will put the
contractor in breach of contract and make it liable for any damages suffered by the owner because of late project completion.
On a job in progress, the owner may desire an earlier completion date than originally called for by the contract and may
request that the contractor quote a price for expediting the work. It is entirely possible that the programmed project duration
time may not suit the contractor’s own needs. The contractor may wish to achieve job completion by a certain date to avoid
adverse weather, to beat the annual spring runoff, to free workers and equipment for other work, or for other reasons.
Financial arrangements may be such that it is necessary to finish certain work within a prescribed fiscal period. The prime
contractor may wish to consummate the project ahead of time to receive an early completion bonus from the owner. A
common motivation for time acceleration occurs when the work is well under way and delays have resulted in a substantial
loss of time that must be recovered by the end of the project.
7.3 GENERAL TIME-REDUCTION PROCEDURE

To shorten the time period required to reach a milestone or interface event or to achieve project
completion, one need be concerned with reducing the time durations of only a certain group of activities.
As has already been shown, the time required to reach any future network event, terminal or otherwise, is
determined by the longest time path from the current stage of project advancement to that event.
Consequently, if the time required to reach a certain event is to be reduced, this can be accomplished only
by shortening the longest path leading to that event. This observation is very revealing and important. In
the absence of such management information, the usual reaction when a project is falling behind schedule
is to haphazardly expedite all the ongoing activities in an attempt to make up the lost time. The inability to
discriminate between those activities that truly control and those activities of little or no time consequence
can make such expediting actions far more expensive than is necessary
7.4 SHORTENING THE LONGEST
TIME PATH

IT HAS NOW BEEN ESTABLISHED THAT, IF THE DATE

OF A SPECIFIED PROJECT EVENT IS TO BE ADVANCED,
THE LENGTH OF THE LONGEST TIME PATH LEADING
TO THE EVENT MUST BE SHORTENED. BASICALLY,
THERE ARE ONLY TWO WAYS TO ACCOMPLISH THIS.
• One is to modify the job logic in some way, such that the longest route is diminished in length.

• The other possible way to reduce the length of a critical path is to reduce the duration of one or
more of its constituent activities
7.5 PROJECT DIRECT COSTS
THE DIRECT COST OF AN ACTIVITY IS MADE UP OF THE
EXPENSE OF LABOR, EQUIPMENT, MATERIALS, AND
SUBCONTRACTS. EACH ACTIVITY HAS ITS NORMAL
COST AND NORMAL DURATION

THE ‘‘NORMAL COST’’ IS THE LEAST DIRECT COST

REQUIRED TO ACCOMPLISH THAT ACTIVITY, AND IS
THE COST CUSTOMARILY ASCRIBED TO THE WORK
WHEN THE JOB IS BEING ESTIMATED.

‘‘NORMAL DURATION’’ IS THE ACTIVITY DURATION

DETERMINED DURING THE SCHEDULING PHASE.
7.6 VARIATION OF ACTIVITY DIRECT COST WITH TIME
7.7 PROJECT INDIRECT COST

Indirect costs include a company's operating expenses (also called

selling, general and administration expenses), and are usually closely
managed by business owners.

They do not fluctuate directly with manufacturing or purchase volumes

so they are typically described as fixed or semi-variable in nature.
SOME EXAMPLES OF INDIRECT
COSTS
• Rent.
• Utilities.
• Insurance.
• Office supplies.
• Travel.
• Advertising expenses.
• Accounting and legal expenses.
• Salaries and wages
WHY INDIRECT COST IS IMPORTANT?

Indirect costs are essential for the proper functioning of a

business. Electricity, equipment, and office rent support
company operation and allow business owners to create
high-quality products and provide appropriate services.
Indirect costs help entrepreneurs maintain and run a business
properly.
7.8 TIME-COST TRADE-OFF

Cost/time tradeoff is used to increase the net benefit of a

project by crashing selected activities. A new heuristic
Cost/time tradeoff which balances cost, time and
resources is presented. Most heuristic methods only
balance two out of the three possible parameters at a
time. The new method is called net-present-value
Cost/time tradeoff.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF TIME-COST
TRADE-OFF?
Time-cost tradeoff analysis allows a contractor to build a
project using an optimal schedule that leads to minimum
cost. The financing cost can be minimized if the financing
decision considers different financing alternatives such as
short-term and long-term loans and lines of credit.
7.9 PRACTICAL ASPECT OF TIME REDUCTION

Project time management involves analyzing and developing a

schedule and timeline for project completion. Formalized time
management processes provide a buffer for things like
unexpected roadblocks and under or over-estimated project
timelines. Project time management directly impacts the quality,
scope, and cost of a project, making it one of the most important
project management knowledge areas. Managing time helps to
secure project completion on time and on budget. It also clarifies:
How much time a project requires.
7.10 REDUCTION OF THE HIGHWAY
BRIDGE DURATION
7.10 REDUCTION OF THE HIGHWAY BRIDGE
DURATION
• It is the reduction of time required to construct a highway bridge structure before the
estimated time.
• The essential question is, of course, how the project critical path can be reduced from its
current time duration. Initially, common sense suggests that a second look be given to the
present operational plan, the objective being possibly to gain time at no increase in direct
cost. Although knowledgeable and experienced people carefully devised the job plan, the
original planning effort cannot be expected to be perfect. It seems likely that a restudy of the
operational sequence could sharpen the planning approach and perhaps indicate
opportunities for greater time efficiency.
7.10 REDUCTION OF THE HIGHWAY BRIDGE
DURATION
• It is the intent of the next five sections to present specific discussions of how the overall duration of the
highway bridge might be reduced at little or no additional direct cost to the contractor.
A. Restudy of Critical Activity Durations There is one obvious initial check to be made when
reexamining the critical path of a project to be shortened: review the time estimates of the individual
critical activities. Errors can be made, and it is worthwhile to verify the reasonableness of the time
durations originally estimated.
B. Restudy of Project Plan A project restudy aimed at gaining time at no additional direct cost is
essentially a critical second look at the established operational plan. The objective, of course, is to
rework or refine the logic of a limited area of the network that will result in a shortened critical path.
7.10 REDUCTION OF THE HIGHWAY BRIDGE
DURATION
• C. Critical Activities in Parallel
• D. Subdivision of Critical Activities
• E. Subcontracting
7.16 MILESTONE AND INTERFACE EVENTS

The principal point of the preceding discussions has been the reduction of overall project
duration. This reduction includes expediting an ongoing project that has suffered previous delays. It
has already been pointed out, however, that sometimes it is necessary to advance the expected dates
of milestone and interface events. If the scheduled time of such an event does not satisfy an
established time requirement, then some action by the contractor is in order.
The longest path from project start to that event determines the early time for any event, and
efforts to advance the event time must be concerned with shortening this longest path. The longest
path would first be restudied to see whether the desired shortening could be achieved at no increase
in direct cost. If not, then the contractor must resort to expediting at additional direct expense
7.13 Limitations on Time-Reduction Steps
• Physical limit of a critical activity - maximum shortening of a given activity considered to
be practical
• Logical limit of a critical activity - The reduction in duration of a critical activity reduces the
total floats of other activities, which sometimes causes another chain of activities to become
critical
• Logical limit of a network logic change - A network logic change results in a set number of
days being gained with no time change possibilities in between
• Shortening limited by a parallel critical path – Parallel critical paths, or subpaths, are
common. If one branch of parallel critical paths is to be decreased in length, a commensurate
decrease must also be made in the other branch. If only one branch is reduced, it simply
becomes a floater, and neither the remaining critical path nor the project is reduced in duration
• Shortening limited by an irreducible critical path – When any given critical path has been
shortened to its full capability, no further reduction in project duration is possible
7.14 Variation of Total Project Cost with
Time

Figure 7.7a is obtained by multiplying the number of working days by $624 and
adding the sum of $26,178.40
7.14 Variation of Total Project Cost with
Time

Adding the expediting costs from Figure 7.6 to this project

normal cost gives the direct costs shown in Figure 7.7b
7.14 Variation of Total Project Cost with
Time

Combining the direct cost with the overhead expense for each
project duration gives the costs shown in Figure 7.7c
7.15 Expedited Highway
Bridge Schedule
1. The logic change accomplished by building two sets of
abutment forms and starting activity 240 immediately after
activity 230 is accomplished by eliminating the dependency
line from activity 220 to activity 240 (step 1 of Figure 7.5c)

2. Because two sets of abutment forms are now going to be

used, the duration of activity 80, ‘‘Make abutment forms,’’ is
increased from three to six days (step 1 of Figure 7.5c).

3. The duration of activity 350 is reduced from three days to

two days (step 2 of Figure 7.5c).

4. The duration of activity 200 is reduced from two days to one

day (step 3 of Figure 7.5c).

These four network changes are made to the precedence

diagram of the highway bridge and the recalculations are
performed. Figure 7.8 summarizes the activity times and float
values that are obtained
7.16 MILESTONE AND INTERFACE EVENTS

The principal point of the preceding discussions has been the reduction of
overall project duration. This reduction includes expediting an ongoing
project that has suffered previous delays. It has already been pointed out,
however, that sometimes it is necessary to advance the expected dates of
milestone and interface events. If the scheduled time of such an event does
not satisfy an established time requirement, then some action by the
contractor is in order. The procedure is very much the same as that for
shortening project duration, except that the project critical path may or may
not be involved.
7.16 MILESTONE AND INTERFACE EVENTS

The longest path from project start to that event determines the early time
for any event, and efforts to advance the event time must be concerned with
shortening this longest path. The longest path would first be restudied to see
whether the desired shortening could be achieved at no increase in direct
cost. If not, then the contractor must resort to expediting at additional direct
expense
7.17 PROJECT EXTENSION

The entire emphasis of this chapter has been directed toward the shortening
of a project. At times, though, it may be desirable to lengthen certain
activities or even the project itself. An example of this would be a project
whose costs were originally estimated assuming that expediting actions
would be needed if the owner’s time requirements were to be met. It is
typical for a contractor to anticipate time difficulties and to build into the
original cost estimate the extra expense of overtime, multiple shifts, and
other means of expediting the work. Unfortunately, at the time the project is
being bid, the contractor usually will not have made an accurate forecast of
project duration nor have identified the critical activities.
7.17 PROJECT EXTENSION

About the only ways in which the contractor can figure in the extra costs of
expediting 7.17 Project Extension 171 actions are either to expedite most or
all of the job operations or to make some educated guesses about which
work items may turn out to be critical. As sometimes happens, a subsequent
detailed network analysis reveals that all or some of the planned expediting
procedures will be unnecessary. This case is the inverse of that previously
treated in this chapter. The contractor now finds it desirable to relax the job
plan and realize the attendant savings. Obviously, the contractor wants to do
this in a manner that will maximize its gain
7.17 PROJECT EXTENSION

Even if the overall project duration must remain as planned, the contractor
usually can rescind the expediting actions for at least some of the noncritical
activities. The maximum duration increase granted to any given activity
would be limited to the length of its total float. Further relaxation would
result in the formation of a new critical path or subpath. For this reason, a
record must again be maintained concerning the effect of each activity’s time
change on the floats of other activities. If all expediting actions of
noncritical activities cannot be rescinded, then the most expensive of these
actions should be eliminated first.
7.17 PROJECT EXTENSION

If the overall project duration can be extended from the original plan, then
certain of the critical activities also can be relaxed. The only effect of this
relaxation is to lengthen the critical path and, hence, to increase the floats of
all noncritical activities. In this case, the critical activities should be relaxed
first, beginning with those most expensive to expedite. After this, the
noncritical activities can be treated as before.