Improvements to construction delay analysis techniques

A void exists in the construction industry. In the past, delay analysis techniques have been primarily utilized as after-the-fact litigative devices--an attorney's set of legal scalpels for recouping losses from a dead, failed project. The goal of this scheduling technique research is to turn the focus away from post-mortum courtroom analysis. What is needed, in reality, is to manage a project successfully from its inception. To accomplish this objective, three key elements are required. A powerful scheduling software package provides the medium, and the widely accepted original windows technique embodies the tool. This study furnishes the road-map that keeps a successful project on course: a refined windows technique supplemented with eight functional improvements. This potent combination of factors should reduce expensive and time-intensive construction claims, provide a real-time picture of actual costs and progress associated with the project, and increase participant accountability. The end result can only be increased project productivity, quality, and profitability. Two surveys were sent to a panel of planning and scheduling experts. These surveys were based on the Delphi Method of data collection; an iterative process where feedback from the expert panel drives the development of the succeeding surveys. The purpose of this initial survey was to discover the most popular delay analysis technique used in the construction industry, and to determine its strengths and limitations. The window analysis technique was preferred by the panel. The benefits of this technique include: accurate representation of the schedule, ability to identify concurrent delays, acknowledgment that the schedule is dynamic, recognition that critical paths may shift, and utilization of current data for the updating process. A set of functional improvements specific to the windows technique was developed to enhance its effectiveness and facilitate industry acceptance. The results from the preliminary survey inspired the development of these improvements. The eight functional improvements include resource leveling, team development of the baseline schedule, weather delay analysis, subcontractor-specific analysis, concurrent delay analysis, turnaround document application, near-critical analysis, and coding structure development. The intent of the second survey was to validate the functional improvements, developed from the preliminary survey results, on four criteria: ease of implementation, cost of implementation, significance in improving the windows technique, and significance in reducing delay claims. The turnaround document was ranked as the number one functional enhancement for improving the windows technique, while team development of the baseline schedule was ranked first for minimizing claims. Future research should be conducted to determine if these two functional improvements were indeed successfully implemented; and if so, what effects this implementation had upon the outcome of the projects.