Project Management for Construction
Construction Projects
Considering the significance of Project Management, there are many areas in which the principles, techniques and methods related to it are applied in daily life for the completion of projects. This application also includes the Construction industry where the importance of Project Management is immense and its techniques and methods form project planning, scheduling and monitoring are used in order to ensure the success of construction projects.
As these projects can sometimes be rather complex, these techniques can help with the simplification in the planning and scheduling stage and to keep track of the status of the various activities that are parts of the entire project.
When construction projects are introduced and decided upon being started, there is an investment that needs to go into these construction projects. In return of this, there is a certain value that they are expected to create and a return that is expected on the investment.
The budget, scope and the expected return from the construction project are important considerations for a project manager because the completion of the construction project has a direct impact on all these factors. That is where the role of Project Management Software and tools and other techniques for managing projects come in.
In any construction project, the very first step is that of the design. When the design has been created, then the project manager along with the architect and contractors etc. can take into consideration the facilities and materials that will be required for the project. In addition, there is a need to determine all the activities that will have to take place for the project design to be realized. At this stage, Critical Path Method is employed for determining the activities and their duration’s and then in determining the activities that are critical and the entire construction project is dependent on it.
Considering that there are a variety of activities of different nature that are required to be completed in one project, establishing dependencies among these activities is of utmost importance. CPM Scheduling is done for the construction project; keeping in mind the various design specifications and plans in view. Whether it is during the design phase or the construction phase of a construction project, the various operational tasks that need to be performed can be ideally prioritized through the use of the Critical Path Method.
No matter how extensive the construction project or not matter how high the number of operational tasks, there are various Project Management techniques that can be used for the optimal scheduling as well as monitoring and tracking of each of the operational tasks. The most popular of these techniques employed in construction projects are PERT/CPM and Gantt Charts. You can use these techniques for creating a baseline plan, which is the original plan prepared during the planning phase, and then you can compare the progress of the tasks in terms of actual work.
One of the aspects that make Project Management Software and CPM Scheduling Software really useful and beneficial is that there are many parties involved with the construction projects including everyone from the architect and contractors to the labor and any other parties involved. Through the advanced CPM Software, it becomes easy for all these parties to coordinate with each other and communicate. All the parties involved with the construction project are on the same page, which makes the processes more efficient and the work is carried out quickly.
