CE566 Construction Management

Type:

Project Controls / Planning and Scheduling

Location:

University of Southern California / Department of Civil and Enviromental Engineering

Collaborators:

Marc Glasser, Devang Dedhia

Keywords:

Elective Course, Construction Management, Project Controls, Primavera P6, Critical Path Method

Date:

2016-2018

Description: Project Management is the act of bringing diverse and often complex components together to create a product or (in the case of construction management) build a facility to meet the desired needs of the client. In today’s increasingly fast paced work environment project management is demanding increased control and communication in response to changing project conditions and market demands. Project Controls offers the key to successful project delivery that every member of the team needs to understand and master.Measuring whether or not that project is a success is the goal of project controls. The schedule becomes a tool to quantify delay claims and resolve disputes. The first step in this process is to establish the plan against which performance will be measured.The students will be asked to assume various roles and responsibilities in a team approach to producing an execution plan for development of an assigned project. Through the course of instruction, components of the plan will be developed and combined such that the result is a baseline cost and resource loaded CPM schedule detailing the team’s collective approach. The tutor will provide the tools and techniques and provide guidance throughout the course through video tutorial and one-to-one meetings. The course will provide mixed presentation within the computer lab; utilizing lecture to present the concept, issue and/or procedure, and then hands-on lab exercise to demonstrate current technical software techniques.
The purpose of this course is:
  • Provide an understanding of the components of project controls (Estimating, Planning and Scheduling, Cost and Resource Management).
  • Techniques for developing hierarchical organizational, resource, and work breakdown structures (introducing BIM).
  • Provide the basis for sound project controls through the use of resource and cost loaded CPM schedules.
  • Introduce the student to the use of scheduling software for creating/maintaining CPM schedules.
Goals: As a result of taking the course, the student will gain:
  • An understanding of the project life cycle (including sustainability) and the “top-down” management process.
  • Practical approach for applying organized work breakdown structures.
  • Knowledge of the foundation of CPM scheduling.
  • Advanced software (P6) skills for creation and maintenance of computerized baseline CPM schedules
  • Understanding for the value of and develop techniques for producing cost and resource loaded schedules to measure and forecast performance to guide the construction process.