Protecting Against Losses with Generative Scheduling Techniques
A realistic and robust schedule is key to protecting your job against losses. Core helps you safeguard the project's margin against uncertainties and recover from delays.
Real-world examples of optioneering to protect against losses
- Simulate recovery strategies for impact of procurement delays or changes to access dates
- Optimize for key milestones and incentives with core scheduling constraints
- Forecast the cost and schedule impact of overtime in requests for contingency or change orders
- Recover distressed jobs to protect margins
Core steps to protect your job against losses:
Step 1: Conduct Sensitivity Analysis with 'What If?' Scenarios:
Utilizing 'What If?' scenarios to conduct sensitivity analysis of key resources and decisions provides insights into the potential impacts of changes. Identifying vulnerabilities in the schedule allows for the implementation of preemptive adjustments, procuring equipment and materials just in time, and forecasting the cost and schedule impact of delays.
Simulate the impact of crew shortages and productivity declines to understand what resources pose the biggest risk to margins and protect against losses.
Step 2: Optioneer Calendar & Milestone Constraints
Milestone optioneering further refines this by exploring different scheduling options to find the optimal work shifts. Simulate the impact of overtime, weather delays.
Explore the impact of common project risks, what if we have a longer winter? a heavy rain season? a work stoppage? with Core, you can understand the trickle-down effect of any changes and rapidly optimize to overcome.
Calendar Optioneering helps you understand the cost and schedule impact of overtime work, and staggered shifts. Anticipate the best way to de-risk or accelerate your project delivery by procuring crews with the optimal work shifts before buyout and get the best gain for overtime work.
- Calendar optioneering example -- include holidays & weather allowance explore 5x10, 5x12, 5x14, 5x20, 6x10, 6x12, 6x14, 6xds4, 7x10, 7x14, 6x20
Step 3: Setup Parametric Durations using Duration Formulas in your plan
Utilizing duration equations allows for the dynamic adjustment of task durations based on the input variables. This is a rapid method for building an anti-fragile schedule.
Step 4: Optimize Task and Project Durations with Crew Ranges on Tasks
Setting minimum and maximum limits for crew sizes ensures that manpower is utilized efficiently, preventing both underutilization and overextension. Alice will optimize task durations depending on your preset task crew ranges. This strategy helps in minimizing labor costs while maintaining productivity levels.
Note: parametric tasks can help optimize project duration without removing preferential logic
Core Users can develop anti-fragile schedules with task duration formulas and crew ranges (min-max) to let Alice dynamically shuffle durations and resources based on real-time constraints. Enabling you to protect margins and discover new efficiencies. By embracing these strategies, schedulers and project managers can navigate the complexities of capital project management with greater confidence and achieve outcomes that align with both timelines and budgets. Remember, a schedule that is dynamic, anti-fragile, and grounded in reality is a cornerstone of successful project delivery.
After learning how to identify and minimize risks, watch the below video to learn how to protect against losses with parametric durations.