Time Control - General
6.3.1 General
Time control, is a sub-function of the construction project time management process that allows both reactive and proactive measures for project schedule adherence. This sub-function shall continue through the life of the construction project. A construction project schedule shall be prepared initially during the time planning sub-functions and then time monitoring
and time control functions shall be performed periodically during the life of the project. The interval between time monitoring and time control functions depends, amongst other factors, on the nature, complexity and the contractual requirements of the construction project (see Fig.7 for typical time control process).
Project schedule adherence and the current status of a construction project, as represented by the time monitoring, shall forms the basis for time control.
The tools and techniques commonly employed in time control are:
a) Progress reporting, which includes field data and reports on the actual start and finish dates of activities that have started including the remaining duration of unfinished activities and likely start data of the activities not yet started.
b) Variance analysis, which includes comparison of the planning data with actual performance to identify any delays or variations in the project schedule.
c) Performance measurement, which includes quantifying and assessing the severity of delays, if any, and other deviations, if any, by measuring project schedule performance compared against the project plan. Based on this assessment the corrective or proactive actions are determined. Some common performance measurement tools used in practice are,
1) schedule comparison bar charts,
2) reports and graphs produced by scheduling software (see Annex C for S-curve), and
3) schedule variance and schedule performance index produced through an earned value analysis (see Annex B).