Search

Under current scheduling practices, total float time is considered 'free' and does not belong exclusively to any specific party in the construction process; rather, it belongs to the project and can be used by both owners and contractors to mitigate the potentially negative impact of delays. Utilization of float is, hence, on a 'first-come, first-served' basis. Within this usage protocol and guided by the Common Law's Proximate Cause principle, the party that encounters critical delays in the later stages of a project is more likely to be held responsible for delays to the overall project completion time. Given these practices, float ownership and its utilization has continued to become a major source of disputes when project delays occur. The objective of this paper is to introduce the concept of float preallocation and management for critical path method based construction schedules. The principles for preallocating and managing 'total float' include recommending contract clauses to direct its use and to explain the manner in which responsibility for any resulting delay may be assigned. The paper also introduces a bookkeeping procedure to facilitate the application of this concept on project schedules. The proposed concept continues to recognize that total float is an asset for both parties. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2007)133:11(836) CE Database subject headings: Construction industry; Contracts; Scheduling.

This study, evaluates the resource-constrained critical path method (RCPM). which the writers have recently proposed. RCPM establishes a critical path method (CPM)-like. resource-constrained schedule by resource-dependent activity relationships (or resource links) thai the five-step RCPM technique identifies. With its CPM-like feature. RCPM provides the critical path and float data that are not available in traditional resource-constrained scheduling techniques. In addition. RCPM provides more flexibility to the schedule through identified alternative schedules, which allow certain activities to be executed beyond their late finish times without delaying the project completion. This paper evaluates the RCPM's performance by comparing it with five related previous studies. A brief review of each study is also included in this paper. This comparison shows that RCPM performs well in identifying resource links and alternative schedules. compared to other methods. This study is of interest to academics because it highlights the advantages and disadvantages of different algorithms that have attempted to overcome present problems in traditional resource-constrained scheduling techniques. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2005)131:5(522) CE Database subject headings: Scheduling; Critical path method; Resource allocation; Construction management.

This paper presents the critical path method forward and backward passes with multiple calendars. Multiple calendars are required in many construction projects to effectively represent various project conditions such as work properties, resource availabilities, weather conditions, etc. For this reason, major project management software packages such as P3 and MS-Project provide functions to handle multiple calendars. However, the background theory of handling multiple calendars has not been disclosed, so users of those software packages simply assume without clear knowledge that the time data generated by them are correct. This paper provides how multiple calendars should be handled in scheduling. Applying the theory presented herein, it has been noticed that the P3 operations with two calendars may generate a wrong answer for a start-to-finish with zero lag and inconsistent results in all negative lags when nonworking days are involved. The theory covers all tour relationships in the precedence diagramming method with lags of zero, positive, and negative values. This study should be of considerable benefit to the construction industry and academics because it details and advances the theory for scheduling with multiple calendars, which is real scheduling in practice. CE Database subject headings: Construction industry; Scheduling; Project management; Time factors.

This paper presents a resource-constrained critical path method (RCPM) technique that capitalizes on and improves the existing critical path method (CPM) and resource-constrained scheduling (RCS) techniques. A traditional CPM schedule is not realistic, because it assumes unlimited resources, some of which are highly limited in practice. Although traditional RCS techniques can consider resource limitations, they do not provide the correct floats and critical path, as the CPM does. The difference between the theoretical remaining total float and the real remaining total float is referred to as 'phantom float' in this study. Work sequence in a resource-constrained schedule could also be considerably changed with a schedule update, resulting in high costs to reorganize it. This is because in addition to technological relationships, a resource-constrained schedule contains resource dependencies between activities that are neglected in traditional RCS techniques. This study proposes a step-by-step RCPM procedure to consider those resource-constrained relationships. Hence, the method can identify real floats and correct critical paths considering both technological and resource relationships, making late start and late finish times more meaningful. In addition, because of identified resource relationships, the RCPM also provides a certain level of stability with a schedule update. CE Database subject headings: Scheduling; Resource allocation; Algorithms; Critical path method; Change orders.

This paper presents a technology transfer [T.sub.2] model for expert systems (ES). The [T.sub.2] model describes the stages of [T.sub.2] process as well as the factors affecting ES adoption in an organizational setting. The decision to adopt ES is heavily influenced by the top management's attitude toward technology and by factors of an environmental, organizational, and technological nature. However, the decision to adopt ES technology is not sufficient for the success of the [T.sub.2] process. For ES technology to contribute to the improvement of the organizational performance, the ES applications must be of real value to the organization, must be technically correct, and must be properly utilized by the end users. The paper also presents the methodology used for the development of the [T.sub.2] model and focuses on the flavors and mixins, that is, the alternative strategies from which managers can choose to introduce ES in their firms. The paper shows that for each stage of the [T.sub.2] process, there is no single way of performing it. Rather, a spectrum of options are available. Which options are chosen is a function of the characteristics of the firm.

University promotion and tenure committees use sponsored research to judge a faculty member's contribution to a discipline's body of knowledge. Sponsored research is usually a crucial indicator in making promotion and tenure decisions. CE Database subject headings: Research: Publications: Faculties; Universities.