PLANNING OF CONSTRUCTION

PROJECT
Planning is the first step of project management philosophy of planning,
organizing and controlling the execution of the projects. Project planning and
project scheduling is two separate and distinct function of the project
management. Here, we will learn about the planning phase of project
management.
Project planning is the function in which project and construction managers
and their key staff members prepares the master plan. Then this master
plan is put into time schedule by scheduling people which is called project
scheduling. A project plan is mostly responsible for the success or failure of
the project.

Definition of Planning:
Planning is a bridge between the experiences of the past projects and the
proposed actions that produces favourable results in the future. It can also
be said that it is a precaution by which we can reduce undesirable effects or
unexpected happenings and thereby eliminating confusion, waste, and loss

of efficiency. Planning involves prior determination, specification of factors,

forces, effects and relationships necessary to reach the desired goals.

Planning Philosophy:
Planning should be done logically, thoroughly and honestly to have a chance
to succeed. The previous experiences of projects provides basic planning
logic. Then difference between previous projects and current projects shall
be known to make any exceptional features in the basic planning logic.
These differences can be unusual client requirement, out of the way location,
potential external or internal delaying factors etc. these potential problems
shall have to be tackled in order to reduce their negative effect preparing
master plan of the project and later scheduling of the project. Provide each
aspect of the plan an individual scrutiny with input from past experiences
and from experts.

Types of Planning:
There are several types of project planning. The three major types
of construction projectplanning are:
1. Strategic planning: this involves the high-level selection of the project
objectives
2. Operational planning: this involves the detailed planning required to
meet the strategic objectives
3. Scheduling: this puts the detailed operational plan on a time scale set by
the strategic objectives.
Strategic planning is done by the owners corporate planners. In this they
decide what project to build and what the completion date has to be to meet
the owners project goals. The construction teams formulates the master

construction execution plan within the guidelines set in the strategic and
contracting plans.

Operational Planning:
Operational planning is done by construction teams. They ask certain
questions before making operational plan for the project. They are:

Will the operational plan meet the strategic planning target date?
Are sufficient construction resources and services available within the
company to meet the project objectives?
What is the impact of the new project on the existing work load?
Where will we get the resources to handle any overload?
What company policies may prevent the plan from meeting the target
date?
Are usually long delivery equipment or materials involved?
Are the project concepts and design firmly established and redy to start
the construction?
Is the original contracting plan still valid?
Will it be more economical to use a fast-track scheduling approach?

All these questions are answered in preparation of the construction master

plan before detailed scheduling of the project.

What is Construction Master Plan?

A construction master plan addresses how will the project be planned,
organized, and major work activities be controlled to meet the goals of
finishing the work on time, within budget and as specified.
Contracting plan is the major consideration in formulating the master
construction plan, whichanswers a lot of questions. Questions related to
government and social restraint, resources for construction, owners policies
or legal requirements, contractual requirement affecting master plan are not

answered by contracting plan. Answers to these questions must be found

during the development of the project execution plan.
Project execution plan shall be reviewed and evaluation shall be done as the
work progresses. Minor variations are common but major changes shall be
considered with extreme caution.
The construction project master plan shall be completed and approved and
after that time plan (scheduling), budget plan, resource plan shall be carried
out.