DYNAMIC MANAGEMENT OF SCHEDULE CONTINGENCY: AN INSIGHT INTO TIME BUFFER DURING PROJECT LIFE CYCLE

Abstract

Dynamic nature of construction projects and involvement of multiple stakeholders make construction exposed to a variety of known and unknown risks. Cost and schedule are the most important and interlinked project constraints that influence the currency of the project. A plethora of research has been carried out towards the cost aspect of project contingencies available to the project, neglecting the importance of schedule constraint. The main aim of this study is to establish a framework for managing the schedule contingency throughout the project life cycle. A detailed survey is carried out to identify the most important factors affecting schedule contingency. Change order and payment delay are found to be the most critical factors for negative schedule performance. The proposed framework, in the form a contingency consumption curve, enable the project planners to proactively manage the schedule contingency by comparing the actual consumption with the planned at any level of project completion. To verify the proposed contingency consumption curve, data from four real life projects is collected and analyzed. The results show almost similar consumption trends thus validating the reliability of established curve. Further, this study advances the current schedule contingency management practices by providing a simple tool for better schedule performance.