Project Controls v. Estimating & Scheduling – Different Animals

When I took up project controls – I mean CPM scheduling, in 1993, I was superintendent of a bank cut-and-fill parking lot, for a business school property. At that time, I had 8 years experience as a carpenter/mechanic. I was designated de facto scheduler by virtue of there being no one else that could schedule at the company. The platform I then learned was known as Timeline. I also began training as an estimator. Finally, in 2000, I took up Primavera 6, and became a bona fide CPM scheduler, with 7 years estimating experience, as well.

‘Contractors will say they can’t afford a CPM scheduler. Considering lessons-learned – they can’t afford not to.

In 2000, I had no notion of Project Controls, as such – hadn’t even heard of them. Years later, in 2010, when I took up scheduling full time, I began to realize that there were some subtle and major distinctions to be made between CPM schedulers and estimators, and project controllers, and the way their roles are perceived in the building and other industries, such as aviation, aeronautics, oil and gas, processing, manufacturing, and so on.

‘Project managers not only blow off creating their own CPM schedules, they avoid investing in any CPM schedule.

Those who follow my blog know that 75% of all project schedulers are created by untrained project managers, or other unsuitable personnel. Unsuitable because CPM scheduler isn’t a project manager’s role, and because they typically have enough to do already. Their work is recognizable in non-CPM spreadsheet schedules, and MS Project plots full of hard-constraint icons in the first column. They fail miserably at their task mostly for lack of training and resources.

‘A project manager’s schedule – no more logic-driven than a Day Runner

However; many of these humble/arrogant schedulers are not to blame for epidemic shortcomings – the organizations that hire them to take on that role regardless of acumen. They do so out of contempt for bona fide CPM schedules, a disrespect for the vocation. They also do it so they don’t have to hire a skilled CPM scheduler. The practice ultimately taxes the project manager with too much responsibility, which he in turn addresses short shrift.

Yet, contractors and project managers show little interest in the remaining 25% of building schedules created by trained operators. The schedule, to them, is not a forecasting or accountability tool, it’s merely a service they are required to provide, by contract. This sort of cynicism is typically consistent with the company’s attitude. It’s no wonder contractors and engineers grit their teeth when they can’t find skilled operators to swing at low-ball pitches.

‘The building industry’s relationship with project controls is typically Flinstonian

Many bootstrap dork EPC firms still prefer schedulers with certifications or degrees. Most of these are underpaid positions occupied by green graduates, with little or no field experience. These are mere data jockeys because they don’t have the field experience that a professional CPM scheduler should have to inform them of project durations, relationships and sequencing. Moreover, they have no estimating experience. Without estimating experience a critical aspect of the scheduler’s vocation- cost-loaded scheduling – is neglected altogether.

Doh! – a recent takeover project I passed on

It wasn’t until I had many years estimating and scheduling experience that I was introduced to the notion of project controls, by way of research that I’ve done over the years. I discovered platforms, like Deltek’s Acumen Fuse, that are developed to facilitate project controllers proper.

Project controls proper, is a blend of scheduling and estimating departments working together to create efficient strategies to tackle their most demanding work. Project controls involves far more than an estimate and GANTT chart: it delivers sophisticated analysis and forensics for optimum accountability and foresight.

As I began to realize the many nuances between project controllers, and schedulers and estimators, I also learned an appreciation for it by enhancing skills I already had with more sophisticated software platforms – such as the Deltek family. This I did with the hope that I would enhance my skill set and make myself more marketable toward more progressive firms.

The humble spreadsheet schedule

After some time, of course, it became clear that much of the building industry doesn’t recognize the term ‘project controls,’ much less create a department for it, because they have no such programs. They may have an estimator and scheduler and still not have a project controls department, because project controls goes so far beyond their concept of it.

Contractors dumbing down the vocation with incompetence do the industry no favor.

I posted about many project controls platforms, in Deltek Insight Conference, 2017, which was pretty mind-boggling. In that post I emphasized how few from the building industry attended. The constituency was chiefly aviation, aeronautics, utility, infrastructure, oil and gas, processing, and manufacturing – the ‘Big Boys.’ These folks are dead serious in their work using Deltek’s advanced platforms to manage their portfolios, and leagues ahead of their building industry counterparts. Their industries also find it hard to source new talent.

Not that building industry schedulers and estimators aren’t serious – they just aren’t trained or compensated for the scheduler role – half-baked as it were. Parsimonious contractors think that this dumbing down of the skill set will keep salaries low, and that’s a lose/lose proposition. Instead, they should invest more in training and development.

‘Building industry’ invariably brings half-baked CPM fare to the table.

One might say building industry scheduling and estimating is a chiefly spectator sport whereas project controllers are active participants. That nuance can be attributed to the job description of a typical project controller –  who would utilize much more sophisticated platforms, and more analytic tools, such as EVM, EVAS, and others that deliver on demand KPIs.

‘Rubrics, you mean like the cube puzzle?’

Builders understandably don’t like to coordinate with the schedules they create. They’d rather just build – and they may as well – lacking real schedules. In contrast, organizations with project control departments wouldn’t think to build anything without their validated project controls estimates and schedules guiding them. That doesn’t necessarily mean they always make turnaround deadlines either, but it tells them why.

Sure, the building industry is more hap-hazard and inconsistent in the way it uses estimates and schedules. Forensics and analysis seldom enter the picture, save for the odd TIA (Time Impact Analysis). But it has little attention span for things like benchmarks, rubrics, and metrics. Therein lies a great divide between the building  industries and others, and project controls, and plain old estimating and scheduling.