The Certified Scheduling Professional

By Zulk Shamsuddin

A project scheduler is an essential part of a project management team, mainly in construction and engineering as they require effective schedule management. The project scheduler typically works with the project manager in performing different functions to complete construction projects successfully. If you're interested in becoming a certified project scheduler, it is important to understand the duties and qualifications needed for the job. In this book, we discuss the duties and responsibilities of a project scheduler, outline how to become a certified project scheduler and highlight the essential skills required to become a successful project scheduler.
The Certified Scheduling Professional ™ (CSP) credential is a gold-class certification that demonstrates the attainment of a defined level of technical knowledge associated with planning and scheduling a project, professional practice, and ethical behaviour.
It forms the basis of the assessment that applicants must pass to gain the Certified Scheduling Professional status and inclusion in the Register of The Global Academy of Finance and Management ® Certified / Chartered Professional. Individuals with several years of experience in planning and scheduling are encouraged to acquire this certification.
Stand out above the rest with the Certified Scheduling Professional ™ certification and get noticed by top recruiters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781794892316

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 Zulk Shamsuddin, PhD / GAFM ACADEMY

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-7948-9231-6

INTRODUCTION

A project scheduler is an essential part of a project management team, mainly in construction and engineering as they require effective schedule management. The project scheduler typically works with the project manager in performing different functions to complete construction projects successfully. If you're interested in becoming a certified project scheduler, it is important to understand the duties and qualifications needed for the job. In this book, we discuss the duties and responsibilities of a project scheduler, outline how to become a certified project scheduler and highlight the essential skills required to become a successful project scheduler.

The Certified Scheduling Professional ™ (CSP) credential is a gold-class certification that demonstrates the attainment of a defined level of technical knowledge associated with planning and scheduling a project, professional practice, and ethical behavior.

It forms the basis of the assessment that applicants must pass to gain the Certified Scheduling Professional status and inclusion in the Register of The Global Academy of Finance and Management ® Certified / Chartered Professional. Individuals with several years of experience in planning and scheduling are encouraged to acquire this certification.

Stand out above the rest with the Certified Scheduling Professional ™ certification and get noticed by top recruiters.

Introduce yourself with this exclusive certification card during networking, business events, conference, and anywhere. Membership has its privileges.

Benefits of becoming Certified Scheduling Professional

Personal recognition from your peers and other professions.

Enhanced CV to stand out in the job market, get noticed by top recruiters.

A framework for the development of your career.

International recognition.

Assurance for clients of high standards and ethical practice.

Use of the post nominal CSP or Certified Scheduling Professional ™

Increased understanding, helping you to work more effectively.

Scheduling Professional Duties and Responsibilities

Scheduling Professionals decide and develop the most appropriate economic models and engineering methods for projects. They work in a variety of fields such as civil engineering or construction. Scheduling Professionals are normally onsite during an engineering project to supervise all stages of work and provide solutions. Most Scheduling Professionals work full-time alongside a wide number of teammates, such as site managers, surveyors, and engineers, to ensure a project runs on schedule and that materials are sufficient. Successful Scheduling Professionals are comfortable working in fast-paced environments. Although a Scheduling Professional’s day-to-day duties and responsibilities are determined by where they work, there are many core tasks associated with the role. Based on our analysis of job listings, these include:

Create Project Execution Plans

Deciding on proper engineering techniques and milestone sequences for each project stage is the most important role of a Scheduling Professional. They set targets for activities based on each phase of a project plan and ensure it meets client’s specifications. Scheduling Professionals make estimations for timescales and costs using specialized design software packages.

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Project Schedule Monitoring and Reporting

Scheduling Professionals monitor day-to-day work progress for a project and provide accurate weekly and monthly reports by swiftly communicating potential progress delays or project slippages. Tracking and analyzing field results is another key responsibility. Scheduling Professionals continually make comparisons between planned progress and actual progress and report any differences to their lead project manager. They also study the impact of alternative approaches.

Perform Project Coordination

Scheduling Professionals analyze expenses and identify opportunities to save cost. They make sure complex projects are handled on time and on budget by overseeing the project planning, inventory services, cost control, team leadership, and project management.

Manage Stakeholder and Team Communication

A Scheduling Professional works closely with others involved in a project and directs the daily workload of subordinate team members. They attend crucial meetings and provide current status updates to vendors, supervisors, and other stakeholders.

Drive Process Improvement

Driving continuous improvement by working with leadership teams is a key duty for Scheduling Professionals. They identify gaps in key performance areas and plan activities to increase overall project efficiency. Scheduling Professionals provide guidance and deliver schedules to facilitate project execution strategy.

Skills

Scheduling Professionals should be self-motivated, extremely organized, and have strong communication and project management aptitude. Employers typically seek candidates with a bachelor’s degree, an engineering certification, and the following skills:

Engineering skills – Scheduling Professionals need a strong understanding of technical engineering principles to predict future problems and find solutions for them

Project Scheduling – the primary job of Scheduling Professionals is determining the necessary path for a project to get completed on time

Project Management –understanding how to scope a project and create work schedules to ensure completion within the timeframe and budget allotted is a key duty of Scheduling Professionals

Teamwork – Scheduling Professionals interact effectively with cross-functional team members and external stakeholders at various levels of responsibility

Analytical skills – high levels of analytical problem-solving skills are critical to the performance of this role

Communication skills – Scheduling Professionals need strong verbal and written skills to provide reports to clients and stakeholders as well as articulate complex project plans to team members

Computer skills – Scheduling Professionals use specialized computer software for engineering and project management purposes, and also to produce visual presentations, using bar charts and graphs to explain work schedules

How to Acquire the Certified Scheduling Professional Certification?

Scheduling Professionals generally need a bachelor’s degree in engineering, project management, or some other related discipline. Employers typically seek a minimum of three years of professional engineering experience and technical knowledge of computers. Candidates with a Certified Scheduling Professional ™ license are especially attractive.

Application for Certification

https://gafm.com.my/application-for-certification/

Planning and scheduling are two terms that are often thought of as synonymous. However, they are not. Scheduling is just one part of the planning effort. The term planning is used in many ways and different contexts. We commonly hear about financial planning, such as retirement planning and college education planning. Governments, as well as large corporations, have planning units or teams in almost every department. At the individual level, a young person may have plans for marriage, a career, and so forth. However, in the context of this book, the term planning is restricted to meaning project planning, with an emphasis on construction / engineering projects.

Scheduling is the determination of the timing and sequence of operations in the project and their assembly to give the overall completion time. As mentioned previously, scheduling focuses on one part of the planning effort. Project planning answers the questions What is going to be done? How? Where? By whom? and When (in general terms, the project’s start and end)? Scheduling deals with when on a detailed level. In fact, scholars have generally separated planning from scheduling. Critical Path Method separates planning and scheduling, and once project information is collected and expressed as a network plan and activity time estimates assigned, CPM calculations can be made. Planning ceases and scheduling starts when the first computation is performed that shows a project duration. The project duration is then compared with the desired schedule and scheduling begins.

Why Schedule Projects?

There are several parties involved in any project (stakeholders). They all need and benefit from project scheduling but from different perspectives. Following is a group of reasons for why project scheduling is needed, from two different perspectives: contractors and owners. There are several parties involved in any project (stakeholders). They all need and benefit from project scheduling but from different perspectives.

Contractors Need Project Scheduling

Contractors need project scheduling to:

Calculate the project completion date: In most construction projects, the general contractor (GC), including subcontractors and other team members, is obligated to finish the project by a certain date specified in the contract. The contractor has to make sure that his or her schedule meets this date. Some contracts contain clauses for penalties for finishing the project later than contractually required and/or incentives (financial or other) for finishing earlier. Also, the schedule may show the stage of substantial completion, when the owner may start occupying and using the facility while the contractor is still doing some final touches.

Calculate the start or end of a specific activity: Specific activities may require special attention, such as ordering and delivering materials or equipment. For instance, the project manager may want special and expensive equipment to be delivered just in time for installation. Long-lead items may have to be ordered several months in advance. Delivery of very large items may need coordination or a special permit from the city so that such delivery does not disrupt traffic during rush hour. The schedule must show such important dates.

Coordinate among trades and subcontractors, and expose and adjust conflicts: In today’s construction, the GC’s role is mostly to coordinate among different subcontractors. The responsibility of the GC may be to allocate the time of use of a tower crane among subcontractors or just to ensure that adequate work space is available for all subcontractors. These tasks are in addition to coordinating logical relationships such as when a subcontractor’s activity depends on the completion of another subcontractor’s activity. For example, the drywall contractor cannot start until the framing has been done; once the drywall is installed, the painter can start painting; and so on.

Predict and calculate the cash flow: The timing of an activity has an impact on the cash flow, which may be an important factor for the contractor (or the owner) to consider. The contractor (or the owner) must know his or her total spending in any month or time period. He or she may delay the start of certain activities, within the available float (this term is explained subsequently) to make sure that the cash flow does not exceed a certain cap.

Improve work efficiency: By properly distributing workers and equipment and having efficient materials management, the contractor can save time and money.

Serve as an effective project control tool: Project control must have a solid and sound base with which current performance can be compared. Project control is achieved by comparing the actual schedule and budget with the baseline (as-planned) schedule and budget.

Evaluate the effect of changes: Change orders are almost inevitable, but well-planned projects may have few or minor change orders. Change orders may come in the form of directive, that is, an order to the contractor to make the change, or request for evaluation before authorization. This change may be an addition, a deletion, or a substitution. Change orders may have an impact on the budget, schedule, or both. Cost estimators estimate the cost of change orders (including the impact on the overhead cost as a result of the schedule change), but schedulers calculate the impact of the change on the project schedule. It is the contractor’s responsibility to inform the owner on such impact and obtain his/her approval on the change to the budget and/or schedule.

Prove delay claims: Construction delay claims are common. Contractors must be able to accurately prove their claims against owners (or other parties) using project schedules. In most cases, only a critical path method (CPM) schedule can prove or disprove a delay claim, which can be a multimillion dollar one.

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Long Lead Equipment

Long lead equipment is referring to the critical equipment which requires long delivery (usually more than one year), and falls under critical path in the overall project schedule. To ensure successful implementation of the project, some critical equipment usually fall under the long lead equipment and needs to be purchased upfront prior to the commencement of the next stage. Depending on the overall project execution plan, the procurement of long lead equipment can normally start at the end of Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) stage, before the detailed design phase or concurrent with detailed design phase. In some projects, a pre-screening exercise is conducted prior to the actual procurement. This is where a high-level technical evaluation is performed prior to the actual procurement process. The pre-screening is useful for the Project Management Team (PMT) to reduce the number of potential bidders during the actual procurement as well as to speed up the evaluation process by having a small number of bidders. On the other hand, it also allows the PMT to have more time to zoom into more details on each bidders’ submission.

During the procurement stage, the technical specification obtained from the FEED stage is being sent to all bidders in order for them to come out with technical bid proposal. The technical bid proposal will be evaluated in a strictly manner to ensure compliance with the project technical requirement. The successful bidder will be awarded to supply the equipment, and usually it will be overlapped with the next project stage: Detailed Design Phase.

Scheduling and Estimating

Scheduling and estimating are closely related, and their relationship is probably one of the most important relationships in project management. They both make prediction on future consumption: money for estimating and time for scheduling. They both keep updating and adjusting their estimate during the execution of the

Reviews for The Certified Scheduling Professional

[Isabella Cruise · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love the content. These are the well-balanced skills and competencies for the certification. Soft skills are as equally important as technical skills. Excellent top-quality book and certification.