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Over the years, analysts have used a number of different analysis techniques to identify and measure project delays. Many of those techniques required the analyst to abandon or alter the schedules used by the project participants to manage the project, ignoring much of the contemporaneous information contained in the schedules. To prevent the loss of this important data and to avoid substituting the analyst's potentially biased perspective for the perceptions and actions of the parties managing the contract work when the delay was actually experienced, the contemporaneous period analysis (CPA) technique relies on the project schedules and the contemporaneous project documentation, known as as-built data, to identify and measure critical project delays.
THE OBSERVATIONAL CONTEMPORANEOUS PERIOD ANALYSIS
This article will focus on the observational contemporaneous period analysis (OCPA), which is a form of the CPA. The term observational means that the analytical technique does not require the after-the-fact creation of a separate or special schedule, the insertion of fragnets or impacts, or any other revisions to the project schedules. In other words, the analysis is based on the observation of the schedules that existed on the project at the time of the delay, the contemporaneous schedules. Period simply means that the analysis is typically organized and performed in discreet periods, the time between the schedule updates. The analysis is typically performed chronologically from schedule update to schedule update. This presentation technique, however, should not be confused with the windows in a windows analysis. The OCPA is also known as the contemporaneous schedule analysis.
WHY USE THE CONTEMPORANEOUS PROJECT SCHEDULES?
The OCPA begins with the baseline or as-planned schedule, typically the earliest complete and approved project schedule. Typically, as of the data date of this schedule, no project work has been performed. Consequently, the baseline or as-planned schedule depicts the project team's original plan to construct the project and often serves as the starting point for the analysis of critical project delays. Starting with the as-planned schedule, the analysis proceeds chronologically to the first schedule update, and then proceeds update to update to the project completion date. The analysis moves chronologically through the project, tracking progress on a daily basis and measuring delays and savings to the critical path and project milestones.
The contemporaneous schedule...