Abstract:
This study explores the practice of planning and productivity measurement on Indian building
construction sites and suggests a framework to improve the practice. An exploratory study based on
observing several projects was initially undertaken and it was found that there was no structured
method utilised to analyse and improve productivity during the construction phase. Further analysis of
planning practices on 15 building construction projects revealed that while the overall milestone plan
was appropriate, the critical path method schedule (macro schedule) had several limitations, which
made its relevance for look-ahead planning and coordination of resources questionable. Without an
appropriate model for medium term planning, the short-term plans became uncoordinated and
resulted in significant wastages. Based on a comparison of observed practices with documented best
practices, and constraints unique to projects in India, the gaps in developing CPM based schedule are
enumerated and strategies to close the gaps are suggested.
In addition to this top-down approach to develop a realistic CPM based schedule, a bottom up
approach to monitor the daily progress against the planned weekly targets is proposed. While the
conventional monitoring framework mandates this approach, there were several gaps in practice that
were observed. The causes for these gaps are analysed and suggestions to close the gaps are
proposed. The proposed framework consisting of the top-down and bottom-up approach is expected to
overcome several of the barriers to measure and improve labour productivity on Indian
building projects.
