The required reading for this week is Article 3 Integrated Cost And Schedule Control, by Bruce Kibler. This article shows how cost/schedule integration evolved into the concept of project control. Article 4 is similar in nature but has more practical elements. To gain a historic perspective on the subject, read Article 1 from 1981. Article 2 is one of the earlier and corner stone works on project control developed by CII. For real world applications, read Article 5 and 6. Article 8 is about implementation strategies for project control. Article 10, 11, and 12 are about the latest development, more at an advanced level. Article 7 is a one of a kind piece on why estimators need to know about scheduling. You can also call it scheduling in a nutshell. Article 9 is about a very specific subject related to both cost and schedule, activity based job costing.
- Integration of Cost and Scheduling Systems, Paul B. Shiring, Jr., CCE, AACE Transactions, 1981
- Project Control for Construction (p1-p13), CII Publication RS6-5, September 1987, reviewed by CII June 23, 2004
- Integrated Cost And Schedule Control, BE Kibler, Cost Engineering , 1992
- Project Controls - A Practical Approach, Michael J. Cunningham, CCC, Cost Engineering , 1994
- Cost/schedule systems for a utility engineering organization, Daniel J Martin, Cost Engineering, 1994
- Project Controls: Cost / Schedule / Progress Management on the NASA Wind Tunnel Restoration Project, Kelvin Yu, PE, CCE, Cost Engineering, 1996
- Scheduling for Estimators, Robert R. George, CCC, JCMS Proceedings, 1998
- Establishing a project controls organization, Douglas, Edward E, III, AACE International Transactions, 1999
- Activity-Based Job Costing for Integrating Estimating, Scheduling, and Cost Control, Aminah Robinson Fayek, Cost Engineering , 2001
- Evolving project control practices, Longworth, Scott R, AACE International Transactions; 2002
- Avoiding project controls pitfalls, Hyde, Marlene M, AACE International Transactions, 2003
- Revitalizing Project Controls: A Roadmap to Excellence, Michalak, Christopher F;Stephenson, H Lance, AACE International Transactions, 2006
Part 1 of Required Article
ReplyDeleteIntegrated Cost and Schedule Control by Bruce Kibler should not be read when you are hungry with a number of references to multi-layer cakes. In all seriousness, I enjoyed this article. The main areas covered are as follows:
1) Project Control Overview
a. Planning and scheduling
b. Estimating
c. Cost engineering
i. Cost group
ii. Financial group
2) Theory of Integrated Project Control
3) Major Elements of Project Control
4) Work Packaging
a. Design and development
b. Procurement
c. Manufacturing
d. Quality assurance and control
e. Installation
f. Start-up
g. Turnover
5) Implementation
a. Steps 1-12 to establish project plan
6) Management Strategy
a. Management by Objective
b. Management by exception
c. Management by crisis
7) Existing Management Theories
a. Fact vs. fiction
b. Ideological management values
i. Method intimidation
c. Chain of command perspective
d. Real world decision making
8) Integrated Project Control System
a. Project services
b. Forecasting
c. Monthly updates
The reason I did the outline (looks better in MS word) is because being an architect this helps me breakdown everything he is discussing and makes me realize once again how many variables, items, people, planning, knowledge, and industry related experience goes into getting something built.
1C explains what cost and financial groups do and do not do. I’d imagine only mid-large scale commercial contractors have this level of intricacy? His statement that cost engineers monitor the ‘pulse’ of the project seems to be very accurate. In addition his explanation on management information systems (MIS) is helpful to me but makes me wonder what happens to the database of information that becomes corrupted by hackers, accidentally altered by personnel, server crashes etc. Project controls relies on computerized information that is typically maintained by others and he states that project control relies on timeliness and if the info is out-of-date, it is no good. His quote which I have heard numerous times, “if you want it done right, do it yourself” seems to go against the grain of working together that the article is emphasizing.
This portion made me think about has it been more difficult for contractors to price items in the past three years because of the recession and volatility in the market?
Part 2 of Required Article
ReplyDeleteKibler in section 5, Implementation discusses the 12 steps to establish a project plan which seems could be used as a checklist. His discussion on the first draft of a cost estimate, escalation and the final network, final project logic network are beneficial to understand the process that needs to occur before the cost loaded CPM is created.
I found his discussion on Ideological management; construction managers are less people oriented and more goals (project completion) oriented interesting. The method of intimidation may work in the short term that being the completion of the project but may fail in the long term because training and having employees skills improve is put on the back burner and hurts future projects. I agree wholeheartedly with this assessment because in many architecture firms that I have worked in the preferred method seems to fall under intimidation. What I mean by this is that the principals/owners of the company to often think dumping way too much work on their project managers and architects is a great way to manage a firm, one that is in crisis mode. They want to make the PMs and PAs feel if they do not complete the insane amount of work they are not being a team player. They seem to base their management experiences in part from the late night college design studio atmosphere and the idea of eating, sleeping, and breathing architecture all the time is best which seemed many times the mantra of design studio professors. In my opinion, this just seems to be a vicious cycle that repeats itself generation after generation of architecture students. When one moves to an architecture firm it is not uncommon to find employers constantly making employees work overtime and not paying overtime which highlights the inefficiencies of the firm. If they actually included all the time into a fee the owner/client would be dumbfounded. They do not realize how much money they are not being charged in many cases. Never mind all the studies that have been done showing the worker productivity decrease after a week or two of overtime. It actual is more inefficient to have people working all the time.
The last portion of the paper seems to show his feelings more so than facts when he writes, “The need for the individual to achieve higher standards of living has resulted in a greater share of people being more concerned about making a profit than earning a respectable living.” He wrote the article in 1992 and the country was coming out of the 1990-91 recession. Ironically here we are again in a recession that makes the early 90s recession look like a blip. In retrospect, in both recessions, it is easy to see that for many they lived beyond their means while many in the construction industry are now simply fighting to survive. I agree that short term profit clouded many peoples judgment but am not certain I agree that this has strained the client/contractor relationship. I do not think there is anything wrong with making a healthy profit but also do not think greed is good either.
DS
Scheduling for Estimators by Bob George, CPE is short and sweet. The article dealt with what an estimator should know or be aware of with the schedule while estimating. “Certain portions of a construction project are very closely tied to construction duration (George, 1998).” General conditions is directly related to the duration of the construction project and cost is mainly associated with labor. General statements like this help me think more about the construction aspects than simply drafting a project up and pushing off on the contractor. It lets me appreciate how many other items need to be looked at and to shift my perspective from design to construction.
ReplyDeleteThe good and bad of bar charts, good for telling people when things need to get done; bad for not being able to analyze the demands of a project schedule. It cannot figure out project logic. With the advent of computer software packaging preliminary CPM can be put together in a relative short time. Hours for a small project where it use to take days or week. Again, I guess you have to be careful about having slick software and someone that is unfamiliar with the construction process doing the inputting. You control the schedule; the schedule does not control you.
Overall he gives basic insight into how the estimator can work on scheduling items that benefit the estimate by showing an example of listing and sequencing activities. He provides basic info on finish-start, finish-finish, and start-start connection types. The better part of info under Assigned Durations seemed to be exact copy of info from the preceding section.
The one thing I do not agree with yet because I lack scheduling experience is the habit of trying to re-use old schedules for similar project types to cull about 70% of that info for the current one. I have witnessed a number of occasions in architecture offices where specifications been re-used and oops someone forgot to change a street address or header info etc. Or forgetting to change the title block and presenting something to a client with the wrong title block because they were too busy getting everything else done. That’s embarrassing.
This article probably would seem elementary to anyone with years of scheduling and estimating experience.
DS
Integrated Cost and Schedule Control
ReplyDeleteThis article spent a great deal of time describing the elements and inter-relationships of a cost / schedule project control program, management styles and strategies, the theory of integrated project control and their effects on a project. The elements of a cost / schedule program are estimating, cost engineering, financial, accounting and the administration of these groups. The information these groups gather, analyze and disseminate is vital to the health and orderly progress of the project.
The strict establishment of these groups would produce a highly organized project control structure but it seems to add significantly to the General Conditions costs of the contractor. This type of structure would be appropriate for a very large complicated project where team members would not have the luxury of time to allow the duplication of responsibilities. I have worked on $90 million dollar project and the project did not have this level of project control structure but then again a $200 million project 10 miles in length would have need of this level of project controls. It may also be dependent on the number and sophistication of the stake holders in the project.
The three management styles listed are by objective, by crisis and by exception. I have been guilty of managing by crisis many times in my career. This seems to be a result of the quality of the contractors’ and my project management. I believe that each style is needed depending on the situation and project.
“It is suspected that the reward of promotion from specific work responsibilities results in the loss of the smaller picture and an inability to see the bigger picture; only upper management, those who do not manage discrete elements of the overall plan, are capable of accurate reception of the overall game.” I strongly disagree with this statement. All member s of the project team have the capabilities of fully understanding and contributing toward the overall plan if it is explained by upper management. The middle and their staff may have a more direct impact on the overall project outcome than the upper management.
“The need for the individual to achieve higher standard of living has resulted in a greater share of people being more concerned about making a profit than earning a respectable living.” This statement seems to imply that people are cutting corners and not interested in quality workmanship. I believe it is more important for the management of the company to define their position. Quality workmanship or lack thereof means more or less work for the project management, either the GC or the CM.
Avoiding Project controls Pitfalls, Marlene M. Hyde, CCE
ReplyDeleteThe author describes a project to design and implement a project controls system for a government contractor that had none previously. The projects being managed totaled $330 million. Most of the projects were in the early design phases at the time. The design of the project controls system and the methods used to implement them were reviewed.
Lessons learned
• Recruit volunteers to assist in the design of the system. This will get buy in in the new system
• Gradual implementation of the project controls system. Let them get used to the new system before releasing all of the capabilities of the system and help them interpret the data
• Written variance analysis on each project that will be tracked, summarizes the reasons for cost a schedule variances
• Start resource loaded scheduling at a high level; don’t overload the process with too much information too early.
• Qualitative variance reports, provides an interpretation for the data
The author describes pitfalls for management, Project Managers and Controls staff when using project controls system
Management
• Don’t overreact:
• Don’t ignore problems
• Recognize project controls and software expertise is two sets of skills.
Project Managers
• Must have a good working knowledge of the architecture of the controls system
• Develop budgets with the assistance of the project controls staff
• Don’t underestimate the value of using a resource loaded schedule.
• Variance in cost and schedule should be used as a planning tool
• Estimate at completion and budget at completion do not have to match.
Project controls staff
• Determine the correct amount of schedule detail
• Set up base line before beginning to status the project.
• Standardize the work breakdown structure between projects.
These pitfalls and recommendations would be good for reviewing the system currently being used. Are the project managers and staff falling into these traps? Are the project managers’ interpreting the data correctly?
I found it hard to fathom that a company running projects valued at $330 million did not have a formal project controls system in place.
Blog for Week #3 Articles by Steve Nellis
ReplyDeleteIntegrated Cost and Schedule Control – A Pice of the Cake
Bruce E. Kibler
This article has several different ideas that are discussed as they affect the relationships of the schedule and the costs of a construction project. I will try to correlate the article topics and the applicability in the home building industry. The first section of the article discusses the Project Control Overview.
In the Project Control Overview, a breakdown of the Project Control is described into the following areas:
Planning and scheduling this is identifying and setting the goals and objectives of the project. This usually focuses on process mechanics such as CPM
Estimating – this is the actual details of the costs of each individual action / activity which includes the materials, labor, and equipment.
Cost engineering – this is the actual integration of the estimate into the business functions. Several key departments in a home building organization are involved with this area. This includes all of the functional deparmtnes of a ordinary home building company. This includes estimates from the land acquisition and development group, the sales and marketing group, and the vertical construction group. All of these estimates or budgets are then assembled by the financial projections team to run an analysis into the possible success of a potential new community.
The article discusses the concept of work packaging. A work package consists of a prescribed amount of work with an estimated value determined to be the responsibility of a specific individual. This is precisely how a high production home building organization as I alluded to in the previous paragraph. The article discusses that a work package is broken down into design and development; procurement; manufacturing; quality assurance and control; installation; start-up; and turnover. These are the steps that each department goes through in their efforts to produce the work package that they are responsible for.
Another section in the article that is applicable to home building is Management Strategy. The three styles of management – by objective, by exception, and by crisis – are very prevelant in home building. My experiences have shown all of these styles. The more successful managers are generally those that can manage by objective. The managers that generally do not survive are those that manage by crisis.
Steve Nellis
Project Controls, Cost Schedule progress management of the NASA Wind Tunnel
ReplyDeleteThis article is about the rebuilding of a 12’ diameter subsonic wind tunnel for NASA. The project included the demolition of the original wind tunnel and the construction of a new wind tunnel with a controls building. It was initially intended for a single contractor to construct he wind tunnel but the bids were significantly over the estimate. The work was subsequently broken down into separate contracts intended to reduce the scope and “fear factor” (contingency) of the bidding contractors. A budget of $110 million was established by the CM (for the lack of a better term).
The construction manager wrote the work breakdown structures and developed a project schedule and estimates using their own logic and data base. Since the project was broken down into 13 bid packages and NASA was acting as the GC, the responsibility of coordinating all of these separate schedules was an entity that did not have direct control of the progress of the work (a CM). The author describes the project controls tools being prepared by the CM. Schedule management, Cost control, progress management and project management tools
Schedule Management:
• Work breakdown structure (Bid packages)
• Project schedule
• Parallel schedule, a schedule created and maintained by the CM to check the schedules of the separate contractors on their WBS
• Schedule maintenance, updates submitted by contractors each month
• Interface schedule, a schedule created and maintained by the CM to coordinate the work on site (deliveries, movement of materials, work in the same area, etc.)
• Schedule Variance, Planned vs. actual, planned vs. contractor planned
Cost Control:
• Budgets
• Actual cost
• Estimate at completion
• Change Order Control
• Cost Variance Analysis
Progress Management:
• Earned Value
• Progress Charts
These controls will provide accurate and timely information for project management. They may even be useful to a General Contractor but I believe they would add significant costs to their subcontract bids and prove to make them uncompetitive. This level of project controls seems to be of limited use on small to medium size commercial projects. I believe they are intended for the large commercial, government and infrastructure projects. However, I can envision these or similar controls being used by a production home builder when introducing new products to the market.
David said: Scheduling for Estimators:
ReplyDeleteReusing schedules lie reusing architectural details and specifications, I believe is a dangerous habit. Without carefully reviewing the logic of the schedule, you could be setting yourself up for costly assumptions. Does the site allow the same logic? Does the climate allow the same logic? Does material availability allow the same logic? Does the client need the same logic? I too have been embarrassed by reusing details and specifications, but more importantly I have been in situations where it has cost money to the owner, to the contractor and / or to the designer to correct the oversight. This may push a good client relationship into the bad category.
Blog for Week #3 Articles - Steve Nellis
ReplyDeleteScheduling for Estimators – A Guide to Conceptual Scheduling
Bob George, CPE
This article was very short and to the point – I like that! Bob George actually relates his points to a home building structure, which I also liked! In this article, he opens with the statement that owners are regularly demand that their projects be completed sooner than can be reasonably expected. He states that this puts an increased burden on the estimator.
He describes how bar charts are lousy tools for analyzing the demands on the schedule. These in adequate schedules lead to bad estimates because the costs are not accurately reflected in these schedules.
He states that an estimator needs to prepare a schedule that truly reflects the requirements of the project. Some requirements that I have experiences include the permit application process, obtaining approvals from local home owner’s association’s architectural review boards, internal sales contract and design center processes, and other governing agency requirements.
He summarizes his article by stating that the scheduling process is even easier if past schedules are used to help determine new project schedules. This is especially true when we purchase new communities / subdivisions that within the same governing agency’s jurisdictions. But there are times when we still can get caught and be delayed. An example is when the City of Little Elm, TX decided to approve the new IRCC 2009 version and made it retroactive – we had permit applications in but then all of them had to be resubmitted AFTER the plans and structural documents were to be re-drawn based on the 2009 code. This delayed our starts in this subdivision by as much as six weeks.
Steve Nellis
I am reading your comments right now. David created a Table of Content for the required article. It's a pretty good way to keep track of things. I went a step further and made this chart:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinypic.com/r/o0a0t1/7
I used a free software called Freemind to create this "mindmap": http://freemind.sourceforge.net/. I have been use this tool for pretty much everything since I discovered it a few years ago.
Integrated Cost & Schedule Control: I liked the author’s emphasis on the fact that construction progress data (cost and schedule) must be timely and accurate, but also that it must be easily accessible to all the people needing it, and it must be standardized and easily understood by all as well. This is one of those basic concepts that can be overlooked when overly involved in the technology or details, but the whole process fails to work properly if the above concept is not a basic component and framework of the system. As Kibler illustrates, you can have the most sophisticated database in the world but if it can’t be shared and understood by all parties who need it, it is of little value.
ReplyDeleteIf the cost and schedule control system is set up properly in the above manner, then the project control team can do their thing properly. They identify the actual and potential problems, evaluate the impacts of problems, recommend solutions, and select corrective action. If the framework is properly built, this information is communicated right back into the model to make real time, informed decisions to keep the project moving forward as obstacles are understood and dealt with in the best manner possible. I thought the evolutionary history of project control was interesting as I had really never given the matter any thought. A lot of trial and error and lots of experimentation brought us from Gantt and bar charts to CPM to work package control. As a small residential builder, Gantt charts with a critical path, is all I have utilized, and most small builders probably don’t use anything other than a legal pad.
Monitoring and feedback make sense in being the guts of a functioning work control package. This information is then put in a format which all involved parties can share and understand, and pump it right back into the model to improve the process. To me, it seems very similar to the quality management system in manufacturing that W. Edward Deming conceived back in the 1950s.
Per Gordon's comments on scheduling for estimators. I believe you are correct in stating reusing past data can be dangerous without fully assessing the all the components in the current project. It is always so tempting because it saves SO MUCH TIME, but sometimes slight deviations of variables can have a dramatic effect on the bottom line, especially in tight margin situations.
ReplyDeleteAbout reusing schedule from previous projects, I think the original article means schedules from previous projects could give an estimator some ideas about the scheduling considerations for estimating purpose. This might be ok.
ReplyDeleteScheduling for Estimators: This is a great article that clearly explains why estimators need to understand the scheduling process. This is in some respects a finance 101 lesson. It is a lesson in the cost of time. The authors makes the extremely important point that a project which should take 90 days to complete but which the owner wants completed in 60 days, will cost considerably more. It can be done in 60, but shaving the time involves considerable additional expense to speed up the process. If this is not understood, the estimator will either get himself fired and/or create substantial financial hardships on the construction company. The estimator almost has to ignore the clients time line desires in the original estimate in order to asses and arrive at an accurate “normal” construction time requirement. From there, he can assess the costs, if any, to meet the timeline and then the client can decide if the time savings is worth the money.
ReplyDeleteGeorge talks about the critical path method in arriving at a realistic schedule. It is only logical that if activity C cannot be started until activity B is finished, the person making the schedule had better understand this relationship or there is no chance of it being accurate. CPM schedules can help illustrated how important it is for the scheduler to understand this process. Kind of like a 2x4 upside the head!
Avoiding Project Controls Pitfalls by Marlene M. Hyde, CCE discusses creating a ‘world-class project controls system’ for government contractor that did not have a formal project controls system. They wanted to create this for 7 contracts totaling $388 million and to meet the requirements for DOE Order 413.3 Program and Project Management for the Acquisition of Capital Assets. I have personally heard of neither.
ReplyDeleteBelow is list of things I learned, some of the items I do not recall ever hearing about, others seem to indicate you need years of experience in project controls to really understand what the author is discussing:
•Cost performance index (CPI) vs. schedule performance index (SPI) and the acceptable ranges that fall into green (0.9 – 1.10), yellow (.85 - .89), and red (above 1.20 or below 0.85). I have not really heard of this before and found it beneficial in reading.
•Touched based on incompatible software between MS Project Office and Primavera P3 and project controls department and Project managers that use them and how to handle this.
•Five methods provided for a successful
project controls system. Recruiting a project control team, gradual implementation of initial reports with PMs, a written variance analysis on each project, creating an initial resource loaded schedule(s) at a high level, and a qualitative variance report prepared by project controller
•SPI below 1.0 means project is behind schedule
•CPI below 1.0 means that is costing more than expected for the earned value achieved
•SPI or CPI trending in one direction over several months is a concern. How do you as project control and/or PM handle this?
•A good project controls requires knowledge in predecessor/successor relationships, schedule float, critical paths, and multitude of other project related tasks.
•Use Earned Value methodology even for fixed price contracts. The explanation provided helped me start to wrap my head around this.
•Touched on using the same language and making sure everyone else is when it comes to project controls.
•Provided figure of BCWP vs. BCWP vs. ACWP. I need to explore this to really grasp what is going on?
•How often does a best and final WBS happen vs. one and done?
•Include accrued cost in ACWP due to billing cycles for architects and contractors. If not accounted for a lag will occur related to BCWP vs. BCWP vs. ACWP and could make numbers look like they are below budget until the final month when everything catches up to you.
•Exclude contingency from earned value calculations. Should not be assumed it is used equally from month to month
DS
Interesting, mind map, never heard of that before, the word or or the website. If it runs on Java will it not work on Firefox? I believe Firefox disables Java?
ReplyDeleteHow often do you think the construction industry uses a site like this?
What is tinypic.com? Is that considered a social media site?
DS
Freemind is a standalone program that would run on both Windows and Mac. It doesn't matter what browser you use. I am not exactly sure if I know what you mean by "a site like this". I am using this program only because of my "geek nature". If you want to share a photo or image with anyone and don't want to use email attachment, you can upload it to tinypic.com, then you get a link to share instead. This is the first time I tried it.
ReplyDeleteIntegrated Cost and Schedule Control:
ReplyDeleteI found this article to be very informative on subject matter that until now I have not had the so called “authority” to be dealing with. I have always had and idea of how estimates and schedules work in tandem especially on massive jobs but, never any actual ideology from experienced managers to support or reject my thoughts. I also wasn’t aware estimates were derived from one-of¬-kind commodities and/or bulk commodities.
The author stated what a bulk commodity is but, can someone indulge me on what a one-of-a-kind commodity exactly is as it relates to construction?
The author made the comment that project controls is interested in the “control” of a project but would rather allow other groups in the project to handle the information that would seem to allow for informed decision making. In doing so this to me would leave the project controls group at the mercy of second hand information and possible having the blind leading the blind. Can someone please explain the author’s statement?
Overall the author’s method of explaining the process of developing a WBS (Work Break-Down Structure) was thorough. I found it useful that each step in the WBS was defined by the work/events that took place in each step. In doing so, I’ve been able to easily identify the areas of each step that over the course of my career I have had the opportunity to deal with as well as the one that I have not. This article has also helped me envision better ways to plan, organize and direct the next project I’m involved with.
Over the course of my career I have had the opportunity to work with several different project managers. Most of which have been very influential in my development as a construction manager. The author makes a valid point stating that most successful construction managers are aggressive, temperamental and direct. This statement couldn’t be closer to the truth. Now on a few occasions I have encountered construction managers that were not as rigid and used influential rather than intimidating tactics to get the job done. In other words this particular breed of construction managers were more people oriented. In defense of the more aggressive/rigid construction managers only certain projects allow for influential management rather than intimidation. Project size, complexity, schedule and type of customer dictate what kind of construction manager a project will need. I’ve learned in this business you have to be able to wear several hats to adjust to the construction environment you become involved with.
In closing the author mentioned the term of prudency audits in regard to funds being re-allocated from one party to another due to poor management. I have never heard of this measure being implemented. Can anyone give me the foundation for this action or maybe it has a different terminology used like liquidated damages etc.??????
Integration of Costs and Scheduling Systems:
ReplyDeleteThe author made the comment that when developing a schedule only place the major activities in it. He then follows up by saying place the remaining activities in a projected schedule. This seems a little unclear and leads one to think that two separate schedules are to be made. There is the one of major activities and one that contains the remaining activities (non-critical path.) At what point in time is he planning merging the two to simplify the schedule anyone?
Dealing with the major activities the author did mention weighting them to show the percent complete for the whole project but, if all of the smaller activities are not present how can the percent complete be determined??? Does this mean the preliminary estimates of labor, materials and budget on the non–major activities have been obtained or will the schedule have to be readjusted to accommodate them and sent back to the drawing board???? Note the author said to establish a working schedule!!!
The author stated there were three kinds of schedules consisting of early start, planned and late start. Early start was said to use no float. If the schedule has a pre-determined end date there should still be flexibility in the schedule float if a problem should arise shouldn’t there???? I’m unclear based on the bell curve diagram he used and the comment he made regarding the types of schedules can someone explain???
On the cost side of the article the author had more clarification to his approach. He seems to have gone into more detail in relation to how the cost control system is managed on construction projects. Based on the experiences I’ve had over the years the cost control system is not a familiar area for me so I really wouldn’t know if the terminology was correct as he stated. With that being said the comments made by the author have been somewhat educational although the terminology seems to have come straight from an accounting book and not from an experienced construction manager.