You cannot overlook construction planning for successful construction project completion. Its absence may lead to project delays, cost overruns, and failure to meet specifications. The vital components of effective construction planning are sequencing activities, estimating durations, planning resources, and creating a schedule and budget. Construction planning maximizes the productivity and efficiency of the project output. Read this blog to know how construction planning increases a team’s efficiency, its types, and the steps involved in building an efficient construction plan.
What is construction planning?
A construction plan identifies the steps required to build a structure, including defining the actions, creating an ordered timeline, staffing the project, and identifying the necessary materials and equipment. It helps keep the project timely and streamlines communication.
However, construction scheduling is never easy, involving technical aspects and prioritizing organizational decisions. InnPMIS helps allocate resources strategically with customizable work planning through detailed Work Breakdown Structures (WBS).
What are the types of construction planning?
Here are the types of construction scheduling processes-
Business planning
This construction plan is often prepared at the beginning of a project. It gives an overall idea of the project, guidelines for executing it, and assignments for specific team members. It also includes a bid for the project. Collaborate with all subcontractors on one centralized platform with InnPMIS digitized generation, submission, and bid tracking.
Strategic planning
The project manager meets the corporate planners and client to determine the needs and satisfy the project user and owner. Create a master construction plan to ensure timely completion. Some aspects of strategic planning are market analysis, identifying competitive advantages, and setting priorities for growth and development. Following this sets the direction for the organization and helps in decision-making.
Operational planning
This construction scheduling takes place after the client approves the strategic planning. The team crafts a detailed construction plan with goals and action steps. It aligns with the baseline and works together to complete documents and reports. This type of construction planning includes day-to-day operations and construction project logistics. It ensures the smooth running of the project by procuring materials, scheduling labor and equipment, and coordinating on-site activities. Create schedules that seamlessly align with your project’s demands with InnPMIS, whether you start from scratch, pull in predefined scope items, or use a template.
Resource planning
This construction plan ensures that each project has the staff, materials, and resources necessary for its timely completion. For this, project managers create a timeline of important deadlines and resource allocation. This construction scheduling helps deal with multiple projects simultaneously. Get instant visibility into on-site progress with automated work logs and live field updates with InnPMIS. It is tailored to fit the needs of multi-contractor environments.
What are the steps involved in construction planning?
Here is how you can develop an effective construction plan-
Step 1: Identify key resources
The most preferred tool for an initial list of resources is a Project Initiation Document (PID). It focuses on people, materials, and budget. It keeps key stakeholders and the team on board regarding the requirements before project commencement. Share real-time drawings, documents, and updates with teams, contractors, and stakeholders on a centralized platform with InnPMIS.
Step 2: Draft an initial construction plan
Identify SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based) goals to establish project guidelines. Set timelines for tasks ranging from quick jobs to large-scale work packages, ensuring everyone is on the same page with InnPMIS.
Step 3: Meet the key stakeholders
Share the PID details with the stakeholders in the meeting. Communication with them on key information is important,since their approval counts. Minimize bottlenecks with InnPMIS' sequential or parallel approval workflows.
Step 4: Assign responsibilities
Some roles and responsibilities include project sponsoring, additional project managers, end-users, defined business experts, and project team members.
Step 5: Evaluate the project by tracking performance
Some performance indicators to consider when tracking are project objectives and quality. Revisit the SMART goals and baseline objectives before project handover. It will help you identify areas to make necessary adjustments for project success. Enhance project transparency by capturing daily progress digitally, generating real-time reports, and tracking labor hours easily with InnPMIS.
Step 6: Prepare a final project budget
Record the project costs and share the final report with key stakeholders. Dodge financial ambiguity through automated invoice management and real-time budget tracking across contractors with InnPMIS. It automatically validates invoices against work certifications, ensuring only approved work is paid for.
The final words
Effective construction planning is crucial for timely, successful, cost-effective project completion. Following a structured approach, including strategic planning, operational planning, business planning, and resource planning, will help project managers optimize project output.
Construction scheduling with evolving project needs can quickly become overwhelming, but not with Inncircles. Simplify your construction plans and exceed expectations with our intuitive platform.