University of Waterloo
Civil Engineering
CIV E 596 – Construction Management
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4.
Computer Lab. On Excel
Log into your NEXUS account
Download file Chapter2.xls from the course web site www.civil.uwaterloo.ca/tarek
Activate Excel
In a new sheet, construct the following data table
Notice how Excel organizes
data in the form of a list (or
Table). No empty columns or
rows.
Experiments
1. Write a simple equation to calculate the profit for project Pr1 in cell (F2), as a percentage.
2. Copy the previous equation to calculate the profit for all projects.
3. Sort the data in the table to show the maximum profits first.
4. Add another sort to show the maximum profit under each type of project.
5. Use auto filter to show only the projects in central area.
6. Use auto filter to show only positive profits in all areas and all types of projects.
7. Add more projects using the Data - Form menu option.
8. Write a (VLOOKUP) function to retrieve the profit of any project as a function of project code .
9. Construct a Pivot Table to show a report in which you can select any project type and any area.
The report directly shows the budget, actual cost, and profit of associated projects.
10. Use the previous pivot table to show the total profit for Bridges in the West area.
Manually draw an organization chart to represent the data in the previous Excel list
University of Waterloo
Civil Engineering
CIV E 596 – Construction Management
Today:
Planning on Microsoft Project
Excel Pivot Tables
Computer Lab. On Microsoft Project
University of Waterloo
Civil Engineering
CIV E 596 – Construction Management
Computer Lab. On Estimating & EasyPlan
 Log into your NEXUS account.
 Download file CPM.xls from the course web site www.civil.uwaterloo.ca/tarek
 Experiment with the CPM spreadsheet.
 Activate Microsoft Project Software
 Follow the guidelines in the book (pages 127-129) for setting up a new project.
 Enter the data of the small project in Assignment 3, assume all activity durations are 3 days.
 Save the Microsoft Project file.
 Download EasyPlan.exe from the course web site www.civil.uwaterloo.ca/tarek
 Install EasyPlan into your temporary drive.
 Make sure Excel Solver is on and Macros enabled then, Activate EasyPlan.xls
 Browse the various features of EasyPlan.
 Load and have a look at the tutorial examples.
 Use Save-As and give a new name to the project file, say Assignment3.xls
 Enter the general project data in the main screen.
 From the Project menu, import the saved Microsoft Project file into your project.
 Go to the Activities & Estimates option and make select the auto-estimate option.
 Select one of the estimates, click on the Edit button to change the estimate data.
 View the resource bank and add the various resource categories needed for the project.
 Continue with the assignment.
Other Experiments:
 Use Save-As and give a new name to the project file.
 Select manual estimates for the activities and enter some factitious data for cost and time.
 Go to the schedule and have a look at the bar chart.
 Experiment with Schedule optimization.
 Experiment with the various features and reports of EasyPlan.
University of Waterloo
CIV E 596 – Construction Management
Civil Engineering
Computer Lab. On Repetitive Construction
Managing projects in so many locations in so little time
New version to manage combination of in-house, outsourcing, & out-tasking.
Key Benefits:
Manage a combination of crews,
subs, & contractors
Optimize site order & work
methods to meet deadlines
Color-Coded schedules
Consider budget limits, traffic
conditions, & user constraints
Maximize the gain from your
Asset Management Systems
Full depository of resources,
activities, &100s of sites
Three auto-estimates per activity
Local productivity factors at
various sites
Full tracking & project control
GIS technology& Palm devices
Site layout optimization
Objective
Exercise:
Basic scheduling for
repetitive projects
 Load the file CPM-LOB.mpp. from EasyPlan’s directory. Look at the activities of
this one unit of a small project. The duration of this unit is _______ days. Now,
we have 5 units to construct within 45 days. Go ahead and activate the macro
by selecting Tools-Macro-Macros, then select CPM-LOB.mpp!Lob and hit Run.
Change the number of crews in activity D into 4 crews. Do you still meet the
deadline? If not, try to meet it without changing the crews. Try using
interruption.
Powerful scheduling for
projects with repetitive
tasks and multiple sites.
Can be used for owners
and contractors and
works for construction
and maintenance
programs. Examples
are multi-housing,
pipelines, highways,
etc.
 Download BAL-DEMO.exe from the course web site. Install BAL. Run Program
BAL version by activating BAL-DEMO.exe or from Start-Programs-BAL
DEMO. Go to the resource bank, view all sites, and change the productivity
factors only for the first four sites to: January 0 .7, February 0.8 and March 0.9,
and leave all others as 1.0s. In BAL main screen, activate the BAL-Schedule
button to access MS Project. Use Project-Information to change project start
data to Jan. 2, 2002. Use the BAL Schedule toolbar button, then the Project
Data button. Change the deadline to March 25, 2002. Go to the Activities tab
and scroll through the activities. Change the maximum number of crews for
activity “Subbase” to 3. Save and proceed. Try to meet the deadline. Use
optimization options. After every trial notice the arrangement of the sites, the
number of crews used, and the method of construction used. Try manually to
shift the sites that take long durations later in the order. Notice the effect on time
and cost. Best duration obtained is ____ days and minimum cost is_________.
University of Waterloo
Civil Engineering
CIV E 596 – Construction Management
Computer Lab. On Resource Leveling

Activate Microsoft Project Software and start a new project.

Enter the data of the small project shown.

In the resource sheet, specify a resource named L1 with only 20 available.

Return back to the bar chart and specify 2 L1 resources for each activity.

Modify the bar char to show resource name on the right side of bars.

Project duration is ________.

Have a look at the resource graph (profile).

Maximum number of L1 used is ________ on days _______________.

Minimum number of L1 used is ________ on days _______________.

Back to the bar chart and activate Tools, Resource Leveling….

Now, try to improve the resource profile by leveling within slack (float).

Maximum number of L1 used is ________ on days _______________.

Minimum number of L1 used is ________ on days _______________.

Insert two columns for the “Total Slack” and the “Levelling Delay”. Notice the values.

Clear the resource leveling.

In the resource sheet, specify the limit of L1 to be only 6.

Have a look at the resource profile. Do we exceed availability limit? ________.

Back to the bar chart and activate Tools, Resource Leveling….
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Now, try to meet resource demands by leveling (not limited by float).

Have a look at the resource profile. Do we exceed availability limit? ________.

Project duration after resource leveling is: ________.

Look at the leveling delays column.

Can you draw a modified network considering these delays?

Download and activate the file Sch-Level.xls.
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Notice the 45-day schedule meets resource demands.

Notice the delay values and the moment calculations.

Manually delete the delay values and enter the values determined by MS project for the same example.

Can you manually improve the profile and meet the resource limits?
University of Waterloo
Civil Engineering
CIV E 596 – Construction Management
Computer Lab. On Time-Cost Trade-Off
 Load the file TCT.xls file and use the cost slope approach to meet a 110-day deadline.
Your best cost is: $___________________.

Download the latest version of EasyPlan. Activate the program.

Enter the data of the small project shown:
2
a. In the Activities & Estimates enter the estimates
5
A(8)
b. From the Network Diagram, enter network data
1
c. In the main screen, specify deadline, etc.
D(9)
B(4)
H(8)
E(14)
4
F(6)
7
I(3)
C(5)
3

Determine the least costly strategy for a 20-day duration using
the optimization feature of EasyPlan.

6
G(7)
Return back to the Estimate and specify
2 L1 resources for each activity.

In the main screen, specify a limit of 4L1.

Determine the least costly strategy to
meet both the deadline and the resource
limit.
Activity
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
Normal
Duration
8
4
5
9
14
6
7
8
3
Normal
Cost
16,000
10,000
15,000
18,000
10,000
15,000
10,000
16,000
10,000
Crash
Crash
Duration
Cost
6
19,000
No crashing
No crashing
7
19,000
No crashing
No crashing
No crashing
6
18,000
No crashing
Note: Daily indirect cost is $1,000/day.

Use Easyplan to try finding an optimum solution to the exercise in the TCT.xls. Your best cost is
$____________________.