Using Project Management Systems at the Construction Field Office

摘要

Automated construction scheduling is required for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers construction contracts over $500,000. Because of the more than 200 widely varied automated systems available, engineers at the construction field office (or resident office) are faced with the over whelming task of choosing which software to purchase to help them analyze contractor schedules. To gain information to help with this decision, the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (USACERL) talked with schedulers at field offices, served as scheduling consultants, and conducted comparisons of several systems to identify outstanding features and potential problems. The Project Management System (PMS) features that allow easy implementation include sophisticated user interfaces, simple report production and analysis, and ease in posting cost progress and defining constraints. Several systems allow data to be input from a floppy disk and provide a method of allocating resources. Potential problems that may occur while using the schedules (5- or 7-day workweeks), accepting system default dates, and out-of-sequence progress as the result of routine changes. Keywords: Microcomputers, Critical path methods. (KR)