So, let's focus now for the planning process and leave the scheduling part for that second course we have in our specialization. The definition I like to use for that planning is the following. Planning allows us to develop a framework for product execution, monitoring and control. And the planning is actually a challenging and very very, very important, because a successful planner will lead to successfully manage and execute the conception projects. And I like this code that maybe some of you heard it before is failing to plan is planning to fail. So, you have to spend really good amount of time to think about your plans before you start your project and make sure that it is in the best possible shape. So, what planning determines? It focus in these four main points. One, what must be done? And that will help us in the scope recognition, which define the work requirements or the construction tasks to be done in the project. Second, how it is to be performed? What we're talking here about the construction methods or the construction technologies, or techniques that we have in hand. For example, if we want to decide whether we want to pump a concrete from point A to point B in our construction project or transport the concrete in buckets from the same point A to same point B. So we have two different methodologies that will approach the same specific construction task, but you have some tradeoffs maybe about the time and the cost in hand to perform both construction tasks. So, how to be performed is very important. Three, what sequential order it will follow? And that actually will help us to identify, we want to start from the form work and then pouring a concrete or we'd have to put the steel, rebars first and then pour in concrete and so on. So we have to be clear in the plans what need to be done, one by one, item by item, task by task, which will help in actually defining the resources needed along the project timeline. So the first month, what kind of resources I would need from machines, from equipments, from manpower, even from my budget allocation and so on, for the second month, third month and so on. Last but not least, who will perform the tasks? Which will help in task definition and identifying of the responsibilities on each of the tasks? That is gonna be for a crew or a labor, or even to have it as a subcontractor running a specific big element in our construction project. So, the planning requires a lot of skills and I highlighted here three major skills that I believe it's important for you to understand. One, you have to have the ability to visualize discrete work elements. I will cover an example in later module in this course about this. However, it is very important when you visualize the components of the specific task to know how you wanna build that components in that project. That's why in the last 10, 15 years, we have or we noticed a lot of integration of technology, such as building information modeling as well as augmented reality and virtual reality implementation within construction. That's why I found it important in this course to highlight separate module talking about the trends in our construction technologies and how that is helping us in the planning phase of any construction project. Also, I want to highlight such computer-aided design or CAD systems help us to simulating the space requirements to answer some problems for operations or define any interferences beforehand, before we start the projects. That's why such technology implementation within construction industry is very important. Second is the intimate knowledge of construction methods. As I gave you an example before, the construction methodology or construction techniques, the concrete example that I gave. That's why you have to know exactly and to have the experience before you start thinking how you want to build the project on what I have as construction methods in hand that I can utilize, and implement in my project. Last but not least of course is establishing interdependencies, which in sum, to add the relations between all the construction tasks. So in sum, planning involves the choice of the right construction technology or methodology. Also, it successfully defines the work tasks or the construction activities and it give you the ability to estimate the required main resources and durations for each individual task. Last but but not least, it identified any kind of interactions among the different work tasks as I just mentioned here in establishing the interdependencies. So project planning, I want to highlight here what kind of a plans we have. Basically, we covered that basic one, which is the time or the schedule plan. However, we have also the cost plan, which we referred to as when we get the budget, the components in the budget and we allocate all the construction tasks that you have in the plan or in the work letter. I will explain the work breakdown structure or activity list and that will highlight then the cost of plan. In addition to that, we definitely have a lot of other plans in our project from procurement plan, from a safety plan, subcontracting plan, quality, communication and organization plan and etc. So the project or the construction project actually will combine all these plans, which at the end leads to build a successful project and not necessary to have only one person, of course, to work on all these plans. You have the main PM or CM for the project to work with his or her team members that focusing on each of these plans and make sure that they work in a team to combine them all for the success of the construction project. So, I want to also add for this the following. A good plan will lead to building the right project with the same requirements the owner asked for or the client asked for. That is why you need to have the ability and skills to think kind of backward. What I mean by that? The owner gives you the end results usually in construction. I own this project, this high rise building, this house, this bridge, this tunnel to be done, to be built. And you, as a good planner needs then to come up with the process to build that end result. That's why you have to have the ability to think of a backward methodology until you reach to the end results of what's the project that you want to deliver. So, let's think about planning or the design of the plan. It is actually an ongoing task that continues through all the life cycle of the project. As Eisenhower once said, plans are nothing, planning is everything. So if I had the plans in my hand, okay it's good, but what should I do with that? So, I want to keep planning during the conception phase and how we can do that is the following diagram. First, we develop the initial plan, that's before the project even start. And then we start implementing our initial plan, and then we start to detect any deviation we might notice or face during the construction process, or the implementation, or during the activities implementation in our project. And then we determine any kind of impact or deviations, major or trivial, in our plans, which will have the trigger for us as a CM or a PM in the project, the construction manager in the project, to then make the right corrections to help bring back what's been deviated to that correct plan, or to the right agreement that we have from day one of the project. And then we start to implement it again, what we have, the new plans and the deviation and so on. So it will go into a circle of planning in the construction project. So again, I want to emphasize that plans are nothing, but planning is everything here. For the end of this course, I want to focus onto the key elements of planning which will help us to prepare us for that second and third courses, which will focus on that scheduling mechanism and scheduling tools after we have the plan in hand from starting the first one. Generating what we call the work breakdown structure, or refers to a WBS and from that we actually develop, or generate also the activity construction list. And the following module will cover how to generate and what is our breakdown structure and its benefits from A to Z. Second is to estimate activity duration and activity construction cost from the first point after we generate the activity list or the WBS of our project, then we determine what we call the job logic. If you remember, I just covered the sequential relationships among the activities, which activity will come first, which second, which will be on parallel, which we can defer for it later and so on. And that we will cover it during this course with much more details for the second course. Last but not least, to draw a graphic presentation in a network format that we'll cover for later. And in summation for these key elements for the planning, we are actually trying to identify two major things. The scope of work, which is transpired in work breakdown structure, the WBS, and the method of execution, which is identified in the logic diagram or the graphical presentation in the network that we'll cover later.
