5 Tips to Schedule like a Pro

I’ve personally worked with hundreds of successful companies around the globe as they’ve gotten started with ConstructionOnline™, and I can tell you, Project Scheduling is a top area of focus for a large majority of companies seeking a construction project management solution.

ConstructionOnline™ project planning software boasts the industry’s fastest online Construction Scheduling with full-fledged Gantt Chart capabilities, calendar integrations, resource assignments, and more - allowing you to plan for success from start to finish.

Here’s a few pro tips for creating professional, intelligent schedules every time:

Pro Tip 1: Create a Baseline at the start of every project.
A baseline captures a snapshot of your schedule in its current state and is used as a point of reference for comparison as your project progresses. This type of business intelligence & analysis provides immense visibility regarding the accuracy of your schedule projections and where you are gaining/losing time, allowing for you to apply invaluable insight to future project & business decisions.

Pro Tip 2: Use Milestones to track pivotal progress points.
Milestones are a unique type of Schedule Task which represent occurrences that affect the project’s ability to continue moving forward when/if delayed or not completed (think, inspections or selections’ approvals). The Time Elapsed dashboard in ConstructionOnline™ displays all milestones within the project schedule and shows current progress in relation.

Pro Tip 3: Update your schedule regularly.
Although it may seem like common sense, I frequently hear "we're great at creating the initial project schedule, but as it changes, we get off track." This is a breakdown in essential communication for project teams and clients, so make schedule updates a consistent habit. I recommend taking 10 minutes in the morning + 10 minutes in the afternoon to review the project schedule, update tasks as needed, and keep everyone in the loop.

Pro Tip 4: Review the Critical Path for important task dependencies which directly impact timely project completion.
The Critical Path of your schedule is a sequential representation of key tasks, highlighting the shortest possible duration by which the project can reach the projected overall end date. Analysis of business intelligence data such as the Critical Path helps to determines top priorities for your team and optimal resource allocations.

Pro Tip 5: Build, Save, and Apply Schedule Templates regularly.
ConstructionOnline™ lets you house an unlimited number of custom Schedule Templates, giving you the flexibility to build templates for all your company's scheduling needs. Applying templates in your projects increases efficiency and consistency across all jobs and all teams within your company. (Even the most custom jobs follow a generalized workflow that can be easily taken from a template and adjusted to reflect longer durations or additional steps – saving you half the work (or more!) in the meantime.)

The project schedule is the driving force that ensures the necessary tasks are completed at the necessary times for successful project results. The goal of ConstructionOnline™ is to provide you the tools you need to be successful – time and again, our responsive, accessible Construction Scheduling program receives five stars from construction professionals who are now building better, smarter, and faster with ConstructionOnline™.

Interested in more insights about scheduling? Take a look at:

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