Amogh N P
✦ In loving memory of Amogh N P — Architect · Designer · Visionary ✦
B.Arch Curriculum · Semester 8 · Core

Project Management

A building does not get built by drawing it. Between the sanctioned design and the handed-over building lies a project — hundreds of interdependent activities that must be planned, scheduled and controlled against time, cost and quality. This course is the discipline of getting there: the bar chart and its limits, the network diagram, the Critical Path Method that tells you which activities cannot slip, PERT for when durations are uncertain, the time–cost trade-off when you must finish sooner, and resource levelling when crews and cranes are finite. Then the tools that run it — MS Project and BIM — and the whole arc from a feasibility study to testing and commissioning. The estimator's money and the lawyer's contract are companion courses; here the subject is TIME.

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6Outcomes
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Unit II · The heart of the course

Project Programming & the Critical Path Method

Replace the bar chart with a NETWORK that carries logic. Learn its elements — the activity, the event, and the zero-duration dummy that shows dependency without consuming time; the rules of network construction and Fulkerson's rule for numbering events; AOA vs AON and the work breakdown structure behind them; and the heart of the course — CPM time analysis. Run the forward pass for earliest times and the backward pass for latest times, compute total, free and independent float, and find the critical activities and the critical path. Try the live CPM network explorer.

Network logicFulkerson's ruleForward & backward passTotal / free floatThe critical path
Open the lesson

The syllabus

Five units — from the bar chart to commissioning.

Transcribed from the official B.Arch syllabus. All 5 units are live as full interactive lessons, each with original diagrams, a self-assessment quiz and a studio task.

1

Unit 1 — Introduction to Project Management

Live

What a project and project management are; the objectives of PM and the time–cost–quality triangle; planning vs scheduling vs controlling and the role of decisions; the traditional approach; Gantt's bar chart, load chart and progress chart (merits and demerits); an introduction to CPM and PERT networks and where each fits; and the probability and statistics PERT rests on.

CO1
2

Unit 2 — Project Programming & the Critical Path Method

Live

The network — activities, events, dummies and the rules of network logic; numbering events by Fulkerson's rule; AOA vs AON and the work breakdown structure; and CPM time analysis — the forward and backward pass (earliest/latest event and activity times), total, free and independent float, the critical activity and the critical path.

CO2
3

Unit 3 — Resource Planning — Cost & Resources

Live

The cost model — direct, indirect and total project cost and the U-shaped total-cost curve; the cost slope and the optimum (least-cost) duration; crashing the network for cost optimisation and the steps in it; updating the schedule with actuals; and resource allocation, resource smoothing (within float) and resource levelling (to a resource limit).

CO3CO6
4

Unit 4 — Computerised Project Management

Live

Running a project in software — creating the project and its calendar, building tasks and dependencies, creating resources and assessing costs, refining and baselining, tracking actuals, reporting progress and analysing financial progress with Earned Value; an MS Project workflow; and an introduction to BIM as a process and its 4D/5D dimensions.

CO4
5

Unit 5 — Concept to Commissioning

Live

The whole project life — the feasibility study (technical, financial, legal, market); real-estate and regulatory strategies (land, FSI, bye-laws, RERA, clearances); facility programming and planning; design management; the EPC / turnkey delivery model; and testing and commissioning through to handover.

CO5CO6

Course outcomes

What you should be able to do after completing all five units (CO1–CO6, from the syllabus).

1
Understand

Explain project-management concepts — planning, scheduling, controlling — and the bar chart, CPM and PERT.

2
Apply

Construct a network, number its events, and compute the critical path, activity times and floats.

3
Apply

Optimise time and cost by crashing the network, and allocate resources by smoothing and levelling.

4
Understand

Use computerised project management (MS Project) to plan, track and report — and explain BIM.

5
Understand

Trace a project from feasibility and regulatory strategy through design management, EPC, to commissioning.

6
Apply

Apply management techniques to balance quality, time and cost on a real construction project.

The discipline of getting a building built on time (L2 · T0 · S0; 100 marks). Every diagram is original Studio Matrx work; the CPM and PERT worked examples are arithmetically verified, and the common misconceptions are flagged as you go. This course owns TIME — the schedule and the critical path; for the money and the law of construction, see the companion Project Cost & Contract Management and Professional Practice courses.

From a sanctioned design to a finished building.

The bar chart, the network, the critical path, the time–cost trade-off and the tools that run them. Read the five units, study the diagrams, then test yourself.

Open Unit I Back to Students

Studio Matrx is a tribute to Amogh N P. The curriculum is free, forever.