The construction programme plays a significant role in project monitoring and control for any size of project. Many people believe that a good programme should contain many thousands of activities capturing every minute aspect of the works. On the other hand, some industry practitioners consider that an effective programme should be developed to incorporate only the key elements of work. They reject the concept of having large numbers of very detailed activities built into the programme simply for the perception of it looking “professional” or sophisticated. The supporters of the simple programme approach argue that a programme needs to be only large enough to preserve the primary function of predicting accurate forecast dates for use during the project life and at the same time being capable of efficient management. In this article, we will examine the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of programme size contrasting the advocates of “the more activities the better” with those promoting concise and manageable programmes.

1. 1 May 2013 Page 1 of 2
Construction Programming Strategy in Malaysia – Size Matters?....Or does it?
The construction programme plays a
significant role in project monitoring and
control for any size of project.
Many people believe that a good
programme should contain many
thousands of activities capturing every
minute aspect of the works.
On the other hand, some industry
practitioners consider that an effective
programme should be developed to
incorporate only the key elements of work.
They reject the concept of having large
numbers of very detailed activities built
into the programme simply for the
perception of it looking “professional” or
sophisticated. The supporters of the simple
programme approach argue that a
programme needs to be only large enough
to preserve the primary function of
predicting accurate forecast dates for use
during the project life and at the same time
being capable of efficient management.
In this article, we will examine the ‘pros’
and ‘cons’ of programme size contrasting
the advocates of “the more activities the
better” with those promoting concise and
manageable programmes.
What a programme does
A construction programme is usually a
mandatory element in modern
construction management. A good and
effective construction programme provides
the construction team with the tools for
project monitoring and control during the
construction stage. The major benefit of a
good construction programme is that it
functions as a performance indicator to
monitor performance of site field work
against that originally planned (the
baseline) so as to alert at the earliest
opportunity any risk of the project being in
delay. In addition, the programme provides
a guide to the project team in respect to
the future activities so that resources can
be properly arranged sufficiently in
advance.
Moreover, contemporaneous programmes
are an essential part of the project
documents used in delay analysis in the
event that such a study is later necessary.
Detailed construction programme – does
size matter?
Because of some of its benefits, some
practitioners in the construction industry
opt for a very detailed construction
programme as their way of developing the
Baseline Master Programme.
Their reason is that more detail means
better monitoring and control. It is often
the case that, in a complex project such as
the construction of a new airport, MRT
project or industrial processing facility, the
level of detail in the Baseline Programme
could potentially be so large as to contain
more than 10,000 activities. The logic
dependencies of the programme may
exceed two or three times the activity
number; in this example, 20,000 to 30,000
activity links to create the networked
programme.
It may be true that a comprehensive
updated detailed programme arguably
provides ready information in respect of
the status of the work at the time and it
provides a guide as to what needs to be
done for the coming months. On the other
hand, the manageability of such a large
network may outweigh the benefits in a
complex project as there are too many
activities against which to record progress
at the time of update.
Due to the enormous number of activities
in the programme, the updating of
activities requires a considerable staff
resource to accomplish. A sizeable planning
team to manage such operation is required
given the time required for the team to
research and collate as‐built dates and
percentages of completion. More time is
required to review and scrutinise the
integrity of the programme at the time of
update. In many cases, the same team
would be tasked to attend programme
coordination meetings, all other meetings
as well as the preparation of weekly and
monthly comprehensive reports, just to
name a few in the Malaysian scenario.
It is likely that, due to the budget
constraints of a project, the planning
department of an organization would not
have been allocated sufficient resources in
the form of experienced planners such that
the complex detailed programme could be
properly and accurately updated. It follows
that, the practicality and accuracy of the
updated construction programme suffers in
that it loses its main function as a ‘crystal
ball’ or tool for projecting future event
dates.
Simple Construction programme – this
can’t be right?
It is a common and general perception in
the Malaysian construction industry that a
less complex and/or less detailed
programme would be less “professional” or
sophisticated and therefore less useful. For
such a reason, many major players in the
industry in Malaysia reject a simple
programme as the Baseline Programme for
a complex project. A common complaint on
the simple programme approach is that the
programme does not capture or reflect the
full scope of the work.
It may be true that a simple construction
programme may lack the luxury of
informing the project team in a precise
detailed manner such as ‘Construct Level
40 – Zone 2 – Structural Slab – Form /
Rebar / Concrete’. However, a simple and
higher level programme would be able to
perform the same function as that of a
detailed programme. For such reason, a
simple programme may not lose the
functionality of being a useful programme
as it nonetheless covers the major scope of
the work.
In the above example, by reference to the
simple construction programme, the

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Construction Programming Strategy in Malaysia – Size Matters?....Or does it?
procurement department will still be able
to identify when they need to place an
order and the required delivery of the
relevant reinforcement for Level 40 slab by
reading the construction activity in the
simpler programme, i.e. “Construct Level
40 Slab” as opposed to those of the more
detailed programme, e.g. “Construct Level
40 ‐ Zone 2 –Structural slab – Rebar” and
similar in other Zones.
The benefit of using a simpler construction
programme for a complex project is that a
higher level programme is easier to
manage. This is especially true when the
programme is updated and programme
logic might be revised to ensure a correct
reflection of the sequence of work at the
time for projecting future event dates.
In many cases, an updated highly detailed
programme of over 10,000 activities,
despite its comprehensive and detailed
coverage of the works, suffers inaccuracy
as a result of wrong or lax input of accurate
dates and progress percentages; the logic is
unlikely to have been properly reviewed or,
if necessary, revised due to the fact that
there are quite simply too many activities
to handle.
This situation would be further
complicated with the incorporation of
other additional sub‐programmes into the
Master Programme. For example, the
interior design (ID) work detailed
programme for a shopping arcade by a
specialist sub‐contractor. Such a detailed ID
works programme could contribute yet
another 3,000 to 5,000 detailed activities
into the master programme.
With application of this programming
approach, the final result could be the
creation of an unwieldy “monster”.
Conclusion
A sophisticated and detailed construction
programme as the Baseline Programme is a
viable construction programming strategy
only as long as it can be properly managed
by experienced and a sufficient number of
planning staff. In addition, it is equally
important that the planning team has
sufficient cooperation and support from
the project team and are not left to
operate in isolation; the planning team
must be constantly made aware through
feedback from the project team as to
construction status and changes.
In reality, it appears difficult in Malaysia to
have this ‘dream team’ as identified above.
In many cases, due to the financial
constraints of a project, the planning team
is rarely given sufficient resources to
manage very large and complex
programmes.
There are cases where the planning team
lacks the full support from the construction
teams in order to update every single
activity in a detailed programme.
Therefore, due to misleading or incorrect
data sources, a very detailed programme
becomes of little practical use in achieving
the original intention.
In such circumstances, a simple
construction programme would make
better sense; it is easier to manage (fewer
activities) and it can still be practically used
for accurately projecting future activity
dates and completion of the project as a
whole.
Any shortcomings of a simple construction
programme (viz. to address the complaint
it does not fully cover the scope of work)
can be remedied by other means such as
standalone mini‐programmes.
To summarise, in the view of the author,
size doesn’t matter; the simpler, the better.
This article is written by Pang Yoon Sang,
Senior Consultant, Hill International Inc
Hill International Malaysia Sdn Bhd. Level 7 Unit 7 Block 3B Plaza Sentral Jalan Stesen Sentral 5
KL Sentral 50470 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tel: +65 6338 2455 | Fax: +65 6339 8568 |
E: advice.msia@hillintl.com | W: www.hillintl.com
Hill International is a leading
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