Understand project delays with SmartPM’s newly redesigned automated Windows Half-Step Delay Analysis table. Analyze day-by-day impacts, including delays, realized gains, compression, and schedule changes impacting the critical path.
Delay Analysis Tool - Printable Infographic
Navigate to the New Delay Table:
- From the Company Dashboard, click on the Project Name
- From the Project Workspace page click on the “!” icon on the right which says “Delay Analysis - New” when you hover over it. You will see the newly designed Delay chart and the Delay Table underneath.
Review the Delay Table:
Note: all days in the Delay Table are calculated using calendar days, not a work week.
Data Dates:
You will see the data dates for each schedule update. Those data dates are setting the time windows for the delay calculations. The baseline schedule will be the first row in the Delay Table, but delay impact will not be shown until there is at least 2 schedules uploaded to a project.
Scheduled End Dates:
The End Date column shows the SmartPM projected end date of each schedule update.
Delay (Previously referred to as Net Critical Path Delay) :
SmartPM shows the Net Critical Path Delay period by period. If you would like to see the delay period by period and a cumulative count, you will want to click the 'Show Cumulative' box.
Gains (Previously referred to as Acceleration) :
SmartPM shows the Net Gains period by period. These are activities that caused actual acceleration to the project. If you would like to see the Gains period by period and a cumulative count, you will want to click the 'Show Cumulative' box.
Planned Impacts (Previously referred to as Planned Delay Acceleration):
SmartPM shows the Planned Impacts both period by period, and as a cumulative total from the Baseline Schedule. Planned Impacts are caused by Changes to the schedule such as adjusting logic and adjusting activities to the remaining plan to bring in the end date.
End Date Variance:
SmartPM shows the end date variance period by period. This is calculated by adding the value of Delay, Gains, and Planned Impact.
For example, we will take a look at these 2 periods:
Data Date 5/01/23 -> 22 + (-13) + 395 = 404
Data Date 6/01/23 -> 0 + (-80) + 17 = -63
Compression Index:
The Schedule Compression Index is an indication of the feasibility of the schedule. Compression over 40% becomes unfeasible unless major changes are made, such as adding more crews.
Gains / Delay:
The Gains / Delay graphic helps to quickly show the ratio between gains and delay period by period. This helps to show the trend of how your project is either Gaining or Delaying days in the project over time.
To see the details of what caused delay and gains for a specific Period:
Click on the row of the Period in the Delay Table. This will uncover what activities caused delay in the period and what activities helped recover delay.
You can see what actually occurred, and whether it caused delay to the critical path.
To see the Changes made in each period, you can click on any of the Changes sections and you will be directed to the Changes tool. Here you can see more details on the exact changes taking place in the specified period. These changes are what cause the Planned Impacts.
To see the Gantt Chart view for a specific Period:
Click on “View Gantt” on the bottom right hand side of the Period menu. You will see the Gantt Chart view of activities that have caused delay or gains/acceleration.
Export the Delay Table:
Click the blue Export button under the Delay Analysis chart. SmartPM will export an Excel file which will contain all of the values in the Delay Table.
