• Home
  • Blog
  • Courses
  • Tools
  • Jobs
  • Forums
Have any question?
(00) 201277767728
[email protected]
RegisterLogin

Login with your site account

Lost your password?

Not a member yet? Register now

Register a new account

Are you a member? Login now

Planning Engineer Est.
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Courses
  • Tools
  • Jobs
  • Forums
      • Cart

        0

    Planning Using Primavera

    • Home
    • Blog
    • Planning Using Primavera
    • How to reduce total float in your schedule

    How to reduce total float in your schedule

    • Posted by Hany Ismail, MSC, PMP
    • Categories Planning Using Primavera
    • Date October 7, 2020
    • Comments 3 comments

    Total float is a very important indicator of your schedule. Therefore, it is important to understand how to control it and how it could affect your future performance of the project.

    What is the total float?

    Total float is the amount of time any activity can be delayed without delaying the project. The below figure will explain more.

    Total Float

    Activities A, B, C, and D are on the project critical path. it means if any activity is delayed 1 day, the project will be delayed 1 day. On the other hand, activities 1 and 2 have total Float because any of them could be delayed for some time (total float) without impacting the project finish date.

    How total float could impact your project?

    Total Float could show unrealistic delays to your project or could make you lose your entitlement for an Extention of time. EOT

    blank

    A-unrealistic delays because of total float:

    let us assume that you have high float for activities 1 and 2. the you decided to link activity 2 to activity D to reduce the total float. Now, while updating your program of work, an activity I got delayed, the project will show unreal delays because of the wrong link between Activity 2 and Activity D.

    B- lose your entitlement of an extension of time EOT:

    On the other hand, let us assume that there was a link between activity 2 and activity D where you missed in your schedule of work. if the client or the consultant for any reason holds activity 1 for some time, you will struggle to prove that this action will impact the project because activity 1 has very hight total float.

    Tips and Tricks to control your schedule total Float:

    I made the above introduction to explain to you that linking activities in a proper way is the main action to control the total float. However, the following are some tips and tricks to help You reducing high total floats:

    1- link activities in a proper way as expected to be executed on-site.


    2- You should not have any open ends. i-e activities without a successor or predecessor.


    3- Be sure that your critical path is realistic and most likely present the situation on-site.


    4- Do not create unnecessary relationships between activities, it will hurt you rather than helping.


    5- link Shop drawings and materials to all related construction activities and not only the first one. Maybe you need this link later on in your EOT


    6- You can define your working crews to be working at certain areas, floors, buildings at the same time. Accordingly, you can link these areas, floors, buildings together.


    7- Define the most important activities in your project and be sure total float is 100% correct.

    8- If you have a horizontal project where work can be started anywhere, try to create a control milestones to control the project phases, zones etc. Also you can link zones and areas together. No one can work everywhere at the same time.

    9- If you have a resource driven activity, be sure to clarify your baseline to show that these durations are based on certain resources. Accordingly, only this amount of work can be done every day,week,month.

    10- If you did all the above and still have hight float, you might consider increasing the testing and commissioning duration for the activities with high floats. Don’t try to make every singly activity in your baseline critical because you will start recording delays once you update your baseline. Always try to be logical.

    What else could be a good reason to control the project total float? Share me your opinion in the comment section below.

    Tag:control total float, reduce total float, total float

    • Share:
    Hany Ismail, MSC, PMP
    Hany Ismail, MSC, PMP

    Hany Ismael is the founder and CEO of Planning Engineer Est. in Egypt. He has started his career back in 2003 as a site engineer, technical office engineer, planning engineer, planning manager, and finally planning department manager where he has been involved in several mega construction projects in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In 2016, he established his own company in Egypt “Planning Engineer Est.” Hany gained his MSc degree in project management from Liverpool University-UK 2013-2016, PMP certified from PMI-USA 2010, and BSc Civil Engineer Tanta University-Egypt 2003. Hany provided more than 3,500 hours of planning and project management training on his website planningengineer.net, YouTube channel, and offline courses since 2011. He enjoys teaching project management in simple and practical way, and he developed several planning tools, techniques and courses.

    Previous post

    How to perform Cost Control in Construction Projects
    October 7, 2020

    Next post

    Excel Power Query in Planning
    October 14, 2020

    You may also like

    Remove Actuals using Global Change cover
    Remove Primavera P6 Actuals using Global Change
    24 January, 2022
    Bulk Delete Relationships in P6 cover
    Bulk Delete Relationships in P6
    20 January, 2022
    img_0237.png
    Primavera P6 Calendar 10 Tips and Tricks
    18 November, 2020

      3 Comments

    1. Dulitha
      Dulitha
      October 10, 2020
      Log in to Reply

      Thanks alot for the simple yet insightful article

    2. blank
      Ahmed Mohamed Hassan Morsy
      January 6, 2021
      Log in to Reply

      Total float is the amount of time any activity can be delayed without delaying the project.
      its not correct but you can say Free float is the amount of time any activity can be delayed without delaying the project.
      or Total float is the amount of time any activity can be delayed and led to delaying the project.

      • Hany Ismail, MSC, PMP
        Hany Ismail, MSC, PMP
        January 17, 2021
        Log in to Reply

        I am little confused about your comment 🙂
        Free float is the duration where an activity can be delayed without delaying the successor activity
        Total float is the duration where an activity can be delayed without delaying the project.
        As simple as this.

    Leave A Reply Cancel reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

    Cart

    0

    Planning Courses

    Cost Control for Construction Projects

    Cost Control for Construction Projects

    $299.00
    Power Bi Monitoring and Controlling with P6

    Power Bi Monitoring and Controlling with P6

    $299.00
    Advanced Planning 3 Courses Package

    Advanced Planning 3 Courses Package

    $499.00
    Data Management and Reporting

    Data Management and Reporting

    $199.00
    Primavera Online Basic Course -Arabic

    Primavera Online Basic Course -Arabic

    $99.00
    Professional Planning Engineer (PPE)

    Professional Planning Engineer (PPE)

    $335.00
    Claims Management and (EOT)

    Claims Management and (EOT)

    $175.00
    Primavera Online Basic Course -English

    Primavera Online Basic Course -English

    $99.00

    Follow Us:

    About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Refund Policy

    Copyright ©2012- 2018 planningengineer.net | All materials, unless otherwise noted, were developed originally for Planning Engineer Website. In the event that there is still a problem or error with copyrighted material, the break of the copyright is unintentional and noncommercial and the material will be removed immediately upon presented proof.

    • Planning Courses
    • Planning Jobs
    • Planning Blog
    Posting....