Why do projects get delayed even after using the best Project Scheduling System?

Are you told in advance about a potential delay in your projects? Can you take the necessary corrective action to prevent that delay? 

If the answer is No, you are not monitoring your project progress correctly. 

“A stitch in time saves nine.”

In 2006, I was part of a project for the installation of 30 Km of underground piping to be completed in a span of 20 months. At 75% completion (cumulative progress), we were ahead of the plan by 15% - but ended up completing the project only after a 10-month delay! Why did this happen? There was no scope creep, and the schedule was well prepared using Primavera (P3 during that time). So, why did the 10-month delay happen?  

Upon investigation, we found that there was ‘over reporting’ of progress from the remote field by the sub-contractors, and no evidence was captured for the progress. Also, the weightage assignments were not in line with the efforts required for executing the project. This resulted in some critical activities getting delayed, which went unnoticed because the positive variance at the time had made the management team too comfortable. 

Whose fault is it?

Now the tougher questions. Who was at fault? The Project Manager, Planner, or the System for Schedule Monitoring? And what is the way forward?  

I would say: the human element is irrelevant because the system itself needs to be re-considered.  

Let me break it down. 

By monitoring only the project's schedules, the project controller can react only by rescheduling the project to accommodate the delays, i.e. he can only respond/react after the fact. To take proactive steps that will actually prevent delays, he has to monitor the progress of the deliverables in more or less ‘real time’, which requires a more advanced working platform, i.e. a better system. And to prevent subjectivity in reporting the progress, you need to be able to capture the progress as the work happens and as per the predefined weightage, i.e. Rule of credit, and these have to be assigned properly considering the effort required. All this requires an intelligent kind of monitoring and measuring system that relies on automated processes, not human effort. 

How should you monitor progress to prevent delays?  

My suggestions are:

• Prepare Schedules with certain assumptions on contractual conditions, delivery commitments, resource availability, productivity, weather conditions etc.
• Update the schedules by capturing real-time progress. Engineering and Procurement progress to be captured through automated workflows of the document. Construction progress directly from the site through system updates by the site supervisors. This ensures that almost real-time progress is captured for updating the schedules. Be aware that forecast completion is based on the schedule update, and when schedules are not updated with actual facts the forecast will not reflect the real situation and so mitigation actions will not be taken.
• Ensure that stakeholders get information on delay very early (currently, they get this information too late to save the project), i.e. ensure you have realistic updates of progress which can give early warnings to stakeholders to take immediate corrective actions.
• Establish a robust progress measurement system aligned to your schedule
• Reduce manual intervention in the updating and forecasting of schedules
• Capture the progress from the source in real-time.
• Notify the stakeholder concerned in real-time on the forecasted schedule. 
• Take informed decisions proactively to avoid slippage in progress.

Hopefully, this way, you can avoid any more tragic and unnecessary delays at the last minute, which upset the whole project trajectory.