Resource-loaded EPC schedule
Deliverable: A schedule of at least two hundred activities with a proper WBS, relationships, calendars and resource assignments, with the critical path identified and explained.
Course
Primavera P6
The scheduling standard on EPC and infrastructure projects — WBS, critical path, resource loading, baselines and earned value reporting a client will hold you to.
- Duration: 2 months
- Classroom · Online live
- Level: intermediate
What you will be able to do
- Build a work breakdown structure that matches how the project is controlled
- Create activities with realistic durations and correct relationships
- Read and interrogate the critical path and total float
- Load resources and costs and level a schedule
- Set a baseline and report progress against it
- Produce earned value metrics and explain what they mean
Who this course is for
- Civil, mechanical and electrical engineers on project sites
- Planning engineers and project control staff
- Graduates targeting EPC, infrastructure or oil and gas projects
- Comfortable with Excel and basic project concepts
Syllabus
6 modules · 2 months
Module 1. Project setup and structure
- EPS, OBS and project structure
- Work breakdown structure and control accounts
- Calendars, working time and holidays
- Activity codes and how reports get grouped
Module 2. Building the schedule
- Activity types and duration types
- Relationships, lags and the four dependency types
- Constraints and why hard constraints cause trouble
- Scheduling and reading the log
Module 3. Critical path and float
- Forward and backward pass
- Total float, free float and negative float
- Interrogating a critical path that looks wrong
- Multiple float paths and near-critical activities
Module 4. Resources and cost
- Resource dictionary, roles and rates
- Assigning resources and units
- Resource histograms and over-allocation
- Levelling and its effect on the finish date
Module 5. Baseline and progress
- Setting and assigning a baseline
- Progress update methods and data date
- Retained logic versus progress override
- Out-of-sequence progress and what it means
Module 6. Reporting and control
- Earned value — planned value, earned value, actual cost
- Schedule and cost performance indices
- Look-ahead schedules and three-week windows
- Layouts, filters and a report a client will read
Tools and technologies you will use
- Primavera P6
- Microsoft Excel
- Baseline and progress reporting tools
- Earned value analysis
Projects you will build
Progress update with variance
Deliverable: The same schedule baselined and updated with two months of actual progress, producing a variance report showing what slipped and the effect on the finish date.
Earned value report
Deliverable: An earned value analysis with SPI and CPI computed, presented with a written interpretation of what the indices mean for this project and what should be done.
Recovery plan
Deliverable: A schedule that is behind, re-planned to recover, with the changes to logic, durations or resources documented and their cost implications acknowledged.
Where this course can take you
- Planning Engineer
- Project Control Engineer
- Project Scheduler
- Site Engineer
- Project Management Office Analyst
Duration, modes and fees
- Duration
- 2 months
- Delivery modes
- Classroom · Online live
- Fees
- Share your details for the current fee
- Fees vary by batch and delivery mode. Lab licences are provided for practice sessions.
Placement assistance
Every student gets placement assistance — that is what 100% placement assistance means. It is support for all, not a job for all. We do not promise a specific salary, a specific number of interviews, or placement at any named company, and you should be wary of anyone who does.
What is included
- A place in the monthly placement drive, held every third Saturday
- The readiness programme every second Saturday — mock interviews and preparation
- CV review against the specific roles you are targeting
- Portfolio review, so your project work is presented the way a reviewer will read it
- Access to the vacancy pool employers send directly to the Samyak network
- Guidance on which roles realistically fit your background and which do not
- A place in the next drive, with coaching, if you are not selected in this one
What is not included
- Any guarantee of a job, an interview, or a particular salary
- Placement at a named or partner company
- Applying to jobs on your behalf
- Support before you have completed the course and its project work
- Visa, relocation or overseas placement assistance
The schedule is a contract document
On an EPC project, the programme is not an internal planning aid. It is attached to the contract, reviewed monthly by the client, and used to argue about delay and money.
That changes how it must be built. Logic has to be defensible. Durations have to be justifiable. Progress has to be recorded against a baseline nobody quietly edited. This course is built around a schedule that will be scrutinised by somebody looking for a reason not to pay.
Negative float is not a display problem
It appears, somebody finds it alarming, and the quickest fix is to delete the constraint that caused it.
That does not make the project achievable, it only makes the warning disappear. Negative float means the plan cannot meet a date it has been given, and the honest responses are to change the plan or to renegotiate the date. Learning to resist the third option is part of becoming a planner.
Durations come from the field
Software will accept any number you type.
A planner who has watched a slab get poured writes ten days where somebody reading a productivity table writes six, and the difference shows up three months later as a claim. Site engineers moving into planning are the most successful route into this role for exactly that reason, and if that is you, the experience is an advantage rather than a gap.
Earned value, where it is actually used
On large EPC and international contracts, SPI and CPI appear in the monthly report and the client asks about them.
On a small domestic project, rarely. Knowing it is a differentiator for the larger contractors — which are also the ones that employ planning engineers properly and pay them accordingly.
Questions
Primavera P6 — frequently asked questions
How is Primavera different from MS Project?
Both do critical path scheduling. Primavera handles very large multi-project portfolios, has stronger resource and cost control and is the contractual standard on EPC, oil and gas and major infrastructure. MS Project is more common in IT, manufacturing and mid-sized construction. The concepts are the same, so knowing one makes the other largely a matter of relearning the interface.
Do I need site experience to become a planning engineer?
It helps enormously, because a schedule is a set of assumptions about how work will actually be done. Someone who has watched concrete get poured writes better durations than someone who has not. Site engineers moving into planning are the most common and most successful route into this role.
What is negative float and should I worry about it?
It means the schedule cannot meet an imposed date — an activity has less time available than it needs. It usually appears after somebody applies a hard constraint. It is a genuine warning rather than a display quirk, and the correct response is to fix the plan or renegotiate the date, not to remove the constraint so the number goes away.
Is earned value actually used on Indian projects?
On large EPC, infrastructure and international contracts, routinely — SPI and CPI appear in monthly client reports. On smaller domestic projects it is less common. Knowing it is a differentiator for the larger contractors, which are also the ones paying planning engineers properly.
Enquire about Primavera P6
Three details is all we need. A course advisor will call you back.
Related courses
- MS Project
Project scheduling taught as planning rather than as software training — dependencies, the critical path, resource conflicts and tracking a plan once reality starts disagreeing with it.
- AutoCAD Civil 3D
Model-based civil design — surfaces, alignments, corridors and earthwork volumes — where changing the road changes every section, profile and quantity automatically.
- STAAD.Pro Structural Analysis and Design
Structural analysis taught with the checks that matter — realistic supports, correct load combinations, and verifying an answer before a design is issued from it.
- Advanced Excel
The Excel that offices actually run on — lookup logic, PivotTables, Power Query pipelines, dashboards and enough VBA to automate the work you repeat every month.
Next step
Talk to a course advisor
Tell us what you want to learn and we will help you pick the right course, batch and mode.