Advanced Forensic Schedule Analysis

Most major projects finish late, and the question of who pays for the delay is often the largest commercial issue at close-out. Disputes arise because the baseline was never properly agreed, updates were not kept, delay events were not recorded as they happened, and the analysis was chosen to give a preferred answer rather than to fit the records. Concurrent delay, pacing, float ownership and mitigation are then argued without a shared method, and experts reach very different conclusions from the same project.

This programme follows the forensic process from the records to the report. It starts with the quality of the schedule evidence, then compares the main analysis methods and when each is appropriate, works through the difficult issues of concurrency and disruption, and ends with presenting the analysis in a claim, a determination or expert evidence.

Built on recognised practice. The programme references AACE International Recommended Practice 29R-03 on forensic schedule analysis, the Society of Construction Law Delay and Disruption Protocol (2nd edition), the ASCE standard on schedule delay analysis, and the extension of time and claims provisions of the FIDIC 2017 contracts. Participants learn how these documents classify and apply methods, and where they differ.

Decisions this programme improves. Which analysis method suits the records available and the forum; whether a baseline is reliable enough to use; how to treat concurrent delay and float; when a time impact analysis should be prepared during the project rather than after it; how to link delay to cost and disruption; and how to test the other side's analysis.

How it is delivered. Twenty hours across five sessions, built around one running case: an infrastructure project with a disputed baseline, a series of design and access delays and a contractor claim for extension of time and prolongation cost. Participants assess the schedule records, apply several methods to the same events in Primavera P6 exports and spreadsheets, and compare the results.

In-house option. For organisations, the programme can be tailored to your own contract forms, scheduling software and dispute history, and delivered to planning, commercial and legal teams together so that delay is analysed consistently from the site office to the tribunal.

Who Should Attend

Planning and project controls: senior planning engineers, planning managers and heads of project controls

Claims and commercial specialists: claims managers, quantity surveyors and commercial managers handling extension of time and cost claims

Contract management: contract managers and contract administrators for owners, contractors and consultants

Legal and dispute professionals: in-house counsel and dispute advisers working on construction and infrastructure disputes

Project leadership: project directors and managers responsible for delay positions on major projects

Objectives

Assess the reliability of baseline and updated schedules as forensic evidence

Explain the taxonomy of forensic schedule analysis methods and the strengths and limits of each

Select an analysis method appropriate to the records, contract, stage and forum

Carry out as-planned versus as-built, windows and time impact analyses on the same set of delay events

Identify the critical path and near-critical paths at each stage of the project

Analyse concurrent delay, pacing and float ownership and explain how different approaches treat them

Link delay findings to prolongation cost and distinguish delay from disruption

Apply measured mile and other productivity-based approaches to disruption

Review and challenge an opposing delay analysis on method, data and logic

Present delay findings clearly in a claim, a determination or an expert report

Course Outline

Schedule Evidence: Records, Baselines and Updates

The purpose of forensic analysis and its differences from project planning
Contractual requirements for programmes, updates and notices
Assessing baseline quality: logic, constraints, calendars and float
Schedule quality checks and correcting errors without distorting the evidence
Contemporaneous records: daily reports, correspondence, minutes and site data
Building the as-built record and the delay event register

Choosing the Method: Retrospective and Prospective Approaches

Classification of methods in AACE 29R-03
Observational methods: as-planned versus as-built and contemporaneous period analysis
Modelled methods: impacted as-planned, time impact analysis and collapsed as-built
The approach of the SCL Protocol: prospective analysis during the project
Factors in method selection: records, time, cost and the forum
Common reasons methods fail under scrutiny

Applying the Methods: Windows, Time Impact and Collapsed As-Built

Defining windows and identifying the critical path in each
Preparing fragnets and inserting delay events
Retained logic versus progress override and their effect on results
Collapsed as-built: removing events and testing the result
Comparing results from different methods on the same events
Using scheduling software, data exports and analytics to test and document the analysis

Concurrency, Float, Disruption and Cost

Concurrent delay: definitions and the main approaches in different jurisdictions
Pacing delay and float ownership
Acceleration, mitigation and the duty to minimise delay
Disruption and loss of productivity: measured mile and other methods
Linking delay to prolongation cost and time-related overheads
Apportionment when responsibility is shared

Presenting and Testing the Analysis

Structuring an extension of time claim and supporting submissions
The role of the engineer or contract administrator in determinations
Expert evidence: independence, duties and joint statements
Reviewing and rebutting an opposing expert's analysis
Clear presentation: charts, timelines and narrative
Lessons for project controls: preventing weak delay positions in future projects

Competencies

Schedule evidence assessment and record building

Forensic schedule analysis method selection

Windows and time impact analysis

As-planned versus as-built and collapsed as-built analysis

Critical path identification over time

Concurrent delay and float ownership analysis

Disruption and productivity loss analysis

Delay-related cost assessment

Review and presentation of delay evidence

Kuwait

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