Essentials of Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis
An Introduction to Forensic Delay Analysis Best Practices and Strategies
Delay is a harsh reality of projects.
As you know, many projects do not finish within the time initially agreed on in the contract. Unforeseen events frequently affect even the best-planned projects.
Some delays may lead to claims or disputes between the project owner, the contractor, and the subcontractors.
When delays occur, the contractor may submit a delay claim, arguing that the delays have caused them to incur additional expenses or to lose revenue. On the other hand, the project owner may dispute the claim, arguing that the contractor's actions or inactions caused the delays.
What would you do in such situations?
As a contractor, how do you defend your delay claim? As an owner, how do you prove the delay claim is a non-compensable delay?
You must perform a forensic schedule delay analysis to evaluate such claims and resolve disputes.
Forensic schedule delay analysis helps you identify the specific causes of the delays and determine the impact of the delays on the project schedule and budget. It can also help you determine the responsibility for the delays and develop strategies to resolve the disputes.
Forensic schedule delay analysis is important not just with delay claims on completed projects but also for analyzing and resolving delays on ongoing projects.
You can use Forensic Delay Analysis methodologies to proactively identify potential delays on ongoing projects and develop strategies to mitigate or resolve them before they occur.
Do You Know How...
Are you equipped with forensic schedule delay analysis methodologies to confidently tackle project delays?
Do you know how to:
✅ Deal with schedule delays before they yield to a costly claim?
✅ Analyze project documentation to identify the causes of the delays?
✅ Use the right methodology in assessing the impact of delays in your projects?
✅ Develop a delay recovery plan to mitigate or resolve the delays?
✅ Defend a delay claim, provide evidence, prepare, and present a report in disputes or legal proceedings?
If your answer to any of these questions is NO, you are not alone.
Despite the importance of Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis, many project professionals are not aware of standard delay analysis techniques.
It’s often expected from project planners/schedulers to identify and analyze delays and conduct forensic schedule delay analysis without a proper understanding of the methodologies used in forensic schedule delay analysis.
Most practitioners learn one or more techniques from a disparate group of more senior practitioners around the world. There is significant inconsistency in practice around the world.
On the other hand, there is no universally accepted method for conducting forensic schedule delay analysis. This can make it difficult to know which method to use and how to interpret the results.
Attempting to analyze a delay claim without understanding analysis methods may lead to false conclusions and costly mistakes.
Delay claims can be complex, and it is important to have a good understanding of the contract terms and the forensic delay analysis principles to navigate the process and support the claim.
However, most project controls professionals or delay/ claim analysts lack formal forensic delay analysis training.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could gain this essential skillset and get equipped with schedule delay analysis essential methodologies to navigate the delays in your next project?
What If You Could
What if you could,
✅ Understand the steps required to perform a schedule delay analysis in your next project
✅ Provide an analysis of the project schedule and the causes of delays
✅ Prepare, analyze, and negotiate time extensions
✅ Evaluate a schedule analysis method and determine whether the approach is consistent with best practices
✅ Help resolve delay claims and disputes between the parties involved in the project, avoiding expensive and time-consuming legal proceedings
✅ Identify areas for improvement in the planning and coordination of future projects
✅ Become an asset to your projects and organization by proactively responding to schedule delays, minimizing delay claims, or resolving claims
You might ask, is this all possible?!
Yes, absolutely.
Although forensic schedule delay analysis is a specialized area, when you have the skills to analyze project schedule delays and resolve delay claims, you will be more valuable to employers.
As you know, we often end up facing delays in our projects. With delays mounting, Extension of Time Claims and disputes have become the new normal for projects worldwide.
Organizations call on the support of the delay analysis experts to tackle delay claims and perform schedule delay analyses to quantify and determine the extent of the claim and help resolve them.
Needless to say, the demand for forensic planners and delay analysts has exploded over the years. However, the number of project professionals pursuing this field remains low despite the demand.
Are you interested in exploring a forensic delay analysis career but confused about how to go about it?
Maybe you are not looking to change careers but would like to expand your skillsets and equip yourself with basic knowledge of delay analysis to add further value to your projects, but you don’t know how.
Don’t look any further, we have a solution for you.
Introducing
Essentials of Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis
An Introduction to Some of the Best Practices and Strategies to
Successfully Manage Project Delay Claims
The good news is that we have developed an introductory training in forensic schedule delay analysis (as part of the Claims Prevention and Resolution Training Package) that helps you kick start in forensic delay analysis and pave the path for brighter career opportunities.
This Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis essentials training presents the differences between prospective and forensic delay analysis and the different opportunities and challenges between incorporating change into a plan and analyzing past deviation from a plan.
The training presents contractual requirements that may impact the analysis of delays.
The principles shared in this introductory training will allow you and any project professional with little or no experience in forensic delay analysis to understand how to select and apply forensic schedule analysis to calculate excusable and compensable time extensions in a variety of situations and be able to assess the analysis of another party.
Furthermore, the training equips you with some of the best practices and strategies to deal with delay claims more effectively.
As you go through the training, the course instructor will be available at every stage to answer your questions and suggest solutions to problems.
NOTE: The Essentials of Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis cannot be taken as a standalone course. This training is part of the Claims Prevention & Resolution Training Package. That is the only way you can access this training. If you want a more comprehensive and advanced course on this subject, we recommend that you invest in the Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis course.
Outline & Agenda
The Essentials of Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis online training spans over 10 sessions, which take about 3 weeks to complete.
The training starts off by giving you an understanding of forensic delay analysis, its origin, and the source of delay analysis techniques. It continues by giving you a review of available references in forensic schedule delay analysis and an overview of available techniques for analysis.
Then the training dives into the two common delay analysis techniques, “Contemporaneous Period Analysis” and “Time Impact Analysis”. You learn these techniques through examples that would enable you to apply the techniques to actual projects.
After learning how the techniques work, you are introduced to some available analytical tools and software in forensic delay analysis, so you can run the analysis with ease.
The course ends by providing you with a practical case study exercise, enabling you to apply the concepts presented in the course to independently execute a contemporaneous period analysis and select the best answer for a set of challenge questions based on the case study.
As for the format of delivery, the training sessions are delivered online via our private and secure learning management system (LMS).
You can start the training right away as soon as you enroll in the Claims Prevention & Resolution Training Package. When you enroll, you’ll get access to the first week of the training.
You’ll have access to the entire training material and instructor support for one year and can take the training at your pace.
Here is the training outline and what is covered in each module of the training:
Module 1
Introduction to Delay Analysis
This module presents the origins of applying critical path method techniques to forensic schedule analysis.
✅ Appreciate the relationship between planning and delay analysis
✅ Understand the relationship between as-planned and as-built schedule data and the challenges in identifying critical variances
✅ Understand the importance of source validation and potential impacts on analysis due to data quality
Module 2
Sources of Delay Analysis Techniques
This module presents a brief review of how and when delay analysis techniques were developed and the breadth of modern practice.
✅ Understand the major types and variations of analysis techniques, including:
o Modeled-additive techniques: impacted as-planned, time impact analysis
o Observational techniques: as-planned v. as-built, contemporaneous period analysis
o Modeled-subtractive techniques: collapsed as-built; windows collapsed as-built
✅ Understand the origins of these techniques and that they have evolved over time
Module 3
Current Consensus Documents
This module reviews available references from professional organizations, areas of consensus, and areas of disagreement between the groups.
✅ Review three consensus documents:
o AACE RP 29R-03 taxonomy of delay analysis techniques
o Society of Construction Law (SCL) DDP table of delay analysis techniques
o ASCE 67-17 guidelines for delay analysis
✅ Understand how to access and compare these documents yourself for further understanding
Module 4
Principles of Analysis
This module presents an overview of the most significant principles that affect the delay analysis results and the credibility of those results.
✅ Contemporaneous critical path and its dynamic changes
✅ Identifying and measuring critical delay
✅ Static and dynamic analysis techniques
✅ Concurrent delay—literal, functional, and “offsetting delay”
✅ Order of delay events and the primacy of delay
Module 5
AACE Recommended Practice 29R-03
This module presents a review of the taxonomy of analysis techniques and explains how to select the most appropriate technique for a particular analysis.
✅ Understand the applications for modeled and observational techniques
✅ Understand how to choose an analysis technique based on technical, legal, and practical considerations
Module 6
Contemporaneous Period Analysis Examples
This module presents examples of the contemporaneous period analysis technique (MIP 3.3) to quantify delay during and after contract performance.
✅ Understand the technique and review example analyses
✅ Be ready to begin to apply the technique to more complex examples
✅ Understand that logic changes are analyzed separately from progress (MIP 3.4)
Module 7
Time Impact Analysis Examples
This module presents examples of the time impact analysis technique (MIP 3.7) to quantify delay during and after contract performance.
✅ Understand the technique
✅ Be able to discuss the examples
✅ Be ready to begin to apply the technique on more complex examples
Module 8
Theory of Delay
This module presents an approach for maintaining a consistent technical framework for delay analysis to establish reasonable, repeatable, and defensible conclusions.
✅ Understand when to choose between observational and modeled analysis approaches
✅ Understand potential issues created by forensic modeling in both additive modeling and subtractive modeling implementations
Module 9
Delay Analysis Tools
This module presents the use of CPM software and third-party analytical tools to perform forensic schedule analysis and present the results.
✅ By the end of the module, you will have an initial understanding of the features available in tools, including:
o Primavera P6 Visualizer (Claim Digger)
o SmartPM
o Steelray Delay Analyzer
Module 10
Q&A, Case Study & Case Study Resolution
After the completion of the course, you may continue to post questions in the learning management system. In addition, a final course module presents a contract scenario that includes an opportunity to independently execute a contemporaneous period analysis. You are asked to apply the concepts presented in the course to select the best answer for a set of challenge questions based on the case study. You can then view the solution materials and watch a presentation of the analysis solution.
✅ Test application of the concepts in a challenging scenario in which numerous activity delays must be analyzed
✅ Consider how you would handle analysis techniques to a set of facts similar to what you would experience on an actual project
✅ Perform delay analysis calculations and compare your results to those of two software packages
How Does It Work?
The Essentials of Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis is a training component of the Claims Prevention & Resolution Training Package. It cannot be taken as a standalone course.
Once you enroll in the Claims Prevention & Resolution Training Package, you can access the content of this training. For this purpose, all you need is a high-speed Internet connection via Google Chrome, Safari, or Internet Explorer 9 or newer. You also need a login ID & Passcode to our private and secure learning management system (LMS), which is provided via email once you enroll.
The LMS platform we use is accessible via desktop computer, laptop, as well as mobile devices such as iPhone, iPad, Tablets, etc.
As soon as you enroll in the Claims Prevention & Resolution Training Package, you’ll get access to the first week of the essentials of forensic schedule delay analysis training component and can start immediately.
You can either follow the program according to the weekly content and finish the training within 3 weeks or take it at your pace. You’ll have access to the training material for one year after your enrollment. You can refer back to the training videos and material at any time during your one-year access. You'll also have access to the instructor via the LMS for one year to get guidance and support and answer to your questions.
We won’t leave you alone in your learning journey with us and will be there to support you during your one-year access and beyond.
Note: If you're looking for a comprehensive and advanced course on the subject of forensic delay analysis, we recommend that you take the Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis course.
What You’ll Gain Upon Completion of the Training
This training aims to help you kick start in Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis by helping you understand how to select and apply forensic schedule analysis techniques to calculate excusable and compensable time extensions in a variety of situations and be able to assess the analysis of another party.
Furthermore, the course will familiarize you with some of the industry’s best practices and strategies in forensic delay analysis, so you can deal with delay claims.
To be more specific, below are some of the expected learning outcomes that you’ll gain upon completion of this course:
📈 Understand principles of analysis that affect the results of delay analysis and the credibility of those results
📈 Have an overview of the most common approaches to observational and modeled forensic schedule analysis
📈 Gain a good understanding of common approaches to observational and modelled forensic schedule analysis
📈 Know the steps required to perform a delay analysis and understand the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches and alternatives
📈 Evaluate a schedule analysis and determine whether the approach is consistent with best practices
📈 Become familiar with some available analytical tools and software in forensic delay analysis
Upon successful completion of this training as part of the Claims Prevention & Resolution Training Package, you will also receive an official certificate of completion and 12 Professional Development Units (12 PDUs or 1.2 CEUs) that you can claim towards your professional accreditations.
What Is UNIQUE About This Training?
There are several key points about the Essentials of Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis training that makes it unique:
➡️ An introductory training on Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis, drawn from 25+ years of the instructor’s experience in managing projects in various sizes and industry sectors and providing expert consulting services to clients, particularly on projects with claims for delay or disruption.
This training provides a good understanding of common approaches to observational and modeled forensic schedule analysis with specific examples demonstrating how to apply the concepts. You can apply the concepts in the training to your projects. Each example and exercise brought in the course can be adapted or expanded for your own projects.
➡️ Equips you with industry best practices and proven strategies in forensic schedule delay analysis
This course is aligned with the industry's best practices in forensic schedule delay analysis and equips you with the delay analysis strategies that work.
The instructor, Mark Sanders, has contributed to the development of industry best practices and guidelines in forensic schedule delay analysis, including “Forensic Schedule Analysis” recommended practice by AACE International and “Schedule Delay Analysis, Standard ANSI/ASCE/CI 67-17,” by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
You’ll get first-hand insights from the instructor who participated in developing the recommended practices.
Furthermore, the instructor transfers the knowledge he gained over 25+ years in managing small to large-scale projects in different industries, including electric utility, fossil, nuclear, renewable generation, oil and gas, and transportation.
You’ll learn his proven methods and techniques on what works and how you can manage delay claims effectively.
➡️ Arms you with two common approaches to forensic schedule analysis
This training presents most common approaches to forensic schedule analysis, “Contemporaneous Period Analysis” and “Time Impact Analysis.” You learn the concepts behind each and the challenges in implementation and delve into some implementation examples that enable you to apply the techniques to actual projects.
➡️ Introduces you to some available analytical tools and software in forensic delay analysis
The course presents the underlying forensic delay analysis concepts and techniques and compares the results of several examples to those produced by commercially available software products. This allows you to understand the techniques and more confidently rely on tools available to perform analysis.
➡️ Allows you to take the training at your pace
Once you enroll in the Claims Prevention & Resolution Training Package, you’ll get one year of full access to the training material & videos, so you can take the training at your pace, refer to the content whenever needed & refresh your memory.
➡️ Provides guidance and support at every step of your learning
You’ll receive direct guidance from the instructor for one year! Imagine having the opportunity to ask any relevant question on the topic and get guidance from the instructor for one year! It’s priceless!
➡️ Provides you with continuous learning and support
You will get new training material and resources on a weekly basis to ensure your continuous learning.
➡️ Grants you an official certificate of completion and 12 Professional Development Units (12 PDUs or 1.2 CEU) upon the successful completion of the training.
NOTE: The Essentials of Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis cannot be taken as a standalone course. This training is part of the Claims Prevention & Resolution Training Package. That is the only way you can access this training. If you want a more comprehensive and advanced course on this subject, we recommend that you take the Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis course.
Who Is This Training For?
This training is for you if…
✅ You are a Project Planner/Scheduler trying to expand into schedule analysis and support delay claims resolution but don’t know how to get started
✅ You are a Project Manager who wants to successfully negotiate time extensions and submit well-substantiated delay claims when necessary
✅ You are a Cost Controller who wants to understand the relationship between delay calculations and cost claims
✅ You are from an Owner/ Client team who wants to promulgate best practices in schedule analysis for equitable claims and more successful projects
✅ You are a project professional from a Contractor/ EPC team who wants to understand further the ways that EPC and construction schedules can be analyzed in delay situations
✅ You are a Project Professional who is keen on learning the best practices and proven strategies on forensic schedule delay analysis, so you can save years of learning and making costly mistakes in projects, grow your skillsets, and take your career to the next level
✅ You are NEW to the world of forensic delay analysis and interested in getting started in delay analysis through formal training
Who Is This Training NOT For?
This training is NOT for those who….
❌ Don’t intend to participate in or support schedule delay analysis activities in projects
❌ Have no background in the execution of engineering and construction projects
❌ Don’t have an underlying understanding of CPM calculations
❌ Have a strict opinion about a particular method for performing delay analysis, not open to exploring other techniques
❌ Are not willing to enroll in the Claims Prevention & Resolution Training Package as this training cannot be taken separately.
❌ Have a basic understanding of forensic delay analysis and are looking for a more comprehensive and advanced course on the subject. (If that is the case, we recommend that you take our standalone Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis course).
Are There Any Pre-Requisites to This Course?
This course is intended for any project professional keen on learning some of the proven strategies and best practices in forensic schedule delay analysis.
Having an understanding the mechanics of CPM scheduling—critical path, float, constraints, concurrency—and a general understanding of execution sequence, means, and methods of engineering, procurement, and construction are recommended.
Is Any Software Required for The Training Case Study?
Primavera P6 is recommended for the execution of the hands-on case study. However, the exercise could be completed by hand or using a spreadsheet software to perform calculations.
This Training Comes with Awesome Benefits and Bonuses!
24/7 Access for 12 Months
Study at your own pace, whatever time of night or day it happens to be or wherever in the world you might be. You will have full access to the training sessions and material for one year from the time of your registration.
Official Certificate of Completion and PDUs
Receive an official certificate of completion upon successful completion of the training and claim 12 Professional Development Units (PDUs) earned toward maintaining your license(s) with professional associations.
Training Material & Supportive Documents
Get the PDF copy of the training slides as well as additional reading material and resources.
In-depth Case Study
Solve an in-depth case study that helps you better comprehend the concept taught.
Private and Secure
Get access to all the training materials on our secure and robust learning management system using your private username and password.
Mobile Friendly
Get access to the training via computer, laptop, as well as mobile devices such as iPhone, iPad, Tablets, etc. This makes your learning more flexible & adaptable.
Access To "Ask The Instructor Forum" (Value: PRICELESS)
Get access to a private course environment for Q&As, where the instructor personally answers your questions on a weekly basis.
Depending on the number of questions on the training content, we may also conduct quarterly live Q&A sessions with the instructor.
Two Months of Complimentary Access to the EPPIC Program (Value: $180)
Confidently accelerate your career growth and projects success rates with the direct and continuous support of top industry experts in the Empowered Project Professionals Inner Circle or EPPIC specifically designed for growth-minded project professionals like you. You will receive 2 months of complimentary access to this premium membership program.
Special Alumni Discounts (Value: $300)
Receive exclusive discounts on future online training programs with Project Control Academy, as our valued client.
Essentials of Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis
Online Training
(Part of the Claims Prevention & Resolution Training Package)
✔ Online training delivered in 10 modules as part of the Claims Prevention & Resolution Training Package
✔ 12 months of access to the instructor
✔ 24/7 access to the training material for 12 months
✔ Official certificate of completion and 12 PDUs
✔ Course material and supportive documents
✔ Private and secure learning management system
About the Instructor
Mark Sanders, P.E.
Director of Projects, Alpha 3 Consulting
Mark Sanders is a well-recognized industry expert in project delivery with over 25 years of experience. He has successfully managed projects in the electric utility; fossil, nuclear, and renewable generation; oil and gas; and transportation sectors.
Mark is a sought-after speaker, presenter, and trainer on topics related to forensic delay analysis, productivity analysis, change management, claims and dispute resolution, project development, project scheduling, budgeting, and execution, and project management.
He is serving on the board of directors for AACE International and has contributed to the development of several AACE recommended practices and guidelines, including Forensic Schedule Analysis and Estimating Lost Labor Productivity in Construction Claims. He has also been a contributing author for the “Schedule Delay Analysis, Standard ANSI/ASCE/CI 67-17,” American Society of Civil Engineers.
Currently, Mark is serving as the Director of Projects at Alpha 3 Consulting, supporting projects in the U.S. energy and transportation sectors. He is also a Senior Consultant and Partner with QDR International, providing project execution and construction claims consulting on international projects, particularly in Latin America.
Mark is a Registered Professional Engineer in four U.S. states – DE, MD, PA, WI. He is also a licensed law practitioner. He is acknowledged by AACE International as the Certified Cost Professional (CCP), Certified Forensic Claims Consultant (CFCC), and Planning & Scheduling Professional (PSP). He is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and Portfolio Management professional (PfMP).
Shohreh Ghorbani
Founder & Technical Director, Project Control Academy
This training equips you with best practices and strategies that help you manage and resolve project delay claims. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from one of the industry's thought leaders who has been behind the development of related industry guidelines and best practices.
You can stand out among your peers and add value to your projects by expanding your skills in forensic schedule delay analysis and applying strategies that actually work.
And we are here to support you in getting there!
