As part of the job kickoff meeting, contractors should look ahead to each task´s labor and material requirements. This concept, called Short Interval Scheduling (SIS™), allows contractors to react to project changes with increased agility and responsiveness.

Many years of data and a recent study for the Electrical Contracting Foundation, a research foundation for the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), proves that the ideal jobsite inventory is three days of material. According to the same study, labor allocation is also most effective in three-day intervals.

In addition, SIS™ validates JPAC® productivity measurement and identifies the root causes of special events on the job. And, SIS™ is simple. Workers schedule their work for the next three days. Then, the PM scores the schedule on a daily basis, points out deviations from the schedule, and identifies the root causes for each deviation.

HOW TO USE & MEASURE SIS™

The SIS™ is a foreman´s schedule, established and measured by the foreman on a shortterm basis. The foreman determines which tasks his crew will work on during the next few days, and the PM tracks the accuracy of the foreman´s schedule.

Through this tracking, the PM identifies the factors that affect the pace of work, isolates occurrences, and quantifies the impact of unscheduled work. By identifying the factors that affect the pace of work, the PM can address the underlying causes and continuously improve the accuracy of the short-term schedules.

For instance, our research shows that trade interference is the number one cause of failure to comply with the shortterm schedule. However, the most heard complaint from the field is that the materials are not available. There is a correlation between these two issues:

1. Interference or schedule changes from another trade postpones the planned work.
2. Labor and materials were only scheduled for the planned work.
3. Work crews cannot do other work because the materials were scheduled to arrive at a later date.

To avoid trade interference, labor squeezes, and material shortages, PMs should ask their foremen to look ahead three days using the following questions:

1. What did you do yesterday? Did you do yesterday´s Plan A, Plan B, or Plan C, or did you do something else?
2. If you did not do yesterday´s Plan A, why not?
3. What are your Plans A, B, and C for the next three days?
4. What do you need to accomplish your plans (materials, manpower, tools, communication with other trades, etc.)?

By evaluating the foreman´s responses to the previous questions, a PM can more accurately predict the job´s material and manpower requirements, track the project plan, and improve communication between everyone involved in the project.

How to Correlate JPAC® & SIS™

Using SIS™, PMs can detect the underlying root causes of productivity changes. When more hours are spent on any activity other than scheduled, job productivity declines. Conversely, when the job is worked as scheduled, and fewer hours are spent doing unscheduled or unanticipated work, or no work, the overall productivity on the job increases.

There is a direct relationship between unplanned hours as measured during the scoring of the SIS™ and job productivity, tracked with JPAC®, over the same time frame. If the foreman cannot work according to the planned schedule, the job becomes less productive. On the other hand, if the foreman proceeds according to schedule, productivity increases.