Level: Intermediate
TCM Section(s): 7.2. Schedule Planning and Development
Venue: 2023 AACE International Conference & Expo

Abstract: Projects that are performed in a linear fashion, such as the construction of tunnels, railways, highways, pipelines, and transmission networks are becoming increasingly complex and face greater constraints in achieving their desired delivery outcomes.

The planning and scheduling of such projects is also increasing in complexity and whilst most of these projects rely on CPM schedules for time management, the benefits of improved schedule communication, analysis, and stakeholder buy-in offered by linear schedules are still relatively under-utilized.

Linear schedules are a visual method of representing schedules for such projects. They offer additional benefits beyond traditional Gantt chart outputs and can be easily understood by a wider audience of project stakeholders. This paper will provide an overview of linear schedules, the benefits offered by using them on linear projects and also discuss techniques and considerations of appending additional data to CPM schedules to produce linear schedules.

Further use cases such as delay and disruption analyses of project schedules will also be discussed.