How Many Project Planners?

Hi Philip

This is an interesting question.

Some projects are lucky to get any planners at all.

To define terms - a Planner knows how to build the project - a Scheduler knows how to work the software - sometimes the Planner can do both. 

The ideal situation is where a planner creates the programme and then monitors the site progress - probably using a team of assistant schedulers.

A large and complex project may need more than 1 scheduler and 1 scheduler may well be needed to spread over several simpler projects.

The difference between what is needed and what is actually allocated is the main point.

Other factors include:

1. Skill speed and accuracy of the Planner / Scheduler

2. Chosen software - the ability to copy paste between spreadsheets means that data entry can be done in seconds or takes hours of manual input.

3. Company systems and procedures - if a lot of data reports are required - EVA S Curves etc - it will take longer to do than a simple progress update.

4. Form of contract - working on a NEC project will require a lot more planning / scheduling input than - say - a JCT. 

So if anyone has a rule of thumb that will encompass these factors I would like to see it.

What happens in practice is that the minimum number of staff are deployed - up from zero - and only if they are really struggling will extra suport be deployed.

Best regards

Mike Testro

Hi Philip

I believe it depends on project requirement ,2 or more it depends on the nature of project complexity and contact value

Regards

Shahul