Planning, Scheduling And Resource Allocation Of A Small Commercial Building In Primavera P6

Abstract

Construction project management is one of the most critical disciplines in the civil engineering domain. The successful execution of a construction project depends largely on how effectively it is planned, scheduled, and monitored against defined objectives of time, cost, and quality. In developing economies like India, the construction sector contributes substantially to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and is one of the largest employers of skilled and unskilled labour. Despite its scale, the industry continues to suffer from chronic delays, cost overruns, and poor resource utilisation problems that are largely attributable to inadequate planning tools and methods. This project presents a comprehensive study of planning, scheduling, and resource allocation for a small commercial building (Project ID: CM-4) using Oracle Primavera P6, one of the most powerful and widely used project management software solutions available in the construction industry today. The project spans from 02 April 2026 to 27 July 2027 and encompasses eighteen distinct Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) elements, covering the full construction lifecycle from General Conditions through Final Inspections. The study involves the development of a detailed project schedule within Primavera P6, including the creation of the Enterprise Project Structure (EPS), Organisational Breakdown Structure (OBS), Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), and a complete activity network with 176 logical predecessor-successor relationships across 126 activities. Resources including labour crews, specialist sub-contractors, and equipment have been assigned to activities based on project requirements. The critical path has been identified (36 activities with -7 days total float), a baseline schedule established, and all standard Primavera P6 reports generated.Results demonstrate that the use of Primavera P6 significantly improves project visibility, enables accurate forecasting of project duration and cost, and supports proactive identification of scheduling conflicts and resource overloads. The study concludes that the adoption of structured scheduling tools such as Primavera P6 is essential for the timely and cost-effective delivery of commercial building projects.