Project Schedule Time Formulas

NOTE-- In 2000 we retired MacNail, and replaced it with Goldenseal construction software. However we still keep the manuals online, for die-hard MacNail users! Goldenseal runs on Macintosh and Windows computers, and handles accounting, construction estimating, and project management, plus simple construction project scheduling. Goldenseal makes construction scheduling much quicker, by integrating it with the project Estimates.

Scheduling Time Formulas

The MacNail construction scheduling software gives you two options for calculating schedule dates. You can use either the maximum of skilled and unskilled crew-days, or an average of those two numbers.

Using the maximum will let you treat each item's labor on a "critical" basis: work will proceed only as fast as the slowest crew. This method is best if you have a fairly rigid set of work assignments. You may want to check crew composition for each major phase of construction, and adjust the crew composition as needed.

Using the average is the best method if you have a flexible crew who can handle skilled and unskilled work equally well. It will result in somewhat faster predictions of overall project speed in the MacNail project management software.

To change time formulas in part of a schedule:
1. Select the rows you would like to change.
2. Choose *Time Formulas from the Formula menu.

To change time formulas for the entire schedule:
1. Choose *Scheduling Options, and click on your choice of schedule date computation methods.
2. Choose *Clean All Formulas from the Formula menu.
NOTE: This command will also remove any parallel work, and any other changes you have made previously to the time formulas.

To change the formula for all future schedules:
1. Choose *Scheduling Options from the Options menu.
2. Click on the Scheduling Date Computation Method button for the desired choice.
3. The selected time formula will be used the next time you create a new schedule with the *New Schedule command.