What is the purpose of your “scheduling” software or specification? 
 
 
We have since weathered a storm of the relentless power of Goliaths pushing for a top-down enterprise report generator, and an extended construction recession where the primary purpose of the schedule, to support the single project team, has not been fully utilized.
 
David, seeing a protracted drought, has simply abandoned the fight over arid farmland.  

But the economy and construction industry may be coming back to life. 
 
Articles in ENR, such as November 17/24 2015 Forecast: Recovery Turns From Tentative to Solid, suggest a projected 9% growth for the coming year. Professional planner/schedulers, and now also project managers, engineers and Ssuperintendents are flocking to Construction CPM Conference (San Diego – January 12-17) as well as AACE, CMAA, Trimble, Synchro, and other events to sharpen tools for this long overdue uptick. 

Even Goliath is beginning to realize this is not a fight over the choice of software, but rather over merely demanding enterprise reporting software; ceding single project scheduling software to the Davids. 

Why pay for a Goliath Cloud provider to maintain a Goliath enterprise reporting system and a team of clerks to feed this monster? 
 
The largest of Goliath sales partners declares: Because it is in the specification! The partner then suggests to the audience at this AACE event to use a different software product to meet its one-project scheduling needs. 
 
He is not suggesting use of a competitor – simply a different product for a different use. 

If the specification requires the contractor to maintain a stableman on the site because the owner desires any horses utilized by the contractor to be properly cared for, the contractor includes that cost in its bid. Should the owner ride up, its horse will receive proper care.
 
While the specification may not discuss use of trucks and the necessary upgrading of temporary roads to support more than carts, it is likely the contractor may provide these not-specified tools now that business is picking up.

And so the fight between Goliath and David may be coming to an end – they are not each attempting to hold the same piece of ground.
 
The armed Goliath need no longer attempt to crush the farmer David; rather Goliath should hope David prospers to better feed him.  

I have suggested for many years that P6 is a wonderful reporting tool – just never touch that F9 key. Rather import the early and late dates from a CPM software tool such as P3, Pertmaster (now PRA,) Phoenix Project Manager, Asta Powerproject, or the many others presented at the Construction CPM Conference and elsewhere.

For a small and simple project, we may then leave final scheduling to the project superintendent deploying resources between these calculated dates on a weekly basis with perhaps a three-week-look-ahead bar-chart. Depending upon the size and complexity of the project, the project team may desire to hone productivity using other tools, Trimble Vico Flowline, Synchro 4D, PMA Netpoint, Linear Project or built-in leveling routines to pre-plan utilization of float to best advantage.  

The CPM and subsequent analyses may also be reviewed for technical quality by tools such as Schedule Analyzer, Deltek Acumen Fuse, Steelray, and many others. And for risk by tools such as Barbecana Full Monte, BAH Polaris, Intevar RiskyProject, Deltek Open Plan and Acumen Risk, and many others. Some people come to the Construction CPM Conference simply to see and try out all of these under one roof.  

The war between Goliath and David may be coming to a close with each being a winner. If the drought has ended then perhaps a rising tide will lift all boats.