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Arab Creators Engineering Consultancy

The baseline programme in Primavera P6: what must it contain?

The baseline programme is what progress is measured against, what extension-of-time requests are built on, and, in many contracts, what payments are tied to. Its mistakes surface late, and they are expensive.

· 2 min read · Arab Creators team

Tower under construction with formwork and cranes
From our team's work

Work breakdown structure (WBS)

Breaking the project into logical levels, zones, buildings, systems, makes the programme readable and aligns it with reporting and the bill of quantities.

Activities and durations

  • Activities with measurable durations, derived from quantities and production rates rather than general estimates.
  • Activities for submittals and procurement, not construction only.
  • Clear milestones for start, sectional and final completion.

Logic and critical path

  • Every activity has a predecessor and a successor, except the start and finish.
  • Minimal date constraints and no unjustified leads or lags, they hide the true critical path.
  • A continuous critical path from project start to finish.

Resources and costs

Loading resources or costs onto activities produces the planned-progress S-curve and links the programme to cash flow and the payment schedule.

Calendars

A work calendar that reflects actual working days, public holidays and any restrictions on site working hours.

Before approval

  • A schedule quality check against recognised criteria such as the DCMA 14-point assessment.
  • A basis-of-schedule narrative explaining method and assumptions.
  • An approved baseline saved before the first update.

Periodic updates

Record actual progress and actual start and finish dates, compare the updated programme with the baseline, and analyse any delay and its effect on the critical path and completion date.

What we deliver

We build the programme inside Primavera P6 and export it from P6: an importable XER file, a PDF Gantt chart, a milestone table and a basis-of-schedule narrative.

Contact us

Discuss your project with us

Send your drawings or a short project brief, and we will respond with a scope of work and a quotation.

Saudi Arabia: mobile & WhatsApp +966 59 700 9855
Egypt: mobile & WhatsApp Business +20 111 256 5999
Riyadh Site visits and project coordination
Working hours Sunday to Thursday, 9:00 to 18:00 Riyadh time
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