Integration of cost and schedule using extensive matrix method and spreadsheets

In a construction project, cost and schedule data are closely related to each other. However, due to the differences in the breakdown structures to which cost and schedule may belong, some methods that could quantitatively evaluate cost-schedule relationship are required. To help establish the relationship between cost and schedule, new base matrices are introduced in this paper. Based on these base matrices, several cost- and schedule-related matrices which could integrate cost and schedule will be derived. Besides, cost of uneven resource allocation, budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS), budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP), actual cost of work performed (ACWP), cost performance index (CPI), and schedule performance index (SPI) will all be represented using the matrices. A real case study is presented at the end of the paper to demonstrate the integration of cost and schedule using matrices and spreadsheets. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.