Planning Engineer - Interview Questions

March 02, 2020

Let's see what kind of questions a planning engineer must face in an

interview.
Question-1: What is a Base Project Schedule?
Answer: A baseline is an approved program by both parties which is used
as a benchmark to measure the progress or performance of a project.
Question-2: What is the Main Driver of a Project and how you
will get it?
Answer: The main driver consists of the significant activities that are
driving the project at the critical path. To get it just go to last activity and
check its driving activity, then go to that driving activity and mark its
driving also, same goes until you reach the first activity. This is typically
done through scheduling software like Primavera P6, Microsoft Project,
etc.
 Question-3: How many baselines are allowed in any project
and which baseline decides the success or failure of the
project?
Answer: A project must have a minimum one project baseline & that
number can go to unlimited. But if you find several baselines that means
the planning team is quite inefficient – Avoid it! The latest baseline
defines the success or failure of any project.
Question-4: What are the Key Performance Indicators – KPI’s?
Answer: A KPI is type performance measurement on a activity where
engaged. KPI’s are defined by keeping a factor “What matters the most”.
A careful study and analysis are required to define because it differs from
organization to organization like a critical KPI for you may not be of any
interest of other same type organization. It is really a diverse area.
Examples Rubber lining, Concrete Work, Machine Failures in a Specific
Duration, Plantation, Number of hiring/firings, Training, etc. etc. 
Question-5: What you normally need to develop a plan?
Answer: I need the Contract documents to understand the scope, the
schedule drawings to know about areas, Bill of Quantity-BOQ including
cost, scheduling software access. Yes, I need to meet my project team to
know about a little productivity rate if I don’t know in case of any specific
activity. 
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Question-6: How do you define a critical path?
Answer: The longest path & the minimum time required to complete a
project. A combination of activities with the total float as zero are
included all.
Question-7: How much duration a milestone activity normally
has?
 Answer: Well, there are different types of milestones are there like start
milestone, finish milestone, etc. but all have ZERO duration.
Question-8: What is the difference between Free Float & Total
Float?
Answer: Free Float - the amount of time we can delay an activity without
affecting the early start date of its successor activity. Total Float - the
amount of time we can delay an activity from its early start date without
delaying the whole project finish. The free float may affect the start of
any activity, but total float may affect the duration of the overall project.
Question-9: What is the difference between Change order &
Variation order Request?
Answer: Technically there is no such difference. Change order or
Variation request is a change in scope from the contract but as per
contract. If you are much curious which term should be used the better
refer your contract documents. Personally, I have heard the term
Variation Order but never seen any documentation for. Everywhere they
write a Change Order Request.
Question-10: How to measure the progress of a project?
Answer: Normally there are three ways to measure the progress 1. Man-
hours, 2. Cost and 3. Quantity My preferred method is through Man-
hours as It is more logical, but I must comply as per contractual
obligations as most of the companies prefer through Cost. By the way,
sometimes we must use all three methods on a single project to get more
intensive project updated status. 
Question-11: Have you heard about the Kick of Meeting?
Answer: Yes, I have handled several Kick of Meetings on different
projects & companies. the kick-off meeting is normally the first meeting
of all major Stakeholders including the Project Manager with his team
and Owner’s representatives. Here, we discuss high-level overall plans,
things like how we are going to execute, and once things get clearer as
project go forward then we do rolling wave planning. These meetings can
be conducted at the new phase starts during the execution of the project
also. You can read more about the Project Kick-Off Meeting
Question-12: What certification and qualification you have?
Answer: I am a Project Management Professional- PMP certified from
Project Management Institute – PMI. I am a Graduate Engineer &
perusing master’s in project management.
Question-13: Do you know about CPI?
Answer: Yes, it’s a Cost Performance Indicator and it evaluates the
performance in the sense if the project is under-budget, over-budgeted or
on track. The formula is for CPI is the ratio of earned value - EV over
actual costs – AC that is CPI =EV/AC
Question-14: What do you know about SPI?
Answer: It is the Schedule Performance Indicator and indicates the
performance of project work is completed to the baseline schedule. It is
calculated by dividing the earned value by the planned value that is SPI =
EV/PV
Question-15: What you know about Triple Constraints?
Answer: Cost, Time and Scope with quality as the fundamental theme.
Question-16: What are undesirable in any plan?
Answer: Constraints, SF (Start to Finish) relationship, Log lags or leads,
Negative Float, etc.
Question-17: How to avoid Negative Float in a Baseline
Schedule?
Answer: Negative float indicates that the activity is already delayed.
Normally, a constraint is the culprit of it. Remove all the constraints or
use proper logic -relationships to deal with it. Also, check dangling or out
of sequence activities. During updating a schedule, a negative float for
some activities is very common. You cannot avoid unless is going as
planned.
Question-18: If you are reported 5 SPI, what it means?
Answer: They planner has made a blunder during calculations.
Question-19: What is an S Curve?
Answer: Graphical representation of ‘anything’ like Manhours, Cost, etc.
plotted against time. 
Question-20: What do you know about Reflection Schedule?
Answer: Reflection function is always underestimated but it is a really
great feature in Primavera P6 Professional. A Reflection program is just a
copy of the program to have a look at different scenarios after making
desirable changes. Once satisfied just merge in the native program.
Question-21: What is ACWP, BCWP & BCWS?
Answer: ACWP is Actual Cost of Work Performed, BCWP is Budgeted
Cost of Work Performed & BCWS is Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled.
Question-22: How you will make a comparison of different
updates for the same schedule?
Answer: I will use Claim Digger function that is available in Primavera
P6.
Question-23: How you will make a comparison of different
updates for the same schedule?
Answer: I will use Claim Digger function that is available in Primavera
P6.
Question-24: Do you know any about Retained & Over-Ride
Logic in Scheduling?
Answer: This only matters if the schedule is not going at it was planned,
means a difference is activities progress. The Progress Over-ride will not
respect the logic anymore if there is any variance and hence will shorten
the critical path but with mostly illogical out of sequence activities. In
other sense, the activities will do as it is an open-end activity. The
Retained logic is completely otherwise. 
Question-25: What do you know about DCMA Scoring?
Answer: DCMA is 14-Point Assessment Metrics to evaluate any baseline
schedule. It includes 1. Logic 2. Leads 3. Lags 4. Relationship Types 5.
Hard Constraints 6. High Float 7. Negative Float 8. High Duration
9. Invalid Dates 10. Resources 11. Missed Tasks 12. Critical Path Test 13.
Critical Path Length Index (CPLI) 14. Baseline Execution Index (BEI)
Question-26: What do you about Delay Analysis Techniques?
Answer: Normally it is defined in the Contract documents that how we
are going to calculate extension of time but if not, then there must be a
consensus for using any available technique from both of the parties
like 1. Impacted as planned 2. Windows Analysis 3. Time Impact or 4.
As-Built But-For. 
Question-27: What is the difference between Float & Slack?
Answer: Nothing, just synonyms.
Question-28: What is the difference between Planner & a
Scheduler?
Answer: Both are quite different but linked to each other
tightly. Somewhere these are just synonym to each other. Planner or
Planning Engineer reads the IFC drawings, define the activities, duration
& resources according to site construction conditions. He knows better
all the phases of work to be done even during the tender stage and at the
construction stage. It should be from an engineering background
necessarily. On the other hands, Scheduler takes-over the work done
already by the planner to make a more detailed one. This job does not
require to have an engineering background. I read somewhere on
LinkedIn, Planning is What & How? Scheduling is When & Who? Both
should be well versed in Planning software in any case.
Question-29: What is different % complete type in Primavera
P6?
Answer: Physical, Units & Duration.
Question-30: What is different duration type in Primavera P6?
Answer: Fixed Units, Fixed Units/time, Fixed Duration & Units, Fixed
Duration & Units/Time. 
Question-31: What is Productivity?
Answer: Productivity is the efficiency of any working entity. It is
measured as the amount of output for work per hour. Productivity rates
define how efficient a team you have. Formula is Productivity = Output /
Input Example: Let say you have two masons (call A&B) and let's review
their work for last week, A worked for 50 hours and B for 30 hours. A
fixed 5000 blocks & B did 3500 blocks. As a planner, you may like A as it
is putting more on but let's have a check on productivity for both Mason
A= 5000/50hrs = 100/hour Mason B= 3500/30hrs =116/hour Here, B is
much more productive than A and hence you need to raise the skill level
of A-type Mason by proper training etc.
Question-32: What are the different levels of a Schedule?
Answer: There are different school of thought to define levels of a
program one says its six levels, other says it's five and even one thinks
only four levels of a program are there when scheduling. Here, I will
explain the six levels as most of the old school people still think as more
logical, there are 
• LEVEL-1: Overview Schedule 
• LEVEL-2: Area Wise Schedule 
• LEVEL-3: Discipline Wise Schedule 
• LEVEL-4: Major Activities Schedule 
• LEVEL-5: Detailed Activities Schedule 
• LEVEL-6: Micro-detail Activities Schedule
Question-33: What is the difference between Project Planner &
Project Controller?
Answer: Project planner does the planning phase for the project from
WBS identification, identification of project deliverables, milestones,
create the baseline, plan the budget, cash flow and KPI's and trackers.
The planner is to prepare the program and prepare an acceptable budget
for all parties. Project control helps and ensures that the plan is
controlled by providing risk register, analyzing critical path, placing
mitigation plans, track project KPI, and ensures that the project is
running on time and budget. Its focus is only productivity & reports
according to organizational norms.
Question-34: What you normally present in a Weekly Report?
Answer: It depends on the demands of stakeholders on a particular
project. Normally, I update the Schedule with a proper backup, do
required baseline comparisons, Critical Path that displays activities are
important to consider on, three weeks lookahead - 3WLHS, EVM reports
are also included in my report. I draw S curves for Man-hours, Cost,
Manpower Histogram, Equipment Histogram. Furthermore, I always
update the Procurement Schedule separately in MS Excel to track other
materials. Long lead items are already being tracked and updated
accordingly in my baseline schedule.
Question-35: What are the different types of Primavera P6
activities?
Answer: These include
Task-Dependent: In this type assigned resources are scheduled based
on the activity's calendar itself. 
Resource Dependent: In this type, assigned resources are scheduled
based on assigned calendars. 
Level of Effort: This type of activity goes with dependent activities like
administrative issues. 
Start Milestone: This is designated for the start of a major phase or
stage of a project. A milestone that has zero duration. It is just like a flag.
Finish Milestone: This is designated for the finish of the major phase
or stage of a project. A milestone that has zero duration. It is just like a
flag.
Question-36: Differentiate between budgeted Cost and
Budgeted Units?
Answer: Budgeted Cost for an activity is the total budgeted costs of all
resources on that activity whereas Budgeted units are budgeted units of
work for the resource assignment on any activity.
Question-37: When the Planning Phase /Stage is started for a
Project?
Answer: Well, they say planning phase should be started before ending
the initiation phase but as per my thinking Planning should be started as
soon as the project life cycle starts.
Question-38: What is the difference between different
Primavera Scheduling Programs?
Answer: There are few other programs, but we will discuss below three as
these are mainly used for scheduling e.g. • Primavera P6 Professional •
Primavera P6 EPPM (Web Client) • Primavera Contractor Now,
Primavera Contractor is the least costly and hence not have much
features like Enterprise and Admin menus are not available. It is limited
to 2000 activities only. No Microsoft Project XML file support, No
Resource Roles, No Enterprise Project Structure (EPS) and it is installed
only as standalone. Still, it is a great and powerful application. The
interface is as of Primavera P6 Professional. A person that uses
Primavera P6 Professional can handle it with ease. Now let's compare the
other two major giants Primavera P6 Professional & Primavera P6
EPPM; EPPM have some edge over Professional as it has more visual
aids, can handle more projects at once, installation is faster, need to be
installed at only one machine whereas Professional should be installed
on each machine. Professional is a small-scaled as compare to EPPM as it
only can handle 100,000 activities. EPPM has more graphs, different
dashboards, and pivot tables to help the management to review the
status quickly whereas you need to use third party software like MS Excel
to get better visualization when using P6 Professional.
Question-39: What is normally you see on a Change Order
Form?
Answer: There are five major & must mentions on any Change Order
(CO) Form. 1. Change in the Scope – Either additions or reductions. A
change is just color can be referred into a change order even no monitory
value involves. Better to document this for reference to give credit. 2.
Change in Cost – Either plus, negative or even zero. 3. Change in time –
Never forget if you are on contractor side & must plan as per resources or
add optimum to avoid Liquidated Damages (L.D.). It should have a start
& finish date even though not necessary as per Change Order form. 4.
Signatures – It should be signed by authorized parties two or more. 5.
Date of Change Order – The signature date must be included on the
Change Order Form.
Question-40: Difference between MS Project and Primavera
P6?
Answer: I have used both but, in my opinion, Primavera P6 is way more
powerful than MS Project. MS project only allows 11 baselines for any
project but Primavera P6 offers unlimited baselines. That shows that
with Primavera P6 we can handle complex projects. In Primavera P6
multi-user can work at the same time, but in MS Project one must close
so the other user can open that project. Web Support is also available in
Primavera P6 EPPM that means a user can operate through the internet
without installing Primavera P6 software on a machine. That makes it a
portable type of product. MS Project is a user-friendly as most of the
people are familiar with Microsoft products like MS Excel buy Primavera
P6 needs some basic skills/training to operate. 
Question-41: How you track Progress of a Project?
Answer: There are three ways to track the progress of a project Man-
hours, Cost, or Quantities Every client has his/her preferences to use any
of the above methods, but I use Man-hours. The reason is it gives me
proper control of resources that make tracking quite easy and effective.
One can get realistic manpower requirements for a project. Many clients
prefer cost but if a Project Manager filters activities with higher cost and
get it done first then it will show fake overall progress. But it is good to
have a proper cash flow forecast. Quantiles are preferred where material
management is required mainly, and it also helps to track KPI’s of a
constructions site. But being a planner, I must say tracking is tough with
this method as you need to track most of the materials 
Question-42: What is Reflection in Primavera P6?
Answer: It is one of the exclusive features in Primavera P6. Possible
changes in a project are done via reflection. Reflection is just like a what-
if scenario. Once changes are reviewed and approved then it can be
merged into sources project. Different possible scenarios are reviewed
and the best one is merged after approval. Scenarios Like: If your actual
plan is lagging behind and Project Manager asks if I provide you some
extra resources (shift) then how long it will take to catch-up?
Question-43: What is the use of Claim Digger in Primavera P6?
 Answer: The handiest function to compare two schedules for any
change. Claim Digger is one more exclusive kind of function in Primavera
P6. Although it is a separate product nowadays it is built-in in Primavera
P6. Claim Digger helps to track any change between two projects in
terms of Activity deleted, added, change in relationships, change is
duration, change in cost, change in units, change is % age complete
mainly. Reports can be exported in HTML and CSV files or even Text.
Question-44: What you know about Rolling Wave Planning?
Answer: First is very high-level planning is done at project level when
you only have a concept because at that time you don't have much
resources or team members to coordinate and so you make an expert
judgment for estimations. Then you do it on phase level. Phases are as
per your organization norms. You may have four phases or
less/more. Rolling wave planning is done at the deliverable level. It can
be like lookahead weekly base or even is done daily on foreman levels. It
could be monthly as per stakeholders’ requirements. See the below for
pictorial view. 
Question-45: Differentiate among WBS, Work Package and
Activity?
Answer: Work Breakdown Structure- WBS is simply a decomposition of
all the works to complete any project. A WBS is arranged in a hierarchy
having a clear and logical group. A WBS is a deliverable oriented. Work
Package: WP is the lowest level of any work breakdown structure from
we can manage the cost and duration estimation. Activity: A discrete,
planned portion of work to be performed in a project. Still
confusing? Let’s understand by an example; Say that we are building a
house and flooring is one of the WBS (it depends on the team how they
define WBS in a plan). Now, these different floors are different work
packages. A team must perform a series of activities like soil compaction,
waterproofing, concrete blending, rebars, etc. to complete the floor. To
understand, activities will complete work packages and that will
ultimately complete the WBS. It’s like a bottom-up scenario.
Question-46: What is the difference between Open-End activity
and a Dangling Activity?
Answer: An activity without predecessor or successor relationship is
called Open-End activity. A Dangling Activity may have both predecessor
and successor but is still dangling from one end that leads to fake results
for critical path and completion dates. It behaves the same as of open-
end activity but is the more difficult and complex scenario to find it. It is
undesirable in any program and needs to fix always.
Question-47: Is there any difference between a flag and a
milestone in Primavera P6?
Answer: A Milestone & A flag are event activities. You cannot update
Flags manually and it will be updated automatically whereas a milestone
needs to be updated manually. By the way, I have never used the flag as it
is an obsolete type term in Primavera P6 nowadays. You can read more
about How to Review and Submit a Baseline Plan
Question-48: What are the major different types of drawings
you see on a Construction Project? 
Answer: There are four types we normally came across; 1. Tender
Drawings 2. AFC/IFC, 3. Shop Drawings and 4. As-built Drawings 
Tender Drawings: Drawings included in the tender documents are
released by the Clients for prequalified Contractors. 
Approved for Construction Drawing: AFC – Approved for
Construction or IFC – Issued for Construction both terms are being used
for drawings and documents that are approved by authorities after
review. IFC/AFC is a stamped or marked document or you can say one of
the controlled documents. Even some people are using a term IFC as
Information for Construction or Instructions for Construction. Another
name is IFR – Issued for Information. These drawings are issued by
Client/Consultant/PMT to EPC, Contractors, Supplier, Vendors,
SubContractor, or Manufacture. 
Shop Drawings: IFC is What to do & Shop Drawing is How to do? It is
a drawing produced by the contractor, supplier, vendor, sub-contractor,
or manufacture in a simplified way to be understandable to the hand
executers at site or staff. These are the most detailed drawings on any
project. But before going for construction approval is must from the
Clients. Any change major/minor should be addressed. 
As-Built Drawings: It shows that how actually the final project has
turned out. It contains all suggested modifications required later site.
These are mainly used for maintenance teams later.
Question-49: Have do you apply for Extension of Time or
conduct a Delay Analysis?
Answer: First, I will gather delay events as per the contract. Like letters
we have sent/received for potential delays before 14 or 28 days of the
event to occur (as per contract), e-mails, minutes of meetings or any legal
document supporting is collected. Second, I will use these events with
facts and figures to perform delay analysis in Primavera P6 as per terms
and conditions mentioned in the contract. Like, there are many Delay
Analysis Techniques namely Impact as Planned, Time Impact Analysis,
As Planned vs As Built, As-Built For, Windows Analysis, etc. Once the
second step is completed then I will evaluate overhead costs, Recheck
Equipment Warrantees, Material Shelf Life, etc. and finally present it to
the concerned. 
Question-50: What is the difference between Resource
Levelling and Resource Smoothing?
Answer: Both Resource Levelling and Resource Smoothing are Resource
Optimization Techniques. We use these techniques to get optimum result
from our resources. Every schedule is a resource constraint and during
the development, we may find peaks like in one month/week we need
250 men-counts but in others, we only need around 150-200 men-counts
only. Hence, we will use resource optimization techniques to be averaged
and get a possible smooth graph. The same is applicable to deal with
other resources line Material, Equipment, etc. Resource leveling is a
“Parent” technique and may be followed by Resource smoothing, you
may call it a “Child” technique. During Resource Leveling the Project
overall duration may be changed as it is Resource Constraint but in
Resource Smoothing, we use slack/float for distribution and hence no
change in Project Duration.
Question-51: What you know about the Stakeholders on any
Project?
Answer: The Stakeholder is any entity that is being or will be affected
either positively or negatively by that project. For example, if a refinery is
being installed at a Sea then the Sea-life will be negatively affected but
the locals may get a huge rise in quality of daily life. Both Sea-life and
locals are included in stakeholder. We normally classify it as primary &
secondary stakeholders. Primary stakeholders are also called Key
stakeholders. Though, there are several classifications in textbooks. On a
construction project, we normally use the following terms for these key
stakeholders 
• Client – Normally the Sponsor, who provides finance to run a project. 
• PMC – Project Management Consultant, is hired by Client. 
• PMT – Project Management Team 
• EPC – A contractor responsible to carry out Engineering, Procurement
& Construction on a project
• Contractor – Whoever wins a bid and awarded the contract. Usually a
part of a big project 
• Sub-Contractor – Contractor hires more resources to complete project
on-time. 
• Further, there are Suppliers, Vendors, Project Team that you have to
deal on any construction Project.