Certified Scheduling Technician [CST] Training Course in Dubai, Sharjah and UAE

Learners begin by understanding how scheduling fits into the wider project controls environment.

• Purpose and role of project scheduling.
• Planning versus scheduling.
• Project life cycle and schedule life cycle.
• Role of the scheduler within a project team.
• Schedule hierarchy and levels.
• Key scheduling terminology.
• Relationship between scope, time, cost and resources.
• Schedule development and maintenance cycles.
• Introduction to the AACE Total Cost Management framework.
• Scheduling requirements across different project phases.
• Communication between planning, engineering, procurement, construction and management teams.

Practical application: Identify the information required to develop a schedule for a sample construction or engineering project.

A reliable schedule begins with a clear understanding of project scope and deliverables.

• Project objectives and deliverables.
• Scope statements and project boundaries.
• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
• WBS coding and hierarchy.
• Work packages.
• Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS).
• Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS).
• Responsibility assignment.
• Contractual milestones.
• Key dates and project constraints.
• Schedule assumptions and exclusions.
• Linking scope definition to schedule development.

Practical exercise: Develop a WBS for a building, infrastructure, EPC or industrial project and translate the work packages into scheduling requirements.

This module focuses on the information required before activities and relationships can be developed.

• Schedule specifications.
• Contract requirements.
• Project execution plans.
• Planning assumptions.
• Milestones and contractual dates.
• Working calendars.
• Working periods and non-working periods.
• Reporting periods.
• Data dates.
• Progress measurement requirements.
• Resource information.
• Cost and estimate information.
• Stakeholder requirements.
• External interfaces.
• Schedule basis documentation.
• Data quality and consistency.

Learners examine how incomplete, inconsistent or poorly defined inputs can affect the quality of the final schedule.

This module converts project scope into activities that can be logically scheduled and monitored.

• Activity definition.
• Activity naming conventions.
• Activity coding.
• Activity types.
• Milestones.
• Level of detail.
• Activity granularity.
• Work packages and activities.
• Procurement activities.
• Engineering activities.
• Construction activities.
• Commissioning and handover activities.
• Maintenance and shutdown activities.
• Duration estimating.
• Production rates.
• Quantities and productivity.
• Constraints and assumptions.
• Activity calendars.
• Appropriate activity duration.

Practical exercise: Convert a project scope and WBS into an organised activity list with milestones and appropriate durations.

Logical relationships determine how work progresses through the project.

• Network scheduling concepts.
• Precedence relationships.
• Finish-to-Start (FS).
• Start-to-Start (SS).
• Finish-to-Finish (FF).
• Start-to-Finish (SF).
• Leads and lags.
• Logical sequencing.
• External relationships.
• Interfaces between disciplines.
• Open ends.
• Excessive constraints.
• Relationship quality.
• Logic density.
• Out-of-sequence considerations.
• Network validation.
• Common schedule logic errors.

Practical exercise: Develop a precedence network, identify weak logic and correct inappropriate relationships.

CPM is a central part of professional project scheduling and the CST examination.

• Critical Path Method fundamentals.
• Forward-pass calculations.
• Backward-pass calculations.
• Early Start (ES).
• Early Finish (EF).
• Late Start (LS).
• Late Finish (LF).
• Total float.
• Free float.
• Critical activities.
• Near-critical activities.
• Negative float.
• Multiple critical paths.
• Calendar effects on calculations.
• Logic changes and their impact.
• Critical-path interpretation.
• Schedule compression fundamentals.

Practical exercise: Manually calculate a sample network and identify the critical path, float and activities affecting the planned completion date.

A schedule can become more useful for project control when time, resources and cost are considered together.

• Resource types.
• Resource calendars.
• Resource loading.
• Resource allocation.
• Resource availability.
• Resource over-allocation.
• Resource smoothing.
• Resource levelling concepts.
• Cost loading.
• Time-phased budgets.
• Resource-driven scheduling considerations.
• Relationship between schedule and cost.
• Schedule information supporting earned value analysis.
• Resource and cost considerations during project execution.

Practical exercise: Review a resource-loaded schedule and identify potential allocation issues and their effect on project execution.

The approved baseline provides a reference against which project progress can be assessed.

• Purpose of a baseline schedule.
• Baseline development.
• Baseline approval.
• Current schedule versus baseline.
• Schedule quality principles.
• Missing predecessors.
• Missing successors.
• Excessive constraints.
• Excessive lags.
• Long-duration activities.
• Invalid dates.
• Inconsistent calendars.
• Open-ended activities.
• Out-of-sequence progress.
• Schedule basis.
• Version control.
• Schedule compliance.
• Schedule quality review.

Practical exercise: Review a sample schedule and identify common quality problems before the schedule is used for project control.

Maintaining a schedule requires reliable progress information and consistent update procedures.

• Data date.
• Actual start dates.
• Actual finish dates.
• Remaining duration.
• Progress measurement.
• Physical progress.
• Quantity-based progress.
• Milestone progress.
• Progress verification.
• Updating activities.
• Updating relationships.
• Forecast dates.
• Out-of-sequence progress.
• Statusing rules.
• Progress narratives.
• Update documentation.
• Maintaining an auditable schedule history.

Practical exercise: Update a baseline schedule using a simulated weekly progress report and assess the effect on forecast completion dates.

This module focuses on using schedule information to identify emerging problems and support corrective action.

• Baseline comparison.
• Start variance.
• Finish variance.
• Milestone variance.
• Float erosion.
• Negative float.
• Slippage.
• Trend analysis.
• Schedule variance.
• Delay identification.
• Change management.
• Change-order impacts.
• Mitigation.
• Acceleration.
• Recovery planning.
• Forecasting.
• Corrective actions.
• Schedule risk awareness.

Practical exercise: Analyse a delayed project scenario and recommend recovery or mitigation actions based on schedule information.

Schedulers need to communicate technical information clearly to project teams and management.

• Schedule narratives.
• Progress reports.
• Milestone reports.
• Critical-path reports.
• Look-ahead schedules.
• Two-week and four-week planning views.
• Schedule forecasts.
• Variance explanations.
• Trend reporting.
• Progress curves and S-curves.
• Management summaries.
• Schedule dashboards.
• Stakeholder communication.
• Schedule data integrity.
• Reporting frequency.
• Document control.

AACE's CST study material identifies schedule outputs and deliverables such as control-level schedules, variances and trends, schedule analysis, forecasts, progress reports, recovery schedules and management summaries.

Where software-based exercises form part of the selected training delivery, learners can apply scheduling concepts using commonly used project scheduling tools.

• Primavera P6 navigation and terminology.
• Project and calendar setup.
• WBS creation.
• Activity creation.
• Activity coding.
• Relationships and logic.
• Constraints.
• Baselines.
• Schedule updates.
• Filters and layouts.
• Grouping and sorting.
• Critical-path analysis.
• Float analysis.
• Progress reporting.
• Schedule views for project meetings.

Software exercises are intended to reinforce scheduling principles. Primavera P6 proficiency should not be presented as an official AACE CST eligibility requirement; AACE's current eligibility criteria are based on relevant industry experience or an industry-related degree, together with adherence to its Canons of Ethics.

The final module helps learners organise their preparation for the external AACE examination.

• CST examination structure.
• Review of the four examination domains.
• Input & Data revision.
• Creating Schedule revision.
• Maintain Schedule revision.
• Input & Deliverables revision.
• Question interpretation.
• Calculation practice.
• Time-management strategies.
• Open-book preparation.
• Calculator practice.
• Common examination mistakes.
• Mock assessment.
• Review of incorrect responses.
• Final preparation checklist.

AACE currently states that the CST examination consists of 100 multiple-choice questions, has a maximum duration of three hours, requires an overall score of 70% to pass, and uses an open-book format limited to the approved CST Primer and PSP Study Guide under its examination rules.