A time impact analysis is an argument made in logic. It says: here is the schedule as it stood, here is the event, and here is what the event did to the finish. If the other side's expert can find one soft spot in that chain, the whole argument goes with it. These are the seven steps we follow so they cannot.
1. Start from the right schedule
Use the last accepted update before the event, statused to a data date just before it happened. Not the baseline from two years ago, and not an update that already contains the effects of the delay.
2. Model only the event
Build a fragnet that represents the delay event and nothing else: the new or changed activities, their durations and their logic ties. Every duration needs a source, such as a change order, an RFI response date, a delivery record or a daily report.
3. Insert it, and change nothing else
Add the fragnet to the update, recalculate and record the movement in the finish and in any contract milestones. If you touched any other logic or duration, you no longer have a time impact analysis. You have a new schedule.
4. Check concurrency honestly
Look for contractor delays on the same path in the same window. Ignoring them does not make them go away. It hands the other side its strongest rebuttal.
5. Show the mitigation
Record what the team did to reduce the impact: resequencing, added crews, early procurement. Reviewers give weight to an analysis that shows a contractor tried to protect the date.
6. Tie every number to the record
A TIA is only as strong as the contemporaneous record behind it. Monthly narratives, delay logs, meeting minutes and change order logs written at the time are worth more than any reconstruction done two years later.
7. Package it so it can be checked
Deliver the native files for both runs, a fragnet listing, a short narrative and a clear statement of the time requested. If a reviewer can reproduce your result in an afternoon, you have done the job well.
Start before the dispute
The best TIAs are prepared in the month of the event, not years later. That takes a change process that time impacts every change before approval, and an update cycle that keeps a clean record. We follow AACE International recommended practices on time impact analysis and forensic schedule analysis as our method.
Every delay argument is won or lost in the records written the month it happened.
Recovery and claims lead, AdenTurton
Our delay analysis and claims team prepares and reviews time impact analyses for owners and contractors, and change and contract management keeps the record clean before it is needed. To see how an inserted delay moves the finish, try the Delay Impact Simulator.
