Construction Software Glossary

Tracking all costs — labor, materials, equipment and subcontractors — against a specific project (job) so actual cost can be compared to the estimate and margin monitored in real time.

A construction accounting report that compares billings to costs and percent-complete to surface over-billings and under-billings, a key indicator of project financial health.

The standard American Institute of Architects progress-billing forms: G702 (Application and Certificate for Payment) summarizes the request; G703 (Continuation Sheet) breaks it down by line item, including retainage.

A percentage of each progress payment withheld by the owner until the project is substantially complete, used as an incentive to finish the work.

A formal amendment to the construction contract that adds, removes or modifies scope, with the corresponding adjustment to price and schedule.

A scheduling technique that maps activities and their dependencies to find the longest chain (the critical path) — the sequence that determines the project's finish date.

The Defense Contract Management Agency's 14-point checklist for schedule quality — covering logic, leads/lags, float, hard constraints, high-duration activities and more — used to test whether a CPM schedule is sound before relying on it.

Running a schedule thousands of times with activity durations sampled from ranges to produce a probability distribution of finish dates (e.g. an 80% chance of finishing by a given date) instead of a single optimistic line.

A time-based extension of earned value that measures schedule performance in units of time (SPI-t, SV-t), giving a more accurate read of schedule status late in a project than traditional earned value.

After-the-fact techniques — windows, time-impact (TIA) and but-for analysis — used to quantify and attribute project delays, often for claims and disputes.

A formal question from the contractor to the design team to clarify drawings, specifications or conditions, tracked so answers don't get lost and delays are documented.

Documentation (shop drawings, product data, samples) the contractor submits for the design team's review and approval before fabricating or installing work.

Mechanical, electrical and plumbing — the building systems (HVAC, power and lighting, water and waste) that MEP contractors design, estimate and install.

On government-funded projects, contractors must pay locally prevailing wages (e.g. Davis-Bacon) and file certified payroll reports proving compliance for every worker each week.

The list of remaining or deficient items to correct before a project is considered complete and final payment is released.