As a project scheduler, managing thousands of activities across complex projects is no easy task. You’re responsible for ensuring that everything runs on time, managing risks, and making accurate predictions. But with so many activities, it’s hard to give each one the attention it deserves, especially when the pressure is on to keep everything on track.
Enter AI—not as a replacement for your expertise, but as a powerful tool that can enhance your predictions by using data to take the weight off your shoulders. AI can process large amounts of information, giving you reliable, data-driven inputs for every activity, not just the critical ones. By doing the heavy lifting for you, AI helps you deliver more accurate forecasts while reducing your workload.
How AI Works in Project Controls
Unlike humans, who use experience and intuition to evaluate risks, AI takes a different approach. It looks at past data to find patterns in similar activities that have been completed before. By comparing an ongoing task with previous ones, AI can make predictions about when that task is likely to be completed.
In a typical project schedule with thousands of activities, you may naturally focus on those that are high-risk or on the critical path. But what about the hundreds of other activities? AI handles these for you, using data to ensure they don’t slip through the cracks. This means more accurate predictions across the board, with less effort on your part.
Creating Risk Profiles with AI
Creating a risk profile for each activity can be time-consuming. You need to define the type of distribution, set parameters, and account for risk events—all of which require detailed analysis. AI can do this for you automatically, using data to generate risk profiles that are both accurate and specific.
Real-World Example:
Imagine rolling a dice: Every number from 1-6 has an equal chance of being rolled, which is called a uniform distribution.
But if you roll two dice, you’re more likely to roll a 7 than any other number. This is called a triangle distribution, and it’s how AI models the risks in your project.
AI doesn’t stop at just calculating these distributions. It also considers past risk events that may have impacted similar activities and factors them into its predictions. The result? A more complete risk profile that includes both the known risks and the unexpected events that may arise. And because it’s fully transparent, you can see exactly how AI made its predictions and adjust them as needed.
AI Isn’t Here to Replace You—It’s Here to Complement You
It’s important to understand that AI is not a replacement for you. In fact, you are the most important part of the equation. Your ability to apply logic, reasoning, and a deep understanding of the project’s context is something that AI cannot replicate. While AI excels at processing large amounts of data and providing unbiased, data-driven predictions, it doesn’t understand the full picture. AI can’t take into account the nuances of a project, the client’s changing needs, or the subtle risks that only an experienced scheduler can identify.
Where AI truly adds value is by combining its strengths with yours. AI brings powerful data analysis to the table, spotting patterns and trends that would take a human hours, or even days, to uncover. But it’s your expertise that shapes the decision-making process. You provide the judgment, logic, and experience that turns data into actionable insights.
The real magic happens when AI and human expertise work together. AI offers you unbiased predictions based on data, helping to eliminate guesswork, while you provide the crucial human elements—context, intuition, and strategic thinking. This blend of data-driven analysis and human judgment results in better predictions, stronger risk management, and more confident decision-making.
Better Predictions with Less Time and Effort
With so many activities in a project schedule, there’s often not enough time to analyze every single one in detail. You focus on the critical path, but as many schedulers know, delays can often come from non-critical activities. AI helps by analyzing all activities—not just the high-risk ones—using data to provide you with a clear, accurate picture of potential delays.
AI doesn’t just improve the accuracy of your predictions; it also saves you time. By automating the analysis of activities that often get overlooked, AI ensures you have all the information you need to avoid delays without having to sift through endless data points.
And the best part? You can decide how much or how little to use AI. Whether it’s just for non-critical activities, specific parts of the project, or the entire schedule, AI adapts to your needs. It’s flexible enough to fit into any workflow, giving you full control over its role in your project.
AI Fits Seamlessly Into Your Workflow
One concern many schedulers have is whether AI will complicate their existing process. The good news is that it won’t. Nodes & Links’ AI’s inputs can be used just like any other data when you run your QSRA (Quantitative Schedule Risk Analysis). Whether the input comes from you or the AI, the analysis works the same way.
AI doesn’t disrupt your process—it enhances it. You can trust the data it generates, but you’re always in control, with the option to review and adjust any outputs as you see fit.
Ready to Improve Your Predictions with AI?
AI brings two key benefits to your scheduling process: transparency and flexibility. You can see exactly how it makes its predictions and tweak them if needed. You also have the flexibility to use it as much or as little as you want—whether it’s for specific tasks or the entire project.
AI isn’t about taking over your role—it’s about giving you more power. By handling the repetitive, data-heavy tasks, AI frees you up to focus on strategy and decision-making. It helps you make better predictions by using real data, reducing guesswork, and ensuring every part of your project is covered.
If you’re ready to see how AI can help you improve the accuracy of your predictions, it’s time to give it a try. Let AI do the heavy lifting while you focus on delivering projects on time, on budget, and with confidence.