Initialize a Road Project in Spider Project Open File > Create New Project, enter the name "Construction of a 1‑km road" and the project code "01 km." Optionally set current date and a directive finish for backward scheduling, but proceed with forward scheduling by setting the project start to April 1. Show dates without time and keep two decimal places, with critical tasks defined as those with zero float and automatic recalculation available. Confirm to create the project file, which initially contains a single default activity.
Build the Work Breakdown Structure Begin by shaping a hierarchical work structure so major stages are clear before detailing tasks. Create phases via right‑click menu or the Work Hierarchy, adding levels above or below as needed. Name the phases Drainage, Foundation/Subgrade, Road Pavement, and Road Improvement, and assign short informative codes. The phases appear both in the Hierarchy and on the Gantt chart.
Add Operations for Drainage, Foundation, Pavement, and Finishing Under each phase, insert the operations that produce the phase’s tangible result. Drainage includes site grading, water collection structures, and drainage ditches. Foundation covers grading, sand and crushed stone procurement, sand bedding, stone base, and ditch cutting; Pavement adds bitumen spraying, lower asphalt concrete, a repeated spray, and upper asphalt; Improvement adds road marking, shoulders, guardrails, and traffic signs. Keep one placeholder activity for later use while maximizing the window to view all operations.
Link Activities on the Gantt with Volume‑Based Dependencies Set the execution order by creating links directly on the Gantt: drag the small handle from a predecessor to its successor. For example, start water collection when site grading reaches 50% of its volume (start‑to‑start with a 50% volume lag), and begin drainage ditches and foundation grading after site grading finishes. Recalculate to see the schedule adjust; the network diagram reflects the same links, though the Gantt provides a clearer view.
Set a Six‑Day, 12‑Hour Work Calendar and Recalculate Durations Adjust the calendar from a standard 5×8 office week to a construction calendar: six days per week, 12 hours per day with a lunch break. Define working hours 08:00–13:00 and 14:00–20:00, and copy them to the remaining weeks excluding Sunday. After recalculation, a default 40‑hour, five‑day activity compresses to 3.64 working days under the longer day. Durations and dates update accordingly.
Stagger Foundation Work Along the 1 km Alignment Model the physical flow along the kilometer using volume‑based lags. Start the sand bed once grading reaches 40% of volume, but prevent finishing it before grading by adding a finish‑to‑finish relationship with a 20% volume lag. Apply the same SS 40% and FF 20% logic from sand bed to stone base. Finish sand and aggregate procurement at least one day before the sand bed finishes (finish‑to‑finish with a one‑day time lag). Begin ditch cutting after grading, and ensure water collection finishes before ditch cutting (finish‑to‑finish).
Chain Pavement and Finishing with Mixed SS/FF and Time Lags Extend the chain through pavement: stone base precedes bitumen spraying with SS 40% and FF 20%, and the lower asphalt layer follows bitumen spraying with the same pair of lags; repeat for the second spray before the upper asphalt. Road marking follows the upper asphalt. Shoulders are constrained by both ditch cutting (SS and FF with a 10% volume lag, at least a 100‑meter offset) and the upper asphalt (SS 30% and FF 20%). Guardrails follow shoulders, and traffic signs close the work.
Find and Fix Open Ends Using Successor Filters Use a filter to reveal activities without successors and close the open ends. Link the isolated water collection to finish before drainage ditches, and leave road marking free to finish last as it does not precede other work. Remove the filter, and ensure every activity has a successor except true terminal ones so nothing is skipped. Recalculate to confirm the network.
Bound the Schedule with Milestones and a Management Hammock Create two control events—Project Start and Project Finish—with zero duration to anchor the schedule. Link Project Start before the first real activity and Project Finish after the last ones (marking and signs). Add a Management hammock that stretches from Start to Finish so management resources remain active throughout. When delays occur, the hammock shifts automatically with the project.
Organize the Management Phase, Observe Coding Rules, and Save Group Project Start, Project Finish, and the Management hammock inside a Management phase, and observe how the phase bar spans the project on the Gantt after calculation. Save the file and assign concise, informative codes to phases, ensuring phase codes are unique among phases and operation codes are unique among operations; phase codes may match operation codes without conflict. Recognize the available operation types: fixed‑duration, control event (milestone), hammock, productivity‑based (duration computed from volume and resource productivity), switch for conditional paths, and trigger for probabilistic risk events. Next, define activity characteristics and assign resources to continue building the model.