Case Study: Minnesota State University (Mankato) improves construction scheduling education with SmartPM

Minnesota State University (Mankato) helps students master schedules in a day with SmartPM

Minnesota State University (Mankato) sought to better equip its construction management students with practical scheduling skills using industry-standard tools like Microsoft Project and Primavera. The challenge was to help students identify and correct complex scheduling issues, such as missing logic and trade stacking, in order to prepare them to fill a significant skills gap in the construction sector. Professor Mohamed Diab incorporated SmartPM into the curriculum to provide this deeper analytical capability.

The solution involved having students upload their project schedules to the SmartPM platform, specifically using its Quality Checker feature to analyze schedule health based on DCMA guidelines. This provided immediate, visual feedback on problem areas and assigned a letter grade. SmartPM enabled students to quickly visualize mistakes and revise their work, which greatly increased their engagement and interest in the field. The university believes this hands-on experience with SmartPM will make its graduates stand out to future employers by providing them with practical, real-world scheduling knowledge.

Minnesota State University (Mankato)