SmartPM
Software that reads CPM schedule updates automatically to flag delay, risk, and productivity trends without manual review.
Quick Answer
SmartPM is a construction schedule analytics platform that uses AI to automate the review of CPM (critical path method) schedules. It ingests schedule updates and flags delay causation, critical path shifts, and productivity trends without manual analysis. SmartPM was founded in 2016 by a forensic delay analyst and is used by GCs, owners, sureties, and insurers to monitor schedule risk.
The Full Picture
SmartPM exists because reviewing a CPM schedule update by hand is slow and inconsistent. A project scheduler or forensic analyst traditionally compares each new schedule version against the prior baseline manually, hunting for what changed, why the critical path moved, and who caused the delay — work that took days per update and depended heavily on the individual analyst's skill.
Mechanically, SmartPM ingests native schedule files (from tools like Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project) update by update and automates the comparison: it detects logic changes, tracks how the critical path shifted between versions, quantifies delay and its likely cause, and scores schedule quality against best-practice scheduling standards. The output is a dashboard and reports rather than a scheduling tool itself — SmartPM analyzes schedules built elsewhere.
In practice, general contractors use it to self-monitor schedule health across a portfolio of projects and catch delay trends before they become disputes; owners and sureties use it to independently verify a contractor's reported progress and risk; and forensic experts use it to build defensible delay-causation analysis for claims and litigation, reflecting the founder's background as a forensic delay analyst.
SmartPM sits downstream of scheduling and upstream of dispute resolution — it doesn't build the schedule (that's Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project) and it isn't a precon estimating or takeoff tool. Its value is turning schedule data that already exists into an early-warning system for delay and a documented record if a claim ever needs to be defended.
Real Examples
Common Misconceptions
People assume: SmartPM is scheduling software that builds CPM schedules.
Actually: SmartPM doesn't create schedules — it analyzes schedules built in tools like Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project. It's an analytics layer on top of existing scheduling data, not a replacement for the scheduling tool itself.
People assume: Schedule analytics software is only useful after a dispute starts.
Actually: SmartPM's main use case is ongoing monitoring during the project — catching delay trends and critical path shifts early, before they harden into a claim. Its forensic delay-analysis capability matters most once a dispute is already underway, but that's the secondary use, not the primary one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded SmartPM?
SmartPM Technologies was founded in 2016 by Michael Pink, a forensic delay analyst who spent roughly two decades analyzing construction schedules for claims and litigation before building the automated platform.
What does SmartPM do?
It automates the analysis of CPM schedule updates — detecting logic changes, tracking critical path shifts between versions, quantifying delay and its likely cause, and scoring schedule quality — turning work that used to take an analyst days into a near-instant automated report.
Does SmartPM replace Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project?
No. SmartPM reads and analyzes schedules built in those tools; it doesn't create or edit CPM logic itself. Teams still build and update their schedule in P6 or MSP and feed those files into SmartPM for analysis.
Who uses SmartPM?
General contractors monitoring schedule health across projects, owners and sureties verifying contractor-reported progress, and forensic scheduling experts building delay-causation analysis for claims and disputes.