Anticlue

Controlling the Project Schedule

An ever enjoyable aspect of managing a project is the control the project schedule. The managing and maintaining the schedule proactively is your best way to assure the project comes in on time.
In order to be proactive about this process there are some inputs that one needs to understand. The inputs are:

• The Schedule Baseline - The schedule baseline is the current approved version of the project schedule which provides a basis for comparing and reporting on the project performance. The project schedule details the planned start and end dates for the activities.
• Performance Reports – Performance reports are first and foremost a communication mechanism to list what work has been performed by whom. A good performance report should show the planned and actual dates and duration of work activities
• Schedule Management Plan – The Schedule Management Plan details how changes to the schedule can be made and under which conditions such changes are allowed. Project Manager, Project Sponsors, and Functional Managers should adhere to the scheduling guidelines explained within the schedule management plan.
• Approved Change Requests - Approved schedule change requests are an input because the schedule needs to be revise to reflect the approved changes to the project schedule.

Once all of the inputs have been obtained, there are tools and techniques that can be used to review the schedule. If a situation occurs where project performance differs from the schedule, these tools and techniques can be used to correct the situation. Project managers will evaluate how much work has been completed compared with actual performance versus planned performance. If they uncover a schedule variance, the pm should analyze the variance’s severity.

The tools and techniques commonly employed in controlling the schedule are:

• Progress reporting – Progress Reporting is when a report is created detailing the actual start and finish dates of activities and the remaining duration of unfinished activities. It is a good idea to include the percent complete of activities in the progress report.
• Variance Analysis – Variance analysis compares planning data with actual performance in order to discover delays or variations in the project schedule. For example the planned start, duration, and anticipated completion date would be compared with the actual start date, duration, and completion date for that activity.
• Performance Measurement - Performance measurement assesses the severity of delays and other deviations by measuring project performance compared against the project plan. This comparison helps the project manager determine if corrective or proactive actions are need for this project. Some common performance measurement tools are:
  • Schedule comparison bar charts – Schedule comparison bar charts are a way to visualize the differences between the planned and actual performance. This is a good tool to graphically communicate project status.
  • Project Management Software – PMIS is utilized to determine the affect of variance upon individual activities. The PMIS easily calculates the impact of any proposed change to the schedule.
  • Schedule change control systems – Schedule change control systems are described in the project management plan with the integrated change control process. The schedule change control system is the bought into, agreed with, and realistic process to change the schedule. When project managers discover that actual performance is not meeting the schedule, it is a good idea to use the schedule change management process to propose changes to the schedule
  • Schedule variance and the Schedule Performance Index - Schedule variance and the Schedule Performance Index both measure the financial value of the work performed as of a given date.
    SV = EV – PV
    SPI = EV / PV
    Schedule variance and the Schedule Performance Index yield information on the current conditions of the project and can be used to determine whether the project is on or off schedule.

The process of controlling the schedule creates several different types of outputs as follows:

• Performance measurements - The process of controlling the schedule produces measurements of performance to date on a project. The Schedule Variance and Schedule Performance Index are objective measures of project performance that can be used to report the status of the project to stakeholders.
• Requested changes – Requested changes are the proposed changes to start dates, finish dates, activity durations, or project milestones.
• Recommended corrective actions – Recommended corrective actions are changes to resolve a situation with the project schedule.
• Schedule Baseline updates – Schedule Baseline updates are done when approved changes are applied to the existing baseline.
• Schedule Model data updates – Schedule model data updates are updates to the alternative best-case or worst-case schedules, cash flow projections, order schedules, delivery schedules, and other information about schedule constraints and assumptions. The changes must be documented and communicated to project stakeholders.
• Activity List updates – Activity List updates occur when an approved change causes the project manager to add or remove activities from the Activity List.
• Activity attribute updates – Activity attribute updates are updates or changes in the description or relationship of project activities. These changes may require additional actions by some stakeholders, so they have to be communicated.
• Organizational process assets - Detecting a schedule variance and finding a solution provide valuable lessons for future projects. These lessons are documented and kept. They can be shared with others in the organization who executed the project.
• Project Management Plan - Finally, the process of controlling the schedule may generate changes to the overall Project Management Plan. Corrective actions and approved schedule changes may call for changes in the methods, policies, and activities the project manager uses to control the schedule for the remainder of the project. These changes should be documented in the Schedule Management Plan segment of the Project Management Plan.

When project managers control the Project Schedule, they make decisions that alter the project. Outputs from controlling the schedule connect the decisions with actions.