PM Services
PM Services
IT Services
Schedule Development
Overview
The cornerstone of any well-managed project is the schedule which is a tool that identifies and organizes project tasks into a sequence of events that then form a project management plan. The process of building the schedule enables the project manager to identify the risk points, understand the proper linkage of events, assists in resource planning and allows the PM to establish goals for the Team and the project.

Control Points
The benefits of a well-constructed schedule are numerous. It becomes the framework to organize the Project Team to strive to common goals, it provides the project manager the tool to manage to a desired outcome, and it provides a means to measure performance of the Team. A quality schedule includes planned control points that better ensure the success rate of the project

To help you create a useful schedule, IPMS uses the following approach:
  • Understand the schedule needs of all stake holders
  • Review the existing project plan to be sure it is sufficient to begin schedule development
  • Work with your subject matter experts to develop the schedule, plus the screens and reports necessary for analysis and communication.

    • A good schedule has detail sufficient for control. It should not require excessive effort to maintain. The amount of detail is determined by the risks to be managed. A seasoned, motivated team with dependable suppliers, understood technology and good stake holder relationships can have a less detailed schedule, than a team facing larger risk in one or more of these areas. A good schedule:
  • Satisfies the needs of all schedule stake holders.
  • Is a combination of actual progress and what is estimated to remain.
  • Provides comparison with original commitments.
  • Includes the impacts of supplier progress.
  • Has task and resource detail sufficient for control.
  • Is usually precedence diagram based.
  • Accommodates resource availability.
  • Retains data for project evaluation.
  • Reflects the dependencies on and demands of other projects.
  • Is updated with status (progress) on a regular, scheduled basis.
  • Is changed to reflect changed project objectives, after stake holder concurrence.
  • A schedule is as useful as project managers are willing and able to make it.
    •  
    2003 © All Rights Reserved, Copyright IPMS.