Introduction

• Discussion of workshop approach
• Workshop Learning Objectives/DLOs
• Review of notebook contents

Introduction to Project Scheduling Workshop

• Workshop Focus
• Programs vs. Projects
• Workshop Objectives
• Class exercise

Project Schedule Use and Users

• Why have a schedule?
• impacts of poor scheduling
• Using schedule results
• Schedule Roles and Responsibilities

Schedule Development Process

• Planning vs. Scheduling
• Sources of scheduling information
• Nine step schedule development process
• Development Considerations and Concerns

Scope Definition and Work Breakdown Structure

• Tradeoff: desired scope vs. available resource
• WBS overview
• Introduction to the program planning approach

Class Exercise – The Family Vacation (Part 1)

• Practice scope decomposition

Network Diagramming Fundamentals

• Introduction to the fundamental components of a schedule network:
  • Activities
  • Relationships

Case Studies – Creating Simple Networks and Network Construction

• Practice creating network diagrams

Critical Path Fundamentals

• Definition of critical path
• Forward and Backward Passes
• Total Float Free Float
• How to determine the critical path
• Critical path vs. driving path

Class Exercise – The Family Vacation (Parts 2 & 3)

• Build on Part 1 by adding durations and logic to calculate the critical path

Case Study: Path Analysis Using Total Float

• Using total float and trend data to determine areas for management attention

Project Schedule Modeling Techniques

• Overview of common schedule modeling tools/techniques
  • Lags
  • Schedule Visibility Tasks
  • Leads
  • Constraints
  • Templates
  • Level of Effort

Case Study: Constructing a More Complex Network

• Construction of a network diagram with more complex relationships

Case Study: Use of Constraints

• Impact of Constraints on a schedule network

Resource Loading and Leveling / Smoothing

• Benefits of resource loaded schedules
• Basic resource limitations: Resource capacity and time
• Resource leveling priorities

Case Study: Resource Loading and Leveling

• Apply resource leveling principles to model an achievable plan

Schedule Traceability

• Horizontal vs. Vertical traceability
• Summary tasks vs. hammocks

Schedule Health

• Characteristics of a “healthy” schedule
• Overview of common schedule health metrics

Schedule Review

• When to perform schedule reviews
• Types of schedule reviews
• Stakeholder roles

Class Exercise – Family Vacation (Part 4)

• Practice schedule review techniques

Schedule Baseline

• Definition and objectives of the schedule baseline
• Baseline differences between scheduling tools
• Baseline revisions

Schedule Status

• Progress vs. Forecast
• Status requirements for each activity state
• Recommendations for effective statusing

Schedule Changes

• Routine updates vs. Baseline changes
• Causes of baseline changes

Case Study: Determining Status and Forecasting Project Completion

• Demonstrate the impact of status on the forecasted project completion

Schedule Acceleration Techniques

• Overview of common schedule acceleration techniques
• Demonstrate the “Crashing” technique

Managing Schedule Risk

• Sources of schedule risk
• Schedule Risk Assessment (SRA) overview
• Definition and use of Schedule Margin

Diagnosis and Analysis

• Overview of “what-if” analysis
• Cost / Schedule tradeoffs

Case Study: Analyzing Schedule Changes

• Analyze the status impacts to determine the source of schedule delays

Reporting and Analysis

• Benefits and limitations of common scheduling formats/reports

Good Practices in Planning & Scheduling

• Scheduling best practices
• Schedule review checklist

The Schedule in the Government Environment

• Differences between commercial and government scheduling
• Review the documents that define project requirements
• Introduce the concept of a control account
• Overview of the Integrated Master Plan (IMP)

Earned Value - Introduction to EVMS

• Overview of basic EV terms/principles
• Demonstrate the relationship between the schedule and EVMS
• Calculation and use of common EV indices

Case Study: Calculation of Cost & Schedule Variances

• Reinforce understanding of basic cost and schedule indices

Analysis Using EVMS Calculations with the Schedule

• Use summary EVMS data to identify schedule risk areas
• Combining EVM indices and schedule data to diagnose issues

Case Study: Schedule Analysis Combining SPI, CPI and Critical Path

• Use schedule status to calculate indices and forecast project completion

IPMR DID Scheduling Requirements

• Overview of scheduling requirements in each section of the IPMR DID

Other Government Schedule Metrics

• Overview of the DCMA 14-pt assessment
• Review of metrics not already covered in the Schedule Health section

DCMA Data Driven Analytics

• Overview of the draft metrics DCMA will be using to conduct schedule surveillance reviews

Appendix

Course Evaluation Sheet

Adjourn