Controlling the Project Schedule

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Schedule control is part of Integrated Change Management, as discussed in Chapter 4. Throughout a typical project, events will happen that may require updates to the project schedule. Schedule control is concerned with three processes:

• The project manager works with the factors that can cause schedule change in an effort to confirm that the changes are agreed upon. Factors can include project team members, stakeholders, management, customers, and project conditions.

• The project manager examines the work results, conditions, and demands to know the schedule has changed.

• The project manager manages the actual change in the schedule.

Managing the Inputs to Schedule Control

Schedule control, the process of managing changes to the project schedule, is based on several inputs:

• Project schedule

• Performance reports

• Change requests

• The schedule management plan

Applying a Schedule Control System

A Schedule Control System is a formal approach to managing changes to the project schedule. It considers the conditions, reasons, requests, costs, and risks or making changes. It includes methods of tracking changes, approval levels based on thresholds, and documentation of approved or declined changes. The Schedule Control System process is part of integrated change management.

Measuring Project Performance

Poor performance may result in schedule changes. Consider a project team that is completing a work on time, but all of the work results are unacceptable. The project team may be rushing through their assignments to meet their deadline. To compensate for this, the project may be changed to allow for additional quality inspections, and more time for activity completion. Project performance is often based on earned value management, which we'll discuss in Chapter 10.

Returning to Planning

Planning is an iterative process. If the schedule, work results, or performance is unacceptable, the project manager should revisit the planning processes to determine the root cause. Additional planning is also needed when the scope may be changed, risks are discovered, and when other project events happen. Additional planning is expected throughout most projects.

Relying on Project Management Software

Most project management software can simulate the result of changes to a project schedule. Project management software can predict what may happen when a task is delayed, additional tasks are added, or the relationship between activities is edited. Project management can streamline schedule control.

Examining the Schedule Variance

The project manager must actively monitor the variances between when activities are scheduled to end and when they actually end. An accumulation of differences between scheduled and actual dates may result in a schedule variance.

The project manager must also pay attention to the completion of activities on paths with float, not just the critical path. Consider a project that has eight different paths to completion. The project manager should first identify the critical path, but should also identify the float on each path. The paths should be arranged and monitored in a hierarchy of the path with smallest float to the path with the largest float. As activities are completed, the float of each path should be monitored to identify any paths that may be slipping from the scheduled end dates.

Updating the Project Schedule

So what happens when a schedule change occurs? The project manager must ensure that the project schedule is updated to reflect the change, document the change, and follow the guidelines within the schedule management plan. Any formal processes, such as notifying stakeholders or management, should be followed.

Revisions are a special type of project schedule change, which cause the project start date, and more likely, the project end date to be changed. They typically stem from project scope changes. Because of the additional work the new scope requires, additional time is needed to complete the project.

Schedule delays, for whatever reason, may be so drastic that the entire project has to be rebaselined. Rebaselining is a worst-case scenario and should only be used when adjusting for drastic, long delays. When rebaselining happens, all of the historical information up to the point of the rebaseline is eliminated. Schedule revision is the preferred, and most common, approach to changing the project end date.

Applying Corrective Action

Corrective action is any method applied to bring the project schedule back into alignment with the original dates and goals for the project end date. Corrective actions are efforts to ensure future performance meets the expected performance levels. It includes:

• Extraordinary measures to ensure work packages complete as scheduled

• Extraordinary measures to ensure work packages complete with as little delay as possible

• Root-cause analysis of schedule variances

• Implementing measures to recover from schedule delays

Writing the Lessons Learned

Lessons learned on creating the schedule, changes to the project schedule, and response to variances are needed as part of the project's historical information. Recall that lessons learned documentation happens throughout the project plan, not just at the conclusion of the project.

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