Scheduling Maturity Reading the Signs. Planning & Earned Value SIG SIG Steering Group Member

Transcription

1 Scheduling Maturity Reading the Signs Planning & Earned Value SIG SIG Steering Group Member

2 Scheduling Maturity Reading the Signs Why check a project schedule or plan? What are the benefits? How do I do it? What applications are available to help How to interpret the results (reading the signs) How to get senior managers involved

3 Why check a project schedule? Complete and Consistent method Robust and repeatable process Single point of project truth Single point of integration Automated enables regular checks Enables trend analysis More effective corrective action

4 What are the benefits? Increased confidence in schedule maturity Why? it s a Robust, repeatable and auditable process Scalable, tailored output Aggregation of schedule metrics It s automated (you will be doing it more than just the once) Increased ability to spot trends (good and bad) Reduced analysis timescales

5 What are the benefits? Helps the team planning behaviours & planning process Increased robustness of the schedule Helps with schedule as it matures through the project lifecycle Quicker identification of scheduling and performance issues Integrates with other project control elements and governance structures within an organisation Apply schedule metrics from an assessment on other projects (LFE) Consistent approach to schedule analysis across your organisation

6 Schedule Maturity Process Creating the Schedule Reporting & Decisionmaking Executing the Schedule Prediction/ change control

7 Schedule Maturity Process (2) Reporting/Decision Making Logic Leads Lags Hard Constraints Resources Invalid Dates PP to WP ratio Critical Path Test Missed Tasks CPLI BEI Dynamic Logic Schedule Adherence Forensic Delay Analysis (FDA) Milestone Slippage Creation Execution Prediction & Control

8 Why should I check my schedule?

9 What do you get when you look at dissimilar maturity measures?? Dissimilar schedule checks

10 What do you get when you look at dissimilar maturity measures?

11 How do I do it? Basic process Nothing new schedule checking has been used for at least 3 decades DCMA has its 14 point schedule checker But is this enough? Other additional checks can help especially in execution and prediction Can use the checks with any of the major scheduling packages

12 The DCMA 14 Point schedule check

13 The DCMA 14 Points 1. Logic 2. Leads 3. Lags 4. Relationship Types (FS) 5. Hard Constraints 6. High Float 7. Negative Float 8. High Duration 9. Invalid Dates 10. Resources 11. Missed Tasks 12. Critical Path Test 13. Critical Path Length Index (CPLI) 14. Baseline Execution Index (BEI)

14 The trouble with Schedule Logic

15 High Float Task A Ghost Task Task B

16 Negative Float Task A Task B Task C

17 CPLI and BEI Critical Path Length Index (CPLI) Assumes a fixed project or phase end date Can work out how many activities/tasks are becoming critical

18 Use of the CPLI value Can you see a trend?

19 Baseline Execution Index (BEI) Added work makes it harder to obtain a high score Counts activity completion, not if activities are finished early or late Does not consider amount of schedule slippage Does not consider the allowable use of float

20 DCMA 14 point checks Large project with subcontracts

21 Analysis of a single project across 5 reporting periods

22 Additional Schedule Checks Redundant Logic Recursive logic Out of sequence logic Logic Link Index (LLI) Start & finish dates within the reporting period compared to the baseline

23 Redundant Logic Task A Task B Task C

24 Recursive Logic Task A Task B Task C

25 Out Of Sequence (OOS) Logic Status Date

26 Out Of Sequence (OOS) Logic (2) Complements actual start & finish metric Actual start & finish will not inform you if: Activities have started & finished early and In Schedule Sequence (ISS) Activities have started & finished late and In Schedule Sequence (ISS) Or Activities have started & finished either early and/or late and OOS

27 Out Of Sequence (OOS) Logic (3) Main Issue is in the interpretation Which has the greater impact on the schedule? ISS activities or OOS activities? What needs to be done to get the project back on track?

28 Logic Links Index (LLI) Identifies pinch points in the schedule Counts the number of predecessor and successor logic linkages on a specific activity the more links there are the chances of a preceding or successor task starting or finishing on time are reduced Useful when creating a risk network or schedule

29 Logic Links Index (LLI) (2) Task 1 Tasks 1 to 4 have a 90% 50% chance of completing on time Task 2 Task 3 Task 4 Task 5 Task 5 has a 66% 6% chance of starting on time

30 Schedule Analysis Indicators Predictive capability this supports other predictive indicators, such as the IEAC

31 Schedule Analysis Indicators (2) Can you see a trend forming? N.B. It cannot tell you which tasks are OOS

32 Additional checks Large project with subcontracts

33 Schedule Prediction & Control You ve already seen some predictive capabilities using schedule maturity How can I show senior management that schedule maturity is important and that it cannot be reviewed in isolation?

34 Dashboards who s in the audience?

35 What would senior stakeholders rather see? This?

36 or this?

37 Project Prediction Schedule Maturity is a lagging indicator But can be used with other leading indicators most of which rely upon having a robust schedule Look for trends in schedule maturity and other project controls indicators too

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39 Project analysis What has changed since the last reporting period? Added or removed activities? WBS/PBS changes? Logic relationships? Resource allocation Activity type (milestone, activity, hammock, summary) Activity durations? Total or activity float Activity start/finish dates? Activity status? Critical/longest path Activity costs

40 A selection of available software Software DCMA 14-point checker ScheduleAnalyser Schedule Detective Steelray Project Analyser Acumen Fuse Schedule Cracker Schedule Checker Application MS Project & Oracle P3 MS Project Enterprise MS Project MS Project MS Project, Oracle P3/P6, Asta Powerproject Primavera MSP to follow Oracle P6

41 Summary Explained the need for schedule checking Explained the benefits of checking the schedule How it can be done Interpreting the results (reading the signs) How to get senior management involved Listed software that can help

42 And finally If you were watching There are 6 signs or symbols hidden in plain sight in this presentation Some are easy to find and some not so It means downloading the presentation from the APM website (!) There is a prize if you can find them Closing date

43 Thank you The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable John Kenneth Galbraith ( )