Establishing and Managing a Schedule Baseline Presented by: Ric Albani, PMP, PMI-SP, PMI-RMP, MCTS PMI Scheduling Forum March 3, 2015

Introduction U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Published a Schedule Assessment Guide for Scheduling Best Practices. 10 Best Practices include: Capturing all activities Sequencing all activities Assigning resources to all activities Establishing the duration of all activities

Introduction GAO Schedule Assessment Guide 10 Best Practices (continued): Verifying that the schedule can be traced horizontally and vertically Confirming that the critical path is valid Ensuring reasonable total float Conducting a schedule risk analysis Updating the schedule using actual progress and logic Maintaining a Baseline Schedule

Baseline Schedules Should be established between 3-6 months following contract award. Timing depends upon contract size and type, requirements, and risk. Reflects the time, cost, and resource workload estimates before any work begins. Represents the project’s commitments to all stakeholders. Becomes the basis against which actual performance can be measured.

Baseline Schedules Level of baseline detail can vary across the WBS, i.e., Work Package, Summary, or Both Level of detail also depends upon contract size and type, requirements, and risk. Detail takes more time to develop and maintain. The greater the detail, the more understanding of performance, variances, forecasts, and impact of changes.

Baseline Schedules IS: the maintenance of a schedule for meeting contractual deliverables and project control milestones. WBS level (or subset across WBS) at which performance will be measured IS NOT: strict adherence to estimates of activity duration, resource assignments, or logic (dependencies). WBS level at which there will be scheduling flexibility

Baseline Document What is it? Single document that defines the schedule’s structure, logic, approach for managing resources, and the basis for date calculation. Created and approved by the PMO after the baseline schedule is approved. Is essential for validating and defending a baseline schedule.

Baseline Document What is it? (continued) Allows for an effective independent review (e.g. oversight, auditor, etc.). Considered a living document reflecting updates to the baseline schedule. The baseline schedule and baseline document should be referenced and updated in accordance with the change process.

Baseline Document Contents include: Description of overall schedule structure including WBS dictionary. Purpose of subprojects, subproject owners, relationship b/t subprojects, and list of key handoffs b/t subprojects. Contract deliverables list and deliverable descriptions.

Baseline Document Contents include: (continued) If rolling wave planning is used, then key dates and milestones for detailed planning periods are defined. Justification for each use of lag, date constraint, and missing successor or predecessor. Explanation of calendar definitions and custom fields.

Baseline Document Contents include: (continued) Critical path description and rationale for single or multiple critical paths. Justification for large total slack values. Enumeration and description of the schedule risks along with discussion of schedule contingency. Description of the updating and schedule change management processes.

Change Process What is it? Why do it? Control process which governs how technical and programmatic changes are applied to the baseline AND the current schedule. Why do it? Helps to ensure that the baseline and current schedules are accurate and reliable. Performance measurement is hindered if changes are not controlled and fully documented.

Change Process Change Control Scope: The extent of schedule change control is determined by project leadership. Depends upon project size, scope, complexity, and risk. Less complex projects may subject only key milestones or high-level WBS activities. More complex projects may subject lower-level WBS activities and dependencies.

Change Process Change Control Mechanics: Once approved, the schedule should be assigned a version # and archived. Changes to the baseline schedule should be limited to revisions for new or reduced scope; or formal re-planning. Management may decide that the remaining schedule is significantly insufficient rendering the current baseline invalid for realistic performance measurement.

Change Process Key Tenets: A re-baselined schedule should be rare. If re-baselining occurs frequently: Scope may not be well-understood Project leadership lacks effective discipline Inability to develop realistic estimates

Baseline Analysis Schedule Variances and Corrective Action: Most schedules deviate from the baseline as a project is executed. Frequent monitoring of the schedule allows for early determination of where forecasted dates ≠ planned dates. Schedule variances alert management to where corrective action is needed. Activities that vary significantly from the baseline may create a new critical path or near-critical path.

Baseline Analysis Schedule Variances and Corrective Action: A schedule variance doesn’t always translate to schedule delay. Only means work was not completed according to plan. Must evaluate if the variance was on/off the critical path. Common corrective actions include: Re-sequencing activities (fast track), Re-aligning resources (crash), adjust the working calendar, reduce scope, and use contingencies.

Trend Analysis What is it? Collecting schedule metrics during each status period and plotting over time. Typical metrics include: Comparing cumulative # of completed activities to the cumulative # of base-lined activities planned to be completed. Comparing actual, forecasted, and base-lined completed activities. Total float and schedule contingency tracked by status period. Baseline Execution Index (BEI)

Trend Analysis Baseline Execution Index: Simple metric used in baseline analysis. Objective measure of overall performance comparing actual completions to planned completions. Ratio of the # of detail activities that were completed to the # of detail activities that should have been completed by the status date. Can be calculated against any group of activities within the WBS.

Trend Analysis Baseline Execution Index: BEI = 1 indicates the project is performing according to plan. BEI < 1 indicates that, in general, fewer activities are being completed than planned. BEI > 1 indicates, that, in general, more activities are being completed than planned.

Questions?

Ric Albani ric@rmaconsultinggroup.com 916.425.7724 www.rmaconsultinggroup.com