How Can You Minimize Or Control Changes To Project Schedules?

Control Schedule Controlling Schedule is the project management activity in which progress on project activities is compared confronting Schedule baseline to understand whether project is ahead of the schedule or behind. Based on the deviation you can plan on corrective or preventive actions and manage changes to baseline. This procedure helps thus reduces the hazard of commitment slippage when managed well.

From sixth edition PMBOK focuses on Agile approach as well.

In case your projection follows Agile methodology here is what this process should do –

Determine current status of project based on completed deliverables against planned iteration
At the end of each iteration conduct retrospective review meetings to identify improvement areas
Adjust project backlog based on effect of retrospective review meetings
Find out iteration velocity (number of features implemented per fixed duration of iteration )
If all this needs schedule to change, manage the changes and baseline it again

What goes into this activity?

Schedule management plan and Schedule baselines from Projection management programme are used as inputs for this process.

Schedule direction plan recommends methods and tools to apply, such as Earned Value Management (EVM) and Schedule Variance (SV). Schedule baseline is the reference to compare electric current projection progress against.

In essence, decision-making action is near comparing current projection progress information against the baseline.

Exam Arrow: Usually, if work functioning data is an input, work performance information will be an output. This is because when data is analyzed in a specific context such as what a process provides, it turns into information!

Baselines are crucial!

To update a schedule the project manager needs to empathize schedule baseline, cost baseline, scope baseline, and functioning measurement baseline. The change to one might too mean impact and changes to other baselines.

Piece of work functioning data

Understanding of work functioning data such as start/stop dates of activities, percentage completion of WIP activities is needed to analyze affect of telescopic changes on schedule. These are all numbers. Raw data.

Autonomously from these, the project managing director needs to know schedule data such as activities, dependencies, activity attributes, resource histogram and schedule network diagrams. Resources calendars, projection calendar, and projection schedule is necessary.

How it is done?

Analyze of import information

In Develop Schedule process we saw the unlike tools that can be used to measure projection performance such as Critical path method or Critical concatenation method. There could besides exist additional methods such every bit Earned Value Management- EVM (nosotros'll meet in Control Costs process) and Trend assay used to measure and analyze project performance.

If you used Critical Path method to develop schedule, and then look at activities on critical path or near disquisitional path, for slippage. If whatsoever of these activities slip then project completion appointment will exist impacted and hence these activities need to be closely monitored.

If Disquisitional Concatenation method was used to develop schedule, so watch the remaining buffer on critical chain activities or feeding chain activities for slippage indication. This is done by comparing planned buffer versus remaining buffer.

Feeding Chain buffer is the schedule buffer allocated at the cease of all activities on a network path that lead into Disquisitional Concatenation. Develop Schedule process talks nigh about Critical Chain (or Critical Path) method.

If Earned Value Management (EVM) methodology is used so schedule variance (SV) and schedule performance index (SPI) are utilized to measure how the project is doing confronting schedule.

Trend analysis helps you visually observe projection performance over a period of time to make up one's mind whether it has been improving or degrading.

For Active projects: Iteration burndown nautical chart

burndown chart

Figure: A burndown chart plots remaining work in the Iteration on a daily basis (image courtesy wikipedia)

Although some projects employ a burnup chart (work completed is plotted confronting fourth dimension), the well-nigh useful piece of data is the remaining work. This is plotted on a burndown chart.

A burndown chart plots 3 important time measurements, against time –

bodily remaining work in the Iteration
planned remaining work for the Iteration (too chosen Ideal burndown line)
forecast based on piece of work done till date – this shows the likely variance based on piece of work done till appointment

Some projects fifty-fifty plot remaining work on a daily basis.

Project direction software

Software (such every bit MS Project) tin be used to accurately measure schedule variation. Usage of software will also help usa change sure activity-related parameters and see their touch on critical path and project completion dates.

Resource optimization techniques, Modeling techniques, Leads and lags, Schedule compression, Scheduling tool

These techniques are very useful and nosotros take already seen them in Develop Schedule process.

Do you dearest mnemonics? Spotter this video to understand Lead and Lag in a way that you will NEVER e'er forget! 🙂

Apart from the above, Tendency analysis, variance analysis, functioning reviews, what-if scenarios are some of the techniques to determine the impact on the baselined schedule.

What'southward the outcome?

Work performance information

Nigh of the processes in the Monitoring and Decision-making process group will take this output, which are the projection performance indicators such every bit SV and SPI measurements for work packages.

Schedule forecasts

When you have current piece of work performance data analyzed within the context they become work performance information, and this can exist used to forecast the futurity performance of the projection schedule. Earned value management indicators such equally Estimate At Completion (EAC) are used.

Change requests

Again, Monitoring and Decision-making processes may very well discover deviations (such every bit a modify to baselines and the project manager will accept to enhance modify requests. Change requests must go through Perform Integrated Change Control process before becoming actionable.

Projection management plan updates

We used the Schedule direction plan and Schedule baseline from the Project management programme equally inputs. Both of these stand a hazard to exist updated based on changes done during this process. Based on the schedule changes even the cost of the projection may change hence Toll baseline might exist updated too.

Project document updates

If schedule variance is found, new schedule network diagrams might need to be developed based on the corrective actions planned. Other schedule outputs such as Milestone charts, resource histograms might change, and fifty-fifty alternating schedules may need to exist drawn. Hence, both schedule data and schedule stand to be updated due to this process. In that location could exist other projection documents such equally run a risk register that yous may update based on what you discover while executing this process.

Organizational process assets updates

Findings such every bit identified reasons for variation, corrective and preventive actions selected along their reasons are documented. Schedule data, project schedule, and even hazard register are some of the documents that may become updated, and at that place could be others to be updated based on what y'all find while executing this process.

To refer to one of my experiences, we were trying to provide a detailed schedule right at the proposal stage of a new sub-project for an existing client. Nosotros tried to compress the schedule (using crashing and fast-tracking) in order to satisfy our demanding customers. Scheduling exercise took two of united states two weeks of time with 12-14 hours per day spent on it, and nosotros presented an updated schedule well-nigh 4 times. The client's undue focus on reducing the detailed schedule (worthless exercise since requirements were not detailed) ended upwards in considerable lost time. Finally, nosotros realized this and settled for high-level estimates with suitable documented assumptions, and got project timelines approved.

Lesson learned?

Do not attempt to requite a detailed schedule at the proposal stage, unless every small particular of scope is worked out. You might end up spending too much fourth dimension modifying the schedule, which anyway changes later when you enter the planning stage to work out a detailed schedule.

This brings us to the end of Schedule management lessons. In the next post permit u.s.a. look at how Cost management activities are planned on a project.