All successful projects have one thing in common for sure and that is a comprehensive plan prior to starting the Job. With schedules containing hundreds if not thousands of activities and milestones, how do we know if it was developed with sound CPM methodology and practices? In other words, is the schedule "healthy". For a Schedule to be usable for project execution as well as part of an EVMS (Earned Value Management System), it has to be developed to reflect general scheduling practices, and of course in accordance with contract requirements. So how do we insure we have followed the instructions and guidelines. How about a series of measurements covering the different tenants of good schedule practice such as high float values, number of open ends, number of constraints, missing logic, etc. For years a demand was in place to somehow measure all of this. Then several years ago, the DMCA (Defense Contract Management Agency) looked at all the different measurements and created 14 metric points that all schedules at a minimum must meet which is now known as the DCMA 14;
So what tools are available in our scheduling software to help us review all this items?
New in Version 18.6
Did you know that Oracle Prime Projects now contains a tool to check the health of schedules? The health check calculates an Assessment Score for each critical assessment item and an overall Schedule Health Score. The feature also enables you to view changes to the Schedule Health Score as you make changes to activities.
P6 Enterprise Portfolio Management
Primavera P6 EPPM has had this feature since the release of 8.X. P6 however does not allow the analysis to run in the background on each change that happens inside of Prime. However you can run it on demand at anytime during the development of the schedule or while you are conducting updates. To learn more about P6 EPPM and the tools available that P6 Professional does not have, be sure you look in to EPPM Solution Training for your organization.
Summary
Schedule health metrics are an essential component of developing and maintaining project schedules. While the DMCA provides an excellent guideline, other considerations should be applied such as checks on activity descriptions, activity code field values, risk inputs, Earned Value Techniques and others to assure alignment with contract requirements and schedule practices. All findings should be acted upon immediately and companies should add schedule health checks as part of their everyday business practice in their schedule management procedures.