Title: Project Master Integrated Schedule (PMIS) – Schedule Management Plan

Phase(s): Final Design and Construction

Category: Management

Date: April 22, 2009

1. Background

Project requirements include plan development for each aspect of the project such as:

• Safety and Security Plan
• Project Management Plan

However, project scheduling, which is one of the most important parts of the project, is a sub-section of other documents. FTA scheduling requirements are general, which gives the Grantee a great deal of flexibility; however, on a project such as CATS South Corridor, without strong requirements it becomes extremely difficult to manage and enforce.

PMOC believed that the Grantee’s project master integrated schedule (PMIS) requirements could be solidified if they were part of a Schedule Management Plan.  Areas that could be managed or addressed included the following:

• Schedule analysis, narrative, and related issues
• Staffing and budget requirements
• Procedures/Guidelines on how the schedules are integrated into the PMIS
• Schedule risk management plan
• Frequency of schedule reports
• Detail level of schedule
• Project schedule summary including key milestones

One scheduler was assigned to perform the contractor’s schedule review, processing of progress payment, time impact analyses for the changes, monthly reports, plus the PMIS. 

A schedule management plan would have made it clear to all parties involved of the requirements and level of effort needed to manage the schedule related issues.

2. The Lesson

Without a schedule management plan, PMOCs have to rely on what each Grantee decides to provide to FTA and PMOC.  As a result, FTA is exposed to schedule management risks and inconsistent schedule information and reports.

These conditions, issues, and inconsistencies in reporting resulted in several disagreements, briefing papers to FTA, and ultimately a spot report development by PMOC that could have been minimized with stronger and more standard FTA SMP.

A standard schedule management plan would have helped the Grantee management team to be more involved with the scheduling from the beginning of the project.

3. Applicability

The application of a Schedule Management Plan can be applied to most major Transit Capital projects. It is a proven management toll allowing PMOC/FTA, Grantee’s to be proactive in scheduling and in reducing project costs as a result of resolving schedule issues early.  The revenue operation date and key milestones could be better managed with a SMP.  In all projects, cost of project delays and coordination issues could be in the millions, and if communicated and managed aggressively, those amounts could be reduced significantly.

4. References

• Operational guidelines 34
• Minnesota – Hiawatha SMP