DCMA 14-Point Schedule Assessment - Microsoft Project

DCMA 14-PointSchedule AssessmentUnderstanding and Applying theDCMA Schedule Assessment MetricsMarch 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.1

Restricted Rights and Copyright NoticeVersion 1.2 (March2011)Copyright 2011 forProject Technology, Inc. All rights reserved.The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.The information contained in this document is the exclusive property of forProject Technology, Inc. This work is protected underUnited States copyright law and other international copyright treaties and conventions. No part of this work may be reproduced ortransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any informationstorage or retrieval system, except as expressly permitted in writing by forProject Technology, Inc. All requests should be sent toAttention: Contracts Manager, forProject Technology, Inc, 4020 N MacArthur Boulevard, Suite 122-304, Irving, Texas 75038.U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED/LIMITED RIGHTSAny software, documentation, and/or data delivered hereunder is subject to the terms of the LicenseAgreement. In no event shall the U.S. Government acquire greater than RESTRICTED/LIMITED RIGHTS. Ata minimum, use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions as set forth inFAR §52.227-14 Alternates I, II, and III (JUN 1987); FAR §52.227-19 (JUN 1987) and/or FAR §12.211/12.212(Commercial Technical Data/Computer Software); and DFARS §252.227-7015 (NOV 1995) (Technical Data)and/or DFARS §227.7202 (Computer Software), as applicable. Contractor/Manufacturer is forProjectTechnology, Inc, 4020 N MacArthur Boulevard, Suite 122-304, Irving, Texas 75038.March 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.2

Background on the 14-point Assessment USD AT&L* has mandated use of an Integrated MasterSchedule (IMS) for cost or incentivecontracts/subcontracts and intra-government workagreements of at least 20 millionDCMA has responsibility to ensure that the IMS is at anacceptable level of quality to support compliance withANSI/EIA-748DCMA designed the 14 Point Assessment to improvetheir ability to assess the quality of IMS submittals* The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and LogisticsMarch 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.3

Purpose of DCMA 14 Point Assessment Provides a consistent, DoD-wide approach to scheduleanalysisAssess IMS using proven metrics that have beensuccessfully applied on multiple programsCatalyst for constructive discussions between thecontractor and DCMA Baseline for tracking IMS improvement over time Support two important OSD Tripwire metrics March 1, 2012Critical Path Length Index (CPLI)Baseline Execution Index (BEI)Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.4

First We Need Some Basic Schedule Counts Total Tasks - Lowest level tasks, excluding summarytasks, milestones, LOE tasks Complete Tasks – Of the Total Tasks, how many havebeen completed? Incomplete Tasks – Of the Total Tasks, how many arenot completed? Baseline Count – Of the Total Tasks, how many wereplanned to be done by now? BEI Baseline Count – Baseline count plus tasks missingBaseline Finish dates Relationship Count – For the Incomplete Tasks, howmany FS, FF, SS, and SF relationships are there?March 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.5

The DCMA 14 Point Assessment1. Logic8. High Duration2. Leads9. Invalid Dates3. Lags10. Resources4. Relationships11. Missed Tasks5. Hard Constraints12. Critical Path Test6. High Float (Total Slack)13. Critical Path LengthIndex (CPLI)7. Negative Float (TotalSlack)March 1, 201214. Baseline Execution Index(BEI)Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.6

Metric #1: Logic What it Measures % of Incomplete Tasks with no predecessor and/or no successor(i.e. “dangling” tasks)Helps measure how well (or poorly) the schedule is linkedtogether. Affects horizontal schedule traceability.How it is CalculatedNumber of Incomplete Tasks with Missing Logic% x 100Number of Incomplete Tasks TargetShould not exceed 5%March 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.7

Example - Dangling TasksFSDesignWhat if Design Takes Longer?SSWhatDraftif the Draft Takes Longer?SSBuildMarch 1, 2012FSCopyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.8

Schedule Logic Best Practice To avoid “dangling” tasks, each task should have: At least one FS or SS relationship as its predecessorAt least one FS or FF relationship as its successorMarch 1, 2012SuccessorTaskPredecessorFSFSororSSFFCopyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.9

Metric #2: Leads What it Measures % of predecessor relationships that have a lead (negative lag)valueThe critical path analysis can be distorted with excessive use oflags and they should be avoidedHow it is CalculatedNumber of Leads on Incomplete Tasks% x 100Number of Relationships Target0% - No Leads should be in the scheduleMarch 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.10

Identifying Leads (Negative Lags)Leads (negative Lags)visible in the Gantt ChartLeads (negative Lags)visible in thePredecessors columnMarch 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.11

Leads – Best Practices If some event in the predecessor task is the “trigger” tobegin the successor task, consider breaking thepredecessor into two discrete tasksDesignFS -10dOriginalBuildFSDraft DesignFFFinalize DesignImprovedFSMarch 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.Build12

Metric #3: Lags What it Measures % of predecessor relationships that have a positive lag valueThe critical path analysis can be distorted with excessive use oflags and they should be avoidedHow it is CalculatedNumber of Lags on Incomplete Tasks% x 100Number of Relationships TargetShould not exceed 5%March 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.13

Identifying LagsLags visible inthe Gantt ChartLags visible in thePredecessors columnMarch 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.14

Lags – Best Practices If the lag represents some effort or activity, considerrepresenting it as an explicit taskOriginalDraft forReviewImprovedDraft forReviewMarch 1, 2012FS 10dCustomerReviewCopyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.IncorporateCommentsIncorporateComments15

Metric #4: Relationships What it Measures % of predecessor relationships of type Finish-to-Start (FS) onIncomplete Tasks versus total relationshipsFS relationships provide a simpler, more logical flow throughthe schedule. Other relationship types are more difficult totrace and understand (especially the SF type)How it is CalculatedNumber of FS Relationships on Incomplete Tasks% x 100Total Number of Relationships Target90% - Should be FS RelationshipsMarch 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.16

Relationship TypesTask 1Task 1FSFFTask2Task 2Task 1Task 1SFSSTask 2March 1, 2012Task 2Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.17

Relationship Types in Microsoft ProjectMarch 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.18

Metric #5: Hard Constraints What it Measures Hard Constraint types include Must Start On (MSO), Must Finish On(MFO), Start No Later Than (SNLT), Finish No Later Than (FNLT)Hard constraints prevent tasks from being moved by their logicrelationships as the schedule is progressedHow it is CalculatedNumber of Incomplete Tasks with Hard Constraints% x 100# of Incomplete Tasks TargetShould not exceed 5%March 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.19

What are “Hard Constraints”? “Hard” Constraint Typesinclude: Must Start On (MSO)Must Finish On (MFO)Start No Later Than (SNLT)Finish No Later Than (FNLT)Hard Constraints block thelogical flow of the schedule,preventing delays fromimpacting downstreamtasks“Manually Scheduled” tasksmay also be considered asHard Constraints (Project2010 only)March 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.20

Project 2010: Manually Scheduled Tasks In Project 2010, there isan option to mark task as“Manually Scheduled”This is essentially anothertype of Hard Constraint(similar to applying aMust Start On constraint)DCMA Schedule AnalyzerforProject provides theoption to treat ManuallyScheduled tasks as aHard ConstraintMarch 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.21

Constraints – Best Practices Avoid hard constraints unless absolutely necessary Breaks the schedule logic and interferes with downstreamcritical path analysisCan introduce negative lags into the scheduleConsider using the “Deadlines” capability in MS Projectas a way of modeling target dates March 1, 2012Allows the task to slip to the right if predecessors slipDoes not disrupt the logical flow of the scheduleHighlights negative float/slack if the deadline is at riskCopyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.22

Metric #6: High Float What It Measures Percentage of Incomplete Tasks with Total Float (Total Slack) greaterthan 44 working daysA task with total float over 44 working days may be a result of missingpredecessors and/or successorsHow It Is Calculated# of Incomplete Tasks with High Float% x 100# of Incomplete Tasks TargetShould not exceed 5%March 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.23

High Float – Best Practices Create views and filters in MS Project to highlightexcessive float (total slack)If found, review the schedule logic to ensure thatpredecessor/successor relationships are definedproperlyCheck to see if successor relationships are missing ordefined incorrectlyAre the task durations realistic?March 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.24

Metric #7: Negative Float What it Measures Percentage of Incomplete Tasks with Negative Float (i.e. Total Slack lessthan zero)Negative float indicates a risk of delay on a key milestone or end date,and should have an explanation and corrective action planHow it is Calculated# of Incomplete Tasks with Negative Float% x 100# of Incomplete Tasks Target0% - There should be no negative floatMarch 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.25

Negative Float – Best Practices Create views and filters to highlight negative total slackand then review regularlyNegative float (total slack) sometimes indicates thathard constraints have been applied to the schedule Minimize hard constraints to allow the logic to flow naturallyUse “deadlines” instead of hard constraintsNegative float indicates that some key target date is nolonger feasible with the schedule as plannedRevise the schedule logic or work plan to avoid orminimize negative slackMarch 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.26

Metric #8: High Duration What it Measures % of Incomplete Tasks with Baseline Duration greater than 44working daysExcessive durations can make it harder to get visibility intostatus and schedule progressHow it is Calculated# of Incomplete Tasks with High Duration% x 100# of Incomplete Tasks TargetShould not exceed 5%Note: if rolling wave planning is used, PlanningPackages are excluded from this analysisMarch 1, 2012Copyright 2012 forProject Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.27