Marginalia

• Concerning the process Schedule Control the PMBOK explicitely expresses that the process "[...] is a portion of the Integrated Change Control process" (comp. PMBOK3, p. 152). Therefore we say that Schedule Control is a sub process of Integrated Change Control.

• Concering the process Schedule Control the PMBOK® explicitely announces that this process "[...] is a portion of the Integrated Change Control process". And we are interpreting the expression 'portion of anything' as 'being part of anything'. Hence Schedule Control is part of Integrated Change Control.

• There seems to be another hen and egg problem in the PMBOK®: On the one hand this process Schedule Control - like his 'brother process' Cost Control - requires Performance Reports as input. And these Performance Reports are generated by the process Performance Reporting. One the other hand the process  Performance Reporting requires Performance Measurements as input. And these Performance Measurements are generated by this process Schedule Control (and by the process Cost Control). We can't solve this loop. We wish we could assume for the moment, that the main process Direct & Manage Project Execution (which covers the (sub) process Performance Reporting) and the processes Monitor & Control Project Work and Integrated Change Control (which covers this (sub) process Schedule Control and the sub process Cost Control) are a highly interacting parallel processes. But a final version of the Project Management Body of Knowledge should no longer contain such kinds of loops.

(3.6) Steuerung des Terminplans

(3.6.1) Process Input

... generated by predecessor processes

(3.6.2) Process Definition

Schedule Control is the process of "[...] controlling changes to the project schedule" (comp. PMBOK3, p. 123). Therefore different aspects must be integrated into the schedule controlling (comp. PMBOK3, p. 152):

  • "the current status of the project schedule"
  • "the factors that create schedule changes"
  • "that the project schedule has changed"
  • "the actual changes as they occur"

Controlling the changes includes two aspects: On the one hand one should control (and organize) that time limits are respected. On the other hand one should control (and organize) that changes of the project schedule are introduced by following the methods and procedures being defined in the project management plan.

The subject Time operates on the base of other time concerning concepts

(3.6.3) Tools and Techniques

PMBOK Mentioned Methods

  • Progess reporting concerning the actual start and finishing dates and "the remaining durations for unfinished schedule activities" allows to express the status of the whole project. Important is that one has a definitive scale and a set of cleare reporting rules which allow to compare the wished and the real state. One of those methods for progress measurement is known as Earned Value Technique .
  • Performance measurement is the technique for elaborating the differences between plan and reality on the base of the schedule base line and the progress reportings. Special  techniques are Schedule Variance and the  Schedule Performance Index. But of course determining differences alone is not enough. The next step is to decide the whether corrective actions are necessary and - if so - to recommend those steps.
  • Project management software often is able to support reportings and allows to compare plan and reality.
  • Variance analysis is the act of "comparing target schedule dates" with the actually reported dates and the forcasts based upon the reports. The result of such an analysis are also recommended corrective actions.
  • Schedule comparison bar charts use two charts for each activity: one shows the actual state the other the planned state.

(comp. PMBOK3, pp. 153f).

Open Source Tools

  • NN

(3.6.4) Process Output

  • Updates of the Schedule Model Data will be evoked by the analsysis and the approved change requests given as input.
  • Updates of the Schedule Baseline will be evoked by the analsysis and the approved change requests given as input.
  • Performance Measurements are the result of schedule controlling work.
  • Requested Changes may be the result of schedule controlling work
  • Recommended Corrective Actions  may be the result of schedule controlling work
  • Updates of the Organizational Process Assets are for example generated by integrating the results of lessons learned
  • Updates of the Activity List may be evoked by the approved change requests given as input
  • Updates of the Activity Attributes may be evoked by the approved change requests given as input
  • Updates of the Project Management Plan may be evoked by the approved change requests given as input

(comp. PMBOK3, pp. 154ff)

(3.6.5) Output Using Successor Processes

Successors using the initially generated output as own input(1):

Processes using the updates as input(2):

  1. For details see FAQ::Q001:1
  2. For details see FAQ::Q001:2