The Scheduler is 1st Person to have Full Understanding of Entire Project

Build Schedule in 15 Steps

The following 15 steps represent the thought process of a scheduler assigned to create an Outage (or Project) Schedule. Individual stakeholders themselves may not know the entire story. Nor does the scheduler, initially. But after interviewing all of the players he builds a sequence of activities that form a complete schedule. This typically is an iterative process – repeating steps 9 and 10 as needed until schedule is optimized and approved.

1. Determine project objectives based upon clear, delineated scope as defined by a work breakdown structure (WBS). Store budget at Cost Account level.
2. Conduct topic research and SME interviews capturing tasks to be performed, Obtain precise, measurable description of tasks, activity duration, who will do the work (craft resource), activity calendar, activity sequencing, and, any deadlines or hard starts.
3. Create pen-on-paper fragnets during/after each interview
4. Enter fragnets into scheduling software. Link these fragnets as appropriate.
5. Link each schedule activity to a WBS-cost-account (WBS-CA).
6. Verify all WBS-CA scopes have been addressed.
7. Create intermediate milestones where appropriate.
8. Run error checks: Look for missing durations, no successors, missing resources and false constraints.
9. Perform Critical Path Method review: Validate the schedule critical path, milestones and end-date with reviews by SME and Outage Manager. Activities may be edited and scope may be deleted. Factors involved may include dollar limitations and schedule deadlines. Note: For large networks, sometimes the best display is a Network Diagram where the SME needs to validate “driving activities”.
10. Perform Automatic Resource Leveling of entire schedule against primary crafts, after the critical path is validated. Review results with SME and Outage Manager. This is done by (a) entering craft availabilities (including contractor crafts) into schedule, (b) running leveling option, and (c) determining if end-date slip is acceptable. Also evaluate significant activity slips and determine if slippage can be resolved by applying more resources, altering logic ties, or changing work calendar. Again, some activities may be edited and scope may be deleted.
11. Anticipate real world problems: Things to consider: Create mock-ups for critical, high-risk activities; perform dry-run; Identify congested areas due to multiple activities and manage accordingly; and Identify potential hazards; double-check precautions.
12. Create a pre-start milestone list showing deadlines as timeline to include outage scope freeze date, all work order planning completion date, all materials on-site date, and all clearances identified & written. This action also includes Pre-Outage Work Scope necessary for the outage.
13. Also, create a Day-0 Unit Shutdown task list to be performed at very start of outage; and similarly, for startup. Make these activities part of the outage schedule.
14. Create Risk Register showing what could go wrong, and how it might be mitigated.
15. Issue the schedule; Post in main areas of plant; brief stakeholders.

 Once Project Begins, then do the following

• Gather progress; move the data date (progressing might be once a day, or, per shift)
• Track milestone movement; work with management to identify ways to recover lost time; update schedule as appropriate
• Roll-up activity progress to cost accounts within the work breakdown structure; calculate earned value
• Produce project status reports showing schedule and cost forecasts
• Track scope change requests

Post Outage Actions

• Produce Project Cost Tracking report (generated direct from CMMS) showing budget-to-actual comparison by indented WBS summary. If any actual service costs not yet received, then use committed cost. Also show on subsequent pages, any added/removed scope, plus, dollar movements from contingency.
• Conduct post outage review

Final Notes

• On most outages, a lead person or foreman can not oversee more than about three tasks per day..
• Minimizing risk involves thorough failure history research, planning for unexpected events, and adhering to the schedule. Creating mock-ups and conducting dry-runs on critical activities are time well spent.
• There are three work phases to every outage: work that can be done (1) pre-outage, (2) during outage, and (3) post-outage. Eliminating any work that can be done in a pre-outage environment is most helpful.
• Produce final project cost tracking report direct from the CMMS assuming an integrated WBS-CMMS-SCHEDULE design. This will show scope changes, budget values, actuals and dollar transfers.