Making a Master Schedule
Zain Ahmed
Lean Manufacturing | Technical Project Management | New Product Launch | 8 Years experience in Automobile and EV industry | Continuous Improvement | Installation & Commissioning |
Toyota Production System teaches us in the concept of PDCA cycle that 70% of the efforts must go into planning and only 30% efforts are required to execute a project. The manifestation of this planning is a detailed Master Schedule.
Why Need a Master Schedule?
It’s because a meeting cannot be conducted without a master schedule. A Master Plan MUST be a working tool for the Project Team to help them capture timing issues early and keep a ‘big picture view’ of the project. The Plan must then be a working tool immediately. PLAN versus ACTUAL must be shown to identify problems with subsequent actions.
How to make a master schedule?
Gantt chart must be used for making a master schedule. Gantt chart was invented by an American mechanical engineer and now is a basic tool of Toyota Production System. Microsoft Excel should be used for making one!!
What are the levels of details?
As a working tool the team should not be afraid to modify it as they gain more knowledge and then issue a revised plan with a documented revision level. The only thing they cannot modify is the Level 0 aka primary milestones which is set by the overall Project Leader.
Identification of critical path
It is determined by checking the dependencies of points against each other where preceding element will delay a subsequent task. Arrows can be used to show link between the bars in gantt chart to illustrate CPM.
Pro-tip: Don’t Merge Cells
Since a master schedule will evolve with time and need revisions every now and then. It is wise not to merge cells for making a bar for an activity. It is easier when making the plan for the first time but extremely cumbersome when editing the details. If you have been using excel for some time you must know merging cells must be avoided in general, just use text box or make borders.
Feel to free to contact me on my linkedin to learn the intricacies of master schedule formatting and to know the key elements one is expected to show in a master schedule.
Hope you learnt something new.