The project schedule identifies and organizes project tasks into a sequence of events that form a project management plan. The process of building the schedule enables the project manager to identify risk points and understand the proper linkage of events; it also assists in resource planning and allows the project manager to establish milestones for the team and project. Once the schedule is developed, its milestones are recorded in the Owner’s Project Requirements and updated at each project milestone.
The schedule is a tool that assists the PM in visualizing a project from start to finish. It also provides a means to measure team performance. A quality schedule includes control points that help to ensure project success. Specific control points that must be inserted and honored include, but are not limited to:
- Budget development and cost checks. This includes time to redesign in order to realign the scope with the budget if needed (Value Engineering)
- University of Chicago approvals (user group, Dean, Provost, Board of Trustees)
- Planning and Permitting process
Capital Project Delivery has developed two standard project management schedule templates:
The two schedule templates are similar, but deviate due to the differing project governance and approval structures associated with each type of project. These are standard templates that should be used as a starting point by the CPD PM, with customization of the schedule beginning in the Project Initiation phase.
The project manager oversees the management schedule, which should be monitored and updated as the project moves through the design, construction, and turnover processes. The CPD project manager should extract key milestone dates from the master schedule and review them regularly with User Groups, and at key milestones with the Technical Group, Support Services Group, and Approval Group. the extracted milestone dates should be used to place the same set of milestones in all vendor contracts that require detailed schedule information.
The general contractor or construction manager is responsible for developing and maintaining a detailed construction schedule. The CPD project manager is responsible for providing oversight of the contractor’s schedule progress and immediately notifying both the contractor and appropriate University stakeholders if the PM perceives that the contractor is not meeting schedule milestones.