PMI Scheduling Professional

Decisions made before the first activity shape the whole schedule. You choose methods and tools, set conventions for naming, coding and calendars, and agree how the schedule will be governed.

• Choosing a scheduling method
• Selecting scheduling tools
• Naming, coding and calendar conventions
• The schedule management plan
• Roles, review cycles and approvals
• Schedule assessment and quality criteria

You build A schedule management plan with scheduling standards.

A good schedule traces back to scope. You decompose work packages into activities, define milestones, and link each activity to deliverables so that nothing is missed or duplicated.

• Using the work breakdown structure
• Defining activities and work packages
• Milestones and deliverable links
• Rolling wave planning
• Activity attributes
• Checking completeness against scope

You build An activity list and milestone set derived from a work breakdown structure.

Logic is what lets a schedule predict anything. You link activities with precedence relationships, apply leads, lags and constraints with care, and keep the network clean enough to trust.

• Precedence diagramming and dependency types
• Mandatory, discretionary and external dependencies
• Leads and lags: when and how to use them
• Constraints and their side effects
• Network logic checks
• Interfaces with other projects

You build A logic network for a small project, checked against standard logic tests.

Estimates are the schedule’s weakest point. You apply analogous, parametric and three-point methods, adjust for resources and productivity, and record the assumptions behind every figure.

• Analogous and parametric estimating
• Three-point and PERT estimates
• Bottom-up estimating and expert judgment
• Productivity, calendars and availability
• Contingency and schedule reserve
• Documenting assumptions and the basis of estimate

You build A duration estimate with a basis of estimate for each activity.

The critical path shows where time is tight, and resources decide whether the plan is real. You calculate float, level and smooth resources, and compress with crashing and fast tracking.

• Forward and backward pass
• Critical path, near-critical paths and float
• Resource leveling and smoothing
• Critical chain and buffers
• Schedule compression: crashing and fast tracking
• Trade-offs between time, cost and risk

You build A critical path analysis with resource leveling and two compression options.

A baseline is a promise that others can measure. You test the model for quality, adjust it for risk and constraints, secure agreement, and record the baseline together with how it may change.

• Schedule model health checks
• Calendars, constraints and resource loading
• Presenting and negotiating the schedule
• Setting the schedule baseline
• Baseline change rules
• Schedules in agile: roadmaps, releases and iterations

You build A baselined schedule model with a health check report.

The schedule is useful only if it stays current. You collect progress data, compare it with the baseline, use earned schedule measures, and forecast the finish date from the trend.

• Collecting and validating progress data
• Updating the schedule: status date and actuals
• Variance analysis
• Schedule performance index and earned schedule
• Forecasting the completion date
• Trend and float analysis

You build A schedule status report with variance and forecast.

Change arrives every week. You assess its effect on the critical path, run what-if analysis, choose a recovery option, and put the decision through change control.

• Schedule change control
• Impact analysis on the critical path
• What-if scenarios
• Recovery planning and re-baselining
• Managing delay and its causes
• Reviewing the causes of schedule delay

You build A recovery plan for a delayed project, with a re-baseline proposal.

A single finish date hides uncertainty. You identify schedule risks, run simulations, read the probability of finishing on time, and set reserves and responses against what the model shows.

• Identifying schedule risks
• Three-point inputs and distributions
• Monte Carlo simulation for schedules
• Reading confidence levels and sensitivity
• Schedule reserve and response planning
• Integrating risk results into the schedule

You build A schedule risk analysis with a confidence curve and a reserve recommendation.

Different stakeholders need different views of the same schedule. You choose formats, build reports and visuals, run reviews, and describe uncertainty without hiding it.

• Identifying schedule audiences and their needs
• Gantt charts, milestone charts and network views
• Dashboards and exception reporting
• Presenting delays and forecasts
• Schedule review meetings
• Sharing schedules with contractors and partners

You build A schedule report pack with three views for three audiences.

A finished project leaves behind data that others can use. You close the schedule, record the as-built history, capture lessons, and feed estimating data back into the organization.

• Closing activities and the final update
• As-built schedule and delay records
• Lessons learned about scheduling
• Archiving schedule data
• Updating historical duration data
• Handing over to operations or the next phase

You build A schedule closeout report with as-built data and lessons.

One project carries the course. You set strategy, build and baseline the schedule, track it through simulated events, analyze risk, and close it out with a report.

• Setting the strategy and standards
• Building, checking and baselining
• Tracking through simulated events
• Analyzing risk and planning recovery
• Reporting and closing

You build A complete schedule file: model, baseline, status reports and closeout.