1.0 Purpose

Schedule management is an important part of any project. Once project schedules are created, the must be managed effectively in order to complete project tasks on time, allocate resources in order to meet deadlines, and provide project progress to all project participants. This section describes the purpose of the Schedule Management Plan as it relates to this specific project.

The purpose of this Schedule Management Plan is to establish a formal process by which the Server Upgrade Project schedule will be created and establishes how schedule management will be executed. This process includes the tools necessary for schedule creation and management, the roles and responsibilities of the project participants in creating and managing the schedule, and the monitoring and control of any proposed schedule changes. In order to successfully complete this project, it is imperative that formal schedule management guidelines are created, implemented, and followed.

2.0 Roles and Responsibilities

This section describes the roles and responsibilities of project personnel as they relate to schedule management. While the Project Manager is ultimately responsible for creating and managing the schedule, it is imperative that all project participants play a role. The reason for this is to maximize feedback from the participants’ given areas of expertise to ensure all possible considerations are made for the schedule creation and management.

All Server Upgrade Project participants will play a role in schedule management. In order to ensure that every possible consideration is made in regards to schedule creation and management, the following roles and responsibilities have been identified:

• Project Sponsor: The Project Sponsor is the approval authority for the Server Upgrade Project. He is also a sitting member of the Executive Committee. The Project Sponsor is responsible for approving any requested schedule changes. Additionally, the Project Sponsor will provide status updates to the Executive Committee in monthly meetings.
• Project Manager: The Project Manager has overall responsibility for schedule management on the Server Upgrade Project. The Project manager is required to submit a weekly schedule status update to the Project Sponsor by close of business every Friday. The Project Manager is responsible for chairing the bi-weekly project team schedule meeting. The Project Manager is responsible for leading the project team in identifying and quantifying any schedule impact event which may result in schedule variance. The Project Manager is responsible for reviewing all schedule change requests prior to submitting them to the Project Sponsor for approval.
• Lead Information Technology (IT) Technician: The Lead IT Technician will participate in all bi-weekly project team schedule meetings. He will also assist the Project Manager in identifying and quantifying scheduling impact events. He is responsible for identifying any potential schedule impacts and submitting the appropriate schedule change request to the Project Manager for any IT-related project function.
• Facility Manager: The Facility Manager will participate in all bi-weekly project team schedule meetings. He will also assist the Project Manager in identifying and quantifying scheduling impact events. He is responsible for identifying any potential schedule impacts and submitting the appropriate schedule change request to the Project Manager for any facility-related project function.
• Project Stakeholders: Stakeholders identifying potential schedule impact events will work with the Project Manager and Team to determine if a schedule change request is necessary. Schedule status will be communicated to Stakeholders at the monthly project status meeting.

3.0 Schedule Management Strategy

The schedule management strategy outlines how the schedule will be created, what it will be based on, what tools will be used, and any key milestones which must be included in the schedule. This section describes this approach to schedule creation and leads into the process by which the schedule will be managed and controlled.

The schedule for the Server Upgrade project will be based on the Project Charter, requirements definition, WBS and WBS Dictionary for the Project as outlined in the Scope Management Plan. The WBS breaks the project work down into manageable work packages with all of the necessary scheduling detail contained in the WBS Dictionary. This detail includes resources, time required to complete the task, and any task dependencies. The project team will work together to determine the correct task definition, sequencing, and estimating for all work detailed in the WBS. The project schedule will be a result of all required project work in the correct sequence while accounting for all task dependencies and required resources as defined in the WBS Dictionary.

Once developed, the Project Sponsor will review the schedule, communicate any necessary modifications to the Project Manager, and approve the schedule once any required changes are made.

The Server Upgrade Project Schedule will be created as a Gantt Chart in MS Project. As tasks are completed, the Project Manager will update the schedule accordingly in order to provide awareness of the project schedule to all team members.

The creation of the Server Upgrade Project schedule will result in many scheduled tasks and milestones. However, the following milestones must be included in the schedule as a minimum and require acceptance by the Project Sponsor:

• Project kickoff
• Technical design package (TDP) review
• Project phase closeout meetings
• Project phase kickoff meetings
• Acceptance of project deliverables
• Project closeout review

4.0 Schedule Monitoring and Control

This section should outline the process the project team will use to monitor and control the schedule. Maintaining constant awareness of the schedule is important because it allows the Project Manager and team to understand and provide the status of the project at any given time. However, this awareness is also necessary to allow the Project Manager to identify potential impact events and address these events by adjusting resources, funding, or submitting appropriate schedule change requests.

The Server Upgrade Project will be monitored and controlled aggressively by the Project Manager and team. In order to provide constant schedule awareness the Project Manager will chair bi-weekly project schedule meetings. At these meetings all project team members will be required to report the status of their assigned work as it relates to the schedule. This will allow the Project Manager to fully understand the status of the project schedule and provide him with the opportunity to shift or re-allocate resources, funding, or submit schedule change requests as necessary.

As each schedule task is completed, the team member responsible for the work will provide an update to the Project Manager notifying him of such. These notifications must be immediate and not wait until the next bi-weekly project schedule meeting. This will allow the Project Manager to track schedule status in real time in order to provide status updates to the Project Sponsor or Stakeholders as necessary with current information. Additionally, as interim project deliverables are completed, they will be presented to the Project Sponsor for deliverable acceptance.

5.0 Schedule Change Process

Changes in schedule are not to be taken lightly and should follow a formal process to ensure that the proposed changes are necessary, their impact to the project is determined, and that the changes are communicated to all project participants. Failure to abide by a formal approved process may result in unnecessary schedule changes, changes to the schedule which are inadequate or fail to account for schedule impacts, or a lack of awareness across the project team of any changes which have been made. It is also necessary to establish the boundary conditions for the project which will require a schedule change.

For the Server Upgrade Project, proposed schedule changes will follow a formal process which is agreed to by senior management. Schedule change requests may be submitted by any member of the project team once it has been determined that a boundary condition may be exceeded. The change request will be submitted to the Project Manager. The Project Manager will review the change request with the project team. This review will include an evaluation of the impact of the change request regarding schedule, cost, resources, or project scope. If it is determined that the impact falls within the boundary conditions established below, the change request may be approved or denied by the Project Manager and any changes needed may then be implemented in accordance with the Change Management Plan. If it is determined that the impact exceeds the boundary conditions below, then the change request will be forwarded to the Project Sponsor for review and approval.

Boundary conditions for the Server Upgrade Project are as follows:

CPI less than 0.8 or greater than 1.2

SPI less than 0.8 or greater than 1.2

Once a change request has been approved, the changes will be implemented and the Project Manager is responsible for updating the project schedule, all project plans/documentation, and communicating the change(s) to all project participants.

If the impact of the change request requires any changes in the project’s scope then it will follow the process defined in the Scope Management Plan.

6.0 Approvals

All project and management plans must have the approval of the Project Sponsor and Project Manager. The signatures of these individuals indicate their acknowledgement and understanding of the Schedule Management Plan.

The signatures of the people below indicate an understanding in the purpose and content of this document by those signing it. By signing this document you agree to this as the formal Schedule Management Plan for the Server Upgrade Project.

Approver Name Title Signature Date Doe, J. Project Sponsor     Jones, T. Project Manager