How to Integrate Various (Contractor) Schedules into one Master Schedule
Shimonkepha Onwuneme PMP® PMI-RMP®
EPC Project Planner||Scheduler||Risk Management|| Quantitative Schedule & Cost Risk Analysis ||Project Controls ||Certified Power BI Data Analyst|| Constant Learner||Problem Solving Mindset||Energy Mgt|| EVM||SAP||TILOS
Whether you are a client or consultant handling multiple contractors or at program level handling multiple related projects, having various individual schedules that need to be integrated into one master schedule can be scary especially if each has hundreds/thousands of activities!
Here are some ways that can help you easily, seamlessly and sustainably integrate all the schedules:
1. Ensure that the contractors are using standard templates and layouts for their schedules to make integration easier: similar naming, activity IDs, calendar settings, even milestones. Activity naming should be consistent and not confusing. This is the advantage of having a schedule management plan, and such is used across all the schedules.
2. Define and note the interfaces between or among the various schedules of each contractor e.g. the civil contractor's schedule is supposed to connect with the mechanical contractors schedule: curing completion (civil schedule) - equipment lifting and placement (mechanical schedule). You can use a sketch on paper to draw the connecting points.
3. Open each individual schedule separately and run quality and integrity checks on them especially the DCMA-14 Point and in accordance with the Schedule Management Plan. Please make sure that there are no missing links, logic, etc and very important that the interfacing activities/milestones are not missing.
4. Then open all the schedules together and link the interfacing activities and/or milestones. For Primavera P6, hold down the Ctrl key and select all the requisite schedules to open them together.
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5. Run another quality check on the new Master Schedule, especially for open-ended activities to confirm if there are activities not linked.
6. Your master schedule is ready for updating, scheduling, etc.
7. If you discovered some areas each contractor can adjust to make the integration more seamless in the future, give feedback to them.
Do you have any other method to make schedules' integration more seamless? Please share with me.
PMP®||PSP||ACIArb - Experienced Project Management Professional |Cost and Schedule Control | Data Analytics | Risk Management| Delay Analyst
2moInsightful
Proud to have been a trades person, a connoisseur of all things business, a mastery of Project Management and Procurement.Part time Procync. Experienced NED. Passionate about improvement and productivity.
2moOne Plan- the only way to ensure you have true collaboration, clearly understand the interfaces and can foresee the effect of delays or improvements to any part. It is not difficult it just takes agreement by all parties to co-operate and use one platform (that is the hard part!).
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2moA Master Schedule does not have to have all the minutiae details of a Contractor’s Schedule integrated into it. This will be a nightmare to maintain.
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The simplest way is to have only one schedule. If people work to more than one schedule, projects will take longer than they should. This wastes prelim costs that can go into the bottom line.