TS

The Time Schedule

 | The TS displays a Visual Project overview, providing a representation of all activities,
 and associates them to a specific timeline |  

Let us start with the most commonly used Project Management Scheduling Tools at our level:

Excel:

Excel is one of the most used programs to visualize Time Schedules for projects. This makes senses at Quoting stage as the level of detail and necessary functionality at this level is minimal. 

Many small to middle sized companies use excel as a guide and complement the job with an excel list on the side that shows each piece of equipment and its dates.

Best for: Quoting stage visual of proposed TS. and small projects.

Note that we have seen many smaller companies use Excel for the entire duration of their projects.

MS Project:

Probably the most widely used Project Management TS. MS Project offers advanced Gantt charts including task dependencies, cpm, resource allocation and even EVM capabilities.

Best for: Large and/or complex projects that require scheduling and resource tracking.

Primavera P6:

A very advanced and powerful tool that was designed with large complex capital projects in mind. It features advanced detail scheduling and resource tracking.

Best for: Large complex capital projects with detailed management needs such as construction, engineering and/or industrial projects.

Other solutions:

Solutions like Monday / ClickUp / Trello / TeamGantt / etc... are good solution with their own nice specialties. 

Best for: Small projects.

MS Project:
Develop a functional TS with MSP in 8 steps:

First - you will produce the WBS:

Produce the WBS structure breaking up the project scope into manageable bits.

Tip: for lesser complex projects, you can use MS Project to develop the WBS right in MS Project.

Transfer the WBS to MS Project:

If you have, I we recommend you do, use the company template with predefined set of Milestones.

Transfer your WBS into MS Project.

If you have not done the WBS and wish to do this directly in MS Project then start with the high-level deliverables and break them down into the major task. Arrange them into the Milestones.

From here start breaking up the Major tasks into smaller sub-tasks as much as necessary.

Sequence Activities:

Arrange the tasks in the order they have to be completed. The TS should show the order of completion from top to bottom.

Set the Task Dependencies:

Establish the relationships between each task so that the TS accurately reflects how one task impacts and depends to another.

Tip: Consider following dependency types:

Define the resources with their cost level and available manpower:

MS Project allows to define and assign resources to each task or sequence. If you want to use EVM in MS Project this must be completed.

Estimate durations:

Estimate how long each task will take to complete. Do this with the SME's.

Assign the resources to the tasks:

Assign the resources you defined in the "Resource Sheet" to the tasks and sequences. Be careful from beginning on to not over assign peoples. 

This can happen when a person works on different task at different times. As well, the PM should be assigned at a defined % to the entire project. But again, it always depends.

Create the TS and Set the Baseline:

Now you can create the TS!

MS Project will calculate start and end dates for each task based on the dependencies and durations you provided.

IMPORTANT: Do not forget to set the Baseline. This will be very important to you to track the progress.

We have several MS Project TS examples that you can download, check it out!