I want to take this opportunity to let you know how to qualify your project schedule more comfortably without spending numerous hours and even days to make conclusions and recommendations.

Do you want to make your project schedule better, more reliable, achievable, and predictable? Are you responsible for a group of management practitioners accountable for schedule quality, identifying risks, risk drivers, schedule drivers, and calculating contingencies? Are you faced with wasted time, analysis paralysis, growing threats of delay, stubborn contractors, vague contracts, changing scenarios, shifting baseline, and team misalignment? 

Well, I have good news for you! In partnership with Deltek, PM Solution Pro brings to your attention, Acumen Suite of Applications (Fuse/Risk/360). 

This no-nonsense tool works well with your existing applications. You can successfully engage in schedule quality assessment (portfolio quality assessment), delay analysis, schedule forensic, benchmarking, gate review, baseline management, and several others. Once you experience the tool's out-of-the-box and exceptional customization capabilities, you will be able to develop the best plan and schedule, making the best risk-based decision timely and with confidence. 

For those who have done tedious yet complicated and time-consuming tasks of assessing and subsequently addressing schedule quality of several projects from tens of millions of dollars up to tens of billions, the use of the software/application called Acumen Fuse is genuine a game-changer, a time and cost-saver. Qualifying, analyzing, optimizing, and evaluating the project schedule as it develops from DBM (Design-based Memorandum stage) through each phase, from Detail Engineering to execution and commissioning, turnover stage until final closeout should be an integral part of the planning and scheduling process. The values gleaned from such essential assessment, monitoring, and control exercise can usher good things to pursue operational excellence. It provides additional perspectives while carrying out the scope, cost, change, and risk management. 

Project Portfolio Summary Table Based from Acumen Fuse PMSP-14 point Customized Schedule Quality Metric

We can appreciate the project scheduler's performance in maintaining schedule quality. The PC Manager will know which scheduler is doing a good job (the best work), making his schedule as reliable as possible. On the example below, it is clear that Scheduler 3 has better control of his scheduler quality.

Project Schedule Quality Monitoring - Scheduler 1Project Schedule Quality Monitoring - Scheduler 3

With all the project's approved/accepted metrics in place, the Acumen Fuse tool's use shortens the time a Planning and Scheduling Specialist/SME assesses the project schedule quality. We've reduced the time spent by as much as 50% to 75% (conservative estimate) per project. Using Acumen Fuse alone, as one of the Acumen Suite of Application modules, can decrease the time required to do schedule analytical review by as much as 75%, a time savings of six (6) hours for each of the usual eight (8) hours that someone spends in a typical assessment using Primavera alone. In simple terms, if one is a good schedule analyst, he/she is doing an eight (8) hour work in just two (2) hours. That is a significant productivity improvement! 

Think about how you could leverage the tool when doing a quality assessment of an extensive project portfolio that involves 10 to 50 or more projects. We've done it, and I know anyone can too. The work and cost aspect easily translate to increased efficiency, savings, and work productivity by about 800% or more, not to mention that it also increases the schedule's assessment quality. It improves the potential of having the right, most reliable one.

If you are the Project Controls Manager responsible for the Project Portfolio, wouldn't it be great to know each project's actual quality status and the integrated portfolio as a whole? You can track the Portfolio Overall Schedule Quality to the smallest detail as you see fit!

Portfolio Overall Schedule QualityBased from the Portfolio Summary TablePortfolio Schedule Quality Tracker

If you are interested, we can show you how. We can arrange for someone from our team to put together a brief demonstration without any strings attached. We are here to listen, ready to provide you the details and additional insights on what this application can do. We are prepared to discuss with you or send you additional information about the unique way Acumen can facilitate schedule quality review, how it helps ensure a more understandable quantitative risk analysis, and why it can bring 360-degree team alignment to fore.

We'd appreciate it if you can give us a chance to expand and bring this proposal to your table or share the same with someone in your immediate purview looking for such tool. It is a good time to increase productivity and save money!

We hope to hear from you. Contact us at PM Solution Pro!

I invite you to read also "My Deltek Acumen Fuse Story."

PM Solution Pro - We are part of the solution!

https:\\www.pmsolutionpro.com, Our Clients success is also our own!

About the Author

Rufran C. Frago is the Founder of PM Solution Pro, a Calgary consulting, product, and training services firm focusing on project and business management solutions. He is passionate providing advice, mentorship, education and training through consultation, collaboration, and what he uniquely calls, student-led training.

BOOKS AUTHORED BY RUFRAN FRAGO

1. Risk-based Management in the World of Threats and Opportunities: A Project Controls Perspective.ISBN 978-0-9947608-0-7.Canada
2. Plan to Schedule, Schedule to Plan.ISBN 978-0-9947608-2-1.Canada
3. How to Create a Good Quality P50 Risk-based Baseline Schedule.ISBN 978-0-9947608-1-4.Canada
4. Schedule Quantitative Risk Analysis (Traditional Method).ISBN 978-0-9947608-3-8.Canada
5. RISK, What are you? The Risk Management Poem: Children's Book for all Professionals.ISBN 978-0-9947608-4-5 (Canada)