M2.1 Planning & Schedule Development

By the end of this section, the learner should be able to produce and challenge a credible cost forecast that explains what the project or package is now expected to cost, why that expectation differs from the authorised baseline or prior forecast, what commercial and delivery assumptions affect outcomes.

By the end of this section, the learner should be able to turn an approved estimate and authorised project scope into a controlled cost budget and time-phased cost baseline that can be used to plan, measure and govern project cost performance.

By the end of this section, the practitioner should be able to turn authorised scope and available project information into a traceable cost estimate whose quantities, rates, productivity assumptions, methods, exclusions and uncertainty can be understood, challenged and reproduced.

By the end of this section, the learner should be able to take a credible current schedule and use it to forecast likely future outcomes, explain what is driving those outcomes, test alternative scenarios, assess the effect of uncertainty and management interventions.

1. Practical outcomeBy the end of this section, the learner should be able to take an approved schedule and turn it into a trustworthy current control model at each reporting cycle. They should be able to establish a clear data date, collect and validate actual progress, record actual starts and acomplishments.

By the end of this section, the learner should be able to test whether a logically valid schedule is actually deliverable with the people, skills, equipment, facilities and other constrained resources available to the project. They should be able to distinguish resource demand from capacity.

The learner should be able to construct and analyse a logically linked schedule, choose relationships, recognise missing or inappropriate logic, distinguish logic from constraints, identify critical and near-critical paths, understand total and free float, recognise negative or unusually high float.

By the end of this section, the learner should be able to turn authorised scope and an agreed delivery strategy into a credible, structured and maintainable project schedule that explains what work must be performed, in what broad sequence, and over what durations and calendars etc.

By the end of this section, the learner should be able to establish and operate a project-controls data environment in which important information is complete enough, accurate enough, timely enough, consistent enough and traceable enough to support management decisions.

By the end of this section, the learner should be able to design, apply and challenge progress-measurement rules that convert evidence of completed work into a credible statement of physical accomplishment. They should be able to choose an appropriate measurement method.

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