Stop 3 of 9 · Weekly
Baseline versus update
Two exports into one change register: activities, durations, logic, constraints, calendars and progress, plus the float erosion table the review letter is built on.
Two files, six kinds of difference
The monthly update arrives on the seventh and the review is due in ten working days. Karim is not comparing schedules, he is comparing exports, and by hand that means two spreadsheets, a lookup formula and a lost afternoon. Every real finding falls into one of six buckets. Ask for them in this order and the register writes the letter for you.
The point of the register is not to catch the contractor at something. Most changes are ordinary and half of them are improvements. The point is that a change nobody noticed in April is a change nobody can explain in November, when the same schedule is an exhibit.
| Bucket | The question it answers |
|---|---|
| Activities added and deleted | Is the scope in the schedule still the scope in the contract |
| Duration changes | What got longer after the baseline was accepted, and by how much |
| Logic changes | What now drives what, including relationship type and lag |
| Constraint changes | Which dates stopped being calculated |
| Calendar changes | Whether a working day still means the same thing |
| Progress | Actual dates, out of sequence work, remaining durations that do not match |
The register
[upload the accepted baseline activity and relationship exports and the current update exports] Build a change register between these two files, grouped by the six buckets: activities added or deleted, duration changes, logic changes, constraint changes, calendar changes, progress. One row per difference with the activity ID, the baseline value and the update value. For logic, show the relationship as predecessor, successor, type and lag on both sides. Do not state any effect on completion or on float. End with a count per bucket and a list of anything you could not compare because a column is missing.
Float erosion, reported not computed
Both exports carry a total float column. Put them side by side and you have a fact: what the value was, what it is now, on which activity. That is worth a table and it is the table the review letter needs. What the change means, and what caused it, is the analysis Karim signs, and it comes after he has asked the scheduler why.
Float is also the thing owners and contractors argue about owning. Keep the table neutral and dated, because it will be read again by people who were not in the room.
From the same two exports, give me every activity whose total float fell by five working days or more, sorted by the size of the fall. Four columns: activity ID and name, baseline total float, update total float, WBS. Group them by the path they sit on if the export carries a longest path flag. Do not add a cause column and do not sum anything.
From the change register and the float table, draft the schedule review letter for Contract C-1149 to the resident engineer. Structure: what we reviewed and the file names with their data dates, then one short paragraph per bucket that had findings, then the specific items we require a response on with the specification section that requires it, then what we cannot conclude until the contractor answers. Cite specification sections only from the files in this Project, with the page. Leave every day count and every float conclusion out.