Schedule Quality Review
Testing a programme before its dates are trusted.
What it is
A structured technical review of a programme against defined criteria — logic, constraints, float, durations and critical path — before its dates carry any weight.
Why it matters
This is the foundation of schedule assurance. A technically weak programme makes everything measured against it unreliable.
In practice
- The DCMA 14-point checks are the common baseline: logic, leads, lags, relationship types, hard constraints, high and negative float, high duration, invalid dates, resources, missed tasks, the critical-path test, CPLI and BEI.
- Automate the checks so “good” is objective and repeatable every cycle.
- Score against a defined standard, not reviewer preference.
- Quality review is about reliability, not aesthetics.
Watch for
- Manual review that varies by reviewer and by cycle.
- Passing DCMA numerically while the critical path still makes no engineering sense.
- Treating the checklist as the goal rather than a reliable programme.