Methodology

How the Schedule Quality Score is calculated

ScheduleInsight scores a Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project schedule against a set of checks aligned with the DCMA 14-point assessment — the same framework used in forensic schedule and delay analysis. Each check produces a score; a weighted roll-up becomes the Schedule Quality Score (SQS), a single number from 0 to 100. Nothing is a black box: every threshold and weight below is visible, and configurable per organisation inside the app.

The Schedule Quality Score (SQS)

Each metric is scored against a green / amber / red threshold, then combined as a weighted average and normalised to 0–100:

SQS = Σ ( metric_score × weight ) / Σ ( weight ) // normalised to 0–100

A higher weight means the check counts for more. As a rule of thumb:

✓ 75–100 · healthy

~ 55–74 · needs attention

✕ below 55 · at risk

Grades carry a shape (✓ / ~ / ✕) as well as a colour, so they're readable without relying on colour vision.

The checks

ScheduleInsight runs the following checks. Targets reflect common DCMA / GAO guidance; weights are the defaults and can be tuned to your organisation's standard.

Check	Target	Weight	What it looks for
Logic
Missing logic (open ends)	<5%	10	Activities with no predecessor or successor — they float free and distort the critical path.
Logic density	2.0–3.5	8	Average relationships per activity. Too few is under-linked; too many often signals redundant logic.
Finish-to-start %	>80%	6	Share of relationships that are FS. Heavy use of SS/FF/SF can hide true sequencing.
Lags	<5%	7	Positive lags on links — duration hidden inside a relationship rather than a real activity.
Leads (negative lags)	Zero	8	Negative lags artificially compress the logic and are discouraged by DCMA.
Out of sequence	Zero	9	Progress that violates the network logic — retained-logic vs progress-override changes the result.
Float
Negative float	Zero	10	The plan can't meet a constraint or deadline on the current logic.
Near-critical (float ≤10d)	<10%	6	Chains that can become critical with a small slip — worth protecting.
High float (>44d)	<10%	4	Excess float often means missing successor logic. Uses the DCMA #6 threshold of 44 working days (≈2 months); DCMA's strict tripwire is <5%.
Critical path
Critical path %	<15%	9	A high share of critical activities makes the programme fragile.
CPLI	≥1.0	10	Critical Path Length Index — below 1.0 means the critical path is forecast to finish late.
Duration & detail
High duration (>44d)	<5%	7	Long activities hide progress and risk; DCMA suggests breaking them down.
Insufficient detail	<5%	5	Activities whose remaining duration exceeds ~10% of the project span.
Constraints & structure
Hard constraints	<2%	8	Mandatory start/finish dates override the network and mask true float.
Soft constraints	<5%	4	Start/finish-on-or-after constraints; keep only those reflecting real commitments.
Milestone coverage	>2%	6	Interim milestones at key handoffs make progress and contractual dates explicit.
Performance (needs a baseline)
BEI	≥1.0	9	Baseline Execution Index — are activities completing as fast as baselined?
SPI	≥1.0	8	Schedule Performance Index — progress vs planned progress to date.

What "DCMA-aligned" means

The DCMA 14-point assessment is a widely used checklist for evaluating the structural soundness of a CPM schedule — logic completeness, lags and leads, constraints, float, high durations, and indices like CPLI and BEI. ScheduleInsight implements these checks and rolls them into the single SQS so you can see overall health at a glance and then drill into the activities behind any failing metric. It is an analysis aid, not a formal compliance certification.

Beyond quality: performance & progress

The Schedule Quality Score measures how well a schedule is built. Two further toolsets measure how it is performing and progressing — on the same deterministic, no-AI, in-browser engine, every metric mapped to a named standard.

Earned Schedule (time-based performance)

Performance is measured in time, not cost. A planned-value curve is built from each activity's baseline dates as a duration-weighted ramp; earned value is the duration-weighted physical % complete. Earned Schedule (ES) is the point on the planned curve where planned % equals the earned %, all computed in weeks:

SPI(t) = ES ÷ AT · SV(t) = ES − AT
TSPI(t) = (PD − ES) ÷ (PD − AT) · IEAC(t) = PD ÷ SPI(t)
// PD = planned duration · AT = actual time · ≥ 1.0 is on or ahead of plan

Execution indices

Alongside Earned Schedule, the performance scorecard reports the project-controls index suite:

Index	Healthy	Definition
BEI	≥0.95	Baseline Execution Index — activities complete ÷ activities the baseline planned complete by the data date.
CPLI	≥1.0	Critical Path Length Index — (critical-path length + total float) ÷ critical-path length.
Hit rate	≥95%	Of the activities the baseline planned complete by now, the share actually complete.
SCI	≤1.0	Schedule Criticality Index — remaining critical work ÷ time remaining to the finish.

CEI (Current Execution Index) and TFCI (Total Float Consumption Index) are period indices that turn live once two or more revisions are loaded.

Milestone Trend Analysis & the update cycle

The Tracking tab plots each milestone's forecast finish across reporting (data) dates — the Milestone Trend Analysis slip chart, a recognised PMI-SP technique: a rising line is slipping, a falling line recovering, with a trend projection of where the milestone lands at the current rate. A period-over-period diff shows what started, finished and moved since the last update; a slippage waterfall attributes the finish movement to specific activities; and execution-integrity checks flag out-of-sequence progress, stalled activities and float erosion. Because everything runs in the browser, the trend accrues each cycle from a single file at a time — no re-loading of old revisions, nothing leaves your device.

Configurable thresholds

Every threshold and weight above is a default. Inside the app's Criteria tab you can tighten or relax amber/red limits, change weights, or exclude a check entirely — the SQS recalculates immediately. This lets a firm encode its own schedule-acceptance standard and apply it consistently across every programme it reviews.

References & authority basis

Every metric maps to published, citable guidance — the provenance a forensic, NEC4 or government reader expects. ScheduleInsight is aligned with, but independent of and not endorsed by, these bodies.

GAO Schedule Assessment Guide — Best Practices for Project Schedules (GAO-16-89G, U.S. Government Accountability Office). The four characteristics of a reliable schedule — comprehensive, well-constructed, credible and controlled — underpinning baseline maintenance and progress updating.
DCMA 14-Point Schedule Assessment — U.S. Defense Contract Management Agency. Logic, lead/lag, float, constraint and duration checks, plus BEI (≥ 0.95), CPLI (≥ 1.0) and the ≤ 5% missed-task threshold.
Project schedule-performance index suite — BEI · CEI · TFCI · CPLI · SPI · SCI, as reported on major capital-construction programmes.
PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP) and the PMI Practice Standard for Scheduling — Milestone Trend Analysis for progress measurement and forecasting.
W. Lipke, Earned Schedule (2009) — the time-based earned-value method behind SPI(t), SV(t), TSPI(t) and IEAC(t).
AACE International Recommended Practices — including 29R-03 Forensic Schedule Analysis, for delay attribution and windows analysis.
NEC4 Engineering & Construction Contract — accepted-programme submission and update requirements (clauses 31–32).

See your own schedule scored

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