Appendix VII: Comparison of GAO’s Schedule Assessment Guide to Key Industry and Agency Schedule Guidance

We compared information described in the GAO Schedule Assessment Guide to several major sources of schedule guidance. This appendix summarizes the extent to which we identified comparable information in those sources as well as substantive gaps in best practices.

In general, we found that best practices described in the Schedule Assessment Guide agree with best practices in the following sources of guidance. One recurring difference is the requirement to assign resources to activities in the schedule. All but one of the schedule guidance documents reviewed below do not require assigning resources to activities. Nevertheless, the documents describe many benefits associated with performing the practice. Only DHS’s Scheduling Handbook states that an IMS should be resource loaded. In addition, any schedule adhering solely to DoD’s IMS Data Item Description (DID) 81650 or Integrated Program Management Report (IPMR) DID 81861 will not meet all best practices described in the Schedule Guide. Neither DID requires government activities be integrated with contractor activities or that resources be assigned to activities.

The guidance documents below contain information beyond what is covered in the GAO Schedule Assessment Guide. For example, they include guidance on how master schedules are used throughout an agency’s acquisition process; additional information on tools and metrics; and advanced topics such as business rhythm and joint confidence levels. We were able to enhance and improve many best practices described in the GAO Schedule Assessment Guide by conducting comparison analyses with these reputable guides.