Best Practices Checklist: Verifying That the Schedule Can Be Traced Horizontally and Vertically

• The schedule is horizontally traceable. That is, the schedule
  • depicts logical relationships between different program elements and product hand-offs and clearly shows when major deliverables and hand-offs are expected;
  • includes complete logic from program start to program finish and fully integrates the entire scope of work from all involved in the program;
  • includes milestones representing key decisions or deliverables with traced and validated predecessor activities to ensure that they are directly related to completing the milestone;
  • clearly identifies and logically links giver/receiver milestones between schedules that are defined in the schedule basis document;
  • dynamically reforecasts the date of a key milestone through network logic if activities related to accomplishing the milestone are delayed;
  • is affected by activities whose durations are extended by many days.
• The schedule is vertically traceable. That is, it
  • demonstrates that data are consistent between summary, intermediate, and detailed levels including dates that are frequently validated through a process;
  • allows activity owners to trace activities to higher-level milestones with intermediate and summary schedules;
  • allows lower-level schedules to be rolled up into the overall program schedule, which includes government activities, other contractor schedules, and interfaces with external parties.