DCMA 14-Point Assessment Metrics

The integrity of a CPM schedule is one of the critical factors in improving a project’s likelihood of
success, There is a well-established correlation between the quality, or soundness, of a project schedule
and the resulting execution performance.

However, defining a ‘better schedule’ is not straightforward. The Defense Contract Management Agency
(DCMA) has developed a set of standards that (when met) ensure a well-built plan, each of the checks
included in the DCMA 14 Point Assessment are detailed below:

1. Logic Description: The number of activities that are missing a predecessor, a successor
or both should not exceed 5% of the activities within the schedule. Notes: Each activity should
have at least one predecessor and one successor associated with it. Failure to do so will impact
the quality of results derived from a time analysis as well as a risk analysis. This check applies to
all normal activities, milestones, summaries, and level of effort (hammocks) that are planned, in
progress, or complete3. This includes checking for ‘Dangling Activities’ that have only a start
predecessor relationship or only a finish predecessor relationship and not both. Activities that
do not have a logic to initiate the start or logic after completion are poor candidates for being
able to display the results of unplanned delays. This condition is more often found in MS Project
schedules, as the tool does not allow for relationships pairs such as Start-to-start and Finish-to-
finish to exist between the same two activities in the way P6 and Open Plan do.

2. Leads Description: This check identifies activities that are carrying a lead (also known as a
negative lag). The DCMA require no leads (0%) Notes: Leads or negative lags are often used to
advance the successor start or end date relative to the logic link applied. Doing so can result in
the successor starting before the start of the predecessor. This check applies to all normal
activities, milestones, summaries, and level of effort (hammocks) that are planned, in progress,
or complete. Note: the banning of the use of negative lags is not based upon any universal
scheduling principle; negative lags may just indicate the overlap of discrete work while a
positive lag can be used to represent actual work, which is against CPM principals.

3. Lags Description: Total number of activities with lags should not exceed 5% of the activities
within the schedule... Notes: Lags are positive durations or delays associated with logic links to
delay the start of the successor activity. Lags tend to hide detail in schedules and cannot be stat
used like normal activities. Lags should typically be replaced with activities. This check applies to
all normal activities, milestones, summaries, and level of effort (hammocks) that are planned,
in-progress, or complete.
4. FS Relations Description: Total number of activities with Finish to Start (FS) logic links
>90%. Non-typical tasks limited to less than 10%of total tasks Notes: Finish to Start (FS) links
provide a logical path through the project and should be at least 90% of the logic within the
schedule. Finish to Start relationships are used to portray a sequential series of work where a
successor cannot start before its predecessor has finished. This check applies to all normal
activities, milestones, summaries, and level of effort (hammocks) that are planned, in-progress,
or complete.

5. Hard Constraint Description: Number of activities with hard or two-way constraints

6. High Float Description: Number of activities with total float greater than 2 months (44
working days) should not exceed 5%. Notes: Schedule paths with high amounts of float typically
arise due to artificially constrained activities (see check # 5). Paths with finish float of more than
two months should be considered for acceleration and schedule optimization. This check
applies to all normal activities, milestones, summaries, and level of effort (hammocks) that are
planned, in-progress, or complete.

7. Negative Float Description: No activities that are incomplete should have total float that
is less than 0 working days. Notes: Negative float is a result of an artificially accelerated or
constrained schedule. Negative float indicates that the schedule is not possible based on the
current completion dates. Compare this to activities with Hard Constraints to determine which
activities (with negative float) are being impacted by constraints. Ideally, there should not be
any negative float in the schedule. This check applies to all normal activities, milestones,
summaries, and level of effort (hammocks) that are planned, in-progress, or complete.

8. High Duration Description: The total number of activities that have a duration longer
than 2 months (44 working days) should not exceed 5%. Notes: High duration activities are
generally an indication that a plan is too high level for adequate planning and controls. Consider
further developing the schedule adding more detailed activities. This check applies to all normal
activities and level of effort (hammocks) that are planned, in-progress, or complete. There is an
exemption for ‘Rolling Wave’ schedules. To be counted as a High Duration task, the activity
must also have a baseline start within the detail planning period or rolling wave period. This
allows for place holders for future work that has not been adequately defined. Rolling Wave4
schedules reduces the accuracy of CPM calculations and increases the risk that you will
improperly identify the critical path but is essential if detailed information is not available.
9. Invalid Dates Description: There should not be any invalid dates in the schedule defined
as activities with planned work in the past or actual work in the future indicated by all actual
dates being prior to the data date and all forecast dates being on or later than this date. Notes:
Invalid dates are a reflection of ‘loose’ scheduling engines not correctly enforcing standard
schedule logic. It is impossible to have planned activities prior to the time now/data date and
similarly, activities cannot be stat used into the future. This is a key schedule quality check that
pinpoints activities that could have a major erroneous outcome on the dates in the schedule.
This check applies to all normal activities, milestones, summaries, and level of effort
(hammocks) that are planned, in-progress, or complete.

10.. Resources Description: All incomplete tasks should have resources (hours/$) assigned.
This check verifies that all tasks with durations of 1 or more days have $ or resources assigned.
Notes: Useful for determining whether a schedule has been resource loaded in its entirety or
not. This check applies to all normal activities, and level of effort (hammocks) that are planned,
in-progress, or complete.

11. Missed Activities Description: Number of activities that have slipped from their
baseline dates should not exceed 5%. Identifies tasks that are supposed to have been
completed (prior to the status date) with actual or forecast finishes after the baseline date, OR
have a finish variance greater than zero Notes: The number of activities that have been
completed behind the baseline completion date is a good indication of execution performance
and how well (or poorly) the schedule is meeting the baseline plan. Includes all normal
activities, milestones, summaries, and level of effort (hammocks) that are planned, in progress,
or complete.

12.Critical Path Test Description: This check evaluates the project’s network logic,
particularly for the critical path and is a ‘what-if’ test performed directly on the schedule. Its
intent is to identify a current critical path activity, to grossly extend its remaining duration, and
note if a corresponding extension occurs to the project completion date. Notes: Performs a test
to identify broken logic or where the project completion date is NOT affected by delays in
directly proportion to the amount of delay applied. This test ensures that a schedule has been
built using CPM and meets the other 13 DCMA requirements.

13. CPLI Description: Calculation of the Critical Path Length Index (CPLI) verifies that the
critical path makes sense and that the critical path is "believable" Ratio of critical path length +
total float to the critical path length should = 1 (>1 favorable; .95 (>1 favorable; Notes: The
Critical Path Length Index (CPLI) is a measure of the relative efficiency required to complete a
milestone on time, or how close a critical path is to the project target completion date. A
project with an aggressive or conservative completion date may not carry the same overall
 duration as that of the critical path through the network. CPLI of greater than 1 indicates that a
schedule is conservative with a very high chance of early completion. A CPLI of less than 1 is
very aggressive with a very high chance that completion will overrun beyond the target project
completion date. This check applies to all normal activities, milestones, summaries, and level of
effort (hammocks) that are planned, in-progress, or complete.

14.BEI Description: Calculation of the Baseline Execution Index (BEI). BEI is the ratio of the
number of tasks completed to the number that should have been completed by the status date.
BEI should be > .95 (>1 favorable; Notes: An indication of the efficiency with which actual work
has been accomplished when measured against the baseline. The more activities that are
completed either on time or ahead of the baseline schedule will reflect a BEI of 1 or more.
Conversely, a BEI of less than 1 reflects less than forecasted schedule execution. This check
applies to all normal activities, milestones, summaries, and level of effort (hammocks) that are
planned, in-progress, or complete.