Scheduling is now a career

Abstract

There are many specializations within the field of project management, but historically they have been geared toward a specific industry. Recently, there has been a trend of workers from many different fields entering project management, but the problem for these workers is that it takes many years to become a Project Management Professional (PMP)^® Then, some people may decide that being a project manager is not a personal goal. As a result, companies have recognized the need to capture people's strengths as subject matter experts on a specific project management topic, which in many cases, maps to their past experiences in another field. Scheduling is an example of a specialized project management topic. Another emerging trend is projects of increased complexity, which require the project manager to enlist full-time employees to manage the specific aspects of the project, such as the financials and the schedule. Therefore, there is now a push for qualifying the skills of the scheduling professional. Several organizations, including Project Management Institute (PMI)^® and Microsoft^®, have created certifications for scheduling professionals, including PMI-SP^SM (Scheduling Professional) and MCTS (Microsoft^® Certified Technology Specialist). This paper will discuss the various certification options and how the Practice Standard for Scheduling by the Project Management Institute (PMI)^® gives guidance to the professional and it also discusses how someone new to the field can evaluate relevant scheduling software programs and generate a conformance score. The paper concludes with a personal questionnaire for self-reflection.

Introduction

As the field of project management continues to grow, so do the number of complex projects. Many project managers are working on projects that are several years long, involve millions of dollars, and utilize hundreds if not thousands of resources. With projects this complex, one full-time project manager is not sufficient to maintain all the aspects of the project. Assistance is required in resource management, budgeting, scheduling, and communicating. While some project managers employ administrative support for these roles, an emerging trend is to use individuals with specialized skills; sometimes this is another project manager, but more often it is someone training to be a project manager or someone with advanced knowledge in one or several specific areas. This paper focuses on the specialty of scheduling; it describes the credential options and is designed to help you decide if you are well-suited for a career in professional scheduling.

The Trends in Project Management

As summed up nicely by J. Leroy Ward, PMP, PgMP, the biggest trend in project management is metrics (2010, p 1). No longer is it just simply nice to have, senior management is now requiring metrics to drive decisions, so organizations are investing heavily in project and portfolio management solutions (Ward, 2010, p 1). As discussed later in this paper, Microsoft^® Project is a software tool that can help manage metrics for the project or portfolio. Project management is not disappearing. According to Ward, “…wise senior managers continue to invest in increasing their organization's project management skills and capacity. They want to ensure success of projects essential to producing great products, improving customer satisfaction, and driving revenue and profit growth.” (2010, p 3)

Donna A. Reed, PMP, a leading project management consultant and Certified ScrumMaster, has identified six leading trends in project management, which are summarized as follows:

1. Enterprises are working to become more efficient
2. Agile and lean processes are on the rise
3. Increasing need for project managers to function as consultants
4. Virtual and independent teams are on the rise
5. Social media are mandatory
6. Project managers are becoming business analysts (2010, pp 1–5)

To draw some comparison between these two authors, capturing metrics is a great way to determine if an organization is efficient in its application of processes, methodology, and technology. The first trend on Donna A. Reed's list is efficiency. As further discussed by Reed, project managers must be skilled at using technology to drive efficiency (2010, p 1). The central theme of all organizations in 2010 is “do more with less.” One of the most visible items in the project is the schedule. Illustrations of improved efficiencies and expert management of the schedule lead us into the next topic, which is why scheduling is becoming a career.

Why Scheduling is Becoming a Career

Scheduling is becoming a career for many reasons, including the fact that, according to the Wet Feet website, the job outlook for project management is “hot” (Project Management, p 3). However, most individuals who desire to pursue project management do not start out as full-fledged project managers; instead, they start out in one of the following roles: project coordinator, project scheduler, or assistant project manager (Project Management, pp 3–4). Starting in one of these roles is an excellent way to learn the exact responsibilities of a project manager and evaluate your ability to fulfill those responsibilities before committing to project management as a career. However, project scheduling is not merely a stepping stone in a career path; project scheduling can be a career itself, because project schedulers are required on complex projects. In particular, the job growth for project management in construction is anticipated to be above average because of the complexity of the projects (Project Management, p 3). Construction has been known to support project management methodologies for years, and some of the evolution of the field of project management can be attributed to this industry. Construction projects, and the related field of design-build, manage complexities through technology, including software to manage the schedule, software to manage changes, and popular walkie-talkie type cell phones for communication. As this technology becomes the norm, schedulers will be needed to provide technical expertise and to coordinate all the contractors and companies involved in the project. According to Project Management: Overview, high-tech and biotechnology industries could also see a surge in the demand for schedulers (pp.3–4).

Prakash Vaidhyanathan, Project Manager, of Cognizant Technology Solutions, provided his opinion on why professional scheduling is becoming so important in the field of project management, as follows:

“In a globalized world where projects are more and more being distributed across geographic locations (more so in IT), it is imperative to have a sound scheduling mechanism to

• Plan and track project work across disparate geographies
• Understand task dependencies (internal as well as external)
• Handle complex tasks like resource availability and utilization
• Provide reliable estimates (cost and time) on key deliverables
• Monitor project progress and communicate deviations from the plan

• Come up with meaningful ROI (return on investments) through metrics like EVM
• My current project has global footprints from North America to Europe and Asia. With a multitude of time zones and a vast number of resources, our PMO nitially was hesitant to invest on project scheduling software due to

• Prohibitive cost (like project server investments)
• Lack of reliance on the usage of percent complete and the associated metrics
• Project methodology (which was agile)

Our PMO resorted to relying on old-fashioned spreadsheets to learn about project status from project managers. In no time, the PMO understood that

• Spreadsheet-based scheduling is not dynamic. You change a task or include extra effort, the rest of the tasks do not change by themselves.
• It was difficult to do a “what if” analysis using spreadsheet-based scheduling
• Resource utilization and a time-zone consolidated resource calendar were proving to be big headaches
• The “icing on the cake:” the PMO believed agile meant “no planning,” This is a common fallacy. Agile encourages planning, but only what is needed at the time

One can build projects incrementally, iteratively, spirally, or linearly. It doesn't matter which methodology one uses as long as projects are properly scheduled and tracked. A vast majority of the projects that suffer from cost and time overruns (overruns that are not due to external dependencies) do so because they lack professional scheduling.

Professional scheduling means much more than using scheduling tools such as WBS (work breakdown structure); one needs to track the variances between planned versus the actuals and derive the suitable metrics. The metrics should then be interpreted and communicated to stakeholders in simpler terms so that the essence is understood. Even those who loathe schedule metrics such as EVM (just because it uses a subjective %complete) are brought around when they learn that professional scheduling includes foolproof stage gates for arriving at meaningful %complete and thereby solid EVM data. One can safely deduce that a sound project management methodology needs to have an equally strong project scheduling technique to achieve the project's objective.” (Vaidhyanathan, personal communication, 13 July 2010).

As Prakash indicates, schedulers can provide foolproof data and/or metrics. As previously identified, this is the top project management trend of 2010.

Scheduling can be a great career for individuals who are currently out of work, as well as those who are currently employed. The next section focuses on displaced workers and individuals contemplating a career change.

Supporting the Displaced Worker and/or Changing Careers

In a survey of jobs on Monster.com, it appears as if a professional scheduler with 2 to 5 years of experience could expect to earn between $70,000 and $80,000 per year. Along with the requisite experience, the candidate must have a bachelor's degree, which can be in any field although bachelor's of science degrees are preferred. So, if you are interested in changing careers, this is an option that will not require additional education. To get started in this field, there are several things you need to know. First, if you have no experience, the starting salary will likely start at between $40,000 and $60,000 per year (Project Management, pp 2–5). The field is heavily focused on technical skills, so this is a good career for people who prefer to manage data rather than people. It is necessary to have or be able to develop skills in software that support the critical path methodology. (Later, one such software tool will be introduced.) Compared with the project manager role, the scheduler manages the details, while the project manager leads the team and is ultimately responsible for the project. The project manager's role is more stressful, but has the potential for a greater financial reward (Project Management, pp 2–5). (Refer to the end of this paper for some thought-provoking questions you can ask yourself to determine if scheduling should be your career or if it should be a stepping stone to becoming a project manager.) Finally, according to a survey of jobs on Indeed.com, it appears that scheduling jobs are in high demand in the following geographical areas: New York City, Washington, DC, Houston, Chicago, San Jose, California and Portland, Oregon. To summarize, moving into the scheduling field is relatively easy in terms of college education, but you may want to supplement your knowledge with scheduling credentials and knowledge, which will be discussed next.

PMI^®'s Practice Standard for Scheduling

“The Practice Standard for Scheduling has been developed as a complement to A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide) in the Knowledge Area of Project Management” (Project Management Institute, 2007, p vii). Although originally written for the PMBOK^® Guide, Third Edition, it is very relevant for the Fourth Edition as well. The purpose of this standard is to answer the need from the project management community for guidance on the development of sound schedules (Project Management Institute, 2007, p vii). It is important to note that this standard does not support a particular type of software, but rather provides guidance that can be applied to any scheduling tool on the market. When considering a career in scheduling, this book is an excellent resource for learning what practitioners in the field consider to be best practices. It is also required reading for anyone pursuing the PMI-SP^SM credential (to be discussed later).

Job Analysis and Scheduling Domains for Scheduling Professionals

An optional book you may wish to acquire is the PMI-Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP)^SM Examination Specification. This book represents global research on what scheduling professionals actually do and is the basis for the PMI-SP credential discussed later (Project Management Institute, 2008, p 5). It is organized into the following domains:

• Schedule Mission Management
• Schedule Creation
• Schedule Maintenance
• Schedule Analysis
• Schedule Communication/Reporting (Project Management Institute, 2008, p 11).

As described in this book, scheduling professionals work in each of these domains and are expected to perform various tasks such as “Participates in scope definition process to ensure adequate understanding of project objectives and goals” (Project Management Institute, 2008, p 17). In order to complete each task, there is an assumption that the scheduler has specific knowledge and skills. If you truly want to evaluate your existing experience based on a list of needed skills, this book will show if you are already qualified as a scheduler or if you may need further training before pursuing this career.

Assuming that you have decided to become a professional scheduler, there are some tools and credentials you need to be familiar with, which are discussed next.

Conformance Scoring for Scheduling Tools

One of your roles as a professional scheduler may be to evaluate scheduling software. A section of the Practice Standard for Scheduling, listed as conformance scoring, provides a technique for evaluating software and determining if software conforms or does not conform (Project Management Institute, 2007, p 79). All scheduling software programs have different components. The approach, as described in Appendix D of the Practice Standard for Scheduling, gives the list of required components and optional components, and will let you compare, side-by-side, one software tool with another. Required components must be present or the software does not conform and you should not consider it. On the other hand, optional components help you differentiate between different programs by allowing additional points to be earned (Project Management Institute, 2007, p 79).

A very popular scheduling tool is Microsoft^® Project and its related product Microsoft^® Project Server. Both are parts of an Enterprise Project Management Solution of tools that provide metrics on projects and portfolios. The goal of Microsoft^® Project is to assist project managers in developing plans, managing resources, monitoring progress, managing budgets, and providing data analysis (Microsoft^® Project, 15 July 2010, p 1). This software is best known for creating Gantt charts, which are visual representations of critical path schedules (Microsoft^® Project, 15 July 2010, p 1). The authors of this paper have opted to discuss Microsoft^® Project instead of other scheduling tools because this software appears to be favored in the overall project management community. Microsoft^® Project does conform as a scheduling tool.

Next, this paper discusses the credentials you may want to earn to support a career in scheduling.

Available Certification for the Scheduling Professional

Earning the Planning and Scheduling Professional™ (PSP™) Certification

Another professional organization, the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE^®), offers a certification aimed at validating the role of the scheduler. The Planning and Scheduling Professional™ (PSP™) was introduced and accredited in 2007 as a means of “recognizing specialists who meet a demanding set of planning and scheduling criteria…” (Planning and Scheduling, p 1).

As with most professional certifications, the PSP™ is awarded to persons who have demonstrated accomplishments in the field of scheduling. The designation is given upon the successful completion of an examination; however, one must first meet strict qualifying criteria based on education and related professional experience.

According the AACE^®'s website, persons who want to sit for the examination must first have at least eight full years of professional experience (Planning and Scheduling, p 1). Up to four years may be substituted by a college/university degree. Once the application is approved, you can schedule your examination for one of the set dates at a particular location.

The examination itself is fairly comprehensive. Over a total of seven hours, you will be tested on several scheduling areas, described as follows:

Part I is Basic Knowledge. It consists of multiple-choice questions concerning the basics of planning and scheduling.

Part II is Planning and Scheduling Applications. It consists of multiple-choice questions involving planning and scheduling scenarios.

Part III is a Practical Exercise. It entails answering a series of multiple-choice questions concerning various aspects of a single problem.

Part IV is a real-time Communications Exercise. It requires the candidate to draft the equivalent of a one-page typewritten (maximum) memorandum to simulate reporting on planning and scheduling analysis to the project manager, explaining the issues and proposing a solution regarding a given problem (Planning and Scheduling, p1).

To obtain a passing grade, you must attain an overall mark of 70%.

Persons holding a PSP™ designation must ensure that it is maintained. Every three years, you must re-certify to show that you are keeping up with the advances in the profession (Planning and Scheduling, p1). To re-certify, you can either re-test or demonstrate that you have accumulated sufficient professional credit from work experience, education, or other forms of active involvement in the industry.

To contrast the PSP™ with the certification discussed next, this credential focuses exclusively on the construction industry. In comparison with the credential discussed next, a recommended book (probably on the shelves of most project managers today), is Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling, 9th Edition, by Dr. Harold Kerzner. This book is frequently used by individuals to prepare for certification by PMI^®.

Earning the PMI-SP^® (Scheduling Professional) Certification

According to the PMI-SP^® Credential Handbook, individuals interested in pursuing this certification have responsibilities such that they “can create and maintain the project schedule,” are “able to analyze the project schedule,” and “should be able to report and communicate the schedule to the project team.” (Project Management Institute, 2009, p 6)

You must qualify for the credential under one of these two paths:

Path 1: If the highest level of education you have attained is a high-school diploma, associate's degree, or recognized international equivalent, you must have a total of 5000 hours of scheduling experience gained within the past 5 years and a total of 40 education hours (Project Management Institute, 2009, p 6).

Path 2: If you have obtained a bachelor's degree or recognized international equivalent, you must have a total of 3500 hours of scheduling experience gained within the past 5 years and a total of 30 education hours (Project Management Institute, 2009, p 6).

The comprehensive examination lasts 3.5 hours and covers the domains as listed by PMI^®'s Scheduling Professional Exam Specification. The percentages of examination questions per domain are as follows:

• Domain 1: Schedule Mission Management – 9%
• Domain 2: Schedule Creation – 23%
• Domain 3: Schedule Maintenance – 23%
• Domain 4: Schedule Analysis – 22%
• Domain 5: Schedule Communications/Reporting – 23% (Project Management Institute, 2009, p 8)

Scoring is based on overall proficiency across the five domains. No additional score information is published by the Project Management Institute.

Similar to the previously discussed credential, you must demonstrate ongoing training in the profession to maintain your certification. This involves earning 30 professional development units (PDUs) in the specialized area of scheduling every three years (Project Management Institute, 2009, p 27).

To learn more about the various preparation techniques and personal experiences obtaining this credential, read the three-part article PMI-SP^®: Here is How We Cracked It, written by Cindy Lewis and Prakash Vaidhyanathan at: http://www.allpm.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2248.

In contrast to the PSP™, by earning the PMI-SP ^SM credential, you are certifying yourself as a scheduling professional across all industries. In addition, earning this credential helps you master the material needed for the Project Management Professional (PMP)^® credential (also by the Project Management Institute), if you intend to pursue further certification. Compared with the PSP™, both credentials teach you valuable scheduling skills and techniques that could help a hiring manager choose you over another candidate.

The Scheduling Professional certification from the Project Management Institute is highly recommended. The Project Management Institute is the world-wide professional association of project management and their certifications will make you more marketable in whatever industry you choose.

Finally, it is also important to discuss scheduling tool certification, which may complement a scheduling credential.

Earning Microsoft^® Certification

Beside professional organizations like PMI^® and AACE^®, developers of scheduling software are also doing their parts to advance the profession through the provision of certifications. Leading the way is Microsoft^®. Microsoft^® has been granting certifications to proficient users of their software applications for more than 15 years. However, it was not until 2007 that they began granting designations to validate users in their scheduling and EPM software suite—Microsoft^® Project and Project Server 2007. Although software-based, the certifications took on a heavy “best practice” slant, thus ensuring that candidates were not just tool jockeys, but understood the industry and profession for which the software was intended. The certification scheme itself followed that of the traditional Microsoft^® certification taxonomy and offered a Microsoft^® Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) designation for persons demonstrating proficiency in the use of Microsoft^® Project 2007 for efficient scheduling, managing, and delivery of projects (Schaffhauser, 19 March 2010, p 1). An MCTS can also be obtained for Project Server 2007 for persons managing and scheduling project and programs in an enterprise setting (Schaffhauser, 19 March 2010, p 1). For persons setting organizational policies and guidelines for scheduling and project management, Microsoft^® offers the Microsoft^® Certified IT Professional (MCITP) in Enterprise Project Management with Microsoft^® Project 2007 (Schaffhauser, 19 March, 2010, p 1). These three certifications and designations still exist and go a long way in validating the scheduler as a skilled individual and scheduling as a distinct profession.

With the launch of the new version of the Microsoft^® Project suite of applications, Microsoft^® Project/Project Server 2010, Microsoft^® continued in the same vein of offering recognition to the profession. To date, they have announced their intention to offer two designations to Project/Project Server users.

The first certification is 77-178 Microsoft Project 2010 – Managing Projects (Schaffhauser, 19 March 2010, p 1). This examination/certification is targeted directly to the scheduler who will be using the MS Project 2010 (standard and professional) to manage project schedules and communicate the project to individuals, teams, and the enterprise (Schaffhauser, 19 March 2010, p 1). As with the corresponding designation for 2007, candidates will be required to demonstrate their competency in using the MS application to implement the best practices in scheduling and project management to increase the probability of project success. The examination is divided into several domain and these are:

• Initializing projects
• Creating task-based schedules
• Managing resources and assignments
• Tracking and analyzing projects
• Communicating project information (Schaffhauser, 19 March 2010, p 1)

The second Project 2010 certification being introduced is directed at setting up an environment within which project management and scheduling take place. The 77-177 Microsoft Project Server – Configuring is a Technology Specialist designation similar to the still-available 70-639: Configuring Project Server 2007 examination (Exam 70-177, 17 June 2010, p 1). Candidates are responsible for the installation, configuration, and maintenance of a Project Server 2010 implementation, and typically work as an Enterprise Project Management (EPM) consultant, a project server administrator, or IT professional (Exam 70-177, 17 June 2010, p 1). While not entirely directed at the scheduling professional, the 77-177 examination highlights the importance that project management and, in particular, scheduling play within an organization. The examination contains domains that include Managing Resources and Security and Configuring Project Server 2010 (Exam 70-177, 17 June 2010, p 2). Both areas deal directly with setting a framework for how schedules are created, managed, and maintained within the organization. The major domains for this examination are:

• Installing Project Server 2010
• Managing resources and security
• Configuring Project Server 2010
• Administering Project Server 2010 (Exam 70-177, 17 June 2010, p 2)

For more details about these examinations, refer to the website links available on the references page.

Personal Questionnaire for Self Reflection

1. Do you enjoy leading people, or do you prefer to be known as the technical expert?
2. Do you like making decisions, or do you prefer to research options and offer suggestions for someone else to evaluate?
3. Are you a risk taker?
4. Do you believe your career path should include full-time work as a project manager, or do you prefer to have project management involve part, but not all, of your job?
5. Are you detail oriented?
6. Are you skilled with word processing and spreadsheet software such as Microsoft^® Word and Microsoft^® Excel?
7. Are you skilled with scheduling software such as Microsoft^®'s Enterprise Project Management Solution (commonly referred to as Microsoft^® Project/Project Server) or Oracle^®'s Primavera Enterprise Project Portfolio Management Solutions (commonly referred to as P6)?
8. Are you willing to generate, interpret, and analyze metric-based reports?
9. Do you have more than one year of experience in the project management field?
10. Are you able to earn a tool-based or industry-based certification?

These questions provide a starting point from which to evaluate the career of scheduling or project management. Project managers lead people, whereas schedulers lead technology. Project managers take risks and are ultimately responsible, whereas schedulers provide information for others to interpret. Some of the questions above could apply to either role; therefore, it is suggested that you discuss your answers to these questions with someone already in the field of project management.

Conclusions

The metric trend in project management is growing, along with the complexity of projects, which drives the need for professional schedulers. The Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering, the Project Management Institute, and Microsoft^® recognize scheduling as a career requiring professional certification and offer educational opportunities that encompass job experience, scheduling skills/techniques, and even software certification. Whether you are considering a career in project management, changing fields, or simply looking for work, scheduling is part of the “hot” growth of the project management profession. Finally, organizations that want to be more efficient must employ professional schedulers who can provide metrics to executives, which, in turn, can support projects that drive revenue and profit growth.