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Controls Lab · 7 tools, one schedule

See what is driving your schedule.

Most people who approve a schedule never watch it calculate. Here you can. Schedule Studio is a working CPM engine in your browser, and every other tool runs on the same network, so one slip shows up everywhere. Load a sample or import your own P6 file.

Tools
7
Shared CPM network
1
Sample schedules
3
Bytes uploaded
0
01 · CPM engine

A real CPM engine. Edit it and watch.

Forward and backward pass, total and free float, FS, SS, FF and SF ties with lags, four calendars, constraints, actuals against a data date and baseline variance. Change one cell and the driving path recalculates.

How to type logic, constraints and progress
  • Predecessors use P6 style text: A1020 is finish-to-start, A1020FS+2 adds a two-day lag, A1030SS, A1040FF-3 for a lead, A1050SF. Separate them with commas.
  • Durations and lags are working days on the activity calendar. Lags count on the successor calendar.
  • Progress: enter an actual start to start work, an actual finish to complete it, then set remaining duration. Move the data date and use Status to data date to apply the plan as progress.
  • Retained logic holds out-of-sequence work behind its open predecessors. Progress override lets it run from the data date.
  • Hard constraints (start or finish on or before, mandatory) can create negative float. Must finish by drives the late dates of open ends.
  • Undo with Ctrl+Z. The schedule is saved in this browser only.
On a real project

On live work we hold the same discipline in Primavera P6 every period: a fixed data date, retained logic, a frozen baseline and a written note on every change to the longest path.

Primavera P6 Scheduling
02 · DCMA 14

Fourteen checks. No opinions.

The DCMA 14-point assessment runs on the Studio schedule: logic, leads, lags, constraints, float, durations, invalid dates, the critical path test, CPLI and BEI. Click a failed check to see the activities behind it.

Loading the shared schedule

    On a real project

    A baseline review runs these checks plus the ones software cannot: does the sequence match how the work will actually be built? You get a written list of what to fix before you accept it.

    Baseline Schedule Review
    03 · TIA

    Slip one task. See if the milestone moves.

    Delay an activity or insert a fragnet, tag who caused it, and watch float absorb it until it reaches the finish. Each event is its own window, so days, liquidated damages and revenue at risk add up the way a claim does.

    Loading the shared schedule

    Event type

    Impacted against unimpacted

    On a real project

    On a real project we run the time impact analysis on the native updates and answer one question in writing: is this delay confined to one work area, or does it move a contractual milestone?

    Time Impact Analysis
    04 · Monte Carlo

    Is your date a plan or a hope?

    Thousands of runs of the real network, each with fresh durations, risk events and a full CPM pass. You get P50, P80 and P90 dates, the activities that drive the spread, and the ones hiding behind float.

    Loading the shared schedule

    Risk register
    Ranges per activity

    Blank cells use the percentages above. Durations in working days.

    What drives the spread

    Correlation of each activity with the finish date

    Criticality index

    Share of runs where the activity sat on the critical path
    On a real project

    On live schedules we run the risk analysis on the P6 file itself and give leadership a P80 date and a schedule contingency they can defend.

    Schedule & Cost Risk Analysis
    05 · EVM

    Read the pulse before the cost report.

    Planned value from the baseline, earned value from progress, actual cost by month. SPI, CPI, earned schedule, three estimates at completion and the efficiency needed to land on budget.

    Loading the shared schedule

    On a real project

    We tie earned value to measured field progress, so SPI, CPI and EAC come out of every update and agree with what the superintendent sees on site.

    Earned Value Management
    06 · Calculator

    What one late day really costs.

    Revenue that has not started, interest on money already spent, a site team still on the payroll and prices still rising. Set your numbers or pull the slip from the Studio, then compare the total with the liquidated damages.

    Every day late costs about$0

    On a real project

    On live projects we put this number beside the forecast finish in every monthly report, so acceleration and change decisions are priced before they are made.

    Cost Forecasting & Control
    07 · Recovery

    Recovery that moves the finish date.

    Crash, add a shift, fast-track or resequence, each tested against the network. See which options buy days, what each day costs, and why money spent off the driving path buys nothing.

    Loading the shared schedule

    Recovered schedule against today

    On a real project

    Our recovery work tests every option against the native schedule, prices it, and shows the owner the cheapest credible path back to the milestone.

    Schedule Recovery

    Everything here runs in your browser. Files you import and numbers you type are never uploaded, and the working schedule is saved only on this device. The sample schedules are illustrative networks, not client projects.

    From the Lab to your project

    Now run it on your live schedule.

    If a result surprised you, send us the XER or MPP file. Beck Franklin will tell you what is driving the finish, which milestones are at risk and what we would check first, while you still have options.