Program dependency and milestone map

Purpose

Combine project schedules into one traceable view of milestone order, cross-project dependencies, shared resources, and delay consequences.

Scope

Use project plans, milestone registers, dependency logs, RAID logs, resource allocations, release calendars, and approved program dates. Assess predecessor, successor, owner, resource, baseline date, forecast date, and status.

Excluded: replanning schedules, assigning people, approving scope changes, or declaring a project late without a dated baseline.

Data basis

• Milestone table with project_id, milestone_id, name, owner, baseline_date, forecast_date, status, and resource.
• Dependency table with predecessor_id, successor_id, dependency_type, lag, and source.
• Resource allocation, release calendar, RAID log, and program charter.

Result

A milestone map, dependency register, collision table, and concise program risk brief with dates, owners, delay scenarios, and citations.

Quality criteria

• Every milestone has one project and a baseline or explicit baseline-missing flag.
• Dependency links resolve to existing milestone IDs or are exceptions.
• Forecast variance is calculated consistently and negative lags are preserved.
• Shared-resource collisions name the resource and overlapping date windows.
• Any critical-path claim cites the schedule rule or source dependency chain.

Instructions

Normalize dates to the program calendar while retaining source dates and timezone. Classify links as finish-to-start, start-to-start, finish-to-finish, or unspecified. Flag cycles and orphan links before calculating downstream effects. For a delay scenario, add the delay to successors only when the dependency type and lag support it; label all other effects as qualitative. Keep baseline, forecast, and scenario dates separate.

Adapt before use

The map should make a date collision visible even when no owner has yet accepted the resulting delivery risk.

• Map project, milestone, dependency, resource, and schedule columns.
• Set calendar, working-day, lag, variance, collision, and critical-path rules.
• Add the program charter, release calendar, and approved scenario delay size.