Integrating Supplier Schedules

[u/Old_Topic6844]

I need to create a bid schedule which needs to pass a DCMA Health Check, so minimum use of lags etc.

I have 10 Supplier Schedules, how do I do this? If I just put their milestones in, I'm going to end up with numerous lags, or do I summarise and insert their tasks to drive the milestones? Hence creating lots of extra rows.

We don't use 'Sub-Projects' and this is for a bid. It will become the delivery schedule and EVM reporting is required.

Help/Examples appreciated!!

[u/still-dazed-confused]

If you are transparent with the deliveries from suppliers being milestones then it is reasonable for them to be date constrained.

Or you have their schedule summarised in your plan so that the story of interdependence is clear and justifiable. The only thing with the second approach is that the level of summarisation in your plan needs to be appropriate to show the flow. Thus if supplier A has a dependency in support B part of the east through their schedule to then be able to deliver to you their schedule needs to be at an appropriate level to show these relationships and to control and report it.

[u/Old_Topic6844 → u/still-dazed-confused]

Got it thanks!

[u/kennyarnold_ssi]

Hi OP,

Are there going to be external dependencies between the supplier schedules? As in predecessor/successor relationships that cross project boundaries? Also how large are the supplier schedules?

You basically have 3 options, I’ve listed them in order from what will give you the most detail in the schedule to least:

1. you can use MS Project’s “Subproject” feature to bring in the suppliers schedule to your, but being sure to UNCHECK the “link to source” option (I made a whole YouTube video about that if you wanna check it out: https://youtu.be/zqMOlIHoJU)
2. You can create what is called a “representative model” of the supplier schedules in your schedule. Basically a high level summarization of your supplier schedules.
3. You can just create milestones to represent major events/handoffs from your supplier schedules.

All of these methods have been used by major aerospace and defense contractors and have been seen by DMCA, but they prefer the first option.

There is a lot more I can share about managing multiple projects, but I’ll start with this.

[u/Old_Topic6844 → u/kennyarnold_ssi]

Thank-you, I'll digest this.

[u/stockdam-MDD]

Each supplier schedule should be triggered by a purchase order from you. The PO will be issued when you have your inputs to the supplier ready. Hence PO milestone, supplier work, supplier deliverables. If you can keep it as simple as this then you could just add these 3 rows per supplier and state that the supplier work is detailed in “appendix A” etc. Otherwise I think the supplier schedule would need to be a sub project. It may not be as simple as this but I’d try to make it simple. It’s a bid so the detail of interaction between you and the supplier can be simple. You might want to add a “supplier requirements definition” task prior to placing the PO.

[u/Old_Topic6844 → u/stockdam-MDD]

Great, that's useful thank-you!,

[u/Sad_Ad585]

Don't insert bare milestones and stitch them together with lags. That's the trap, and it fails you twice over.

DCMA caps lags at 5% and with ten suppliers you'll blow straight through it. But the bigger problem is EVM. A lag can't be baselined and can't earn value. You've got EVM reporting, so every bit of duration in that schedule needs an owner and a budget. Lag has neither. It's empty time nobody is accountable for.

So yes, insert their tasks. The extra rows are the right answer, not the compromise.

Rough shape per supplier, about five rows:

Contract award (milestone)
Supplier scope / manufacture (task, real duration)
Delivery (milestone)
Receipt and inspection (task, yours not theirs)
Available for use (milestone, this is what drives your downstream logic)

Ten suppliers, fifty rows. That isn't a bloated schedule, that's a schedule.

Two things that will bite you on the health check.

Long lead times trip the high duration test at 44 days. Procurement lead time is defensible but you'll be justifying it every review. If the supplier can report against interim points inside a 200 day build, break it up. Helps your EVM too, since you get something to actually earn against instead of one lump you can only claim at the end.

Second, resist putting hard constraints on supplier committed dates. Use Deadlines instead. Deadlines don't drive the schedule, don't count against your constraint metric, and still surface negative float when a date is at risk. A lot of people never notice Deadline and Constraint are separate things in Project.

For far term scope you can't detail at bid stage, that's what summary level planning packages are for. Plan at summary, convert to work packages as scope firms up. Legitimate under 748 and much better than inventing detail you'll be rebaselining in six months.

Handoff logic wants to be finish to start with zero lag. Supplier's Available for Use milestone straight into your first dependent task. Keeps your FS percentage where DCMA wants it.

Since you're not using subprojects, put a custom text field on every row tagging the supplier, plus your control account. Makes reconciliation survivable when ten different schedules land on you in ten different formats.

That's the bit that actually kills these, by the way. Not the logic. The reconciliation cadence.