The Primavera P6 Schedule Quality Checklist (Before You Submit)

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Tick each item as you check it.

Logic

Logic 5 checks

No open ends.Every activity — except the true start and finish — has at least one predecessor and one successor. Continuous critical path.The critical path runs unbroken from start to project finish. Mostly Finish-to-Start links.SS/FF relationships are used sparingly and only where justified. No leads (negative lag).Negative lags distort the forward pass — remove them. Lags are reasonable.Positive lags aren't hiding real activities that should be modeled.

Constraints

Constraints 3 checks

Minimize hard constraints."Must Finish On" / "Mandatory" constraints override logic — use them only when contractually required. Prefer soft constraints.Use "Start On or After" when a date really is needed. Every constraint has a reasonyou could defend to the owner.

Float & durations

Float & durations 3 checks

No negative floatunless it's a real, acknowledged recovery situation. No excessive float.Very high total float usually means missing logic, not real slack. Reasonable durations.Very long activities (e.g. >20–44 working days) should be broken down.

Dates & status

Dates & status 3 checks

No invalid dates.No forecast dates in the past, no actual dates in the future. Data date is correctand the schedule is statused to it. Actuals are completefor the period being reported.

Structure & baseline

Structure & baseline 4 checks

Clean WBSthat mirrors how the project is actually managed. Clear activity names(verb + object), consistent coding. Calendars are correct(working days, holidays) for each activity. A baseline is setso progress can be measured against the plan.

Metrics to confirm

Metrics to confirm 2 checks

DCMA 14-point profile is healthy.See our DCMA 14-point guide. CPLI and BEI are at or above 0.95.See CPLI and BEI.

The checks are not independent. Hard constraints suppress negative float, and missing logic inflates it — so a schedule can look calm on float while the logic underneath is broken. Run the whole list, not the parts that are easy to check.

Run the whole checklist automatically

Running this by hand every update is slow. Grupo AE — Schedule Intelligence reads your Primavera P6 (.xer) file and returns a 0–100 quality score, the full DCMA 14-point result, float and constraint analysis, and CPLI/BEI/SPI — in seconds, with snapshot history over time.

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Schedule Intelligence is a professional support tool; its outputs are drafts for review. When a contract specifies a scheduling platform, that platform's dates govern for contractual purposes.