CDC UP Project Schedule Templates

Date: October 30, 2018

The project schedule documents the planned timeline of milestones and activities. The schedule may be based on target milestone dates, individualized tasks, or the anticipated completion date of specific project deliverables. Typically, the project schedule includes start and end dates and identifies dependencies. For example, the team cannot start Task 2 until Task 1 has been completed. The project manager can choose to display a schedule in a variety of visual formats, such as a table, a timeline, a calendar, or a Gantt chart.

A project schedule is an essential tool to think through the activities that need to be completed (and in what order) to accomplish the goals of the project. In addition, the schedule can incorporate external factors, such as vacations, holidays or system upgrades that may affect the overall project timeline. Moreover, the project team will be able to assess the impact of delays on the project by revising dates in the schedule. It is highly recommended that the project team put together a project schedule early in the planning process and update it continually over the course of the project.

The CDC UP framework provides useful templates for creating a project schedule.