The blueprint for managing your program effectively integrates schedule with a detailed work breakdown structure and the available resources to perform that work. An integrated master schedule (IMS) consists of a comprehensive project timeline with overall milestones, and component schedules to govern various program elements, such as acquisition and development, facilities and site activation, testing, training, and other specialized components of your program.

Essential elements of both the master and component schedules include:

• All tasks or activities to be performed.
• The duration of each task or activity.
• Interrelationships among tasks or activities.
• Predecessors and successors to tasks or activities.
• Outputs of each task or activity.
• Resource requirements and constraints.

The IMS evolves with use. To be truly effective, it must be updated regularly to reflect the accurate, current status of your program. Regular updates should include advancement on tasks in progress, durations, proposed re-planning adjustments, and new tasks or dependencies. Consistently maintaining the IMS will help you manage the program actively, rather than reactively.

Put simply, the IMS is perhaps the single most useful tool to help you "plan the work and work the plan." But don't wait for the IMS to be perfect to begin using it. The IMS serves as both a working execution plan and a communications plan to help you manage all deliverable work in the program.

Disciplined monitoring and maintenance of the integrated schedule is a key means of discovering areas of the program where you need to manage risk and change.