PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP®)

• Translate requirements into a traceable work breakdown, activity list, network and milestone structure.
• Calculate critical paths and float, then explain the effect of calendars, constraints and resource availability.
• Connect schedule activities with resource demand, cost estimates and a controlled baseline.
• Update a schedule using defensible progress evidence and distinguish forecast movement from an authorised baseline change.
• Interpret schedule-risk simulation, confidence dates and uncertainty without confusing them with guarantees.
• Present a clear recovery or change recommendation supported by an inspectable schedule portfolio.

Develop a schedule and controls pack for a bounded infrastructure or technical-delivery case, following the practical approach in KBC’s planning materials. The case contains an external approval, a shared specialist resource and a supplier dependency. Progress information later changes the forecast, requiring you to compare recovery choices and explain a recommendation. An agreed workplace example can be used where its information is suitable for learning and sharing. Keep the model small enough to inspect manually: the quality of the reasoning matters more than the number of activities.

Your project evidence can include

• Scope, assumptions, work breakdown and activity dictionary, with traceable codes.
• Logic network, critical-path calculations, calendars and resource-demand comparison.
• Cost estimate, time-phased budget, baseline and approval record.
• Two schedule status reports with progress evidence, performance analysis and updated forecasts.
• Schedule-risk inputs, interpreted Monte Carlo results and a comparison of response scenarios.
• Change record, management recommendation, closeout notes and reflective explanation of your decisions.

Use anonymised, public or suitable synthetic material where workplace information is confidential. The issued assessment brief confirms the required evidence.

• Worked examples and short knowledge checks test understanding of dependencies, float, progress rules, cost integration and uncertainty.
• Four cumulative reviews develop the portfolio: scope and network; estimate and baseline; performance and change; final pack and improvement recommendation.
• A practical presentation tests whether you can explain your own model, identify its limitations and respond when an assumption changes.
• Feedback considers technical accuracy, traceability, interpretation, justification and improvement after review. KBC confirms submission requirements and completion criteria in the learning agreement.
• These course activities are separate from the external PMI-SP examination. Assessment weightings from KBC’s wider project-controls programmes are not represented as PMI certification rules.

Teaching and the relevant course certificate are provided through Kent Business College in the UK. A Kent Business College course certificate is distinct from a separate professional-body qualification or examination. Eligibility, the exact award and any examination inclusions are confirmed for the chosen route.

KBC’s planning curriculum starts with the work itself, then builds the schedule, estimate and baseline before interpreting performance. That sequence gives each calculation a purpose. A late finish means little unless you know which work is delayed, what it depends on and which approved commitment is affected. Your portfolio preserves those connections so another person can inspect the conclusion.

A network diagram is a model of relationships, while a Gantt chart is one way to present the schedule. You practise reading both. Begin with a small network, check the calculations and then examine what changes when a calendar, duration or resource assumption changes. This makes the software result explainable and helps you detect a plausible-looking output based on weak inputs.

• Ask why each activity exists, what must precede it and what evidence will demonstrate completion.
• Check the route to the finish milestone, including external work and interfaces.
• Explain why resource levelling, additional capacity or overlapping work changes the original plan.
• Keep the approved baseline available when the current forecast moves.

The schedule-risk application builds on KBC’s teaching companion on schedule risk and the Performance Measurement Baseline. It starts with a credible network and explicit uncertainty. Repeated simulation produces possible completion outcomes under those assumptions; a different path may become critical in different runs. Missing dependencies, unrealistic ranges or duplicated risk allowances remain weaknesses however many simulations are run.

You distinguish the most likely value, the mean and a cumulative confidence percentile. A P80 date means an 80% modelled probability of finishing on or before that date under the stated model. It does not mean 80% of the work is complete, and it does not establish an 80% probability of meeting the budget. You explain the remaining uncertainty and compare the cost and practicality of a response before recommending a date.

Time allowances and monetary reserves also need separate explanations. An extra period on site may create additional overhead, but converting days into money requires a cost model. The practical task records the reference date and which response work is already included, so the same allowance is not counted twice.

A useful schedule review ends with a decision somebody can take. Throughout the module, you practise explaining the evidence in language appropriate to the audience: detailed logic for another planner, a resource conflict for an operational manager, and an achievable choice for a sponsor. Each review records the owner, required action and next evidence to collect.

The same method can support different delivery settings. The assumptions and level of detail change with the work, while the need for clear dependencies, reliable progress and an explainable forecast remains. These are learning applications, not claims of measured results for a named employer.

PMI-SP is a professional certification awarded by the Project Management Institute. Its examination covers schedule strategy, planning and development, monitoring and control, closeout and stakeholder communication. This course supports those areas through practical work and revision; it does not confer the PMI credential.

PMI currently specifies 30 or 40 hours of scheduling education, depending on the eligibility route, together with relevant experience and educational qualifications. The 28 live hours here do not alone meet either requirement. Before applying, confirm the documented qualifying hours in your complete learning package and compare your experience with PMI’s current published criteria. General independent study should not automatically be counted as eligible education.