Key takeaways
- An update is a period evidence package: native schedule, narrative, progress records, required logs, and a clear data date must reconcile.
- Review changes to the model as carefully as changes to the dates. Logic, calendars, constraints, and remaining durations can conceal or manufacture apparent recovery.
- Accept or reject a specific revision through a controlled workflow and preserve the prior accepted update so every variance retains lineage.
The short answer
To review a contractor’s schedule update, confirm the submission is complete and statused to one data date, compare progress and remaining durations with the last accepted update, audit every logic, calendar and constraint change, retrace the critical and near-critical paths, explain float and milestone movement, then issue a written disposition on that exact revision.
The data date divides evidence from forecast
The update should state a single status date or data date consistent with the reporting period. Work before it is reported history: actual starts, actual finishes, installed quantities, and remaining-duration assessments supported by contemporaneous records. Work after it is forecast by the recalculated network. Exceptions—such as actual dates beyond the data date—must be identified and resolved rather than allowed to blur history and prediction.
Before reviewing performance, verify that the file, narrative, pay application, daily reports, progress photographs, procurement log, and meeting records refer to the same period. A polished narrative cannot cure a schedule statused to a different cutoff.
A complete submission is more than the native file
The contract may require a native P6 file, tabular and graphical exports, narrative, critical-path report, milestone report, look-ahead, procurement and submittal logs, cost or resource reports, recovery explanation, and change documentation. Use a recurring completeness checklist before technical review so missing components are returned quickly and consistently.
The narrative should explain what changed, why it changed, current and near-critical paths, milestone movement, major risks, logic or calendar revisions, approved changes incorporated, mitigation taken, and decisions needed. It should reconcile with the file rather than tell a parallel story.
Reconcile progress activity by activity
Compare actual starts, actual finishes, percent complete, remaining durations, and expected finishes with the prior accepted update. Flag dates that moved backward, progress that decreased, actuals that appeared or disappeared, large period jumps, work reported out of sequence, and remaining durations that changed without corresponding progress or explanation.
Status should follow the project’s defined measurement rules. Duration percent, physical percent, units percent, installed quantities, and cost percent answer different questions. Do not treat them as interchangeable. Where payment or earned value depends on progress, reconcile the schedule measurement to the approved basis and source record.
Audit every material model change
An update is not only new progress. Activities may be added or deleted; logic, lags, calendars, constraints, codes, durations, costs, resources, and scheduling options may change. Some changes are legitimate responses to actual conditions. All material changes should be visible, explained, and authorized at the appropriate level.
Run a file-to-file comparison against the prior accepted revision. Pay particular attention to changes on current and near-critical paths and to float that reappears after a difficult period. If the finish recovers because a relationship was removed or a duration was cut, the narrative should identify the corresponding real-world plan and approval.
Recalculate quality and path behavior
Repeat the baseline mechanical checks on the current remaining network: missing logic, lags and leads, relationship types, constraints, high durations, high and negative float, invalid dates, and critical-path continuity. Trend the results. A growing count of open ends or constraints shows model deterioration even if the completion date remains stable.
Trace the longest path and several near-critical paths to the relevant milestones. Compare their membership and float with the prior period. Explain path changes through progress, approved resequencing, changes, or updated conditions. An unexplained path jump is a review item, not a footnote.
Separate variance, causation, and responsibility
First state the fact: a milestone moved, a path lost float, or an activity completed later than previously forecast. Then identify the schedule mechanism and contemporaneous event associated with the movement. Responsibility and entitlement require the contract, notice, records, and often additional analysis. Combining all three into one dashboard label creates conclusions the schedule alone cannot support.
This separation also improves communication. “Substantial completion moved twelve workdays because the energization path absorbed late switchgear delivery and added testing duration” is a technical finding. Whether that event is excusable, compensable, concurrent, or recoverable is a subsequent determination with its own evidence.
Close the review through a controlled determination
Issue comments against the exact submitted revision, track responses, and identify whether the update is accepted, accepted with conditions, revised and resubmitted, or rejected under the contract’s vocabulary. Do not allow ordinary payment processing or downstream reporting to imply acceptance of an unresolved schedule without a documented decision.
Archive the submitted file, reviewed file, comparison output, narrative, comments, responses, determination, and final accepted revision. The next period comparison must start from that accepted version. This chain is the foundation for credible trend reporting and any later delay analysis.
Review a monthly schedule update, step by step
Use the same sequence every reporting period. Check the inputs before reading the forecast: dates read from an unchecked file are how unsupported recovery gets accepted.
Before you start
- Submitted native schedule file and narrative
- Prior accepted update
- Contract schedule requirements and review period
- Period progress records
Check completeness and the data date
Confirm the native file, narrative, and required logs and reports are present, and that every record is statused to the same data date and reporting period.
Verify: The file, narrative, pay application, and daily reports refer to one cutoff; missing items are returned before technical review.
Reconcile progress
Compare actual dates, percent complete, and remaining durations with the prior accepted update, activity by activity.
Verify: Dates that moved backward, reduced progress, actuals after the data date, and unexplained remaining-duration changes are listed.
Audit model changes
Run a file-to-file comparison for added or deleted activities and changed logic, lags, calendars, constraints, durations, codes, costs, and resources.
Verify: Every material change appears in the narrative or change log with a reason and the appropriate approval.
Repeat the quality checks
Re-run the mechanical checks on the remaining network: missing logic, lags and leads, constraints, high durations, high and negative float, and invalid dates.
Verify: Results are trended against prior periods rather than read in isolation.
Trace the critical and near-critical paths
Trace the longest path and the next paths to each contract milestone and compare their membership and float with the prior period.
Verify: Each path change is explained by progress, approved resequencing, a change, or an updated condition.
Explain milestone and float movement
State what moved, the schedule mechanism behind it, and the contemporaneous event associated with it.
Verify: Findings are factual; responsibility and entitlement are left to the contract process.
Record the disposition
Issue comments against the exact revision, track responses, and record accepted, accepted with conditions, revised and resubmitted, or rejected in the contract’s vocabulary.
Verify: The accepted revision is archived and becomes the comparison basis for the next update.
Caution: Do not let payment processing or downstream reporting imply acceptance of an unresolved update.
Worked example
Illustrative update review: reported recovery without field recovery
A monthly update shows substantial completion recovering five workdays even though the controlling equipment delivery slipped three days and installation progress was below plan.
- File comparison shows the contractor reduced installation remaining duration by six days and changed the testing tie from finish-to-start to start-to-start with no narrative explanation.
- The reviewer asks for the added crews, shifts, area-release sequence, and testing protocol that support those changes.
- If the means and methods are approved and executable, the update can retain the revised logic with a documented basis. If not, the forecast should be recalculated using supported inputs.
Field-ready control
Monthly update review checklist
- Confirm submission completeness and one consistent data date across all records.
- Compare every actual date, progress value, and remaining duration with the prior accepted update.
- Run a complete change log for activities, logic, lags, calendars, constraints, durations, codes, costs, and resources.
- Repeat schedule-quality checks and trend deterioration or improvement.
- Trace current and near-critical paths and explain material path changes.
- Reconcile milestone and float movement to contemporaneous events without prematurely assigning entitlement.
- Close comments and identify the exact accepted revision for the next reporting period.
Common questions
Should an update be rejected for every quality threshold failure?
Not automatically. Thresholds screen for conditions requiring review. The contract, severity, trend, effect on analysis, and adequacy of the explanation determine the response.
Can logic change during construction?
Yes. Actual conditions and approved resequencing can require model changes. Material changes should be explicit, supported by a real execution plan, reviewed, and preserved in the period change record.
Sources and scope
Follow the reference trail.
This guide is original educational commentary. Kairos reference records identify the source organizations, editions and scope behind this guidance. The original publishers retain their publications and rights.
Schedule Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Project SchedulesU.S. Government Accountability Office · checked 2026-08-01Primavera P6 Professional User Guide, Version 26Oracle · checked 2026-08-01UFGS 01 32 01.00 10: Project ScheduleWhole Building Design Guide / U.S. Department of Defense · checked 2026-08-01