Service · CPM Scheduling

Schedules built on logic, not wishful thinking.

Stelic builds logic-driven CPM schedules with a real critical path, models the risk around the dates, and keeps them honest from the first bid schedule to closeout, so the plan reflects how the job will actually run.

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Primavera P6 · MS Project · Asta Real critical path Risk-modeled dates
What it is

Planning and scheduling is the discipline of turning a project into a logic-driven model of how it will actually be built, so the finish date is calculated, not hoped for.

A real schedule isn't a bar chart of when things should happen. It's a network: every activity tied to the work that must come before it, so the software calculates the longest chain of dependent work, the critical path, that controls the finish. Change one duration and the whole model responds, which is exactly what makes it useful.

Done well, the schedule becomes the project's shared map: it shows what drives the end date, where the float is, what a delay really costs in time, and how much contingency the dates honestly need. Done poorly, it's a picture that reassures everyone right up until the milestone it misses.

Stelic builds and maintains schedules on the owner's side, in Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, or Asta Powerproject. We build the baseline, run the risk, and keep it updated, whether for a single project or a whole program.

What it really is

A bar chart shows dates. A CPM schedule shows what drives them.

They can look almost identical on the page. The difference is whether there's logic underneath, and that difference decides whether the schedule is worth steering by.

A real CPM schedule

A connected, logic-driven model.

Every activity tied to its predecessors, so the software calculates the critical path, the float, and how a delay ripples to the finish.

Answers
What controls the finish, and what if it slips?
Underneath
Network logic and resource data.
Used for
Steering, forecasting, defending time.
A bar chart that looks like one

A picture of intentions.

Bars drawn against a calendar with no links between them, so nothing recalculates and nothing tells you what actually matters.

Answers
When did we say each thing would happen?
Underneath
Dates typed in by hand.
Used for
Reassurance, until a milestone slips.

The logic is the whole point. Anyone can draw bars on a calendar. The value is in the network behind them, the predecessors, the float, the critical path, because that's what lets the schedule answer the only question that matters mid-project: if this slips, what does it cost us at the end?

How we build it

From a blank network to a schedule you can steer by.

A disciplined build, structure before dates, logic before optimism, then a maintenance rhythm that keeps the schedule matching the field for the life of the project.

01 Set up

Understand the work

We map your objectives, constraints, and dependencies before a single bar is drawn.

  • Requirements & constraints
  • Contract & milestones
  • Dependency mapping
02 Structure

Build the framework

We structure the work and sequence the activities so the network reflects how it's really built.

  • Work breakdown structure
  • Activity sequencing
  • Schedule specifications
03 Baseline

Set the baseline

We resource-load, find the critical path, and freeze the approved plan as the benchmark.

  • Baseline (CPM) development
  • Critical path identification
  • Schedule narrative & basis
04 Optimize

Optimize & stress-test

We level resources, run the risk, and test what-ifs to find a schedule that holds.

  • Resource leveling
  • Monte Carlo simulation
  • What-if & contingency
05 Maintain

Track & update

We record actual progress each cycle and measure the variance against the baseline.

  • Progress tracking
  • Variance analysis
  • Updates & change control
06 Protect

Recover & report

When the dates drift, we model the impact and the moves that pull the finish back.

  • Time impact analysis
  • Schedule recovery planning
  • Performance reporting
Service offerings

Three tracks, one disciplined schedule.

Engage the full discipline, build, manage, optimize, or bring us in for the single piece your project is missing.

Track 01

Schedule Development

Building the network from the ground up, structure, sequence, and a defensible baseline.

  • Work breakdown structure
  • Activity sequencing
  • Program & portfolio schedules
  • Resource planning
  • Baseline development
  • Critical path identification
  • Schedule narrative & basis
Track 02

Schedule Management

Keeping the baseline alive, tracking progress, measuring variance, and reporting it straight.

  • Baseline schedule management
  • Progress tracking
  • Variance analysis
  • Updates & maintenance
  • Schedule change control
  • Milestone & deliverable tracking
  • Closeout, archiving & lessons learned
Track 03

Optimization & Risk

Stress-testing the dates, levelling resources, modelling risk, and recovering time when it slips.

  • Resource leveling
  • Critical path optimization
  • Monte Carlo simulation
  • Contingency & what-if analysis
  • Fast-tracking & crashing
  • Time impact analysis
  • Schedule recovery planning
What you receive

Schedules and analyses that hold up.

Every engagement produces the artifacts that make the schedule usable and defensible, the baseline, the updates, and the analyses behind the dates.

Baseline CPM schedule

The approved, logic-driven plan with the critical path identified, your benchmark for the whole job.

Progress updates

Regular updated schedules showing actual progress and forecast finish against the baseline.

Schedule narrative & basis

The written logic behind the schedule, assumptions, sequence, and constraints documented.

Critical path analysis

The driving path to completion, isolated so you know exactly what controls the finish date.

Resource & cost loading

Labor, equipment, and cost mapped onto activities so the plan is staffed, not just sequenced.

Monte Carlo risk analysis

A probability-based finish date with confidence levels, so contingency is sized to the real risk.

Time impact analysis

Fragnets that isolate a delay's effect on the critical path, the basis for an extension of time.

Schedule recovery plan

The resequencing, crashing, or fast-tracking moves modeled to pull a slipped finish back.

What the schedule looks like

The critical path, in plain sight.

A representative slice of a CPM schedule view, activities, float, milestones, and the driving path highlighted, with risk modeled around the finish. Illustrative figures.

Where we apply it

Built for projects where the date is the deal.

The discipline is the same; the pressure differs. We tailor the schedule's detail, cadence, and risk model to what each sector's deadlines demand.

Data CentersPower-on dates, long-lead gear, no slack to give. Life ScienceValidation milestones that can't move late. Federal / GovernmentSpec-driven schedules, audit-grade, fixed terms. Roads & BridgesPhased work, lane closures, hard public deadlines.
Also Healthcare Higher Education K to 12 Hospitality Mixed Use Industrial
The outcome

What changes when the schedule is built on logic.

We don't lead with numbers we can't tie to your project. We lead with the operational difference a real, maintained schedule makes.

Predictability you can plan on

A forecast finish that reflects real logic and risk, so the date you commit to is one you can actually hold.

Slippage caught early

Variance against the baseline shows drift while there's still float to spend, not at the milestone it misses.

Resources where they count

Leveling and sequencing put labor and equipment on the work that actually drives the finish.

A defensible record

Clean baselines, updates, and fragnets mean a delay or extension claim stands up when it's challenged.

Representative engagement

What it looks like in practice.

An anonymized, composite example of how Stelic rebuilds a schedule and puts the finish back in reach.

Life science · Schedule rebuild Pharmaceutical fit-outValidation-driven · Fixed regulatory date
Context

A pharma fit-out was running on a contractor bar chart with no logic links. It always showed "on track", right up until two trades collided and a validation milestone was suddenly at risk with no way to see why.

Mandate

Rebuild the schedule as a logic-driven CPM network, find the true critical path, and tell the owner whether the regulatory date was still achievable, and if not, what it would take.

Approach

We reconstructed the baseline from actual progress, linked the activities, ran a critical path and Monte Carlo analysis, then modeled fast-tracking options against the validation date.

Outcome

The real critical path turned out to run through MEP, not the work everyone was watching. A targeted resequence recovered nine days, and the owner hit the validation window with a schedule they could finally trust.

Why Stelic

A schedule is only as good as the logic underneath it.

Anyone can produce a Gantt. The value is whether the network is sound, the critical path is real, and the risk is modeled, so the date is one you'd actually commit to.

A date you can commit to.

We build the logic, run the risk, and keep it honest, so the schedule reflects the job, not the hope.

01

Logic before optimism

We build the network properly, no open ends, no hard-coded dates, so the schedule calculates the finish instead of asserting it.

02

Risk-modeled dates

Monte Carlo and what-if analysis give a probability-based finish, so contingency is sized to the real exposure, not a round number.

03

Schedulers who've run the field

Our planners have built real projects, so the sequence reflects how the work actually goes, not just how it draws.

04

Platform-fluent

Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, or Asta Powerproject, we work in your platform and your contract's spec, and can take over one already running.

Common questions

Planning & scheduling, answered.

CPM, or critical path method, scheduling links every activity by its logic, what must finish before the next thing can start, so the schedule calculates the longest path of dependent work that drives the finish date. That path is the critical path. Unlike a static bar chart, a CPM schedule shows what actually controls the end date and how a delay on one activity ripples through the rest.

Primarily Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, and Asta Powerproject. We work in whichever platform fits the project, the contract specification, and the owner's existing systems, and we can take over, rebuild, or audit a schedule already running in any of them.

The baseline is the approved plan, the agreed sequence, durations, and logic, frozen as the benchmark. Progress schedules are the regular updates that record what's actually happened against it. Comparing the two is how variance, slippage, and the cause of a delay become visible, and it's why a clean, well-built baseline matters so much.

Yes. We run Monte Carlo simulation across activity duration ranges to produce a probability-based finish date and confidence levels, rather than a single deterministic date. Combined with what-if scenario analysis and critical path review, it shows where the schedule is most exposed and how much contingency the dates really need.

Yes. We frequently inherit schedules that have drifted, lost their logic, or stopped matching the field. We audit the logic, reconstruct a credible baseline from where the project actually stands, and put disciplined updating and reporting back in place from that point forward.

Time impact analysis inserts a delay event into the schedule as a fragnet to measure its specific effect on the critical path and the completion date. It isolates how much delay a particular event actually caused, which makes it the basis for an extension of time request or a defensible delay claim.

Related services

Often paired with this work.

Project Controls

The schedule is one pillar; controls tie it to cost and risk in one integrated, forward-looking read.

Explore

Dispute Resolution

When a delay turns into a claim, the schedule and its fragnets become the evidence behind your position.

Explore

Project Monitoring

Independent oversight that verifies reported progress against the schedule, for owners, lenders, and boards.

Explore
Let's build something amazing

Bring us the deadline you can't afford to miss.

A new baseline, a schedule that's drifted, or a delay you need to quantify, the discipline scales to fit, and the logic doesn't move.

Talk with us Request a capabilities statement
(800) 550-4966 [email protected]