imp/ims and deliverables based planning

It’s important to know the effort. That’s the role of the schedule. At least a resource loaded schedule. But it the results are left off, and then it’s just a schedule of the effort. Maybe a nice schedule of the effort, but effort only is not much use for managing projects. The main problem with managing the project by looking at the effort is that the only definition of “done” is when the money or time runs out.

One of the Number 1 roles of a project manager is to have no surprises . The project can be late, over budget and not work according to plan. But those conditions can’t be a surprise. In order to prevent surprises, or at least reduce them in magnitude, the project needs some way to measure progress in physical terms.

“Where are we along the plan, as a measure of physical percentage of the deliverables?” “How much money will be needed to complete the remaining physical deliverables?”

Questions like these needs tangible, measurable, quantifiable and risk adjusted answers. So how can we move from effort based to results based?

IMP/IMS is a project planning and controls paradigm that defines done not only in physical percent complete but also in the planned maturity of these deliverables. The notion of “maturity of the deliverable” is probably new. Here’s a simple example:

At some early point in a project the capability of the storage system can be known to some value. This value will have a variance (standard deviation). We need 2,600GB ± 100GB.

The Project Plan should state when we need this information – say at the preliminary architecture sizing meeting. And what the target value is – we only have so much rack space. And what the allowable variance is. Of course this is not the real number, nor anywhere near the final number. But it’s a number that we can proceed with. It’s a Preliminary Design Review number.

So the IMP will indentify the review Program Event – Preliminary Design.


Imp Ims Guide - Bookshelf

Scheduling guide for program managers

Scheduling guide for program managers

The IMP and IMS evolve as the program matures. During the initial stages of Concept ... In some cases, a preliminary IMP and its corresponding IMS may be ...

Scheduling Guide for Program Managers

Scheduling Guide for Program Managers

The IMP and IMS evolve as the program matures. During the initial stages of ... Contractors are normally required to submit formal IMP and IMS with their ...

The IMS source book, guide to the International Magnetospheric Study data analysis

The IMS source book, guide to the International Magnetospheric Study data analysis

Finally the potential value of IMP data in IMS studies is illustrated with a few citations from the IMP Bibliography and with figures from a recent ...

Computer-Aided Lean Management for the Energy Industry

Computer-Aided Lean Management for the Energy Industry

5 IMP/IMS In this chapter, we suggest organizational, methodological, and management techniques that will help build an effective CALM implementation. ...

System engineering deployment

System engineering deployment

First, a company may have to respond to a program not involving an IMP/IMS approach, so the book should offer people in that situation this alternative. ...

Daily Info Directory


Integrated Master Plan and Integrated Master Schedule ...
This Guide is not intended as the only source of guidance on developing an IMP and IMS. or in preparing the IMP and IMS guidance to Offerors in a source selection. ...

Project Management Tools
The DoD Version of PMBOK has details of how to create and manage IMP/IMS ... IMP IMS Elementary Textbook is a Power Point overview of the IMP/IMS concepts ...

Integrated master plan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The IMS flows directly from the IMP and supplements it with additional levels of detail. ... ( see IMP-IMS Guide V0.9) The IMP/IMS is related to the product-based Work Breakdown ...

Integrated Master Plan (IMP) - Countryside Marketing, Inc.
The IMS flows directly from the IMP and supplements it with additional levels of detail. ... ( see IMP-IMS Guide V0.9) The IMP/IMS is related to the product-based Work Breakdown ...

DOD Guide Table
Schedule Preparation and Use Guide (IMP/IMS). • Guide for Integrating SE into DOD ... ·IMP/IMS ·Other plans and processes to support critical path analysis, EVM, and risk ...