A Master Schedule in P3
- before there was P6 - a roll-up of P3, SureTrak, MSP and Excel -

The contractor had a CPM for every job - even for simple new home community amenities. What they needed was a means to forecast need for key equipment and personnel for the coming year. Schedules (CPM and less than CPM) were added to a Master System as acquired, (removed as completed,) summarized with resource loading, and updated to the needs of individual project leaders with a minimum of extra effort. (About the only requirement was agreement on naming the codes for equipment.)

All projects ran independent having their own level of detail and update maintenance set by their lead superintendent. Some had a full CPM, some only a summary bar-chart in Excel. A simple protocol was developed for absorption, maintenance, and analysis on an enterprise level - before the development of P6 and without the complexities of P6 upon individual projects.

At a glance, key crews, crew foremen, and equipment could then be projected. Monthly meeting of all superintendents led to company wide cooperation for the betterment of the enterprise. Where the early schedules required excess resources, the TEAM would "debate" who should utilize float to send resources elsewhere, or to have the time to acquire additional resources. The head of Facilities could gauge whether to buy or rent additional equipment or sell or lease out under-utilized assets.