Flaw #4 Original Duration versus Original Duration
Original - original durations should be sacrosanct. In some environments it is not uncommon to see 20 work days turn into 200 work days in a blink of an eye for no justifiable reason other than to simply distort the schedule to serve a particular interest or result. Whether the OD change is one day or five days or whatever, it should not be allowed to change once it is baselined.

For some computer generated schedules Claim Digger will definitely notice any change and it is the schedule?s main defense against this type of behavior. For those that do not have Claim Digger using an Excel spreadsheet to compare ODs in different schedules by simply making a subtraction formula. If the result is not zero, then there is a situation. The other defense is requiring an explanation for each and every change to the OD.

The Critical Path is most commonly the path that has ODs changes in order to bring the Total Float back to zero. The flaw is not correcting the float path, but not knowing the results of the schedule updated float path prior to making changes. A procedure, that is never used, would require a baseline submittal to have only Out-of-Sequence activities adjusted and then followed by a second submittal that has the other adjustments, ODs and relationships changes, in order to attain a zero TF (another flaw to be discussed). The reason for skipping the first submittal step is to manipulate the activities before a true forensic review can be made on the schedule logic, which now becomes a misrepresentation of the original intended logic in the schedule; thus, the Flaw.