Best Practice Checks
Category weight: 2.5% of overall score
Checks in this category: 3 (plus 1 opt-in weightage check)
Best practice checks go beyond the DCMA 14-Point Assessment to validate your schedule against industry guidance from the APM (Association for Project Management), GAO (Government Accountability Office), and common project controls standards.
Logic Density
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Check ID | logic-density |
| DCMA Reference | APM |
| Default Threshold | Minimum 1.5 relationships per activity |
| Severity | Minor |
Verifies that the schedule has adequate relationship density — meaning enough predecessor/successor links relative to the number of activities. Low logic density suggests the schedule has insufficient logic to produce a meaningful critical path.
Logic Density = Total Relationships / Total Activities
What triggers a finding: Logic density falls below the configured threshold (default 1.5).
Why it matters: A schedule with 1,000 activities should have at least 1,500 relationships. Fewer than that means many activities are not logically connected, which undermines the schedule network.
Good practice: Most well-constructed schedules have a logic density between 1.5 and 2.5.
Baseline Integrity
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Check ID | baseline-integrity |
| DCMA Reference | GAO |
| Default Threshold | All activities should have baseline dates |
| Severity | Minor |
Validates that baseline data is present and consistent across the schedule. Baseline dates are essential for variance analysis and earned value management.
What triggers a finding:
- Activities are missing baseline start dates
- Activities are missing baseline finish dates
- Baseline finish date is earlier than baseline start date
Why it matters: Without baseline dates, you cannot calculate schedule variance (SV/SVt), compare planned vs. actual performance, or produce meaningful trend analysis.
Project Milestones
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Check ID | milestone-spacing |
| DCMA Reference | APM |
| Default Threshold | Schedule must have both a start milestone and a finish milestone |
| Severity | Info |
Verifies that the project has the required start and finish milestones. These anchor the schedule network and provide clear boundaries for CPM calculations.
What triggers a finding: The schedule is missing a clearly identifiable start milestone, finish milestone, or both.
Why it matters: A schedule without a defined start milestone has no clear network origin, and a schedule without a finish milestone cannot determine the project completion date through forward/backward pass logic.
Weightage Distribution (Opt-in)
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Check ID | weightage-distribution |
| DCMA Reference | — |
| Default Threshold | Per configuration (disabled by default) |
| Severity | Info |
Validates that project weightage distributions are properly configured across WBS or Activity Code levels. This check is disabled by default and must be enabled in Quality Settings.
What triggers a finding: Weightage values do not sum to 100%, or individual elements have missing or zero weightage assignments.
When to enable: Use this check when your project uses weighted progress measurement across WBS elements or activity code groupings.
Next Steps
- Regional Checks — Region-specific compliance checks
- Logic Checks — Core schedule logic validations
- Quality Settings — Adjust best practice thresholds