Duration Checks
Category weight: 15% of overall score
Checks in this category: 6
Duration checks verify that activity durations are reasonable, milestones are correctly defined, and dates are valid. Unrealistic durations undermine earned value calculations and make forecasting unreliable.
High Duration
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Check ID | high-duration |
| DCMA Reference | Point 5 |
| Default Threshold | > 14 working days; ≤ 5% of activities may exceed |
| Severity | Minor |
Detects activities with durations longer than the threshold, which may need to be decomposed into smaller, more manageable tasks.
What triggers a finding: Original Duration exceeds the configured day threshold (default 14 working days).
Why it matters: Long-duration activities are difficult to measure progress against. DCMA and GAO recommend keeping activity durations to two reporting periods or less so that meaningful progress can be demonstrated in each reporting cycle.
Best practice: Break long activities into sub-activities of 10–15 working days (2–3 weeks).
Zero Duration
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Check ID | zero-duration |
| DCMA Reference | Point 5 |
| Default Threshold | No non-milestone activities with zero duration |
| Severity | Major |
Detects non-milestone activities that have a duration of zero. A task-type activity with zero duration is almost always an error — it should either be converted to a milestone or given an appropriate duration.
What triggers a finding: An activity with Activity Type = Task (not Milestone) and Original Duration = 0.
Exceptions: Milestones are expected to have zero duration and are excluded from this check.
Milestone Duration
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Check ID | milestone-duration |
| DCMA Reference | Point 5 |
| Default Threshold | All milestones must have zero duration |
| Severity | Major |
The inverse of the Zero Duration check — verifies that activities typed as Milestone actually have a duration of zero. A milestone with duration is a data quality issue that can confuse reports and Gantt charts.
What triggers a finding: An activity with Activity Type containing "Milestone" and Original Duration ≠ 0.
Invalid Dates
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Check ID | invalid-dates |
| DCMA Reference | Point 5 |
| Default Threshold | No missing or invalid dates |
| Severity | Critical |
Detects activities with missing, null, or logically impossible dates (e.g., a finish date before the start date, or a scheduled start with no finish).
What triggers a finding: Start date is null, Finish date is null, or Finish date is earlier than Start date.
Why it matters: Invalid dates prevent CPM calculations from running correctly and corrupt earned value metrics.
Level of Effort Activities
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Check ID | level-of-effort |
| DCMA Reference | — |
| Default Threshold | Flags all LOE activities for review |
| Severity | Minor |
Detects all Level of Effort (LOE) activities (Activity Type = TT_LOE). LOE activities derive their dates from their predecessor/successor relationships rather than from their own logic, which means they can mask scheduling problems.
What triggers a finding: Activity Type = TT_LOE.
Why it matters: LOE activities are legitimate for management reserve, overhead, and supervisory tasks, but they should not represent real work. An excessive number of LOE activities suggests the schedule may not be logic-driven.
Approval Duration
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Check ID | approval-duration |
| DCMA Reference | — |
| Default Threshold | Minimum 15 working days (approximately 21 calendar days) |
| Severity | Major |
Verifies that activities identified as approval or review tasks have a realistic minimum duration. Approvals that are too short may not account for the actual time required to obtain sign-offs, which can create schedule risk.
What triggers a finding: An activity whose name matches approval keywords (configurable in Quality Settings) and has a duration below the minimum threshold.
Why it matters: Approval processes often take longer than planned due to reviewer availability, revision cycles, and administrative processing time.
Next Steps
- Constraint Checks — Validate constraint usage
- Critical Path Checks — Verify critical path integrity
- Quality Settings — Adjust duration thresholds