Plan / Schedule

Plan identity and boundary

Establishes the immutable handle for one plan instance and what falls inside its envelope rather than in a referenced plan, task or project.

1. Which identifier is the authoritative, immutable handle for this plan, and which system issued it? identity
2. What distinguishes this plan from the adjacent plans, tasks and projects it references? definition
3. What planning horizon and time granularity does the plan claim to cover? temporal
4. Which planned actions and schedule entries are constituent parts rather than merely referenced? composition

Plan type and intent mode

Classifies the kind of plan and the degree of authority its intention carries, which governs what an agent may act on unaided.

1. What degree of authority does this plan assert: proposal, plan, directive or order? classification
2. Which plan kind applies, such as project schedule, operational routine, agent action plan or service plan? definition
3. Which parties may act on this plan without a further approval step? authority
4. On what scale is priority or urgency expressed, and what does each level oblige? measurement

Plan version and supersession

How successive revisions of one plan are counted, timestamped, reconciled between replicas and retired.

1. Which changes require the revision counter to increment, and which do not? constraint
2. When two replicas hold the same plan identifier, which revision wins and by what tiebreak? interoperability
3. How is a superseded revision marked, and does it remain retrievable? lifecycle
4. Which timestamp records the modification event as opposed to receipt of that modification? temporal

Ownership, write authority and approval

Who is accountable for the plan, who holds write authority over the master copy, and what evidences approval.

1. Which agent is accountable for this plan and its schedule entries? ownership
2. Which single role holds write authority over the master copy, and how is that authority transferred? authority
3. What evidence records that the plan was approved, by whom and against which revision? evidence
4. Under what conditions may write or approval authority be delegated, and is the delegation recorded on the plan? access

Goal and success criteria

The end state the plan serves and the measurable test by which fulfilment is judged.

1. What end state or objective does the plan intend to bring about? definition
2. By which measurable criterion is the goal judged achieved rather than merely attempted? measurement
3. How does the goal decompose into sub-goals and planned actions? composition
4. What happens when two goals in the same plan cannot both be satisfied? exception

Planned action specification

One intended action: its type and object, the conditions required to start it, the effects expected, and whether it is instantaneous or durative.

1. Which action type and target object does the planned action denote? definition
2. Which conditions must hold for the planned action to be executable? requirement
3. Which state changes does the planned action expect to produce? state
4. Is the action instantaneous or durative, and are its conditions checked at start, throughout, or at end? temporal
5. Which lifecycle states may a planned action occupy before it is realized? lifecycle

Assumption register

External conditions the plan takes for granted, who watches them, and what their failure invalidates.

1. Which external condition does the plan take for granted without controlling it? definition
2. Who is accountable for monitoring each assumption, and on what cadence? ownership
3. Which observable signal invalidates the assumption, and what re-planning does it trigger? event
4. How much of the plan fails if this assumption fails? measurement

Schedule risk and contingency

Uncertainty in durations and logic, the analysis run against it, and the reserve held to absorb it.

1. Which duration estimates carry a distribution rather than a single deterministic value? measurement
2. Has a schedule risk analysis been run, against which plan revision, and at what confidence level is the committed date set? validation
3. Where is schedule reserve held, and who may authorize consuming it? constraint
4. Which activities drive the greatest schedule risk? relationship

Schedule entry time binding

The anchoring of a planned action to a point, an interval, a deadline, or a start plus duration.

1. Is the entry anchored as an instant, a start plus duration, a start plus end, or a deadline only? temporal
2. In which serialization profile and precision are the entry's absolute times expressed? constraint
3. Is the entry a date-only all-day binding or a time-of-day binding? classification
4. Where is the entry expected to take place, and does that place determine its local time? spatial

Time zone and floating-time integrity

Which of the three time forms an entry uses, and how future local times survive time zone rule changes.

1. Is the entry stored as UTC, as local time with a named zone, or as floating local time? classification
2. Which time zone database release was in force when the entry was created, and is that release recorded? provenance
3. What happens to a future entry when its zone's offset or daylight-saving rule changes? exception
4. If a stored offset disagrees with the named zone, which one governs? validation

Duration, effort and working calendar

Whether a stated duration means elapsed time, working time or resource effort, and which calendar converts between them.

1. Does the stated duration mean elapsed time, working time, or resource effort? definition
2. Which working calendar, including non-working days and shift hours, applies to this entry? composition
3. In which units are durations expressed, and how are partial units rounded? measurement
4. Which calendar governs when the resource calendar and the activity calendar disagree? exception

Recurrence rule specification

The pattern that generates repeated occurrences, its grammar, anchor and termination.

1. In which recurrence grammar is the pattern expressed, and is it losslessly convertible to the others in use? interoperability
2. Which frequency, interval, by-part and termination terms define the pattern? constraint
3. Which start value anchors expansion, and in which zone is expansion performed? temporal
4. Is the series bounded by count, by an end date, or unbounded, and how far should a consumer expand it? process

Occurrence override and exception

Individual occurrences that differ from the series or are removed from it, and how they survive rule changes.

1. How is a single occurrence identified independently of the series it belongs to? identity
2. Does a change apply to one occurrence only or to that occurrence and all later ones? composition
3. How are cancelled or excluded occurrences recorded so that expansion does not regenerate them? exception
4. When the series rule changes, what becomes of previously detached overrides? validation

Ordering dependency and lag

The directed relations that sequence planned items, their type, lag and justification.

1. Which ordering relation holds between predecessor and successor: finish-to-start, start-to-start, finish-to-finish or start-to-finish? relationship
2. What lag or lead applies, in which duration kind, and what justifies it? measurement
3. What physical or contractual reason justifies the dependency rather than mere convenience? evidence
4. Which dependencies cross the plan boundary to another party's plan? interoperability

Date constraint and scheduling flexibility

Externally imposed date constraints on an entry and how far the entry may move without breaching them.

1. Which date constraint is imposed on this entry, and who imposed it? constraint
2. How flexible is the entry: fixed, movable within a window, or freely schedulable? classification
3. When a hard constraint conflicts with network logic, which is honoured and how is the conflict surfaced? exception
4. Is the deadline self-imposed, contractual or regulatory? authority

Schedule integrity and quality assessment

Structural checks that decide whether a schedule is complete, well-constructed and credible enough to be relied on.

1. Does the schedule capture every activity needed to meet the objective, including work performed by other parties? quality
2. Which activities have missing predecessors or successors, negative lag, or excessive use of hard constraints? validation
3. Can the schedule be traced horizontally across dependent activities and vertically to its summary levels? evidence
4. Which health metrics are computed, at what thresholds, and against which scheduling run? measurement

Precedence network and hierarchical composition

RFC 9253 extends RELATED-TO with temporal RELTYPE values FINISHTOSTART, FINISHTOFINISH, STARTTOFINISH and STARTTOSTART, plus GAP for lag (positive) or lead (negative) duration, and FIRST, NEXT, DEPENDS-ON, PARENT, CHILD and SIBLING. P-Plan isPreceededBy is a transitive step ordering without lag types. OWL-Time intervalBefore, intervalMeets, intervalOverlaps and related Allen relations describe interval topology but are not project-management lag. FHIR CarePlan.partOf, basedOn and replaces relate plan instances. REFID groups components without adding meaning. These relation families must be stored distinctly; isPreceededBy is not equivalent to FINISHTOSTART with lag.

1. What ordering constraint holds between these planned items, including precedence type and lead or lag gap? relationship
2. Is this plan or item part of, based on, replacing, parent of or child of another plan, and what grouping REFID if any associates peers? composition
3. Independently of project lag, which Allen interval relation holds between the scheduled intervals of the two items? temporal
4. Does this relationship currently dangle because the target was deleted or cancelled, as RFC 9253 warns for FIRST, NEXT and temporal links? evidence

Critical path and float computation

Separates asserted inputs from computed outputs and records the run that produced the dates, float and critical path.

1. Which dates are asserted inputs and which are computed outputs of a scheduling run? provenance
2. Which continuous path of activities determines the finish date, and how was its validity checked? validation
3. What total float and free float does each activity carry, and what threshold counts as unreasonable? measurement
4. What triggers recomputation, and is the previous computed result retained? process

Resource assignment and contention

Which agents and resources are assigned at what allocation, their availability, and where they are over-committed.

1. Which agent or resource is assigned to the planned action, in which role and at what allocation? relationship
2. What availability calendar limits the assigned resource? state
3. Where is the same resource committed to overlapping entries, and how is that resolved? exception
4. Which activities carry a duration but no assigned resource, and is that deliberate? quality

Commitment parties and terms

The subset of intentions that bind an agent toward a named beneficiary, with terms and qualifying conditions.

1. Which party issues the commitment and which party is its beneficiary? ownership
2. What exactly is promised, by when, and under which qualifying conditions? requirement
3. Is the commitment informal, contractual or regulatory, and what evidence establishes it? classification
4. Who is entitled to verify the commitment's existence and terms? access

Remedy, consequence and release

What follows non-fulfilment of a commitment, and how commitments are honoured, released or transferred.

1. Which additional duty is triggered when the commitment is not fulfilled? constraint
2. Which observable event constitutes non-fulfilment, and at what moment is it evaluated? event
3. How is a commitment released, renegotiated or transferred, and whose consent is required? lifecycle
4. What evidence closes the commitment as honoured? evidence

Participant role and response state

Roles participants hold on an entry, their current response, and how delegation is represented.

1. In which role does each participant appear on the entry? classification
2. What is each participant's current response state, and when was it last updated? state
3. Is a reply expected from this participant, and by when? process
4. When a participant delegates, how are delegator and delegate linked on the entry? relationship

Conflict detection and rescheduling

Whether an entry consumes availability, how clashes are found, and how alternative times are proposed and recorded.

1. Does this entry consume the participant's availability or leave them free? definition
2. How are overlapping commitments detected across separate calendars and plans? process
3. How is an alternative time proposed, accepted or declined? decision
4. When an entry moves, what records the previous time and the reason? provenance

Scheduling methods and message sequencing

iTIP methods are PUBLISH, REQUEST, REPLY, ADD, CANCEL, REFRESH, COUNTER and DECLINECOUNTER. Organizer may send PUBLISH, REQUEST, ADD, CANCEL and DECLINECOUNTER; Attendee may send REPLY, REFRESH, COUNTER and a delegation REQUEST. Correlation keys are UID, RECURRENCE-ID, SEQUENCE and DTSTAMP: higher SEQUENCE obsoletes lower for the same UID and recurrence id; matching SEQUENCE ties break on later DTSTAMP. SEQUENCE MUST increment when Organizer changes DTSTART, DTEND, DURATION, DUE, RRULE, RDATE, EXDATE or STATUS. JSCalendar sequence and method (lowercase iTIP method) carry the same semantics. Out-of-order replies must be discarded using persisted last SEQUENCE and DTSTAMP per attendee.

1. Which scheduling method is being applied, who may send it, and is this a new object or a revision of an existing UID? process
2. What SEQUENCE and stamp time identify this revision, and does it obsolete a previously stored component with the same UID and recurrence id? lifecycle
3. If a reply arrives with a lower sequence or earlier stamp than the last persisted attendee response, should it be discarded? evidence
4. What spoofing, unauthorized organizer-replacement or flood controls apply to this scheduling message, as warned in iTIP security considerations? access

Baseline snapshot and approval

Immutable frozen versions of a plan against which later performance and variance are measured.

1. Which elements are frozen in the baseline and which remain live? composition
2. Who approved the baseline, and under what rule may the plan be re-baselined? authority
3. How are multiple concurrent baselines distinguished, and which is current? identity
4. How is it proven that a stored baseline has not been altered since freezing? security

Change log and reason codes

The controlled record of what changed in a plan, why, on whose authority and at which distinct times.

1. At what granularity is a change recorded: whole plan, entry, or individual field? composition
2. Which controlled reason code explains the change, distinguishing correction of an error from genuine re-planning? classification
3. Who authorized the change, and was downstream notification required? authority
4. Which timestamps record when the change was decided, applied and observed by consumers? temporal

Progress actuals and variance

Progress recorded against the plan as of a stated status date, and the variance computed against baseline.

1. How is progress expressed, and is the measurement method declared rather than assumed? measurement
2. Which actual start and finish dates are recorded, and are dates later than the status date rejected? temporal
3. What variance against the baseline is computed, and at which level of the plan? validation
4. As of which status date is the progress statement valid, and who asserted it? provenance

Realization and fulfilment link

How intentions are linked to the acts that fulfilled them, including partial, substituted and unplanned outcomes.

1. Which recorded acts realize this planned action, and is the correspondence one-to-one? relationship
2. How is partial or substituted fulfilment represented without overwriting the original intention? state
3. How is this plan recorded as the plan an executing agent actually followed? provenance
4. How are acts that occurred with no corresponding intention represented? exception

Closure and abandonment

Terminal states of a plan, the authority and reason for ending it, and the treatment of residual obligations.

1. Which terminal states may a plan reach, and how are they distinguished from one another? lifecycle
2. What reason and authority are recorded when a plan is dropped before completion? decision
3. What happens to open commitments and future occurrences when the plan closes? exception
4. May a closed plan be edited, and if not, how are subsequent corrections expressed? constraint

Plan provenance and attribution

The agent and activity that produced a plan version, and the prior plans, templates or forecasts it derives from.

1. Which agent, human or software, generated this plan version, and under which activity? provenance
2. From which prior plan, template or forecast is this plan derived? relationship
3. Is the planning agent autonomous software, and are its identity and version recorded? classification
4. Which upstream instruction or request caused the plan to be created? authority

Disclosure, access and retention

The level of detail each audience may see, the grants that permit it, and how long plan records are kept before authorized disposition.

1. At which level of detail is the entry shared: full content, busy-only, or hidden entirely? privacy
2. Which grants let a non-owner read or write the plan, and do they apply per entry or per plan? access
3. How long are plan, schedule and commitment records retained after closure, and under whose records schedule? retention
4. When an entry is deleted, what marker remains so that replicas do not resurrect it? exception
5. Which fields may reveal sensitive location, health or negotiation information and must be redacted in projections? security

Interoperability and exchange alignment

Mappings to external calendaring and planning vocabularies, the losses in each direction, and what any conformance claim rests on.

1. To which external vocabularies does this model map, and which elements are lossy in each direction? interoperability
2. Does an export and re-import round trip preserve identity, revision counter and occurrence overrides? validation
3. What evidence supports a conformance claim, as distinct from a mere alignment? evidence
4. How are locally required fields carried without breaking a receiving implementation? constraint