In the United States Department of Defense (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., the Integrated Master Plan (IMP) and the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) are important program management (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. tools that provide significant assistance in the planning and scheduling of work efforts in large and complex material acquisitions.[1] (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. The IMP is event-driven plan documents the significant accomplishments necessary to complete the work and ties each accomplishment to a key program event. [2] (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. The IMP is expanded to a time-based IMS to produce a networked and multi-layered schedule showing all detailed tasks required to accomplish the work effort contained in the IMP. The IMS flows directly from the IMP and supplements it with additional levels of detail—both then form the foundations to implement an Earned Value Management System (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
The IMP is a bilateral agreement between the Government and a contractor on what defines the “event-driven’ program. The IMP documents the key events, accomplishments, and the evaluation “criteria” in the development. production and/or modification of a military system; moreover, the IMS provides sequential events and key decision points (generally meetings) to assess program progress. Usually the IMP is a contractual document. Supporting the IMP is the IMS that is made up of “tasks” depicting the work effort needed to complete the “criteria”.[3] (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. It is a detailed time-driven plan for program execution that helps to ensure on-time delivery dates are achieved, and that tracking and status tool are used during program execution. These tools must show progress, interrelationships and dependencies. For this discussion please research an example of an IMP and IMS – please insert the reference URL in the reply to the discussion board and describe what the examples are. In addition discuss (from a PM perspective) the pros and cons of using an IMP and IMS.
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