My name is Murray Woolf, and I am Managing Director of the College of Scheduling’s Scheduling Excellence Initiative (SEI). SEI was commissioned last year as the College’s comprehensive effort to bring about scheduling excellence within our profession.

Our guiding principle is that "if the schedule touches it, or it touches the schedule," then we are concerned with bringing about the best possible scheduling services and products. As we considered all the ways scheduling services and products are affected (or affect), we identified seven key areas of concentration. SEI was then subdivided into seven corresponding subcommittees (plus an eight, administrative subcommittee).

The first three subcommittees will be writing best practices, guidelines, principles, concepts, and recommendations for all aspects of project scheduling. STRATEGIC BUSINESS PLANNING (SBP) concentrates on pre-project planning, while SCHEDULE MANAGEMENT (SM) is focused on the design, development, maintenance, and usage of schedules during the project. SCHEDULE IMPACT ANALYSIS (SIA) deals with post-project issues, including dispute resolution methodologies, etc.

SOFTWARE ENRICHMENT (SE) is a subcommittee bent on bringing about a new breed of scheduling software, where unwanted features are removed, wanted features are added, and existing features are improved. SE will foster open dialogue between software publishers and be a catalyst for development of consistent calculations among products.

INDUSTRY FOCUS (IF) is a gathering of scheduling expert from approximately twenty different application environments ("industries") that will write qualifying extensions to core viewpoints espoused by the other subcommittees.

EDUCATION & KNOWLEDGE CENTER (EKC) will develop training materials, provide training, as well as scheduler and scheduling trainer certification.

RESEARCH & INNOVATION (RI) operates a "think tank" where new innovations in scheduling can be incubated. It will also perform objective reviews of emerging technologies and methodologies, ala Consumer Reports. Finally, it will administer technical research on scheduling topics.

AS YOU CAN SEE, SEI is about to change the future of scheduling in ways that will effect our profession for decades to come. I am inviting you to join the effort. We still need another 100 volunteers. Everyone brings something to the table. If you are interested in helping us "make history," then contact me at (303) 697-3970 [Denver], or write to me at mwoolf@long-intl.com I’d love to bring you aboard. - Murray Woolf