Scheduling Without a Data Date Is Not Just Bad Practice, It's a Liability
The Day the Schedule Became Useless
Picture this: a $40 million commercial project. Twenty-two months of work. A general contractor claiming a twelve-week owner-caused delay. The owner pushing back.
Both sides pull out the schedule.
The GC's schedule has been updated monthly - progress entered, activities statused, percent completes logged. But nobody ever advanced the data date. Every update looks like it was made on Day One of the project. The logic is intact. The durations are plausible. But as a forensic document, it is worthless.
The opposing expert asks a simple question: "As of what date is this schedule current?"
No one can answer it.
That is not a scheduling technicality. That is a project team walking into a dispute with an unloaded weapon.
