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WorkflowShutdown, Turnaround & Outage

Turnaround Schedule Health Check

A schedule health check that tests a turnaround schedule against its job packs, blind lists, material dates and crane plan, and leaves each fix to the scheduler.

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Follow one pin on Day 11 to its fix ↓
The problem

A schedule health check that only tests the math

The usual checks look at the network: open ends, lags, constraints, float. A revision can pass all of them and still have a bundle pull that starts before its blind is in, because blind work sits in its own section and each activity has ties of its own.

Pack hours drift after the schedule is built, and totals hide it when one pack runs over and another under. A kit one day late means nothing until it is set against the job that needs it first. Kept scope with no activity is invisible, since there is nothing for a check to read.

Built forTurnaround schedulersExecution leadsIsolation plannersMaterials coordinatorsInternal auditors

The Problem Today

A turnaround schedule can pass every network check and still start jobs before their blinds are in.

932
activities a 5% limit lets go untied on 18,640 our estimate
342–570
hours to check 3,418 blind points by hand our estimate

Cross-checked by hand today

  • Blind lists
  • Job packs
  • Materials
  • Crane plan
  • The math passesNetwork checks cannot see packs or blind lists
  • Collisions found in the fieldA crew arrives before the blind or the kit

The Solution

  1. Read the scheduleEach activity counted back, the network checks run in hours
  2. Test it against the workBlinds, materials, pack hours, scope and cranes read against each start
  3. One fix, with a what-ifThe agent proposes a tie and reruns the network
  4. Two people on each fixThe scheduler decides, the execution lead countersigns

Built-in controls

  • The agents never edit the schedule
  • A job before its blind has no override
  • The countersigner opens each source first

What You Get

The scheduler issues the next revision knowing which jobs collide with their blinds, kits and cranes.

  • Jobs before their blindsEach one pinned on the day it starts
  • Material against the jobLate lines set against the step that needs them
  • Crane hours off the peakLifts and spaces checked against the plan
Revision 4, four days before revision 5

A schedule health check on one turnaround revision, from pin to fix

A 38-day turnaround on 14 units, 18,640 activities and 3,126 job packs. Revision 4 passes its network checks. The agents read it against the blind lists, packs, purchase orders and crane plan.

demoThe schedule, the plant and the people are sample data.

  1. 01Monday

    411 pins on a schedule that passes its network checks, 9 on the critical path

    Turnaround scheduler

    Each pin is a collision the math cannot see, placed on its unit and day: a job before its blind, material after its start, pack hours that differ, kept scope with no activity, or a crane, space or permit clash. The network check box beside it is all green. The banner points at one pin on the hydrocracker’s exchanger.

  2. 02Monday

    The channel opens on Day 11; its last blind goes in on Day 12

    Turnaround scheduler

    The exchanger’s pack needs all six of its blinds in and walked before the channel opens. The last blind, on the steam outlet, waits for the steam header to be released, so it goes in a day later. Both activities have ties of their own, so the network checks pass, and nothing ties one to the other.

  3. 03Monday

    The blind list row says why the blind cannot move earlier

    Turnaround scheduler

    The blind list register row is cited under the pin: an 8-inch Class 300 raised face blind on the steam outlet, its drawing and its install activity. It waits for the steam header to be released after the low-pressure section is steamed out. A person still walks each blind in the field, tag in hand.

  4. 04Monday

    One tie moves the work 30 hours and cuts float to 22, and oil in holds

    Turnaround scheduler

    The fix proposer offers one tie: the walk of all six blinds, then open the channel. The what-if reruns the network on the spot. Bundle work moves 30 hours to Day 12. Float on the exchanger falls from 52 hours to 22. 31 crane hours move off the peak, 18 of which clashed with the reactor internals lift. Oil in does not move.

  5. 05Monday

    The scheduler adds it to the change list, and nothing changes yet

    Turnaround scheduler

    With the reason set to the job needs the blind first, the scheduler adds the tie to the change list. Now the pin waits for a countersignature. No agent edits the schedule; the scheduler makes the change in the scheduling tool for revision 5. A job before its blind cannot be accepted as a risk.

  6. 06Monday

    Three sources opened, then the execution lead countersigns

    Execution lead

    Countersigning works only after the execution lead opens each source: the schedule row, the job pack and the blind list. He signs. The pin is settled, and the tie also clears the crane clash on the same job, which shows on the trail as settled by this tie. The change now waits on the list for revision 5, for the scheduler to make in the scheduling tool.

  7. 07Monday

    94 jobs start before their blind, unit by unit

    Isolation planner

    The isolation view reads 3,418 blind points from the blind list and the job packs and shows where jobs start too early, by unit. Each pin names the job, the blind and the hours between them. This checks dates, not steel: whether the list itself is right is a separate review, and the isolation planner owns blind dates.

411 pins, by what the network checks could not see

Revision 4, as the agents read it.

Job before its blindof 3,418 blind points94
Material after its startof 7,260 lines; 9 on the critical path61
Hours differ from the pack by over 10%of 3,126 packs186
Kept scope with no activityof 4,871 items23
Crane, space or permit clash19 crane, 16 space, 12 permit47
Pins9 on the critical path411

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Around the schedule

Materials, pack hours, missing scope, clashes and the checks that passed

Six more screens the scheduler, the coordinators and auditors open.

Materials before the startMaterial lines read from purchase orders against the job that needs them, with the days late and the float left.
Pack hours against schedule hoursBy craft, what the schedule holds against what the packs now plan, and why they differ.
Kept scope with no activityScope requests down to kept items, and the kept items with nothing in the schedule to check.
Crane, space and permit clashesCrane days by machine on a sample crane plan, red where lifts clash, and every crane, space and permit clash pinned.
Network checksThe usual checks with their result, the standard limit, this site’s limit and what each means in plain words.
Audit trailEach decision and countersignature by pin, with what the countersigner opened, by person or agent.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

The schedule belongs to the scheduler, and the agents never touch it

Agents read, compare and propose. The scheduler, the isolation planner and the execution lead make these calls.

No edit to the scheduleThe fix proposer runs a what-if and proposes; the scheduler makes the change in the scheduling tool.
No healthy verdict on math aloneThe network checker reports the checks and never calls a schedule healthy because they pass.
No override on a blindA job before its blind cannot be accepted as a risk. Only the isolation planner can rule that a job does not need it.
No email date treated as a promiseThe materials checker uses confirmed dates and leaves the rest open.
No lift plan or permit approvedThe clash finder pins the clash and hands it to the scheduler and the isolation planner.
The agents

Eight agents cross-check the schedule, and none changes it

What each reads, and where it stops.

Schedule reader

Reads the file and counts everything back.

  • Read only
  • Refuses a file that fails its count
Network checker

Runs the network checks in hours.

  • Never calls a schedule healthy on math alone
Scope matcher

Ties kept scope items to activities.

  • Never adds an activity
Hours comparer

Compares pack hours with schedule hours by craft.

  • Never picks the right number
Isolation checker

Sets each job start against its blind install.

  • Never clears an isolation
  • Never replaces the field check
Materials checker

Sets promise dates against job starts.

  • Never treats an email note as a confirmed date
Clash finder

Finds crane hour, space and permit clashes.

  • Never approves a lift plan or permit
Fix proposer

Proposes one fix and runs the what-if.

  • Never edits the schedule
  • Never decides

What schedulers ask about a schedule health check

What is a schedule health check for a turnaround?

A schedule health check tests whether a schedule can be worked as written. The usual checks look at the network math. This schedule health check also reads each job against its blind list, job pack hours, material dates, kept scope and crane plan, and pins every collision on the day it happens.

What does it read besides the schedule file?

The blind list and marked-up drawings, the job packs and their hours by craft, purchase orders and supplier promise dates, the scope list kept at the freeze, and the crane and lift plan with work areas and permits. Each pin cites the rows it came from, so the scheduler can open them beside the network window.

What happens to pins nobody has looked at yet?

They stay open on the Gantt with their due date. Similar pins can be grouped so one decision covers them, and each group still needs a countersignature before it settles.

Does it replace our network checks?

No. It runs them too, with your site’s limits beside the standard ones, and says plainly that passing them does not mean a job can start.

How does the critical path review work here?

Each pin shows its float, and the screen counts how many sit on the critical path. A what-if reruns the network for one proposed fix, so the scheduler sees float and oil in before deciding.

Does it change our schedule?

No. The agents never edit the schedule. The scheduler makes each agreed change in the scheduling tool, and an execution lead countersigns every fix after opening its sources.

Can a job be accepted to start before its blind?

Not on these screens. There is no risk acceptance for a job before its blind; only the isolation planner can rule that a job does not need it.

When should we run a shutdown schedule review like this?

On each revision before a readiness gate and before baselining, so collisions are fixed in the schedule before crews meet them in the field.

Shutdown, Turnaround & Outage

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Bring your current
schedule revision.

We’ll read it against your blind lists and packs and pin each job that cannot start.

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