Integrated master plan
In the United States Department of Defense, the Integrated Master Plan (IMP) and the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) are important program management tools that provide significant assistance in the planning and scheduling of work efforts in large and complex materiel acquisitions.
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.
It provides a hierarchical, event-based plan that contains: Events; Significant accomplishments; Entry and exit criteria; however it does not include any dates or durations.
The IMP provides Program Traceability by expanding and complying with the program's Statement of Objectives (SOO), Technical Performance Requirements (TPRs), the Contract Work Breakdown Structure (CWBS), and the Contract Statement of Work (CSOW)—all of which are based on the Customer's WBS to form the basis of the IMS and all cost reporting.
The IMP provides a framework for independent evaluation of Program Maturity by allowing insight into the overall effort with a level-of-detail that is consistent with levied risk and complexity metrics.
An IMS summarized at too high a level may result in obscuring critical execution elements, and contributing to failure of the EVMS to report progress.
A high-level IMS may fail to show related risk management approaches being used, which can result in long duration tasks and artificial linkages masking the true critical path.
It may use guides such as the PASEG Generally Accepted Schedule Principles (GASP) as guidance to improve execution and enable EVMS.
The IMP is often called out as a contract data deliverable on United States Department of Defense materiel acquisitions, as well as other U.S. Government procurements.
