Plan vs. Schedule — What's the Difference?

A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal.

A schedule or a timetable, as a basic time-management tool, consists of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place, or of a sequence of events in the chronological order in which such things are intended to take place. The process of creating a schedule — deciding how to order these tasks and how to commit resources between the variety of possible tasks — is called scheduling, and a person responsible for making a particular schedule may be called a scheduler.

An orderly or step-by-step conception or proposal for accomplishing an objective

A plan for carrying out a process or procedure, giving lists of intended events and times

A proposed or intended course of action

An appendix to a formal document or statute, especially as a list, table, or inventory

A systematic arrangement of elements or important parts; a configuration or outline

(with reference to the British system of income tax) any of the forms (named ‘A’, ‘B’, etc.) issued for completion and relating to the various classes into which taxable income is divided.

A drawing or diagram made to scale showing the structure or arrangement of something.

Arrange or plan (an event) to take place at a particular time

In perspective rendering, one of several imaginary planes perpendicular to the line of vision between the viewer and the object being depicted.

Include (a building or site) in a list for legal preservation or protection

A program or policy stipulating a service or benefit

A list of times of departures and arrivals; a timetable

To formulate a scheme or program for the accomplishment, enactment, or attainment of

A plan for performing work or achieving an objective, specifying the order and allotted time for each part

To have as a specific aim or purpose; intend

A printed or written list of items in tabular form

To draw or make a graphic representation of.

A program of events or appointments expected in a given time

To make plans.

A student's program of classes.

A drawing showing technical details of a building, machine, etc., with unwanted details omitted, and often using symbols rather than detailed drawing to represent doors, valves, etc.

A supplemental statement of details appended to a document.

A set of intended actions, usually mutually related, through which one expects to achieve a goal.

A federally regulated list of controlled substances, ranked in classes by potential for abuse.

A two-dimensional drawing of a building as seen from above with obscuring or irrelevant details such as roof removed, or of a floor of a building, revealing the internal layout; as distinct from the elevation.

One of the ranks or classes in such a list.

A method; a way of procedure; a custom.

To enter on a schedule

A subscription to a service.

To make up a schedule for

(transitive) To design (a building, machine, etc.).

To plan or appoint for a certain time or date

(transitive) To create a plan for.

To list or rank (a controlled substance) in a schedule.

(intransitive) To intend.

(obsolete) A slip of paper; a short note.

(intransitive) To make a plan.

(legal) A written or printed table of information, often forming an annex or appendix to a statute or other regulatory instrument, or to a legal contract.

A draught or form; properly, a representation drawn on a plane, as a map or a chart; especially, a top view, as of a machine, or the representation or delineation of a horizontal section of anything, as of a building; a graphic representation; a diagram.

One of the five divisions into which controlled substances are classified, or the restrictions denoted by such classification.

A scheme devised; a method of action or procedure expressed or described in language; a project; as, the plan of a constitution; the plan of an expedition.

A serial record of items, systematically arranged.

A method; a way of procedure; a custom.

A procedural plan, usually but not necessarily tabular in nature, indicating a sequence of operations and the planned times at which those operations are to occur.

To form a delineation of; to draught; to represent, as by a diagram.

(computer science) An allocation or ordering of a set of tasks on one or several resources.

To scheme; to devise; to contrive; to form in design; as, to plan the conquest of a country.

To create a time-schedule.

A series of steps to be carried out or goals to be accomplished;

To plan an activity at a specific date or time in the future.

An arrangement scheme;

To add a name to the list of people who are participating in something.

Scale drawing of a structure;

To admit (a person) to hospital as an involuntary patient under a schedule of the applicable mental health law.

Have the will and intention to carry out some action;

(US) To classify as a controlled substance.

Make plans for something;

A written or printed scroll or sheet of paper; a document; especially, a formal list or inventory; a list or catalogue annexed to a larger document, as to a will, a lease, a statute, etc.

Make or work out a plan for; devise;

To form into, or place in, a schedule.

Make a design of; plan out in systematic, often graphic form;

A temporally organized plan for matters to be attended to

An ordered list of times at which things are planned to occur

Plan for an activity or event;

Make a schedule; plan the time and place for events;