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(2) It's also good to get feedback when a solution is found, return to the original post to explain how it was resolved so that more people can also use the results.
Suppose you will develop a level 3 EPC schedule. At what level do you load resources in a schedule?
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One has also to consider the monitoring and updating part of the programme; for example, how do you update the actual labor hours or material quantities for the activity? for example, in buildings; it would be ideal to breakdown the activities of gypsum wall partition, let us say for the office areas into 1) metal studs (2) partitions first fix and early walls (3) partitions closing? Question is, do you have the organization and staff to monitor how many sqm went to the metal studs; how many gypsum walls were already installed? how much hours for each trade? Imagine if you have say a 1000 rooms for a shopping mall or a hospital? Your programme will be resource loaded in detail, but your controlling will for sure not be in that detail.
Resources should be loaded at a low a level as practical - the more granular the better. The worth of your project is measured by the value of the resources, both consumable and recurring that are utilized in the course of the project. The smaller the unit the more accurate your measure of progress. Think of a timepiece. If you only need to know the time within a few hours, then a glance of the sun should be proficient. If that is not sufficient, then an hourglass. A fine Movado watch will give you beautiful but expensive time keeping, but still your measure of accuracy is only to within one half of the smallest increment on the face of the watch. In this case, a cheap digital will actually provide the most accurate time (moral is that most expensive software may just look impressive but provide less than cheaper but more functional ones).
Hi to All,
Let me share my two cents! It depends at what stage of the project you need this programme, as explain briefly below.
During the Tendering stage of a project, A project is priced based on the Bill of Quantities (BOQ), so more or less it is already measured. Based on these quantities, we (planners) estimate the total Mandays or Manhours it will take to complete a certain task, for example: Rebar Fixing - your total reinforcement (Quantity)for the project is estimated at 5000 tons and the production rate in your country is 0.5 ton per Manday, In other words a Rebar Fixer can fixed an average of 500 kg of reinforcement / day, so, more or less you need 10,000 Mandays to complete this task. During tendering stage you can have one summary bar for Structural Works and load 10,000 Mandays for a rebar fixer and this is acceptable during the Tender Stage. However, during construction, (this is where Vladimir comes) this is no longer applicable as there are task which are stacked on top of each other and some over lapping with each other. When you do a detailed construction programme, this is normally what happens, but there is also a danger of over estimating the number of Mandays and/or Manhours you required to complete the project, so it is always a good practice to refer back to the tender assumptions and basis.
Best regards,
Daniel
Hi,
I agree with who is saying that the resource should be loaded in adetail program because in level 1 schedule we will not give the accurate figures it will be so roughly so no use from.
hello michael,
To satisfy the requirement of the contract in having a S-Curve and Histogram which is to be submitted within the first 60 days period of the contract, then the approach is acceptable.
If for the purpose of costing and updating, the approach is not realistic. Primavera develop the resource curve for the purpose of distributing the units or cost for an activty within the duration period. It is not only distributed equally but in any other curves as you wish to distribute. Even if a resource is loaded to the lowest activity, you still need the resource curve to be assigned. Therefore in my opinion, nothing is wrong or right in every approach as long as the individual who requires it are satisfied.
hi raymond
your approach is ok with your consultant?
because if you only assign that to WBS summary, it will be equally distributed
if using resource curve on the other hand, is like cheating
it means your activity movement does not match the movement of your resources
Hi to all,
Most Clients usually requires S-Curve (Cash Flow) and Manpower Histogram as a requirement for the satisfaction of the contract conditions. The Total amount to be visible on the Cash Flow is equal to the contract amount of the Project which is based from the Contract BOQ. As for the Manpower histogram, an assumption of man-hours to be loaded on the schedule will give the result.
To satisfy the requirement for the S-Curve, simply create a Resource (Material Type) with a name as your WBS (CSI – 16 Divisions). Usually, the BOQ is organized in accordance to CSI which is the same as your WBS. The Unit Price for the Resource you created will be the amount on the BOQ at WBS level. Insert a WBS Summary Activity and Load the corresponding resource into it. If the activities under it have a gaps (inactivity) then a resource curve will manage the distribution throughout the entire duration.
As for the histogram, create a single resource (Labor Type) which will be used for the entire schedule. The resource name could be given as "Project's name Labor". The resource shall not have a Unit rate because the amount needed for the labor is already included in the Material Type Resource above. Assign this resource to the same WBS Summary Activity as in the above and input the assumed man-hours required for the entire works under the WBS in the budgeted unit. (# of Labors X No. of hours/time X Total Duration of Activity)
Transfer the results from the Resource Spreadsheets to Excel and produce the best presentation to reach the highest satisfaction of the clients.
With these simple steps the requirement of the contract is already met.
Please let me know if my approach is wrong.
Thanks…
I agree with Vladimir. Raul, how do you define resources? If you mean Labor, Materials, Equipment, then your tasks or activities should be physically measurable, i.e. m2; m3; lm; etc. It is the only way that you can load resources.
Right or Wrong? It should always be right, if your schedule is measurable.
So at what level do you load resources? My answer is: As soon as your Schedule becomes measurable.
Dear Tanveer,
I think this is depend on Client, becoze i come to understand some places client asking that level 1 stage as you mentioned and some places at level 2 and L3 but i think resource and cost should be loaded in full details schedule.
Raul,
First of all I agree to everyone's opinion...
My opinion is that I assume we know what resources are and its purpose. Now, depending on our project reuirements as well as client requirements. If we can come up with the most accurate or pratical projection of resource usage (maybe cost analysis as well) in any way we want it...through the planning software that we use or by MS Excel or other special software intended for that purpose.. as long as our project requirements are met or our client will approve it..then at any level we can make the necessary resource loading..even if at level 1 if we think our resource usage is realistic enough and our client agrees to it..then go for it..
cheers,
the Rock
Kaleel,
Same as you we keep our resource usage on a separate database, not on Excel, but on our Job Costing that is integrated with our Financial System.
We do not double entry or try to transfer data from one system database to the other, we update our schedule resources using the as planned functionality for resources while we make other actuals and remaining duration using the best information available. We use true actual dates and estimates for remaining duration brainstormed by the PM with his job Superintendent, Foremen and Subcontractors, not the software projection based on some % formula. For remaining duration estimate we take no short cuts, we do not even need an updating meeting with some subs, a 5 minutes cellular phone conversation will do it.
The Financial System provide us with adequate documentation of historical events while at the same time we keep a working model needed to predict resource demand. No matter what your projections are they are just estimates as you cannot predict the future, there is no need for 100% accuracy in your resource estimates while for your accounting and claim documentation you need the accuracy.
In any case, for a court claim in most cases you will eventually have to spread the resource loading to your individual activities as it is common for only a few activities of a few WBS do fall into the critical path. Keeping your time cards with an adequate description of the daily activities will be enough in case in the future you need to distribute the actual resources distribution into your CPM model. Unless your company is always in court this will happen in rare occasions. We found no justification to assume every job will end in court, we assume every job is a potential job to end in court but because it applies only to a small fraction we do not feel the urge to double entry the data, double entry is done only when needed to make our case.
Keep the best of both worlds and keep it simple. Documentation of historical events is important to us but planning for the future is even more. Resource leveling that works is a must have, resource loading at the WBS level instead of at the activity level is misleading, therefore is in error.
Regards,
Rafael
What is the purpose of resource loading?
If to understand resource flow and requirements then WBS level does not work because does not show the distribution of resource requirements in time and does not permit resource leveling. What results can be achieved if resources are assigned on the high level phases?
I dont think there is a "Right" or "wrong" way. Ideally i would like the resources to be assigned at the Activity level. This gives a much more realestic cost/resource profile. But the issue is the "Practacilaty" when it comes to updating it. If the contractor is paid on the % payment milestones linked to the progress of the project, it would make more sense in measuring the actuals agains the budget.
So, would you go to each activity and update the each resource actuals (labour, non-labour & material). I would like to, but on a huge project this might not be practical. So i would have the resource summary's on a WBS level and monitor the detail actuals separately (say, on excel).
I dont think there is a "Right" or "wrong" way. Ideally i would like the resources to be assigned at the Activity level. This gives a much more realestic cost/resource profile. But the issue is the "Practacilaty" when it comes to updating it. If the contractor is paid on the % payment milestones linked to the progress of the project, it would make more sense in measuring the actuals agains the budget.
So, would you go to each activity and update the each resource actuals (labour, non-labour & material). I would like to, but on a huge project this might not be practical. So i would have the resource summary's on a WBS level and monitor the detail actuals separately (say, on excel).
Thank you, Trevor.
We use this word in Russian and I did not check if similar English word really exists.
Best Regards,
Vladimir
I also agree with Vladimir about "I don't approve this Level 1, Level 2, etc. terms.", and I will say why. These are arbitrary, vague distinction without any real meaning or purpose or use.
You should assign resources to tasks asap, ie as soon as you can estimate what they will be, ie immediately that you have defined a task. Putting it off cannot be justified and is just procrastination.
Vlad, I don't think that "detalization" is a proper English word, but it is a very nice made up word.
I don't approve this Level 1, Level 2, etc. terms.
The schedules may be high level or detailed.
Detailed schedules shall be resource loaded and this is one of criteria for schedule detalization.
An activity shall have some physical work quantity (volume) measure and shall be done by the certain resource crew.
If activities in your Level 3 schedule are done by certain resource crews then resources shall be assigned.
If one portion of some activity is done by one crew, other portion by another crew then you will not be able to assign resources properly.
Hi Raul
I concur with the statement above, you need to apply both your manpower and material resources from the conception stage. As the programme is being built the resources need to added to each activity to ensure you activity duration is correct and most importantly buildable.
However, if you are refferring to cost and money as a resource then it could be argued that a more simplistic appproach is adopted. Ideally before you start compiling your programme you should discuss the structure of both your WBS (work breakdown structure) and the Estimators EBS (Extimate breakdown structure). These need to be aligned somehow and at the level you wish to apply cost.
Personnally I would not apply cost to every activity due to the amount of change that is likely to occur over a project life-cycle, it would be more realistic to apply the cost resource to a significant summary level. This will make it easier to align with the estimator in the long run and you will not spend all day adjusting costs when progressing the works when your main priority is monitoring and contolling time!!
Regards
David
Hi Raul Santos
In my opinion the resources should be added right from the level 1 coz normally we make our program at the bidding stage and the client needs to know the resource histogram along with the level 1 program. This is what I usually do.
Tanveer
Email: PPadmin@planningplanet.com
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