Hi,
I am relatively new to planning. I am planning my first job, to build 4 large pipelines. The pipelines are over 500m in length each, and run parallel to each other. Each pipeline needs to grow at the same time i.e. not construct the first pipe, then the second etc.
I have input each activity to build each pipeline, and input the logic for each pipeline i.e. install the first section of pipe before the second section etc.
I have done it on the basis of having infinite resources. However, this will not be the case. There may only be one crane for example.
My question is, although I have put the actual logic in, how do I influence the schedule in order so it is built in a particular way? E.g. Pipeline 1 section 1 > Pipeline 2 section 1 > Pipeline 3 section 1 > Pipeline 4 section 1 > Pipeline 1 section 2
Do I just use logic link, even though it's not the actual logic.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Hi Samuel
Although Satish has described the method I prefer not to use the resource levelling in the software but apply what is commonly known as "soft logic".
You need to break down the distance of each pipeline into the length that a crane can side lift the pre welded pipeline into the trench in one day.
Put the crane operation into the logic as a one day task then link the crane tasks FS between the pipelines.
Normally the critical path in a pipeline goes through the welding operation so you may decide that deploying only one crane is a false economy - especially if you are using automatic welding.
Best regards
Mike Testro
Dear Samuel,
You have to resource load the activities. In MSP, you can resource load based on the number of teams you are planning and set the priority of the section (say if I set the same resource to the following sections with the assigned priorities P1S1=600, P2S1 = 550, P1S2=500,PS2=450 max priority is <1000). Depending on the no. of sections you have to choose the decrement (you can start from 999 itself) and then click level resource . They will automatically adjust. in the above example the sequence of completion will be P1S1, P2S1,P1S2,P2S2,PP1S3,P2S3 etc, P1 and P2 will be completed at an almost equal rate. If you want to complete them exactly at the same time, you will have to choose two independent resources.
Regards,
Satish