INTRO TO TILOS

Coming back to the original post.



You will not be able plan a process plant in Tilos, because it is not linear.



It is superb for any linear project.



As for Conventional building projects, I am sure you could use it for a high rise building. You have a linear distance upwards!



As for housing etc, use line of balance method.

Dear All,



Could we use TILOS effectively for the Conventional Building Construction Projects also?

Hi Vladimir,



of course I agree.



The extra linear approach is to solve the constraints based on the geographic of the project.



All other are probably the same as in every project and have to addressed by standard project management technology. Many of them are integrated already in TILOS.



Regards

Hubert

Hi SMithson,



In CAD or Excel, or Corel Draw . . . you can do "Time - Location (Distance) Diagram" . . . but when you update / monitoring the progress . . .you will redo again.



Tilos do this . .. TILOS visually displays project plans in terms of both time and distance.



for more information or example .. . go to http://www.astadev.com/software/tilos/index.asp



Tu

Michael,



you can get all info needed incl demo on www.TLOS.org.



Data with Primavera can be exchanged.



Regards



Hubert

To All:

Is there any way I can evaluate TILOS?

I would like to be able to download a copy and/or see example outputs. I have Primavera P5/P6 .XER data which I wish to display in CAD (AutoCAD, MicroStation, ...) as Time (X Axis) against Distance (Kilometre Chainages of Highway/Pipeline Projects - Y Axis).

Does TILOS do this, or any other Modules?

Thanks in Advance for any help.

Best Regards,

Michael

Thank you, Hubert!

I understand your examples and agree that these things are most visible at the time-location chart. But I think that traditional scheduling is still necessary if resources are limited. Resource requirements can exceed resource availability and the schedule created at time-location chart will be changed after resource levelling. I think that both approaches shall be used in parallel.

Do you agree?

Best Regards,

Vladimir

Hi Vladimir,

Let me explain the things by 2 examples:

Sample 1: Pipeline

Laying a pipeline you need to have access the land. Some are available at project start, others later. TILOS highlight temporarily unavailable ground that the planer can reflect during scheduling. Similar effect have bird area, where land access is temporary forbidden. These are shown as rectangles in the background of the plan and indicate no work is possible. The clash detector alarms, when other tasks touch this area. Another sample is delivery of hot bends, which can be incorporated graphically as milestones in time and distance.

Both samples affect the schedule but without linear planning site calculations are needed. These constraints have similar effects then the availability of resources of finances but are site based constraints.

Sample 2: Metro

The critical path is most time TBM (tunnel boring machines). They are planned as lines. Station have to be ready before TBM is reaching the stations. Based on position of metro station (Site constraint) TILOS calculates latest end of the work in the station.

With traditional project management you need a lot of site calculations. Tilos solves this with a single site constraint: Keep distance.



As the site constraints are visible the planer can directly use this in planning and determine the sequence of production and level the resources ....

Hi Dave,

in this thread Hubert wrote:

"On start, most planners take over bar charts or network diagrams and convert into TILOS, but further projects are then just planned in the linear way as this is best practice for linear projects."



I wanted to understand this best practice and started to ask questions?

What is wrong with it?



What did you find in my reply to Marc except that time-location diagram is very good presentation of project schedule?



Do you want to answer my questions in the separate thread? If yes, I will start it.

Hi Valdimir,



This thread is entitled "Intro to Tilos". You comments here - particularly to Marc - clearly mislead people to think you are talking about TILOS.



If you want a general discussion about Linear Planning techniques, please create a new thread which makes it clear you are not talking specifically about TILOS.



Kind regards,



Dave.

Hi Dave,

I am afraid that you did not understand my question.

I asked about program resource (financial, supply) constraints, not about assigning resources to tasks.

I mean that it is not clear when activities will start and finish until the schedule is levelled.



My questions are not about Tilos but about linear way of entering data. I will try Tilos Demo when will find time.



Please explain me how to enter activity data on the time-location chart when it is not clear when activity will start due to resource (supply, financing) constraints and what productivity will have assigned resources (also depend on time of activity execution and resource availability at that time).

Hi Marc,



I agree about how effective these tools are in communicating to stakeholders. After a short explanation of the chart, a layman understands it immediately.



I have helped people create plans in TILOS and several people have commented on how useful it is at the tender/bid stage and also to communicate to the crews doing the work.



A rail construction company planner told me that he couldn’t get the crews to understand the importance of the timings on his plan. Once he showed them a plan in TILOS they understood immediately. So now the crews always have the latest linear plan up on the wall in the site office. With TILOS all the planner has to do is press ’print’ and take it out to site each week.



Cheers,



Dave.

Hi Vladimir,



These things are very simple to do in TILOS.



1. "how to apply resource, financing and supply constraints?"



Select the task.

Either (a) Right click and select "Resource and Work editor"

or (b) select the ’Calculation’ or the ’Resource’ tab.



The rest should be obvious. If it is not obvious to you use the context sensitive help, contact TILOS support or create a new thread here in PP.



2. "How to play "what if" scenarios with different resource availability and supply schedules."



I assume this question refers to wide scale variations rather than just one or two tasks.



Click on a blank part of the Main Cell.

Go to the Baselines tab.

Here you can create multiple baselines.

Note the "Show Baseline" button with an icon that looks like an eye.



See how the baseline tasks are shaded differently.



Easy isn’t it?



Happy planning!!



Dave.

Hi Dave,

how to apply resource, financing and supply constraints?

How to play "what if" scenarios with different resource availability and supply schedules.

Regards,

Vladimir

Hi Marc,

it will not be that simple if and when resources are limited.

But I agree that time-location presentation of project/program schedule is very useful.

Regards,

Vladimir

I can see that Tilos is going to help me a lot.

I’ve been using Excel to produce linear schedule ’pictures’ for a number of years, and it has always been very useful for making sure the project (particularly the construction phase) makes sense before commiting to a gantt based programme. Another reason the linear style is so good is that you can scale the whole project on to a single piece of paper (yes - you can get some very big pieces of paper!), still showing all the activities, but also showing physical constraints graphically. Using this ’document’ makes it very easy to explain the project to stakeholders - even if they don’t know the methodology - it is clear for all to see.

I am in the very early stages with Tilos, but I have ’great expectations’ for it!

Hi Vladimir,



I agree with you that all software is only a tool and you need a human to do the planning tasks. I think you might be missing the point of TILOS. It isn’t just a way to draw a picture or a way to help view the schedule. It is a fully functional planning tool.



TILOS is not just another time-distance charting tool or view. It allows you to perform the planning activities you are talking about in a graphical oriented way.



Take work rate and resources for example. You can define a work rate and resources for a task. You can draw that task on the chart. TILOS will automatically adjust the slope of the task to reflect the constraints of work rate and resources that you have assigned. You can alter resources and see the task change immediately.



Calendar constraints can be applied. Logic constraints are usually entered graphically. In fact because you can view both time and distance in TILOS it is better to enter the logic constraints graphically to avoid logic errors.



I recommend you get a trial copy of TILOS and have a look at it yourself.



Kind regards,



Dave.

Dear Hubert,

thank you for reply.

I agree that time-location charts are very useful for schedule analysis.

But in any case resources shall be defined and assigned to activities, calendar and logic constraints shall be entered and resource constrained schedule shows when and what will be done. It is not possible just draw project schedule.



Regards,

Vladimir

Dear Vladimir,



The thing you mentioned are obvious. This is the standard and what people expect from a project management system and TILOS covers this as well.



I wanted to express that working directly with march charts (the graphical medium of linear planning) on creating the schedule supports decisions of the planner. Geographic data (e.g. crossings, slope of land), meteorologic data (e.g. seasonal rainfall), restricted areas (e.g bird areas or not acquired land), section based quantities (tables or diagrams) are directly available and can be used without side calculations.



Special constraints avoid overlapping and clashes of different parallel processes directly. Profiles monitor, which production rates can be achieved in which section of the project reflecting changing conditions along the track: Slope of land, whet lands, rock.



All these things are quite difficult to reflect with traditional planning (task lists and bar charts), even if they produce linear diagram as output.



Regards



Hubert

Hubert,

planning any project project planner enters WBS, activities, resources, materials, calendars, costs, assigns resources, dependencies, expenses, etc.

When the model is ready then the software helps to create project schedule that takes into account all entered constraints. When the schedule is ready it can be presented different ways - as Gantt Chart, Network Diagram, Time-Location Diagram, etc.

I can understand that there are different ways of entering project data, analyzing and presenting results.



Please explain what do you mean by "planning in the linear way as this is best practice for linear projects"?



Thank you,

Vladimir

Francis,

To get an intro to TILOS apply for demo version @tilos.org. There is also a getting started guide for self training. By this you get a good introduction.



It is not just an alternative view to a schedule, it allows from begin on to integrate the constraints from the site into the schedule and avoids by this planning mistakes. TILOS was from beginning designed for linear planning.



On start, most planners take over bar charts or network diagrams and convert into TILOS, but further projects are then just planned in the linear way as this is best practice for linear projects.



Regards

Hubert

Francis,

we consider Time-Location Chart as one of reports like Gantt Chart, Network Diagram, etc. In Spider Project it is one of schedule reports (we call it Linear Diagram) that is very useful in linear projects or high rise construction. So it is just one more schedule presentation.

I did not work with Tilos, maybe they have different approach.



Regards,

Vladimir

Hi Francis Aborot



TILOS is time-location planning software for managing linear construction projects such as roads, rail lines, pipelines and tunnels.



using this software for Time Chainage Diagram . . .



for more information, visit to http://www.astadev.com/software/tilos/index.asp



Cheers



Tu