ADDING ACTIVITIES AND ORGANIZING UNDER THE WBS

Activities should be well-defined, measurable pieces of work with a measurable outcome.

Activity descriptions containing only nouns such as “Bid Document” have confusing meanings.

Does this mean read, write, review, submit or all of these? Adequate activity descriptions always have a verb-noun structure to them. A more appropriate activity description would be

“Write Bid Document” or “Review and Submit Bid Document.” The limit for activity names is 120 characters, but try to keep activity descriptions meaningful yet short and concise so they are easier to print.

When activities are created they are normally added under a WBS Node but may be organized under other coding structures such as Activity Codes or User Defined Fields.

This chapter will cover the following topics:

Topic Menu Command

Setting New Activity Defaults

Select Projects, EPS, select your project, Set Project Preferences…, Defaults tab

Adding New Activities Select a line in the schedule and strike the Ins (Insert Key) or right-click and select the Add menu item.

Activity Details form May be displayed in the bottom pane by clicking on a tab.

Copying activities in

Primavera Select the activities and copy and paste to the required location.

Assigning % Complete Type to Activities

Use the % Complete Type drop down box in the General tab of the Activity window bottom pane.

Assigning Activity Type to Activities

Use the Activity Type drop down box in the General tab of the Activity window bottom pane.

Assigning Duration Type to Activities

Use the Duration Type drop down box in the General tab of the Activity window bottom pane.

Assigning WBS Nodes to activities

Create an activity in an existing WBS band,

Display the WBS column and click the WBS cell to display the Select WBS form, or

Cut and Paste in a different WBS Node.

7.1 New Activity Defaults

After creating a new project and before adding activities it is important to set the defaults such as the Activity ID Numbers and Calendars. By setting them correctly before adding activities you will save a significant amount of time because you will not have to change a number of attributes against all activities at a later date. These defaults are set in the Project

Preferences form by selecting Projects, EPS, select your project, Set Project Preferences…, Defaults tab:

7.1.1 Duration Type

None of the Duration Type options affects how the schedule calculates until one or more resources is assigned to an Activity. The following options are available:

• Fixed Units

• Fixed Duration & Units/Time

• Fixed Units/Time

• Fixed Duration & Units

If you do not plan to add resources to Activities, then you do not need to assign a Duration Type and it may be left as the default.

This topic will be covered in detail in the ASSIGNING ROLES, RESOURCES AND EXPENSES chapter.

7.1.2 Percent Complete Type

The Percent Complete type should be understood if it is intended to be used to update (status or progress) the schedule. This option may be set for each activity individually in Primavera and the default for new activities is set in the Percent Complete Type drop down box. Primavera has many Activity Percent Complete fields that may be displayed in columns and we will discuss four of them now:

Activity % Complete, which may be linked to one only of the three following % Complete fields and is always linked to the % Complete displayed on the Gantt Chart bars:

• Physical % Complete, which is independent of activity resources and durations,

• Duration % Complete, which is linked to activity Original and Remaining Durations, and

• Units % Complete, which is linked to resource units.

There are three percent complete options; each new activity is assigned the project default Percent Complete Type and then this may be edited for each activity as required.

Therefore, for example, when the option of Physical % Complete is selected for an activity then the Activity % Complete and the Physical % Complete are linked and a change to one will change the other and this value would be displayed on the Gantt Chart.

Default Percent Complete Type

The Default Percent Complete Type for each new activity in each project is assigned in the Defaults tab of the Defaults tab of the Projects, EPS, Set Project Preferences form:

• A new activity Percent Complete Type is set to the Default Percent Complete when created and may be changed at any time.

Percent Complete Types

• Physical % Complete – This field enables the user to enter the percent complete of an activity and this value is independent of the activity durations. This is similar to the way P3 and SureTrak calculates the % Complete when the Link Remaining Duration and Percent Complete option is NOT selected.

• Duration % Complete – This field is calculated from the proportion of the Planned Duration and the Remaining Duration and they are linked. A change to one value will change the other. When the Remaining Duration is set to greater than the Planned

Duration this percent complete is always zero. This is similar to the way P3 and SureTrak calculate the % Complete when the Link Remaining Duration and Percent Complete option is selected

• Units % Complete – This is where the percent complete is calculated from the resources’

Actual and Remaining Units. A change to one value will change the other and when more than one resource is assigned then all the Actual Units for all resources will be changed proportionally. This will be covered further in the UPDATING A RESOURCED SCHEDULE

chapter. This is similar to the Microsoft Project % Work Complete.

The Units % Complete is calculated from the value of all the Labor and Non-Labor, so be careful when more than on type of resource is assigned to an activity. For example the software could be adding labor hours with excavator hours.

Activity % Complete

The Activity Percent Complete Type field is linked to the % Complete Type field assigned to an activity in the Activities Window, General tab, Details form or the % Complete Type column:

• The % Complete displayed on the Bar in the Web Client is the Duration % Complete:

• In the Windows Client the Activity % Complete is also linked to the % Complete Bar and this value is represented on the % Complete bar:

Changing the Activity Percent Complete Type

The Activity Percent Complete Type may be changed in the Projects, Activities Window:

• In a column or

• In the General tab of the lower pane:

7.1.3 Activity Types and Milestones

An Activity may be assigned one of the following default Activity Types using the drop down box in the General tab:

• Finish Milestone

• Level of Effort

• Resource Dependent

• Start Milestone

• Task Dependent

• WBS Summary Activity

Type Description Task

Dependent

These Activity Types have a duration and will only calculate the duration using the assigned calendar even when one or more resources are assigned to an activity.

Resource Dependent

These Activity Types have a duration and will calculate the duration only using the calendar assigned to the activity when NO resources are assigned to the activity.

These activities acknowledge Resource Calendars when resources are assigned.

This is similar to an Independent Activity Type in P3 and SureTrak.

They acknowledge the Activity calendar to calculate the Early Start date.

Level of Effort – LOE

This Activity type is similar to P3 and SureTrak Hammock activities. It spans from the start or finish of one or more predecessor activities to the start or finish of one or more successor activities which are linked by relationships.

NOTE: Do not schedule with a LOE activity unless it has relationships. If you do schedule it will calculate to a zero duration and be marked as Complete on the Data Date. You will then have to mark it as not started in the Activities Window, General tab and assign a duration so you can see it on the Gantt Chart.

Start

Milestone

A Start Milestone has a start date and no finish date in the Windows Client but shows both a Start and Finish in the Web. It is scheduled at the start of a time period and may not be assigned Resources.

Finish Milestone

A Finish Milestone has a finish date, no start date in the Windows Client but shows both a Start and Finish in the Web. It is scheduled at the end of a time period and may not be assigned Resources.

Changing a milestone from Start to Finish would not affect a schedule when all the activities are on one calendar but would move the milestone from the start of a day to the finish of the previous day.

WBS