Prior to starting the project, the planning team creates the Master Deliverable List (MDL) and primary schedule for Master Deliverable List (MDL). MDL contains whole list of deliverables related to this Project. This is carried out using WRENCH. The schedule is finalized after approval by the project team and then the client. When the project schedule is finalised and it is ready to start the work the tasks in the MDL is scheduled. Approve Schedule option is used to schedule the MDL or WBS. 

On clicking the Approve Schedule option, all the unscheduled tasks in the WBS are scheduled and baselined. If there are WIP and scheduled tasks in the WBS they are unaffected by this operation.

The following message is displayed.

1. Click OK to continue.

Task status is changed to Scheduled.

NOTE: You need to have Edit WBS permission to carry out this operation.

After all the tasks in the WBS is completed, the WBS can be completed using this option. Once the WBS is completed, no new tasks can be added to the WBS nor can the task schedules be edited. If there are any incomplete tasks in the WBS, a warming message is displayed.

Completed WBS can be re-opened using this facility. Once a WBS is re-opened, different WBS operations can be carried out on the WBS. 

Baseline-WBS is the process of preserving a “snapshot” of the current plan so that changes can be made to it without losing the current state. Such “Snapshots” can later be viewed and compared to assess the efficiency of project planning.

Once you baseline the WBS:

1. All Work In Progress tasks are returned to Unscheduled status. Schedules can be modified for these tasks. After this operation worflow assigned to tasks are not affected.
2. All scheduled tasks return to Unscheduled status.
3. All completed tasks are unaffected. If changes are to be made to individual completed tasks, revise it separately.
4. The current list of tasks with its properties are retained for future reference.

When the WBS is baselined old baseline details are maintained by the system. A list of such old baseline details will be available in the Baseline History. The history of baselines the WBS has undergone is displayed here. In the baseline history window the following fields are displayed.

Figure: WBS Baseline History

The baseline history can be exported to MS Excel. In the Baseline History window click Expot to Excel to export the baseline history.

This option is used to update the percentage of progress of tasks in bulk, when the area weightage has been edited in the project or when the weightage/schedule details have been edited for tasks and the progress according to the changes needs to reflect in the WBS.

Progress of the summary task is updated automatically as the child tasks are updated.

On clicking this option Project Details page is displayed with the details on project of current WBS.

Email notifications are sent after different WBS operations for informing user about the action they have to take. Subject and content of these mails can be pre-defined. Notification mails can be configured for different Task or Rule related actions or events.

You can auto-start or auto-initiate all the tasks in WBS using this option.

To auto-start tasks in the WBS

1. On the WBS Operations menu click Auto Start.

Auto Initiation window is displayed.

Figure: Auto Initiation window

The following options are available in the window.

None: On selecting the radio button next to this option, any existing auto-start settings are cancelled.

On Forecast Date: On selecting the radio button next to this option, all tasks in WBS will be scheduled to start their workflows on the forecast date.

"__" days before Forecast Start Date: Use this option to set number of days before forecasted date on which task workflows has to be started automatically.

After selecting the options to start the tasks automatically, if the workflow fails to start on scheduled dates an alert mails is sent to the user who edited the task last and to the project manager with the details of the task that failed to start. 

When tasks are removed from a WBS, they are preserved for future reference. On clicking this option Deleted Tasks window is displayed. Tasks deleted from the WBS is displayed here.

Figure: Deleted tasks

An option to export the details of deleted tasks to MS Excel is available. All available task properties are exported to excel in a pre-defined format.

1. Click this option to delete entire tasks from the WBS. On clicking this option the following message is displayed.

Figure: Warning Message - Removing WBS

2. Click OK to continue with deleting of tasks.
3. Click Cancel to suspend the operation.

Micro Scheduling

Smart Scheduler in SmartProject helps you in creating and managing Project Master Schedule or plans and oraganize, assign and collaborate on tasks. Schedule is created as WBS Level and Tasks along with other WBS task properties. Successor and predecessor relationship details can be specified for each task in Smart scheduler. The Project Scheduling feature in SmartProject provide Forecast Finish date to Project Plan and show critical activities to Planner. Auto scheduling operation may be performed to determine the Early/Late Start/Finish of each tasks and identify critical tasks. Critical path method can be used by constructing a model of the Project that includes the following.

• A list of all tasks required to complete the project.
• The dependencies between the tasks.
• The estimate of time (duration) that each activity will take to complete.

With this information, you can determine the critical path by identifying the longest stretch of dependent activities and measuring them from start to finish.

WBS Levels and Tasks can be selected and marked as Schedule type of tasks. 

After saving the WBS Schedule settings next step is to open the smart scheduler.

Tasks and Levels can be added in the smart scheduler window.

If Forecast start and Forecast finish date is available, duration will be calculated automatically. Existing duration of an activity can be modified. Value in the column Duration can be edited manually. 

Task information of tasks in the smart scheduler can be modified.

Successor, Predecessor relationships can be defined between different tasks in Smart Scheduler. Relationships can be defined only for ‘Schedule’ Type tasks; hence this operation is only possible from the Smart Scheduler window.

For each task in Smart scheduler, successor /predecessor dependency can be specified from the Successor/Predecessor columns in smart scheduler. A dependency is the relationship between predecessor and successor tasks.

Standard dependency types used in Smart Scheduler is mentioned in the following table.

In some cases, the Successor activity can be started only after certain number of days after completion of the Predecessor. This is called the Lag time. Lag is the delay of a successor activity and represents time that must pass before the second activity can begin.

Predecessors of task can be defined in the Smart Scheduler grid.

For defining successors of a task, applicable task relationships may be entered against the successor column of Smart scheduler. Format for specifying dependencies/relationships is similar to that in  defining Predecessor.

Constraints can be used to create a link between a task and a particular date. By default, all tasks are created with the Constraint type 'As Soon As Possible' set. This allows Smart Scheduler to schedule the task based on its duration and dependencies, rather than against a particular date.

Sometimes it is required to prevent Smart Scheduler from rescheduling a task away from a key date. For example, imagine you are managing the review of a Project. The date of the review is likely to have been booked for months and is probably immovable. In this instance you might set a ‘Must start on’ project constraint for the date of the review.

In case ‘Review day’ has other tasks linked to it Smart Scheduler will warn you that a constraint might cause a future scheduling conflict.

1. Select a Constraint Type from a drop-down list and Constraint Date from the date picker.

Additional Information

Here Relationship or dependency already defined is displayed. 

Figure: Additional Information

It is possible to edit TASK NAME, RELATION and LAG. 

1. Click Insert Row to insert additional rows and create new dependencies.

If there are any SUCCESSOR tasks defined, they are displayed in the section Successors.

Figure: Successor task details

If there are any tasks related to the selected task, they are displayed in the section Related Tasks.

2. Click Save to store changes.

The critical path is composed of those tasks whose finish dates affect the finish date of the overall project. In other words, if a critical task finishes late, the project will likely finish late also, unless you are able to adjust to the delay and make up time elsewhere. The Critical Path is the series of tasks that must finish on time for the entire project to finish on schedule. Each task on the critical path is a time critical task. 

In Smart Scheduler option to auto schedule with critical path is provided. This option is displayed only if the Smart Scheduler is not in edit mode.

Incomplete tasks in a WBS can be rescheduled from a new date.

The following operations can be carried out from the window.

Add Task: Click this option to add against default task Genealogy. If there is no default task genealogy, mandatory properties against default genealogy, a warning message is displayed.

Add Level: On clicking this option after selecting a task, a new Level can be added below or above the task.

Remove Task /Level: On clicking this option after selecting a row, the selected Level or Task is removed.

Indent: On clicking this option the selected level moves inside by one step.

Outdent: On clicking this option the selected level moves outside by one step.

Move: Options to move the selected Level up or down is available here.

Copy: Click this option to copy the selected level.

Paste: Click this option to paste the copied level.

Make Inactive: On clicking this option after selecting a task, selected tasks are made inactive. The relationship with an inactive task will not be considered if they are available in other tasks 

Make active: On clicking this option after selecting inactive tasks, the tasks are made active.

Expand All: Click this option to expand all Levels/Tasks

Collapse all: Click this option to Collapse all Levels/ Tasks.

Reset Changes: Click this option to discard any unsaved changes and display the last saved information in the smart scheduler.

Save/Check-in:  Click this option to save the information to WBS.

Unlock WBS: Click this option to unlock the WBS.

Tasks can be exported and updated from the smart scheduler

To export the tasks

1. On the grid, select the tasks that are to be exported.
2. On the toolbar, place the mouse pointer over the option Export/Update.
3. On the menu displayed click Export to Excel.

Bulk Export Wizard is displayed. Export operation is similar to other export operations available in the WBS. Hence it is not explained in detail.

Figure: Bulk Export Wizard window

4. After selecting the required details click Next. 

NOTE: If the checkbox next to the option, Export all the tasks/levels under the selected level is selected, then the user is permitted to export all the tasks, and sub-levels that are present under the selected levels. This option is enabled only if the selection contains at least one level for export.

If the option Select all Columns is selected, details are exported to an MS Excel file. 

If the option Select Columns is selected, on clicking Next, a column selection window is displayed.

Figure: Select columns window

5. Click Export.

The selected columns and values in the columns are exported to an MS Excel template.

After exporting the task details to the MS Excel template, make the necessary modifications in the Excel; add data in blank cells, modify the existing data, remove unwanted data from the cells, etc. 

Once the necessary modifications are done, save the Excel and update it back to SmartProject.

To import modified task details to  SmartProject

1. On the menu click Update from MS Excel.

A file selection window is displayed.

2. Select the Excel file where the modified details are saved.
3. Click Next to continue.

If there are no errors, the bulk update operation is completed successfully, and a notification is sent to the logged-in user.

To view the log of operations

1. On the menu click Bulk Operation Log.

The Bulk Operation Log window is displayed.

Here a log of the bulk operations and its status is displayed.

Legends

Different properties and statuses in the WBS is depicted by different colours. This helps in recognizing different WBS statuses, progress and other properties. On clicking the legends the following window is displayed.

Figure: Legends

In large construction projects, the planning team creates the top-level project plan which consist of the L1 or L2 schedule. This schedule may not have the complete list of tasks but a summary, which can be broken down into various sub tasks. These sub tasks are the ones that can be monitored for progress, which needs to be rolled up to the plan. 

Here, the schedule as created by the planning team is called the ‘Schedule’ or simply ‘Tasks’ and the detailed list of sub tasks are termed ‘Deliverables’ (because these are the actual work that is delivered). 

For Example, consider the following project plan:

ABC Township

       -> Generator Unit 1

       -> ROW Tower 2

       -> Desalination plant

               -> Engineering 

                       -> Civil

       -> Helipad Offshore Rig

The ‘ABC Township -> Desalination plant -> Engineering -> Civil’ is a typical ‘Schedule’. This task will be assigned to the civil department where it is further broken down into different deliverables (document list), each of which will be assigned with a plan of completion. When each of the deliverable’s progress, it must contribute progress to the ‘Civil’ task in the ‘Schedule’. 

To achieve this, it is required to link the schedules to corresponding deliverables. Large construction projects will have thousands of tasks and linking them manually is a Herculean task. In SmartProject it is possible to  link schedules to deliverable automatically

NOTE: For updating the actuals of the schedule with the actuals from the deliverables, the schedules must be linked with deliverables.

Schedule tasks can be selected from a parent schedule task and task genealogy.

Deliverables under a parent deliverable task or deliverable task genealogy can be selected and linked to schedule tasks.

After selecting the  schedule tasks and deliverable tasks, next step is  to link the deliverables and schedules.

‘Linked Deliverables’  can be de-linked from the list.

Schedule-deliverable linking can be carried out automatically using rules.

In some scenarios, it is more convenient to link a single BOQ to all that tasks .

In typical construction projects, project schedules (Schedule Tasks) are created with a high degree of planning (high-level plan). For each of these schedules, the deliverables are created separately by the people who work on the deliverables. The deliverable plan is to be in sync with the corresponding schedules (all deliverables linked to a schedule must be completed within the schedule’s plan). Plan date of scheduled tasks  can be automatically updated to all linked deliverables by default so that the planners can modify the schedule dates where required.

To update deliverable plan

1. On the WBS menu, click Update Deliverable Plan.

Update Deliverable Plan window is displayed.

Figure: Update Deliverable plan window

The elements in the window are explained in the following table.

2. After selecting the date click Update.

The system verifies the Schedule Property (Date) and its corresponding Deliverable Property (Date). Once these dates are identified, the dates specified in the ‘Schedule Property Name’ are updated to the dates specified in the ‘Deliverable Property Name’.

In the list of values for the property DELIVERABLE PROPERTY NAME, value Internal Dates is not listed if the option Task to rule linking is selected. This is because internal dates do not apply to the rule of credit.  

If the option Task to task linking is selected, on clicking Update, the planned date, forecasted date, early date/ and late dates of the linked schedule tasks get updated against the Planned date, Forecasted date, Early date, and late date of the linked deliverables.