Breaking Down Activities for Developing an Efficient Baseline Schedule

In developing a project baseline schedule, breaking down general activities into more detailed components is a crucial step that ensures clarity, precision, and comprehensive coverage of the entire project scope. Having completed our list of general activities and assigned WBS levels from our previous blog on Transforming BOQ Items into Actionable Tasks, our next step is to delve deeper into these activities. This process involves breaking them down based on floor plans as indicated in the IFC drawings or by adding specific steps or work procedures needed to complete each activity.

The Importance of Detailed Activity Breakdown

Breaking down project activities into detailed components is essential for effective project management, especially for tasks with high durations. Here's why:

• Enhanced Clarity: Smaller, detailed tasks provide a clear understanding of each activity, making it easier to manage and execute.
• Improved Precision: Accurate planning, cost estimation, and resource allocation become possible with well-defined activities.
• Comprehensive Coverage: Ensures all aspects of the project are accounted for, reducing the risk of missing important tasks.
• Manageable Durations: High-duration activities can be overwhelming. Breaking them down into shorter tasks makes tracking and controlling progress easier and aligns with scheduling standards on high-duration tasks.
• Clear Work Procedures: Defining activities clearly outlines the steps needed to complete each task, ensuring consistency and quality.

Reviewing Project Drawings

To begin the process, we start by carefully reviewing our project drawings using software like PlanSwift. This software helps in quickly reviewing drawings, organizing them for easy reference, and estimating quantities to break down the project scope. If PlanSwift is not available, manual review using PDF or CAD files is also effective.

Determining Quantities and Cost Distribution

With our drawing details and scope breakdown in place, we can determine the quantity or weightage for each detailed activity. This allows us to proceed with cost distribution using simple methods and templates. Here’s a step-by-step approach:

1. Identify Specific Activities: Determine which activities require further breakdown.
2. Apply Distribution Methods: Use our distribution method for each type of activity to allocate costs and quantities accurately.
3. Establish WBS Paths: Create a structured WBS path, activity codes, and unique activity IDs for construction, engineering, and procurement activities.

Using PlanSwift for Planning

PlanSwift is a powerful tool for planning purposes. It allows us to quickly review drawings, organize them for easy reference, and perform estimates to break down the project scope. However, if you don’t have PlanSwift installed, manual review using PDF or CAD files can be just as effective.

Creating Detailed Activities

Once we have reviewed the drawings and determined quantities, we can create detailed activities. This involves:

• Breaking down each general activity into smaller, manageable tasks. Example: Breaking down the masonry work quantities and costs by each building floor.
• Assigning specific steps or work procedures needed to complete each activity. Example: Breaking down 'Construct columns' into 'steel works for columns,' 'formworks for columns,' and 'pouring concrete for columns.'
• Ensuring that all detailed activities are ready to be imported into Primavera P6.

Structured WBS Path and Activity Codes and IDs

Establishing a structured WBS path and creating activity codes are essential for efficient baseline scheduling. This step includes:

• Creating unique WBS paths and activity IDs by leveraging WBS ID codes for different categories such as construction, engineering, and procurement.
• Using WBS IDs as activity codes to easily assign and import activities into Primavera P6.

Preparing for Primavera P6 Import

Our goal is to prepare these detailed activities for import into Primavera P6. This preparation involves:

• Ensuring all data is organized and ready for import.
• Adding necessary schedule data to efficiently manage activities within the WBS.

Conclusion

Breaking down activities into detailed components is a vital step in developing a baseline schedule. It enhances clarity, precision, and comprehensive coverage of the project scope. By following these steps, project managers and planning engineers can ensure that all aspects of the project are well-defined and efficiently managed.

We explore this topic in detail in Section 6 of our course, 'Master Baseline Scheduling with Primavera P6 and Excel.' See below for more information.