Advanced Planning Reference

Advance Planning

Time Location and

Budget Forecast

Reference Notes CFO/ IVN - Revision 1.0 - 06/2010

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Candy Advance Planning

Section 1 Time Location..................................................................................................... 1

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 1

Whats behind Time/Location?......................................................................................................................................................... 3

Location axis and activity selection..................................................................................... 4

Defining the location axis ................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Selecting and positioning activities ................................................................................................................................................ 5

The Time element .................................................................................................................................................................................. 5

Three kinds of activity bars .................................................................................................. 6

View Options.......................................................................................................................... 9

Text against Time/Location bars...................................................................................................................................................... 9

Colouring the bars...............................................................................................................................................................................11

Stretching a bar ....................................................................................................................................................................................12

Options: the Chart control ...............................................................................................................................................................13

Options: the Time Axis.......................................................................................................................................................................14

Options: the Location Axis ...............................................................................................................................................................14

Options: Styles, Colours and Fonts ...............................................................................................................................................14

Chart Tools ........................................................................................................................... 15

Options: Production rates.................................................................................................................................................................16

Options: Cycle times ...........................................................................................................................................................................17

Report Manager................................................................................................................... 18

Customising a report..........................................................................................................................................................................18

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Candy Advance Planning

Section 2 - Budget Forecast ............................................................................................... 19

Introduction ...........................................................................................................................................................................................19

Linking methods...................................................................................................................................................................................19

Summary Program .............................................................................................................. 20

Summary Program from Planner...................................................................................................................................................20

Create new program...........................................................................................................................................................................21

Add holidays to Calendar .................................................................................................................................................................22

Enter activities, dates and durations ............................................................................................................................................23

Link the Bill of Quantities to Summary program ............................................................ 26

Link by typing in activity numbers ................................................................................................................................................26

Drag & drop method .........................................................................................................................................................................27

Spread bar adjustment ......................................................................................................................................................................28

Proportional spread ............................................................................................................................................................................28

Over/under filter...................................................................................................................................................................................29

Forecast views & reports ..................................................................................................................................................................30

Valuation (BOQ progress) .................................................................................................. 31

Initial valuation set up........................................................................................................................................................................31

Valuation quantities............................................................................................................................................................................32

Program Progress................................................................................................................ 33

Set update date (TimeNow).............................................................................................................................................................33

Enter Actual dates and remaining durations ............................................................................................................................34

Synchronise Valuation and Program progress ................................................................ 35

Compare progress differences .......................................................................................................................................................35

Resolve progress differences ..........................................................................................................................................................35

Adjust allocated qty with rounding differences (if required) .............................................................................................36

Forecast views and reports ..............................................................................................................................................................37

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Candy Advance Planning - Time Location Introduction

Section 1 Time Location

Introduction A Time/Location chart is a graphical representation of a program against axes of time and location, where location can be distance, number, level, etc.

They are known by names such as Time/Chainage, Sloping Barcharts, March Charts and Line of Balance, and are suitable for programs of hi-rise buildings, roads, pipelines, rail lines, tunnels and mine shafts.

Hi Rise buildings are ideal for Time/Location and the effects of varying cycle times can be tested quickly and demonstrated graphically.

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This example shows the progression of an incrementally launched bridge where the shape of the program closely mirrors the form of the structure. The progress of the construction is readily understood in this format and faulty sequences are easily spotted.

Linear projects such as this railway line are well suited to Time/Location and show the flow of teams across the program. Production codes can be attached to selected activities and varied to test the effect on the overall program.

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Whats behind Time/Location? Any SitePlan program can be plotted on Time/Location provided the activities can sensibly be given a position on the location scale.

The railway line Time/Location that was shown on the previous page was derived from the program shown here in barchart form. This example is used in the following pages to illustrate the main principles of Time/Location

Keep it Simple Only selected activities should be included on a Time/Location chart and these should describe the main ideas or elements of the program.

A common mistake is to cram on too much detail with a consequent loss of clarity and increase in complexity. The whole objective is to make the program clear and easy to understand.

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Candy Advance Planning - Time Location Define Chart Axes

Location axis and activity selection

Defining the location axis In the SitePlan Definitions choose 2.10 Time/Location definition menu and click on it.

The start and end location values must be entered in the Location column. These set the overall scale of the chart. Intermediate locations can also be entered and these will be shown on the chart.

The start and end location values must be entered in the Location column. These set the overall scale of the chart. Intermediate locations can also be entered and these will be shown on the chart.

Sometimes it is more convenient to use codes to represent locations. In this example the East and West portals have codes (EP and WP) against their location chainages. Either the raw chainage or the code can be used to reference a location, or a mixture as shown here in the background document.

This technique is useful in hi rise (use T15 instead of level 60.250, say) or in housing programs where unit numbers can be used.

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Candy Advance Planning - Time Location Define Chart Axes

Selecting and positioning activities To be included on the Time/Location chart, an activity must have an entry in the Location column of Time/Location List, view document 2.1. In this example, the railway line extends from chainage 0 to 8000 and the activities have location entries in this range.

The location can also be floors of a building, levels of the floors, number of houses, depth of a mine shaft, etc.

The Time element The position of a bar on the Time/Location chart is taken from the start and end dates of the activity.

To avoid too much detail on the chart it is often necessary to summarise a series of activities into T types (SitePlan speak for hammocks).

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Candy Advance Planning - Time Location Time Location bars

Three kinds of activity bars Activities can be represented as fixed bars, sloping bars or block bars.

1. Fixed bars are activities located at one, fixed location - for example, Construct East portal. They are given a single location value.

2. Sloping bars are activities that stretch between two points eg: Line tunnel. They require two location values separated by a hyphen (-).

3. Block bars are activities that stretch between two points, but have no direction or flow eg: Station buildings. They require two location values separated by a hash (#). Block bars often represent a larger group of activities summarised as a T type.

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Candy Advance Planning - Time Location Time Location options

View Options

Text against Time/Location bars The text shown against bars can be the activity description, text entered to override the description or it can be a code such as the User code.

In this example, the activity description has been specified as the default text (see Options later) but is overridden by any text that is entered in the Location text column.

If there is limited space, or activities clash, the text can be suppressed by entering a hyphen in the Location text column.

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Colouring the bars The bars on a Time/Location chart can be coloured by float or by the colour of codes attached to the activities. Here the User code has been allocated to activities and the bars adopt the colour of the User code. The barchart report shown here has been setup to reflect the colours of the User codes.

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Stretching a bar When the cursor crosses the end of a bar, the stretch cursor appears. If it is green, the bar can be stretched this simply changes its duration. If the cursor is red, it means that that activity may not be changed it is probably a T type bar.

Stretch positions are always the end of the bar that is the latest end. If the activity has a production code assigned, the next recalculate will restore the production derived duration.

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Options: the Chart control The Options dialog is used to control the activities displayed on the chart. This tab of the dialog controls the look and feel of the document.

Orientation Note: the Calendar on vertical axis checkbox is important. If this is set incorrectly, fitting the bit map on the wrong axis will probably be impossible and an error message will be issued.

Scale and fitting Change the text size, calendar scale and fitting of the screen Time Location chart.

Bar options Adjust the colour, bar reference and bar widths as required.

Background grid Adjust the grid lines displayed on the chart.

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Options: the Time Axis This tab provides selections of the calendar displayed on the time axis and the divisions to be used.

Calendar strip Choose the options to display for the calendar strip. Note if you adjust the calendar scale some of the options selected might not be displayed. I.e. elapsed days will not display if the calendar scale is reduced to display weeks.

Calendar scale Select which calendar to display if more than one calendar has been defined in the program.

Time indicators Select the calendar lines to display on the screen Time Location chart.

Options: the Location Axis Location line The location axis can be inverted that is the route map can start on the right and progress to higher values on the left. The normal configuration is from left to right leave the box unchecked for this.

Note the lowest value and highest value defined in the Time Location definitions, will be used to plot the location line.

Location image Browse and select a scaled image to display with the chart. The scale image used should have a ration less than 1/3 of the chart orientation used to ensure a sensible chart.

To make more space available vertically, allowing a bigger scale to be selected, the image can be hidden by double clicking on it and the Show Locations and Show Codes boxes can be unchecked.

Options: Styles, Colours and Fonts All the fonts used on the chart can be managed on this tab. In addition, the background colours and the colours used for the text can be changed. Using background colours (behind the route map and the calendar here) help to distinguish areas of the chart. Double click on the item to change.

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Candy Advance Planning - Time Location Time Location tools

Chart Tools Tools: Filtering Filters allow different layers of the activities to be displayed while the others are shown in a subdued grey colour. This allows the user to focus on particular elements of the chart.

Tools: Production rates Three production rates are available - A, B & C. These can be assigned to activities as shown here, and the production values can be set or changed on the Time/Location chart in the Options on the Rates/Cycle times tab.

This view shows the Cycle column where the production codes are allocated. Currently A is set to 15m/day and the duration of Drive tunnel is calculated as Distance/A = (3500-2000)/15 = 100. Changing A to 20 sets the duration to 75.

Tools: Cycles Cycle times are used as the Start-to-Start lead between repetitive activities. An example for the cycle between floors in the hi-rise building is shown a couple of pages ahead.

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Options: Production rates One of three production codes (A, B or C) can be allocated to activities. When the production rate for a code is changed, the program recalculates and reflects the alteration.

The difference between the start and end location are subtracted and divided by the production rate to derive the duration for the activity concerned.

Production codes can be used on sloping and block bars but have no meaning on fixed bars.

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Options: Cycle times One of three cycle codes (X, Y and Z) can be allocated to activities. The cycle time between two activities is actually the time between their starts i.e. it is the start lead in a Start-to-Start link.

The rate for these codes is changed on the Time/Location Options and the program will recalculate and reflect the change. Any arithmetic included will be assessed and forms part of the cycle.

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Candy Advance Planning - Time Location Time Location reports

Report Manager Like all SitePlan reports, those for time/Location are very simple to setup and control. In the New Report selection, Time/Location is number 10.1. This can be altered to suit the users requirements by pressing the Customise button.

Customising a report Besides the Time/Location tab, these report setups are the same as any other SitePlan report.

The same graphic that is used on the screen display can be printed on the report and an additional graphic that locates at the top of the page can be included. The latter could be table of quantities, mass haul diagram or anything else that can be scaled to width to fit the route map

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Candy Advance Planning - Budget Forecast Introduction

Section 2 - Budget Forecast

Introduction Bill items in a Candy estimate can be linked to the activities in a Candy Planning program. Once the link is established, time-based forecasts of cost, value, resources and quantities from the estimate can be analysed using the facilities in the Forecast module.

Items from a bill of quantities in Candy Estimating can be allocated to activities in a Planning program. A bill item can be allocated to multiple activities, specifying the quantity allocated to each activity and where in the activity it is to be spread.

The result of this linking process is a Bill of Quantities with a program attached. The program then knows which bill items, and associated quantities, to spread over the activity. With this knowledge, the bill can be displayed showing a forecast of the money to be spent against each bill item for every month of the program. Forecasts can also be done for bill item quantities, estimating resources, class codes, bill codes etc.

Once the BOQ is linked to the program, all the results and data in the estimate can be displayed against the timescale of the program. Any changes to the program or the estimate will affect the forecast.

Linking methods Depending on the information and time available the link can be established using the following three methods.

1. From the BOQ create a PROGRAM The Estimator needs to create a forecast Not the best method, but is quick and fairly accurate. A BOQ is not an indication of how the work is to be done but only a measurement of the work. Civil bills are more activity based. This process automatically links the bill items to the activities

2. From the PROGRAM create a BOQ E.g. Design and build where a BOQ can be priced and created from a program. This process automatically links the activities to the bill items

3. Link a BOQ to a existing PROGRAM This can be time-consuming but it is the most accurate method. The Candy estimate includes the money/resource, and the program includes the activity durations and sequence.

This last mentioned method of linking will be used in this document.

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Candy Advance Planning - Budget Forecast Summary Program

Summary Program The Planners program for the project is focused on how the work is to be executed. It has multiple detailed activities with durations even as short as one day. This program is used to control the job with regular updates - fortnight, weekly or even daily.

The focus of the QS is on the valuation / financial periods; which is usually monthly. One can link the Programmers detailed activities to the Bill items, but this can be a time-consuming process.

As the focus of the QS is on the bigger picture, the recommendation is to create a financial program based on the summarised Planners program. This program will still have the same dates as the Planners program but with less detail making the linking less time consuming but still supplying the end result required.

The following will explain how to create a program from a summary program report / details received from the Planner.

Summary Program from Planner A well planned program will be summarised hierarchically (also referred to as WBS). Ask the Planner to print a summary report of the program.

It is recommended that the program be summarised to a level 2 or 3.

Lower levels will give more detail that might not be required. In this example a program summarised to a level 2 is used.

Summary program report received from the Planner

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Create new program

Do this: The summary program must be created in the same job as the one with the estimating bill. To create a new program in the current job, select the Planning module tab. Select Main > Program Manager.

In the Program Manager select the menu Program > New > New Program to create a new program.

Fill in the Program name.

Select the program start date Make sure that the program start date = the earliest date on the planners program.

Select the week start day and the working days per week the same as the Planners program.

Ensure that this selection is as per Planners detail program.

After the program is created, double click on the program nto select the program.

ame

The program name will be displayed in the Planning tool bar

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Add holidays to Calendar To ensure that the summary program has the same dates as the detailed program, the holidays and/or non-work days allowed for in the detailed program must be set in the summary program. Ask the Planner to supply a list of the (PC) project calendar holidays or to print a year planner report.

Year Planner report received from the Planner.

To enter the holidays and non-work days, select Main > Calendars. In the PC calendar column highlight the workday you want to change to a holiday and select Set holiday to change the work day number to a holiday.

Close the calendar document when finished. Changes will be saved.

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Enter activities, dates and durations An easy way to enter activity details is to use a template document specifically for this purpose.

Do this: Select Documents menu to open the Planning documents. Select New at the bottom of the manager to open the document template list.

Select the document 7.2 Enter activity dates

Enter the exact activity numbers and descriptions as per the Planners summary report. Enter the start and end dates and the computer will generate the duration. Or enter the start date and duration and the computer will generate the end date.

The dates can also be entered in the number format 14 01 11 and it will be displayed as 14 Jan 11 in the date column.

Enter the following information as displayed on the Planners summary report. Note that there are still some heading levels and these activity types are created by entering a number (i.e. 1) in the T (type) column.

Normal activities will display a B in the type column, generated by the computer. No logic links between activities are required

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Activity

Number ActivityDescription Duration Start Finish

A000 SITEESTABLISHMENT 15 04Jan10 22Jan10

A030 FANFOUNDATION(SECTION2)

A040 EARTHWORKS 130 18Jan10 20Jul10

A100 FOUNDATIONS 130 15Mar10 14Sep10

A160 SUPERSTRUCTURE 130 12May10 09Nov10

A220 STORMWATERDRAINAGE 100 12Apr10 31Aug10

A300 FANINSTALLATION 55 25Aug10 09Nov10

A350 SUBSTATION(SECTION3)

A360 EARTHWORKS 45 15Feb10 20Apr10

A400 FOUNDATIONS 40 21Apr10 15Jun10

A430 SUPERSTRUCTURE 95 19May10 28Sep10

A490 FINISHES 60 29Sep10 13Jan11

A540 EXTERNALWORKS 60 21Apr10 13Jul10

A570 CONTRACTUALHANDOVER

A580 HANDOVERCOMMISSIONEDFAN 1 10Nov10 10Nov10

A600 HANDOVERSUBSTATION 1 14Jan11 14Jan11

Note: The level two summary headings of the Planners program are entered as activities in this program, whilst the level one heading remain heading type activities in this program. This is indicated by typing in a 1 in the Activity type (T) column.

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Candy Advance Planning - Budget Forecast Link Bill to Program

Link the Bill of Quantities to Summary program The forecast module will be used to link the Bill items to the Programs Activities. To ensure the correct monetary forecast, all bill items with money value must be linked to activities.

Link by typing in activity numbers

Do this: In the Forecast module select Documents > Forecasting documents to open the document manager. Open the document 3.1 BOQ with Activity allocations.

Place this document on the top half of the screen using the icon

With this document on the top half of the screen select Documents > Forecasting documents and open the document 3.2 Activities with BOQ Allocations.

Place this document on the bottom half of the screen using the icon

Both documents will now be visible on the screen.

One method of linking the activities to bill item is to type in the activity numbers next to the relevant bill item in the screen document 3.1 BOQ with activity allocation.

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Note to adjust the calendar scale smaller; right-click on the calendar in the bar chart and select calendar scale from the menu then slide the scale to 1 for the smallest scale.

When entering the activity number next to a bill item the full qty of the item will be allocated to this activity. A bill item can allocate its quantity to many activities simply insert additional lines (CTRL+ INSERT) below the bill item and enter the additional activities on these the lines below the bill item.

Enter the relevant allocated quantities for these additional linked activities. The total quantity allocated must equal the billed quantity otherwise an over or under allocation results.

Show only the first line of the bill description in 3.1 BOQ with activity allocation by selecting View > Items > Show single line descriptions.

Drag & drop method Bill items and activities can also be linked with drag and drop. Select and highlight the bill items then drag the selected items and drop them on the applicable activity in the screen below.

The inverse is also possible. I.e. select the /highlight the activities below then drag and drop them on the applicable bill item in the top screen document.

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Spread bar adjustment The bill quantity allocated to the activity, is allocated /spread over the full activity duration by default. . This is indicated in the columns Start % Offset = 0 % and End % Offset = 100%. A spreadbar with the % off set is also shown inside the activity bar.

The offset % and spread bar can be adjusted if the bill qty is not required for the full activity period but only for a portion of the activity period.

(E.g. blinding concrete for the foundations is only cast in the first 60% of the Foundation activity duration and not the full duration. Start % offset = 0% end 5 offset = 60%)

Proportional spread Multiple activities can be linked to one bill item. When the first activity is linked to a bill item, the FULL quantity is allocated to this first linked activity.

The other linked activities will not have any allocated quantity. This can be corrected by manually adjusting the allocated qty for each linked activity or be by means of the proportional spread menu

Do this: Highlight the bill item/items linked to more than one activity. On the highlighted items Right- click > Proportional spread > Process all

Before proportional spread

After proportional spread

.

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Over/under filter Check the allocated quantity difference once you have completed the activities to the bill items.

Do this: Right-click on the column heading Final (or Bill) Allocated qty difference > Filter over/under allocation.

Any bill items not linked to activities will be displayed. Link them.

If all the bill items are linked the message will be displayed.

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Candy Advance Planning - Budget Forecast Forecast views & Reports

Forecast views & reports When all the bill items with monetary value are linked to activities, then various forecast documents and reports are available in the Forecast module.

Remember to calculate the summary documents like the Cost code budget whenever changes are made.

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Candy Advance Planning - Budget Forecast BOQ Progress

Valuation (BOQ progress) The Candy Valuations is used for the post tender stage of a project. The Bill of Quantities created in Candy Estimating is available in Candy Valuations, the only difference between Estimating and Valuations is the extra valuation quantity columns and the Valuation reports.

Initial valuation set up

Do this: Select Main > Valaution setup > Set up next valaution.

Enter the valuation date, number and header

Choose the Cost and Allowable options (Recommend you keep the default). Note these options can be changed later if required.

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Candy Advance Planning - Budget Forecast BOQ Progress

Valuation quantities Enter the valuation quantities for the current valuation period.

Open a quantity calculation sheet for the Actual quantity of a bill item, right-click > Calc-sheets > Display quantity calc-sheets. Or double click in the cell to open the calc-sheet. Enter the % progress.

When all the valuation quantities have been entered, various reports are available in the Valuation report manager for printing & analysis.

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Candy Advance Planning - Budget Forecast Program Progress

Program Progress If the Bill is linked to the program the future cost can be displayed per remaining time period.

We need to update the program and synchronise the program progress with the valuation progress.

Note: The valuation date and the Program update date (TimeNow) MUST be the same to display the correct information.

The Planner will update his detail program and again only give the QS a summary report of this update. This report must included Actual start, Actual end dates as well as the Remaining duration.

Set update date (TimeNow)

Do this: Select the Forecast module > Main > Select program linked to the bill. Open the forecast document 5.1 Progress Barchart.

Select Progress > Record TimeNow.

Enter the TimeNow date remember this date must be the same as the planners date which must be the same as the valuation date.

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With the first update, a base program will be saved.

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Candy Advance Planning - Budget Forecast Program Progress

Enter Actual dates and remaining durations

Do this: Using the Planners summarised update information to enter the Actual dates and remaining duration

Remember to Calculate when complete.

The dates can also be entered in the number format 14 01 11 and it will be displayed as 14 Jan 11 in the date column.

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Candy Construction Estimating and Valuations Synchronise progress

Synchronise Valuation and Program progress The progress quantities of the program and the valuation progress quantities might be different for some bill items. These progress quantities need to be synchronised to give the correct information.

Compare progress differences

Do this: Open the forecast document 5.3 Update Valuation and Allocated Quantities.

The difference between the Actual Quantity column and the Program qty to date is displayed in the column Alloc to date Over (-) Under (+).

Resolve progress differences As the valuation quantity is measured by the QS and the program quantity is calculated by the computer, we will rather trust the QS and adjust the program quantity to be the same as the Actual quantity.

The remaining valuation quantity will be spread over the remaining duration of the linked activities.

Note: The remaining duration of the activity is NOT adjusted in this process.

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Do this: Select Tools > Update Allocated remaining from Valuation..

Adjust allocated qty with rounding differences (if required)

Do this: With the rounding of values you might find that there are still a small qty displayed in the differences columns.

These differences can be adjusted by over-typing the values in the Allocated qty to date or Actual qty remaining column. It is important that the two differences columns are both blank. Then we know the valuation progress and the program progress is synchronised.

Note: Always ensure that the two columns indicating Over & Under quantities are blank before analyzing and printing reports.

If Alloc to date column is blank = Progress quantities between BOQ and program is in sync.

If Total qty column is blank = All bill item quantities have been allocated (Including changes to Final quantities as well as additional Variation items added afterwards)

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Forecast views and reports When the progress is synchronised various documents and reports can be printed showing the time related forecast.

Below is a Cost code budget showing the monthly forecast based on the cost codes as used in the accounting system.

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Section 1 Time LocationIntroductionWhats behind Time/Location? Keep it Simple

Location axis and activity selectionDefining the location axis Selecting and positioning activities The Time element

Three kinds of activity barsView OptionsText against Time/Location bars Colouring the bars Stretching a barOptions: the Chart controlOrientationScale and fittingBar optionsBackground grid

Options: the Time AxisCalendar stripCalendar scaleTime indicators

Options: the Location AxisLocation lineLocation image

Options: Styles, Colours and Fonts

Chart ToolsTools: FilteringTools: Production rates Tools: Cycles Options: Production ratesOptions: Cycle times

Report Manager Customising a report

Section 2 - Budget ForecastIntroductionLinking methods1. From the BOQ create a PROGRAM2. From the PROGRAM create a BOQ3. Link a BOQ to a existing PROGRAM

Summary ProgramSummary Program from PlannerCreate new programAdd holidays to CalendarEnter activities, dates and durations

Link the Bill of Quantities to Summary programLink by typing in activity numbers Drag & drop methodSpread bar adjustmentProportional spreadOver/under filterForecast views & reports

Valuation (BOQ progress)Initial valuation set upValuation quantities

Program ProgressSet update date (TimeNow)Enter Actual dates and remaining durations

Synchronise Valuation and Program progressCompare progress differencesResolve progress differencesAdjust allocated qty with rounding differences (if required)Forecast views and reports

Advanced Planning Reference

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