Creating and Editing Work Packages

In the Projects application, when vendors bid on a project, they bid on work packages. In the Commissioning application, when reviewing design submissions and requirements, you do so by tracking work packages. In both applications, work packages can be tracked on the Gantt chart when estimating design schedules and durations. Using the Create Work packages task, you can create work packages and add new actions to a work package. You can also assign existing project actions to work packages.

Note: It is recommended that you assign actions to work packages as soon as possible. Work packages are required for vendors to enter bids, and are the basis of design submissions in the commissioning process. Also, work package data is displayed in many reports of the Projects application.

After creating your work packages, you have to define the work packages as available for bidding so that vendors will be able to bid on it. For more information, see Creating and Editing Work Packages Using the Management Console, or the Setting Up Work Packages for Bidding Procure Process) topic.

For information on the database tables used for creating work packages, see the Project and Package Tables topic.

Note: You can work more extensively with work packages using the Management Console (from Projects), or the Commissioning Console (from Commissioning). From these consoles, you can create work packages, but you can also delete work packages, approve or reject work packages, enter the actual dates completed, attach a document, and change the Work Package Status. See Creating and Editing Work Packages Using the Management / Commissioning Console.

This topic includes the following sections:

Setting the Days Worked Per Week
Creating Work Packages and Actions
Assigning Actions to Work Packages

Setting the Days Worked Per Week

When you are defining your work packages, it is important that the Days Per Week field be defined, because this establishes how many days of the week will be work days. For example, if work will only be done Monday through Friday, enter 5 in this field. This field value is important for vendors who are viewing the work packages. In addition, this values is referenced in reports of the Projects applications, and is used in the Gantt chart to calculate the task's Date - Calc. Completion. See Estimating Design Schedules.

Note: You can also set the Days Per Week at the project level, using tasks such as Projects / Plan / Review Project Profiles or Commissioning / Design / Update Commissioning Plan.

Creating Work Packages and Actions

The first step to creating a work package is to define the work package. You then add new actions or existing project actions to the work package. You can also use this task to edit actions that are already part of a work package.

To add a new work package with new actions:

In the Navigator:
From Projects, select the Plan / Create Work Packages task.
From Commissioning, select Planning / Create Work Packages.

To add a new work package:
1. Click Add Work Package in the Created Work Packages panel.
  The Add Work Package form appears.
2. Enter the following required fields:
  Project Code: Select the project the work package is for. The list includes the Project Code (the system-generated unique identifier for the project), as well as the Project Name to help you identify the correct project.
  Work Package: Enter an identifying name for the work package. The name must be unique among the work packages for the project.
  Date -Est.Start/Date - Est. End: Select the estimated start and end dates for the work package.
3. Enter the following recommended field:
  Days Per Week: Enter the number of days per week that will be work days for this work package .It is important to remember when estimating design schedules that the timeline in the Gantt chart depends on the project/work package Days Per Week setting in addition to the start date and duration.
4. Enter the following fields as needed:
  Summary/Description: Enter additional information specific to this work package.
  Project Phase: Select a Project Phase value, such as Design, Execution, or Closeout. This is useful from the Projects application when you want to track the project at the Design phase or Execution phase level. Or, from Commissioning, when locating projects for which you want to add work packages, you can search for these projects by their phase.
5. Click Save.
To add a new action to a work package:
1. Select the project in the Created Work packages pane.
2. The action items defined for the work package appear in the Action Items pane.
3. In the Action Items pane, click Add New.
4. The Action Item Details form appears.
5. Enter data for the new action. For a description of the fields, see Adding Actions to an Approved Project.
6. Click Save.
To assign project actions to a work package:
If you have created actions that are associated with the project, you can select from these actions and assign them to the work package.
2. Select the work package in the Created Work packages pane.
3. Select the actions you want to add to the work package. To select all actions, select the check box in the column header.
4. Click Assign Selected Records.
  The Action Items panel now includes the selected actions.
To edit an existing action for a work package:
1. Select the work package in the Created Work Packages pane.
2. In the Action Items pane, click Edit in the row for the action item.
3. The Action Item Details form appears.
4. Make changes and click Save. For a description of the fields, see Adding Actions to an Approved Project.

Assigning Actions to Work Packages

When you create or edit actions, if a work package is already created, you can use the Add or Edit Actions task to assign the action to a work package.

To add existing actions to work packages:

Select the Plan/Add or Edit Actions task.
In the Approved Projects pane, select the name of the project that you want to edit.
In the Action Items pane, click Edit in the row for an action item that you want to add to a work package.
The Edit Task form appears for the selected action item.
In the Work Package field, select the work package that you want to assign the action to.
Click Save.
To see the action listed for the work package.
1. Click the Create Work Packages task.
2. Use the Filter console to select the work package that now contains the action you just edited. Click the Show button.
3. In the Created Work Packages pane, select the work package that contains the new action.
  The actions for the work package appear in the Actions Items pane. These actions include the action you just assigned to it as well as any actions that you created while you were creating the work package.