Capital Projects / Projects / Plan

Adding or Editing Actions for Approved Projects

After a project has been approved, you can update actions and add new ones. For example, you can update the Action Item Status as work progresses, and you can estimate design schedules and costs.

From the Plan/Add or Edit Actions task, you update actions for Approved projects. To work with projects having any status, see Adding and Editing Actions Using the Management Console.

Note: In addition to creating action items after a project has been approved, you can create action items while you are requesting a project. When you create actions for requested projects, you can edit values such as the baseline cost and baseline schedule estimates. For more information, see the Adding Project Request Actions topic.

From the Add or Edit action, you can:

Adding and Editing Actions to Approved Projects

To add or edit an action item for an approved project:

  1. Select the Plan / Add or Edit Actions task.

    The Add or Edit Actions form appears.

  2. If needed, use the Filter console to restrict the list of approved projects that are shown. For example, set a filter to restrict the list to show only Approved projects for a specific location, Program, or Project Manager. See Using Filter Consoles.
  3. In the Approved Projects panel, select the name of the project that you want to add or edit actions for. The actions currently associated with the selected project are displayed in the Action Items panel.
  4. To create a new action item,
    1. Click Add New in the Action Items pane.
    2. The Edit Task dialog appears. The Project Code is filled in with the project you selected. The Date Requested is set to the current date, and the program generates a unique Action Item ID for the action. The Created By field fills in with the name of the logged-on user.
    3. Enter the following required fields:

      Action Title: A identifier for the action. The name must be unique among actions for this work package.

      Action Type: Select the type of action. When you assign an action a type, you are able to view the Action Status in reports, such as Action Status by Action Type (Execute process/Schedule tab), and view milestone statuses (Monitor process/View Milestone Statuses). When estimating schedules and duration, you can filter by Action Type to see only those actions on the Gantt chart.

    4. Date to Perform:  Date you plan to begin the action. By default, this is set to the current date. Enter an estimated date if you are planning on tracking design schedules using the design Gantt chart.

      Duration - Est. Design (Days): By default, this is set to 1 day, but enter an estimated value, so that you can track design schedules on the Gantt chart. The design schedule estimate is based on information that has been provided by architects, designers, and contractors who have analyzed a project's requirements.

      Hours - Est. Design: By default, this is set to 0, but enter a value to indicate the number of person-hours this action will take. For example, if the action's Duration is two days, and two people will be working on this action for eight-hour days, then the person-hours for this action is 32 hours. The S-Curve analysis uses person-hours in its calculations for work, so it is important to enter these hours if you are generating S-Curve charts in the Projects application.

      Cost - Est. Design (Exp.) and  Cost Est. Design (Cap): By default, these costs are set to 0.00, but enter an estimate if you want to compare estimated design costs to actual costs in the Project Analysis report. These design costs are provided by architects, designers, and contractors who have analyzed a project's requirements.

    5. Enter the following recommended fields:

    6. Work Package: Select the work package for the action item. Although, not required to save the record, an action must be associated with a work package so that vendors can bid on it, and you can generate reports that show data for work packages.

      Project Phase: Select a Project Phase value, such as Design or Execution. For example, this is useful if you want to track the project at the Design phase or Execution phase level in the Project Analysis report. Or, when adding actions to work packages you can search for work packages by the Project Phase for the project with which the work package is associated. For more information on the Project Analysis report, see the Creating Management and Oversight Reports topic. 

      Action Item Status: A description of where the action item is in its lifecycle. This is a key field as it enables you to track and manage the progress of a project by marking actions as 'in progress', cancelled, put on hold, or stopped. Reports, such as Action Status by Action Type (Plan process / Management Console: Plan (schedule tab), use the action item status, and a work package can be marked as complete based on the status of its actions items.

      Work Breakdown Structure Code: A hierarchical structure that is used to organize tasks. Often, the action item's Work Breakdown Structure Code has the prefix of the work packages code. For example, if a task is associated with a work package that is first in your outline, and the task is the first task for the work package, then the outline number for that task is 1.1; the outline number for the first subtask under this task is 1.1.1

      Site Code/Building Code/Floor Code/Room Code: Select the location information for the work to be done.

      Approved By: Enter the name of the person approving this work. From Commissioning, if the action is for a design submission, use the Approve Documentation action to approve the document. See Approving Design Submissions.

      Created By: The system fills in this field with the name of the user who added this action.

      Action Item Status: Select the current status for the action. If you record Action Item Status, you can view reports that include this field, such as Action Status by Action Types on the Management Console Schedule tab. After you change the status from N/A, the action item can no longer be deleted; you can cancel it (if the status is Scheduled) or stop it (if the status is In Progress).

    7. Enter additional information for the action as needed.

      Approved By: Enter the name of the person approving this work.

    8. The following fields are used for scheduling if you are creating service requests for this action.

      Problem Location Enter precisely where the problem exists, so that others following up on this item will be able to easily find the problem. For example, if you are assessing the condition of a room, you might enter "Back corner near window"

      Equipment Code: Select the equipment needed to perform this action by selecting an equipment item from your equipment inventory.

      Problem Type: Select the type of problem this action item is addressing.

      Primary Trade Required: Select the type of craftsperson required to perform this work.

      Date Required: Select the date this craftsperson is needed.

      Date Requested: Date the service request was entered. This can be a read-only field set to the current date.

    9. Click Save.
    10. Attach a document: After you save the action, to attach a document to the action, click the Check In New Document button next to the Document field to select the document.
  5. To edit an existing action:

    Note:  When you edit the Start and End Dates for actions, if any actions are set to be predecessors for other tasks, the Gantt Chart automatically ensures that the date fields for dependent tasks conform to their predecessors. See How the Gantt Chart Updates Dependent Tasks.

    1. In the Action Items panel, select Edit in the row for the action item.
    2. In the Edit Task dialog, edit data for the action. For guidance on the data entered, see the previous step to this procedure.
    3. As the project progresses, edit the Action Item Status field to reflect the current status of the project task.
    4. Click Save.

Applying a Template of Actions to a Project

You have the option to copy a project template of action items to a project request. It is useful to use a project template when you are using the same group of actions for multiple projects. For more information on setting up project templates, see Defining Project Templates.

To apply a project template of actions to an approved project:

  1. From Projects, select the Plan / Add or Edit Actions task. From Commissioning, select Planning / Add or Edit Actions task.

    The Add or Edit Actions form appears

  2. If needed, use the Filter console to restrict the list of projects that are shown. For example, set a filter to restrict the list to show only projects for a specific location, Program, or Project Manager. See Using Filter Consoles.
  3. In the Approved Projects pane (Projects) or the Created and Requested Projects pane (Commissioning), select the name of the project that you want to edit.
    The actions currently associated with the selected project are displayed in the Action Items panel.
  4. In the Action Items panel, click Apply Template.
    A new window appears with a list of project templates.
  5. Select the project template that contains the actions that you want to apply to the selected project.
    The actions from the project template and any associated work packages are added to the project. If needed, you can now edit the actions.

Canceling, Deleting, or Stopping Actions

To cancel, delete, or stop actions:

  1. In the Action Items list, select Edit in the row for the action.
  2. The Edit Task form appears.
  3. Do one of the following:

    If the Action Item Status is:

    • N/A, click Delete to delete the action.
    • Scheduled, click Cancel to cancel the action.
    • In Progress, click Stop to stop the action.

    The Action Item Status field is updated to reflect the action you selected.