Work packages on the schedule itself.
Work areas, construction packages and one-week installation packages, held as activity codes in the P6 schedule you already run. Constraints gate the release, the look-ahead shows what can start, and the crew gets a pack and a form that works with no signal. The schedule, your lists and the plot plan are read in this browser and never uploaded.
CWA › CWP › IWP · EWP · PWP · FWP as P6 activity codes — XER in, XER out · follows the CII Advanced Work Packaging processWhat it is for
On the P6 schedule, not beside it
A package is a value of one activity code, so P6 opens it, filters by it and groups by it. Constraints are P6 issues and field steps are activity steps. What P6 has no field for travels in Studio tables that P6 ignores, and the XER round trip stays lossless.
Nothing goes to the field blind
An installation package cannot be marked constraint-free while a constraint is open. Release it anyway and the Studio asks why, and keeps the answer, dated, in the package’s history.
Never uploaded
The schedule, the component and material lists and the plot plan are read in this browser and kept in the saved schedule. The packs and the field form are made on this machine. There is no server holding your package register.
Packages are activity codes P6 already reads
Set up work packages adds three activity codes, Work package, Discipline and System, with a starting discipline list for oil and gas, mining, or heavy industrial and civil work. Nothing else changes. Rename anything afterwards.
New adds a package under the one selected: work areas at the top, construction packages in an area, and installation, engineering, procurement and fabrication packages in a construction package. Assign selected codes the activities selected in the table. An activity sits in one package, and its area and construction package follow from the tree.
On a big schedule, Rules… codes activities in bulk, such as everything whose name contains PIPE or that sits under one WBS band; the count updates as you type, and the rules are kept to run again after an update. Import list… reads a CSV or Excel list of components, drawings or material lines. Propose with AI… asks the model you chose for areas and packages, through our relay unless the model runs on your own machine, and nothing is applied until you tick and accept. Mirror to WBS… makes WBS bands for areas or construction packages, as one undo step. The checks warn about size, empty packages and mixed disciplines; they never stop you.
CWA-30 Compression · work area
CWP-30-PIP Piping · 18,400 h
IWP-30-PIP-04 Spools, train A · 640 hConstraint-free
IWP-30-PIP-05 Spools, train B · 720 hIn planning
EWP-30-PIP Isometrics · engineering
PWP-30-PIP Valves and specials · procurement
rulename contains PIPE → CWP-30-PIP · 46 activities
checkIWP-30-PIP-06 is over 1,000 hours
Constraints, and a release gate that asks why
A constraint is what must be cleared before a package can go to the field: drawings, materials, scaffolding and access, a permit, an isolation. Constraints… lists them, each a P6 issue tied to its package, with a category, an owner and a need-by date. Leave the date blank and it is worked out from the package’s start less the lead for its category; the word beside the date says which. Late ones are marked.
In the Packages window, Make material constraints adds one for each of a package’s material lines not yet fully received. Close what is met closes the ones whose cause is met: every unit received, or the package they waited on complete. Meeting pack PDF puts the open constraints, the look-ahead and the backlog on paper for the weekly meeting.
A package cannot be marked constraint-free while any constraint is open. Release to field with constraints still open asks why, and the reason goes into the package’s history, dated, for the next person who asks how it got there.
MaterialsSpools SP-114 to SP-121 · need by 03 Mar · from lead
ScaffoldingAccess to rack level 2 · need by 28 Feb · setLate
PermitHot work, header tie-in · need by 05 Mar · from lead
Release IWP-30-PIP-04
3 constraints are still open. Why release it now? Scaffold up 27 Feb, inspection booked for Monday; spools on site. history27 Feb · released with 3 open
The look-ahead, and how many weeks of work are in hand
Look-ahead… lays out the installation packages starting in the coming weeks, one column a week, from 2 to 12 weeks ahead. Ready means nothing is open against the package, at risk means something is, and blocked means a constraint is already late. Press a card to open its package.
The backlog is the hours of released or ready work with nothing open against it, divided by the hours planned to start each week: the weeks of constraint-free work in hand, against the target you set. When it runs short, the crews are about to wait.
w/c 02 Mar
- IWP-30-STL-02Mill building, bay 2 steelReady · 480 h
- IWP-20-MEC-05Conveyor CV-03 idlersReady · 320 h
w/c 09 Mar
- IWP-30-MEC-01Ball mill linersAt risk · 560 h
- IWP-30-ELE-01MCC room cable pullReady · 400 h
w/c 16 Mar
- IWP-40-PIP-03Flotation cell manifoldsBlocked · 610 h
w/c 23 Mar
- IWP-50-CON-02Thickener ring wallAt risk · 540 h
- IWP-40-STL-01Flotation platformsReady · 380 h
A pack for the crew, and a form that works with no signal
Field pack… works on one installation package: each activity’s steps with a weight, hours, quantity and unit, and the hold and witness points. Field pack PDF prints the steps, materials, drawings, constraints, safety items and a sign-off block for the crew. Rules of credit… keeps a set of steps and weights for a kind of work, such as spool erection, to add to activities that have none.
Field form is one HTML file for the foreman’s phone, with nothing to install and no network needed. The foreman ticks steps, enters quantities and QC sign-off, and sends back the CSV. Read a returned form… shows one line per activity to tick, lists anything it could not match, and applies what you tick as one undo step. A hold point earns nothing until QC signs it off, when the project is set that way.
A2140 stepsFit-up 20 · Weld 40 · NDE 15 · Test 15 · Reinstate 10
Testhydrotest, hold point · earns nothing until signed off
earned212 of 640 h · from the steps
returned form · IWP-20-PIP-03 · 4 activities
A2140Spool erection · 60% → 75%
A2150Supports, bay 4 · 40% → 100%
A2160Bolt-up · 80% → 70%
Lower than recorded now: check before applying
Not matchedA2199, left out
The Path of Construction, and what it needs by when
Path of Construction… puts the areas in the order the site is built. Move an area up or down; the chart shows the areas over time, and the checks list where the dates or the logic do not hold that order. Add a plot plan if you like: a picture of the site with a numbered pin for each area, kept in your saved file and never written to the XER. Issue records the order as it stands, and Changed since issue lists what has moved since.
Need dates plan engineering, procurement and fabrication back from the construction package each one serves, with the slack in calendar days, so a negative number is late. Type a date to set your own. Beside them is a register of constructability ideas, from the first suggestion to the hours they saved once built into the plan, with Export ideas (CSV).
need dates · slack in calendar days
EWP-30-STLMill building steel drawings
need 14 Apr · forecast 02 Apr · slack 12
PWP-30-MECMill liners
need 05 May · forecast 19 May · slack −14
FWP-40-STLFlotation platforms
need 26 May · forecast 20 May · slack 6
ideaPre-assemble conveyor trusses at grade
built into the plan · 1,200 h saved
4D by area, by package and by readiness
With packages set up, the 4D view’s Colour by offers By area, By construction package and By IWP readiness, and By system once activities carry a System code. Readiness colours every element by its installation package’s state, from draft to complete, so the model shows what can be built next week and what is still waiting.
Select elements in 3D and choose Make an IWP…: pick the construction package, give a code and a name, and the elements’ activities become a new installation package. It tells you how many came from another IWP, and names the elements that have no activity and were left out. The model stays on your machine, as it always does in 4D.
Draft or in planning
Constraint-free
Released
In progress
Complete or closed
Make an IWP… · 9 elements selected
In construction packageCWP-30-STL
IWP codeIWP-30-STL-07 · Compressor shelter, bay 3
Made IWP-30-STL-07 with 6 activities (2 moved from another IWP)
1 element has no activity and was left out: Grating GR-31
Systems and turnover, for oil and gas
Construction runs by area; commissioning runs by system. Systems… holds the systems and subsystems, each with activities from any area, its open ITRs, its open punch items and its mechanical completion date. A system is ready for turnover when all its activities are complete and both counts are zero. Areas by system shows where each system’s work sits.
Make turnover activities adds mechanical completion, pre-commissioning and handover for each system you tick, linked in that order and fed by the system’s last activities. Add test pack holds makes insulation and heat tracing wait for the package that tests the lines, with a Test pack complete constraint that closes when the test does. Add pre-commissioning steps adds a step list for flushing, testing, reinstatement and checks.
For brownfield work, set the shutdown and tick the areas that are live. The findings list two packages overlapping in a live area, a package outside the window of its isolation or permit, and a package that needs an isolation outside the shutdown.
| System | CWA-20 Rack | CWA-30 Compr. | CWA-50 Utilities |
|---|---|---|---|
| SYS-21 Fuel gas | 14 | 22 | 0 |
| SYS-34 Cooling water | 9 | 6 | 31 |
| SYS-47 Instrument air | 5 | 11 | 18 |
brownfield · shutdown 12 – 26 Apr
Live areasIWP-30-PIP-04 and IWP-30-MEC-02 overlap in CWA-30
Outside the shutdownIWP-30-PIP-07 needs an isolation on 02 May
Measures you can trace back to the packages
Measures… works out the backlog, packages released ahead of need, engineering and procurement on time, RFIs that led to a change, estimates changed after release, the schedule factor, rework and productivity. Each shows the count behind it, such as 12 of 15, and a dash where there is nothing to measure yet.
The S-curve adds up the planned hours week by week, with a mark for the hours earned at the data date; the skyline stacks each week’s planned hours by discipline. A self-assessment scores five areas from Not yet to In place on all work; each person saves their own answers, and the trend follows the overall score.
Measures PDF puts the measures, the open constraints, the look-ahead and both charts on A4. The same figures are blocks in Report Studio, so a report and the window agree.
| Measure | Result | Counts |
|---|---|---|
| Backlog | 3.4 weeks | below the target of 4 weeks |
| Released ahead of need | 80% | 12 of 15 |
| Engineering and procurement on time | 86% | 19 of 22 |
| RFIs that led to a change | 13% | 2 of 15 |
| Estimates changed after release | 7% | 1 of 15 |
| Schedule factor | 1.08 | actual days over planned, complete packages |
| Rework | 2.1% | rework hours over actual hours |
| Productivity | 0.94 | 4,980 h earned, 5,300 h actual |
Your package register never leaves your machine
There is no server here holding a component list, a plot plan or a constraint register. The page comes from aimavera.com; your schedule, lists, pictures and model are read on your machine and are not uploaded to it. The one thing that can leave is the activity list, when you choose to ask an AI model, as set out on the right.
-
What you bring
The schedule, a CSV or Excel list of components, drawings or material lines, a picture of the site, and the 3D model if you use 4D.
gas-plant-expansion.xer · mto.csv · plot-plan.png · plant.ifc -
Your browser
Reads them, codes the packages, gates each release, and makes the PDFs and the field form, which are saved to your device.
read · package · gate · print -
The saved schedule
Packages as activity codes, constraints as issues, field steps as steps, and the rest in Studio tables P6 ignores. The plot plan stays in the saved file and out of the XER; the model stays in this browser’s geometry cache, and only its links are saved with the schedule.
XER round trip · lossless
Nothing uploaded
No schedule, list, picture or model is uploaded or stored by us. The one exception is yours to make: Propose with AI sends the activity list to the model provider you chose, only when you press it, through our relay at aimavera.com/api/ai, which passes it on and keeps nothing. A model running on your own machine is called directly from the page, and nothing leaves the device. The field form keeps what the foreman types on that phone until the CSV is sent back.
What it reads and writes
- Schedules: Primavera P6 XER and P6 XML, and Microsoft Project XML, or one built in the Studio. The XER stays the file of record.
- Lists: CSV or Excel lists of components, drawings and material lines, matched column by column for you to confirm. A tag already in the project is updated, not duplicated.
- Pictures: a PNG, JPEG or WebP plot plan, with a numbered pin for each area.
- Out: the field pack, meeting pack and measures as PDF; the field form as one HTML file; the ideas register as CSV; and AWP blocks in Report Studio.
Honest limits
- No notifications. Constraint owners are named, not emailed; the meeting pack is how they hear. A release is a planner’s decision, kept in the package’s history, not a sign-off workflow across companies.
- Lists are snapshots. A list is imported from a file; there is no live link to a materials system. Import it again to bring it up to date.
- Progress comes back by file. The field form returns a CSV that you read in; phones do not sync with each other or with the Studio.
- A plot plan is a picture. It is reduced to 1,600 pixels, and one still over about 2 MB is refused. There is no CAD.
- AI proposals are drafts. Propose with AI considers the first 1,500 activities and offers areas, construction packages and installation packages only. Check before you accept.
- Some things P6 never sees. The plot plan, the shutdown window and the self-assessment are kept in the saved file and not written to the XER.
Package the schedule you already have.
Free to open, no account, nothing uploaded.