Misc. - Steps

OVERVIEW – Activity steps provide a way to break activities down into smaller units and track the completion of those units. For example, the activity Prepare for System Integration and Testing might contain the following steps:

Establish test cases and test procedures  -  Create test data  -  Update SDFs

You can add as many steps to an activity as you need: some activities will require more steps to complete than others and some activities may require no additional steps at all. If progress occurs on the step, enter a percent complete in the Step % Complete column, or mark the Completed checkbox to indicate the step is 100% complete.

You can assign additional information to steps, such as cost, start and finish dates, and text. Define user-defined fields for activity steps in the User Defined Fields dialog box (choose Enterprise, User Defined Fields), then add fields as columns in the Steps tab of Activity Details.

You can also create activity step templates that capture a group of steps common to multiple activities, then assign the step group to activities.

Weighted steps
Weighted steps enable you to track the progress of an activity based on the number of steps completed. When you mark the Activity Percent Complete Based on Activity Steps checkbox in the Calculations tab in the Projects window, and choose Physical as the activity's percent complete type in the General tab in the Activities window, activity percent complete is updated based on the weight you assign to each activity step.

For example, in the activity Prepare for System Integration and Testing mentioned above, the steps are assigned weights of 3.0, 2.0, and 1.0 respectively. When you mark the Completed checkbox or enter 100% in the Step % Complete column for the step Establish Test Cases and Test Procedures, the activity’s physical percent complete is updated to 50 percent (because the total weight for the steps in this activity is 6.0 and the weight for this step is 3.0; therefore, half the work on this activity, according to the weight of the steps, has been completed). - Primavera

1. Copy the last project, UDF – User-Defined Fields, and paste the new project under the MIS – Misc. EPS.  Name the new project STP – Steps.  Open the project.
   
   
2. Open the layout, Rm.201 – month look ahead and remove the filter so that All Activities are visible.
   
   
3. Highlight the milestone activity, L2-1150, and add an activity so that’s it’s not grouped in any subordinate WBS only the project.
   
   
4. Name the new activity Closeout Rm201.  Leave the 5 day duration but change its calendar to Rm 201 Calendar keeping it consistent with the other activities’ calendars.  Give the activity a Start to Start (SS) predecessor of L2-1000 & a Finish to Finish (FF) successor of L2-1150.
   
   
5. Now, go down to the activity details panel and click the Steps tab.
   
   
6. Click Add and name the new Step, Record Drawings.
   
   
7. Once you have added the step, the notes section becomes activated to the right.  You can add any additional information here.  Click the text field and type, Maintain and submit one set of blue- or black-line white prints of Contract Drawings and Shop Drawings.
   
   Note – The step fields can also be viewed by running a report.
   
   
8. Now, add the following additional steps:
   
   - Punch List
   - O&M Manuals
   - Warranties
   - Final Cleaning
   
   TIP – The Add from Template option allows you to save a set of steps that you will be using for multiple activities. 
   
   
9. With these added, add the column Step Weight to the steps panel.  This column determines the weight or significance that a particular step has in relation to the overall activity.  Give Record Drawings & Punch List each a 3 weight and leave the rest at 1.
   
   
10. In order for the statusing of these steps to make any difference in relation to the percent complete for this activity we need to go to the project view.
    
    
11. Make sure the current project is highlighted and click on the Calculations tab below.
    
    
12. Check the box that says Activity Percent complete based on activity steps.  Once you check the box a warning.  Click Yes and go back to the activity view.
    
    
13. With the same activity highlighted, go back down to the steps tab and check the completed box for Record Drawings.
    

NEXT - Summarizing