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Planning Level

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bryc ali
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Hi everybody,

I have always a real trouble to define the Level of my planning or to discuss a plannig with our contractor, sometimes the planning that I have to discuss for me is a L4 and for the contractor is a L3, do you have an answer ?

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bryc ali
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Thank's

Santosh Bhat
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Bryc,

Pat Weaver has posted a picture from the CIOB practice standard for scheduling here: https://mosaicprojects.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/schedule-density/

Rafael Davila
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bryc ali
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Thank you for your answer do you have any pic of L1 to L4 to consolidate my comprehension, please

Zoltan Palffy
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as per the AACE® International Recommended Practice No. 37R‐06 here is how they describe the different levels.

 

The EPC Level 1 schedule summarizes the overall project for client and management. EPC Level 1 schedules show  start and finish dates for the major project phases and key milestones (such as design, procurement, construction,  and commissioning and start‐up). Significant contract milestones and project‐specific milestones or activities are  included in EPC Level 1 schedules as required by the project execution plan.     

EPC Level 2 schedules contain more detailed activities for each of the summary phases previously identified in the  Level 1 schedule. This often includes a breakout of the various trades or disciplines responsible for the activities in  each phase, the critical procurement activities, the major elements of construction, and general commissioning  and start‐up requirements. Generally in the EPC Level 2, this is the first level of scheduled detail where logical links  or task relationships may be shown.    

EPC Level 3 is the first level where the full use of critical path method (CPM) techniques could be shown  effectively. In addition to start and finish dates for each grouping of deliverables or activities within each phase of  the project, EPC Level 3 schedules include major review and approval dates as well.  Most EPC schedule models are  not developed below Level 3 in terms of CPM activity detail, with the intent to keep the schedule broad enough to  be described for any specific project. EPC schedule levels are normally limited to Levels 1 through 3, however  sometimes an “external” schedule data would be prepared and these external schedules are called “Level 4.”     

EPC Level 4 are detailed work schedules and generally would be prepared outside of the CPM software, with  correlation to the CPM schedule activities and scope of work. The theory is, that if there is too much detail within  the CPM network, the schedule would not only lose its flexibility as a value‐added tool to manage the job, but  schedule maintenance would become difficult, due to the greater effort needed to maintain the CPM logic after  each progress update. A variety of software tools can be employed to develop work schedules at Level 4 and  below: spreadsheets, databases, and word processing are all utilized.  

bryc ali
User offline. Last seen 1 year 25 weeks ago. Offline
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Posts: 43

Thank's a lot I'll read and write a comments but I think that there is a standard to could speak the same language with our stakholders.

Santosh Bhat
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Bryc,

At the end of the day, this is a subjective assessment that will vary by the project you are involved in, the orgnaisation you are reporting these to, and even the people/stakholders who are using your schedule.

So I would say there is no single answer and it needs to be established by you for your particular requirement, however here are some guidance documents that might help you:

https://planningengineer.net/schedule-levels-level-1-5/ 

https://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/PDF/Schedule_Levels.pdf this is from Pat Weaver, and is a great reputable source, and another one from Pat also: https://mosaicprojects.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/schedule-density/

 

The AACE produce two really good recommended practices on this matter, but you need to be a member to access them: 37R-06: Schedule Levels of detail and 27R-03 Schedule Classification System

An older post here on PP itself: http://www.planningplanet.com/wiki/422326/schedule-levels