Activities (tipcs4101m000)

In the overview session you can list the activities by project.

In the details session you can define activities.

Activities are used to perform network planning by project, and to:

  • Determine the rough material and capacity requirements of the project which are planned with activities;
  • Control the (final) assembly planning for the project;
  • Define modules in module planning;
  • Record a project structure in the Project Structure (tipcs2115m000) session.
Note

A record cannot be deleted if:

  • The project has Canceled, Finished, Closed or Archived status;
  • The hours spent are > zero;
  • Activity is used in the Project Structure (tipcs2115m000) session
  • Activity is used in the Activity Relationships (tipcs4110m000) session
  • Activity is used in the Module Planning (tipcs4120m000) session

Related topics

 

Project

A collection of manufacturing and purchasing actions that are performed especially for a particular customer order. A project is initiated by a customer order for items having a To Order order policy. The purpose of a project is to plan and coordinate the production of these items.

For a standard-to-order production, the project is only used to link the item with the customer order. Otherwise, a project can include:

  • Customized item data (BOMs and routings)
  • Project planning (activity planning)

A budget is a special type of project. A budget is used to plan and estimate, not to carry out production.

Note

It is not allowed to have a project of the Budget type. Budgets are only used for financial transactions, so you cannot add activities for a budget.

Activity

This code identifies an activity in the network planning for a project.

Default value

As a rule, LN takes the last sequence number incremented with1.

Search Key

An alternative form of a description used for convenience during searching. Typically, it is an abbreviation, an acronym, or a mnemonic alternative to a full description.

Task

The task you want to link to the activity.

The task entered is used:

  • in the PCS Project Hours (bptmm1170m000) session when hours are entered for an activity;
  • to store more detailed information about the activity.

Related topics

Work Center

A specific production area consisting of one or more people and/or machines with identical capabilities, that can be considered as one unit for purposes of the capacity requirement planning and detailed scheduling.

Activity Manager

A person responsible for planning or carrying out a project activity.

Capacity Load Table

Capacity load tables indicate how the rough capacity requirement is divided over the activity duration. The percentage of the lead time (activity duration) is on the horizontal axis. The vertical axis shows the percentage of the capacity requirement (that part of the activity which must be finished after a certain activity duration). This capacity requirement is the rough capacity recorded for the activity.

Rough

The globally needed capacity in hours for the execution of the relevant activity.

Enter the estimated capacity-requirements in hours for the relevant activity. Using the Generate Network Planning (tipcs4210m000) session, the capacity-load table is used for planning the global capacity-requirements for the relevant activity.

Planning Factor

Enter the planning factor that is used in calculating the default activity duration.

The planning factor indicates how many employees or machines are employed simultaneously for the execution of an activity. LN only uses this factor to calculate the default duration of the activity on the basis of the global capacity requirements and the available hours by day.

Available Capacity

Enter the available capacity in hours per day. This capacity is used to calculate the default activity-duration. The planning factor enables you to record the available capacity in hours per day for each employee or machine.

Based on this capacity, LN calculates the default duration of an activity using the appropriate formula:

Default activity duration = Rough capacity requirement / (Planning factor x Available capacity)

Activity Duration

Enter the activity duration in days. LN determines the default activity duration as follows, based on:

  • The estimated capacity requirements
  • The planning factor
  • The available capacity

Activity Duration = Estimated capacity requirements / (Planning Factor x Available Capacity)

Earliest Start Date

The earliest start date for the activity is the earliest date on which the activity can be started. This date is determined using the Generate Network Planning (tipcs4210m000) session.

Latest Start Date

The last start date of the activity is the last date on which the activity can be started. Determine this date by using the Generate Network Planning (tipcs4210m000) session.

Earliest End Date

The earliest end date of the activity is the earliest date on which the activity can be finished. Determine this date by using the Generate Network Planning (tipcs4210m000) session.

Latest End Date

The latest finish date for the activity is the latest date on which the activity can be finished. This date is determined using the Generate Network Planning (tipcs4210m000) session.

Total Float

The total float of an activity is the maximum time expressed in (working) days in which that activity can be shifted without affecting the planned completion date of the relevant project.

The total float-time is calculated:

Total Float = Latest Finish - Earliest Start - Activity Duration

The latest finish date and earliest start date are expressed in project days.

Related topics

Free Float

The free float is the number of (work)days that the start of an activity can be delayed without affecting the float of subsequent activities.

The free float is determined by the network planning process. It cannot be modified by the user.

Related topics

Desired Start Date

The desired start date is the date on which you want to start the execution of the relevant activity. This date is only used for information. However, the desired start date is compared to the earliest and latest finish dates and the reference date by the Generate Network Messages (tipcs4211m000) session, which can result in the creation of exception messages.

Desired Finish Date

The desired finish date is the date on which you want to stop the execution of the relevant activity. This date is only used for information. However, the desired finish date is compared to the earliest and latest finish date and the reference date with the Generate Network Messages (tipcs4211m000) session, which can result in the creation of exception messages.

Actual Start Date

Enter the actual start date, provided that the Percentage Completed field does not read 100%.

Note

The actual start date is also updated by the Process Hours and Expenses (bptmm1203m000) session once you have entered hours for the relevant activity using the PCS Project Hours (bptmm1170m000) session.

Actual End Date

Enter the actual finish date, provided that the field Percentage Completed does not read 100%.

Note

The actual end date is updated if you:

  • Enter hours for the relevant activity in the Process Hours and Expenses (bptmm1203m000) session.
  • Execute a network calculation in the Generate Network Planning (tipcs4210m000) session.
Activity Estimation

If this check box is selected, the field indicates whether the relevant activity must be included in the estimated cost-price calculation for the project. This can be especially important for indirect activities, such as engineering.

Status

Indicates the current progress of the project.

Aggregated Capacity Requirements

The aggregated capacity requirements in hours, depending on work center where the activity is scheduled to be carried out. The aggregated capacity requirements are calculated with the Aggregate Estimated Capacity to Project (tipcs4201m000) session on the basis of the project structure and the project engineering. This is only possible if the operations have been linked to activities in the routing. Dependent on the value of the Critical Capacity for Planning field in the Work Centers (tirou0101m000) session, Man Capacity or Machine Capacity is used to calculate the aggregated capacity requirements.

The aggregated capacity-requirements are only shown for your information and can be used for checking or monitoring the rough planned hours by activity.

Progress
Spent Critical Capacity

The actual hours spent on the relevant activity. Based on the transaction hours linked to the activity, LN automatically updates this value in the Process Hours and Expenses (bptmm1203m000) session.

LN displays the number of hours spent as calculated by the Generate Network Planning (tipcs4210m000) session.

Actual Man Hours

The actual man hours that are the posted to and processed by People.

Actual Machine Hours

The actual machine hours that are the posted to and processed by People.

Critical Capacity for Planning

The value of the Critical Capacity for Planning field in the Work Centers (tirou0101m000) session for the relevant work center.

Autom. Update

If this check box is selected, the Percentage Completed field is automatically determined if you use either the Process Hours and Expenses (bptmm1203m000) session when hours transactions are processed, or if you use the Generate Network Planning (tipcs4210m000) session when a network calculation is performed for the project.

Percentage Completed

Enter the percentage completed for the activity. You can only enter a percentage if the Autom. Update check box is cleared.

If the Autom. Update check box is selected, the percentage completed is automatically determined. The calculation is as follows:

  • If hours are entered in the Rough Capacity Requirements field:

    Percentage completed = Spent hours / Rough capacity requirements

  • If no hours are entered in the Rough Capacity Requirements field:

    Percentage completed = Spent hours / (Planning factor x Available capacity x Actual duration)

The percentage completed shows the activity's progress. The Hours Spent field is updated if you book hours for the activity in the Hours and Expenses by Employee Overview (bptmm1100m000) session. If the booked hours for the activity exceed the number of hours in the Rough Capacity Requirements field, you would expect a percentage in the Percentage Completed field that is higher than 100%. However, the value displayed in the Percentage Completed field will never be higher than 99%. The reason is that if the percentage is not higher than 99%, you can continue booking hours.

If the Autom. Update check box is cleared, you can change the percentage manually to 100%. If the percentage is 100%, you cannot book extra hours anymore.

Note

Because of the nonlinear distribution of capacity requirements, the percentage completed is not related to the lead time but to the global capacity requirements. If you choose an automatic calculation of the percentage completed, this percentage is determined on the basis of the global capacity requirements and the actual hours spent.

 

Projects

LN starts the Projects (tipcs2101m000) session in which you can maintain project data.

Activity Relationships

LN starts the Activity Relationships (tipcs4110m000) session in which you can maintain the activity relations of the project.

Capacity Load Table

Starts the Capacity Load Table (tipcs4131m000) session in which you can maintain the capacity load table attached to the given activity.

Generate Network Planning

Click to generate the network plan for the given project.

Rough Capacity Utilization by Project

Click to display the rough capacity utilization for the given project and activity.

Rough Capacity Util. by Work Center

Click to display the rough capacity utilization for the given work center and activity.