Using an activity structure

The activity structure is a hierarchical structure that is commonly used to break a project down into time-scaled activities.

An activity structure is defined by a reference to the top activity. The hierarchy of an activity structure consists of all the activities that are displayed under the top activity.

You can use the Activities (tppss2100m000) session to create and maintain activities. You can refine the hierarchy of the activities by specifying the parent of each defined activity. In the activity hierarchy, you can define individual activities such as:

  • WBS element
  • Control account
  • Work package
  • Planning package

Milestones

An activity of zero days that usually represents a significant event in the project. In many cases the completion of a phase of major deliverable. Milestones can be used for the moment of invoicing and the calculation of earned value. Milestones can be linked to activities. A Milestone set to Earned Value Method, enables you to time-phase the budget by use of a budget version . You can use the Milestones (tppss2101m000) session to create and maintain milestones. Milestones can also provide feedback related to the progress of customized items built with a PCS project in Manufacturing. Milestones can also trigger advance payment requests and installments for invoicing.

Baseline

The baseline is a snapshot of the scheduled activities (active plan) start and end dates for a specific date and time. You can use the Activity Baseline (tppss2120m000) session to create and maintain a baseline (snapshot) for activities.

Note: A WBS element is part of the work breakdown structure, which can be the top of the activity structure. You can define the project scope in the WBS. At the lower levels of the activity structure, you can use the Control Account, Planning Packages, and/or Work Packages to define the actual work that is required to establish the scope.