A Work Breakdown Structure contains a set of deliverables, tasks or cost categories related to any job. Depending on the size of the project, a WBS Schedule may include a handful of phases or represent a large cascading list of activities and projections.
Activating a WBS Schedule on any Job will enable Aimsio’s Job Performance reporting. Whether or not teams intend to use Aimsio’s WBS features to their fullest, enabling a WBS Schedule can, at a minimum, provide insight into a job’s total revenue and cost.
How to Create a WBS Schedule
To enable Job Performance reporting, users can navigate to the Jobs page, click on the Action button next to a Job and select Edit.
- Navigate to the WBS Schedule tab and click Create.
New WBS Schedule Options
Aimsio provides three ways to create a WBS Schedule.
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The first option is to create a New Chart. Creating a new chart gives users a blank canvas where they can begin adding deliverables/phases. This option is ideal if WBS activities differ from job to job or if it’s a small list of WBS activities.
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The second option is to use a Template. While more upfront work, making templates will save users a significant amount of time in the long run. Templates are useful in instances where Job related services follow a similar structure, so they can be seamlessly imported when creating a WBS Schedule
- For a tutorial on creating a WBS Template see: How to Create a WBS Template
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The third option is to create a WBS using another Job. If the current Job follows a similar structure of a previous Job, users can simply import the existing schedule to the new Job.
- Users may consider creating a WBS on one job for the purpose of using the structure for all jobs. A user can create a blank WBS (New Chart) and use the detailed CSV export feature to save the WBS. This detailed CSV file can be imported into an Aimsio Job for future use. This can also enables users to make bulk changes to a schedule before importing. For more information see: How to Export and Import a WBS Chart
When creating a new New Chart or using a WBS Template, numerical values will default to zero. When users import a schedule from a previous Job Order, budgeting values and WBS Configuration settings will carry over from the previous Job.
WBS Schedule Configuration
Immediately after creating a WBS Schedule, users should confirm their WBS Schedule Configuration settings.
- To access the WBS Configuration, navigating to the Job > WBS Schedule tab. Click on the gear icon located on the far right to bring up your configuration options
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Auto Calculate Weights - Each deliverable in a schedule represents a percentage of the overall job. Aimsio can auto calculate the relative weight of a deliverable’s physical completion using two parameters:
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The number of deliverables / WBS Activities in a schedule
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Each deliverable’s total Budget.
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Leaving this option unchecked will allow users to manually set a deliverable’s weight.
For a complete walkthrough on setting up Physical WBS Progress see: Physical WBS Progress
- Auto Generate Activity Codes - This option prevents users from renaming the phase/activity code numbers generated with each deliverable.
Leave this option unchecked if intending to use your own codes.
- Auto Calculate Actual Start and End Dates - This options leverages the date fields of any submitted Tickets to calculate the actual start and end dates of a deliverable.
Leave this option unchecked if users want to manually set the Start and End Dates of their WBS activities.
- Non-Billable Pricebook - If teams are using a separate set of rates for recording Non-Billable work on Tickets, other than the Billable Price Book of the job, select an alternative Price Book here.
If the Non-Billable Price Book is the same as the Job’s Pricebook, Aimsio uses the Non-Billable rates recorded on the Ticket (default behavior).
If an alternate Non-Billable Price Book is used and it does not have the matching rate type (e.g. Hourly, Daily) for items recorded on a Ticket, Aimsio will use 0 as the rate.
If values recorded on a Ticket have no associated Billable Item (e.g. Misc, NRB), Aimsio always uses the rate recorded on the Ticket.
Budget & Contract Value Entry (Aimsio Ultimate)
Aimsio provides a comprehensive set of budgeting features that can scale to meet the needs of most heavy industrial projects.
For a detailed breakdown of how WBS Budgeting features are used, please review the following article: WBS Budgeting
Change Management (Aimsio Ultimate)
Throughout the course of a Job, changes to project scope, schedule or cost can have an impact on an existing WBS Schedule. Aimsio provides the ability to enter these changes manually, or leverage our Change Order forms to automate the tracking of changes once approved.
For more on this please see our article on Change Orders.
Creating a New (Blank) Chart
After your WBS Configuration is set, users can start editing an existing schedule or start creating a schedule from scratch.
- Begin creating a WBS schedule by selecting the New Deliverable button on the left.
Deliverable Information
Each deliverable can include a number of attributes, including its Parent Deliverable, Weight (the relative % this deliverable represents to the entire project), Planned Dates, Financials and Physical Progress.
- The Parent Deliverable field determines where this deliverable will be nested in relation to all other activities for the project. Any deliverable created in a schedule will either be considered child deliverable (direct descendent) of the Job, or a child deliverable of a pre-existing activity.
Planned Dates
Each deliverable may have a Planned Start Date and Planned End Date as it relates to the schedule. Aimsio provides the ability to track a revision using the Revised Start Date and Revised End Date fields.
The Actual Start Date and Actual Last (End) Date relate to the submitted Tickets for the Job. This is Aimsio’s approach to tracking when the work was actually recorded. Change the settings in the WBS Configuration to allow users to manually set these values.
Physical WBS Progress
Aimsio enables the tracking of physical progress for each deliverable. Physical progress can otherwise be interpreted as how much of the actual physical work on the deliverable has been completed.
Users can define their own Unit of Measurement to track this activity and this is typically dependent on the industry or type of work being done. For example, a pipeline project may track physical progress by the distance (e.g. kms, miles) of pipe that has been installed.
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Original Quantity refers to the originally estimated total to completion. In the example above, the deliverable is projecting 250kms of pipe installation.
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If the scope of the project changes, Aimsio provides the ability to track any Change to Quantity. Amended Quantity will always take into account the sum of the original and changed amounts.
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Completed refers to the amount completed to date. Users will fill this information out on daily Tickets as the work is completed in the field, or it can be manually adjusted here.
The completion (100% Complete) of a deliverable, and its weight, will influence the overall completion of the schedule.
For a complete walkthrough on setting up Physical WBS Progress see: Physical WBS Progress
Financials (Aimsio Ultimate)
Aimsio Ultimate users will find a section that allows the entering of Contract Value and Budget information. Where this information gets inputted is entirely dependent on the WBS Configuration.
For a complete walkthrough on entering contract and budget information see: WBS Budgeting