In the past, the lack of effective project collaboration and alignment on the front end led to unreliable execution plans negatively impacting project production. In this section, you will be introduced to Advanced Work Packaging, or AWP, for substantially improving project performance. AWP provides for organizing project execution through a philosophy of startup and construction-driven execution with effective integration and alignment among startup, commissioning, construction, procurement, and engineering personnel across the project lifecycle. AWP benefits reported by projects include improved safety awareness and performance, up to 25 percent productivity improvement, up to 10 percent cost savings, and numerous other benefits that will be described in further detail.

AWP is a disciplined approach to improving project productivity and predictability. It accomplishes this by aligning planning and execution activities throughout the project life cycle, from project set-up to startup. Interactive front end planning plus organized, sequenced detailed engineering support enhanced, efficient execution at the workface. This section illustrates the flow of some key components that distinguish AWP implementation across the project lifecycle.

This section focuses on notable practices that support successful AWP comprehension and implementation. Some of the practices discussed include safety, AWP Team culture and also high-level recommendations to consider when implementing AWP on a project. The topic also looks closer into ten valuable tools, including templates and checklists, that are intended for fit-for-purpose use by organizations and projects in preparing for and applying AWP.

This section looks at AWP Benefits across Six Key Performance Dimensions – Safety, Productivity, Cost, Quality, Predictability and Schedule. Finally, we review a selection of case studies that summarise and provide further information on the benefits and outcomes of AWP implementation on projects.

While on a project that was facing many challenges, the LPS founders asked a fundamental question, “How many planned activities get done a week on average on a construction project?” They concluded that the answer to this question is 54% on average. They then conducted research to see how well current planning predicted the condition of the project 1 week in advance by recording the percentage of activities the foremen thought they would complete with what was actually done according to the prediction. This led to the development of the Last Planner System® (LPS®). In this section, you will learn about LPS® for improving project outcomes.

Last Planner System® (LPS®) was developed to overcome shortcomings of conventional planning and resulted in many benefits. In this section, we explore some of the benefits of implementing the LPS®. The topic also covers its key principles the importance of collaborative alignment by the involved stakeholders.

This section takes us through the journey of the Last Planner System. All 5 conversations or levels of LPS work as a system to improve the outcomes for the project. These conversations include Milestone Planning, Phase Pull Planning, Lookahead Planning, Weekly Work Planning and Learning. LPS is a production planning system designed to produce predictable work flow and rapid learning in programming, design, construction and commissioning of projects. All 5 levels of planning conversations are necessary for success.

It is clear that there is no project success without commissioning/startup success. However, CSU execution success requires timely & effective planning by key stakeholders. In this section of the course, we’ll examine the planning activities in 3 pre-construction project phases, including Concept development & feasibility, Front end engineering, and Detailed design.