Reduce Programme Creation Time with Templates and Task Pools
How much of your time creating a new programme is genuinely new planning, and how much is rebuilding something your organisation has already planned before?
Through our Asta Powerproject Health Checks, our free consultancy offer available to all Asta customers, we have seen that standardisation and reuse can be an overlooked area. Planners may have recurring sequences, familiar project structures and established ways of reporting, yet still spend time recreating elements for each new programme.
In this article we are offering a few quick tips to give you stronger starting point. Don’t forget you can always book your free Health Check, template discussion or training, both online and face to face.
1. Stop starting every programme from scratch
A good template provides an agreed starting point for a project rather than asking every planner to create the structure afresh. That means planners can spend more of their time considering how the project will actually be delivered, rather than repeatedly setting up the mechanics of the programme.
For organisations with several planners, templates also support a more consistent approach across teams and project types.
Eleco’s Template Creation Service can incorporate elements such as programme structures, code libraries, calendars, views, baselines, progress rules and filters. Templates can also establish reporting outputs for progress, lookaheads, critical paths and resources.
2. Turn recurring sequences into reusable Task Pools
How often do you create fundamentally similar sequences?
Perhaps there is a typical procurement process, construction sequence or package of activities that appears in programme after programme.
This is where Task Pools in Asta Powerproject can support greater reuse.
Our Health Check analysis repeatedly highlighted task pools and reusable programme content as opportunities for customers. Rather than recreating common sections manually, organisations can look at which parts of their planning approach are genuinely repeatable.
This doesn’t mean every project becomes identical but planners aren’t forced to reinvent the elements that are consistent.
3. Create reusable work packages
Take that thinking one step further, you can look at which delivery method are repeatable enough to standardise.
Those become candidates for reusable work packages and typical sequences.
A reusable approach can give planners a starting framework while leaving project-specific logic, durations and sequencing to the planner’s judgement.
The objective is therefore not rigid standardisation. It’s to standardise the repeatable and focus planning expertise on the variable.
4. Use Code Libraries to create a common language
Consistency isn’t just about activities. Asta Powerproject was created as project management software specifically for the construction industry, including features such as Code Libraries.
Code Libraries can help create a common structure for organising programme information. When projects are structured around agreed coding conventions, it also provides a much stronger basis for consistent reporting.
Not sure about how to use them? You can register for our off- the-shelf Asta Powerproject courses. The Core Skills: Project Planning – Level 1 course covers Code Libraries alongside calendars, linked programmes, critical path, float, baselines and progress updates.
For established users wanting to develop their approach further, the Core Skills: Reporting & Updating the Project – Level 2 course includes allocating Code Libraries, Task Pools, multiple progress periods, views and creating a template.
5. Don’t forget calendars
Asta Poweproject’s Calendars are another element that can easily be recreated project by project.
An agreed template can incorporate common calendars as part of the organisation’s planning standards.
Of course, individual projects may require different working patterns. The value comes from having a controlled starting point rather than requiring every planner to define everything from zero.
For construction teams looking for broader skills development, the General Construction: Asta Powerproject – Level 1 & 2 course covers calendars, Code Libraries, Task Pools, project reporting, progress updating and saving templates with focus on teams working in general construction. We also offer tailored training courses using your own Asta Powerproject set up.
From individual best practice to company best practice
Perhaps the biggest benefit is not the time saved on a single programme, but capturing good planning practice so that it can be reused across the business.
Eleco’s Template Creation Service is designed to move organisations from individual ways of working towards a reusable template supporting consistent setup, clearer outputs and easier adoption. The process reviews customers’ current working and reporting requirements before designing, building and validating the template against representative examples. You can book your no obligation meeting here.
You can also contact us to discuss your team’s training needs – we provide both tailor made programs for our customers, as well as short, off-the-shelf online training trainings. Review available courses or book a free consultation to discuss your needs. Our courses are CPD accredited – and eligible for CITB funding (Please enquire).
Could your programmes benefit from a Health Check?
Our Health Checks have shown that programme efficiency isn’t solely about creating activities more quickly. It’s also about identifying what your organisation repeatedly creates that could instead be standardised, reused or improved.
A Health Check can help identify opportunities around your programme structure and current working practices, while a tailored Template Creation Service can provide a consistent starting point for future programmes.
If your team regularly copies old programmes, recreates familiar sequences or has different planners working in different ways, a Health Check could be a useful place to start.