Create Activities
Activities in WorksOS provide you with a project-wide method for quantifying earthwork-related calculations. Using activities, members of a project have a way to understand progress made on earthwork volumes based on a surveyed surface, design, and start/end dates.
The % complete is calculated based on the progress made against the estimated volumes. The work done should generally occur within the target dates to count towards the activity, but work outside the dates still counts unless the activity is marked as Ended; this will either happen automatically if the target volumes have been achieved or if you set the actual end date manually. The target end is primarily of interest in calculating the target working rate. Target volumes (as specified in the UI) are used to determine when an Activity has started (change from 100% remaining) and finished (0% remaining).
This new feature better matches the way you estimate, bid, and track the execution of jobs. You could do this more manually in previous releases of WorksOS, but activities make it easier by matching your existing workflows.
To configure activities, you must have a design and one or more surveyed surfaces (.ttm, primarily from Trimble Business Center, SCS900, or Siteworks). In an activity, you can opt to track areas on the site (such as cut vs. fill) or phases (such as overburden stripping and unusable material removal). Use activities to divide areas and/or phases of work (even sequential) prior to starting work.
Recommendation: Do not create activities that encompass your entire project. There is a limit on the size of the cut and fill volumes (currently 10 million m3).
Click the Map icon (map pin) on the left. Then click the Custom Area icon (unfolded map) on the right and draw closed shapes to define any project areas that you want to use for activities, such as work type (e.g., cut, fill) or phase (e.g., overburden stripping, unusable material removal) boundaries.
Click the Activities icon (clipboard) in the left pane.
If the project has existing activities, review them in the Activities list before creating new activities to see how the work is being broken down and planned so the team can track progress and completions.
Tip: You can also configure the Activities list to make columns visible, reorder them, and pin them.
Each includes these parameters:
Cost code - Optional data to tie together estimation and scheduling (see step 5 for details).
Target start date - Dates are used for the job scheduling and estimation. The target dates are also used to specify the working period for the activity. The target start date is required and is used to calculate the target end date when a daily working rate is used. This date also serves as the starting point for calculating actual quantities.
Target end date - Dates are used for the job scheduling and estimation. The target dates are also used to specify the expected working period for the activity.
Actual start date - The actual start date is automatically detected based on the data. This date is determined by the day in which the actual volume remaining is different from the target quantity. This date can also be changed or input by the user in the case of Activities starting early. For example, if a machine does some work that is within the boundary of the activity and after the target start date, this will automatically set the actual start date.
Actual end date- Based on the range of when data first comes in from the field, and when you specify that work is complete or the remaining volume is 0.0. If the work remaining does not reach zero you should set the actual end date manually to store the correct status of the surface and end state for that activity. This sets the working dates for the activity and changes the status to Finished.
Note: You should set the actual end date if the work remaining does not reach zero within the target start and end dates.
Boundary - Shows names of the areas created in the Map view. Boundaries are used to divide activities by the different phases or working areas. Highly recommended that cut and fill areas are tracked separately when not a balanced site.
Estimate - Shows the total volumes to be worked in each area.
To create a new activity, click ADD.
In the right pane, enter:
Activity name - Make this descriptive so other team members can easily distinguish between activities.
Cost code - Specify a cost code for the activity type. Entering codes is optional, but beneficial if you want to tie the estimation (when using Trimble Viewpoint or Trimble Quest, for example) and scheduling (using Tilos, Primavera P6, or Microsoft Project, for example) to your WorksOS project. Cost codes are also used in the field when work is bid, executed, and completed.
Activity type - Choose a calculation type. Only Earthworks is available today.
Activity subtype - Based on the selected activity type, choose a sub type: Cut/fill, cut, or fill. These choices are used to quantify and calculate the estimate, as well as track progress once work begins.
Note: For activities that are subtype cut only, the lowest pass elevation filter is used to calculate volumes. This is important in case you compare to other filters showing similar information.
Surveyed surface - Choose an initial surface (typically existing/original ground).
Design - Select a target for the finished surface. Any imported surface can be selected as the ending surface.
Boundary - Refine your calculations by selecting a smaller, custom area. You can create these areas in the Map view.
Click Calculate to see earthwork volumes broken down by estimated cut and fill areas, as well as a volume total. You can always change any of the previously specified parameters and recalculate without leaving the pane.
Review the Volume estimates in the same pane.
Click NEXT, and enter the Target start date.
Enter a Daily working rate (meter3 or yard3/day) to indicate how much cubic material can be worked in a day.
Enter a Target end date or calculate it based on the daily working rate specified above. If the latter, adjust either the work rate or end date as needed.
Click Add to add it to the Activities list so all project users can see it. Once added, the activity’s actual start and end dates are calculated based on machine production and surveyed data that WorksOS receives for the project.
Select a machine design for an activity
Activity creation includes a toggle to allow for the use of a machine design (from the field) to be matched to an activity that contains the same design in WorksOS. This allows for the separation of overlapping work. The logic (when enabled) is automatic, based on the name of the design; this accounts for slight variations and version updates. The list of designs that have been matched can be viewed within the Map Page filters when clicking through from the Activity Dashboard.
Note: When using machine design matching, surveyed surface imports are disabled. Only the initial survey for the activity is used to create a composite surface with machine data. Changing the map filters will remove this behavior.
Next topic: Use the Activity Dashboard