What It Takes to Set Up AWP Software on a Project

Setting up AWP software starts in FEED, before engineering produces its first package. The software is selected there, alongside the AWP strategy, the construction work areas (CWAs), a preliminary path of construction, and the data requirements. After that, the software depends on structures agreed in advance, data loaded on a fixed cadence, and people who know how to run it.

The Structures Agreed Before Engineering Packages

Before engineering develops its first engineering work package (EWP), these are in place:

• The package naming convention, frozen before the first drawing issues
• The work packaging hierarchy, to which schedulers may not add levels
• The register of every package and its relationships, often called the AWP Matrix
• The AWP schedule, with packages as Level 3 activities
• The data requirements, including how material takeoffs are developed
• The discipline nomenclature, following installation logic agreed with construction

The software is configured to these structures. Renaming packages or changing the hierarchy after data is loaded means changing every system that references them, and how Primavera P6 carries an AWP program shows why those shared IDs matter.

The Data, Loaded on a Cadence

Engineering loads its packages into the AWP software, including the documents, the material takeoffs with fabricator piece marks, and every form of model, from engineering and structural to vendor, fabricator, and spool files. Conditioned models arrive weekly. Packages change only through the package register, the AWP software is aligned after each register issue, and a monthly review reconciles it with the schedule and the document register.

The Model

Model components link to tags and packages through attributes set in the design model, such as CWA, CWP, and EWP. Model conditioning for AWP covers what those attributes need. A project without a usable model can still start, and AWP without a 3D model covers what changes.

The People

The setup step most often skipped is dedicated, full-time AWP and information management leadership from FEED or sanction, with responsibilities set in a RACI. Training runs from the start for everyone who touches the packages, soft crafts and vendors included.

How openAWP Is Set Up

openAWP can start a project from its AWP Standard template, with the tables, tabs, and relationships already set up and nothing in it locked. Tables and fields change without code. Data loads from Excel, Primavera P6, data warehouses, and other connected systems, on a schedule or on demand. An engineer from our team works with you on the setup and is billed hourly, and the software itself has no license fee.