Advanced Work Packaging has a vocabulary, and most arguments in a project meeting come from two people using one term for two things. These are the definitions AWPBI works to, drawn from project procedures and from CII Implementation Resource 272-2, Advanced Work Packaging, Design through Workface Execution.
Advanced Work Packaging
The implementation of project processes during FEED and detailed design that supports construction-driven engineering and procurement. It aligns engineering and procurement deliverables with the path of construction, so that engineering, procurement and construction work packages are released in the sequence the field needs them. CII recognizes it as a best practice.
Workface Planning
The process of developing, organizing, planning and delivering Installation Work Packages before work starts, so that one crew can perform quality work safely and efficiently. Identifying and removing constraints before release is part of the process. The term comes from the COAA WorkFace Planning model.
Path of Construction
The optimal building sequence for a project, based on constructability criteria and on commissioning and startup priorities. Its key output is a sequence of CWPs, which then sets the scope, boundaries and need dates of the EWPs and PWPs that feed them. It is developed in two dimensions first and then in the 3D model.
Interactive Planning Session
A working session in which engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and operations compare the 3D model and the schedule to set the optimum sequence of events. Sessions are typically held weekly, are iterative through the life of the project, and develop the Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4 schedules.
Construction Work Area
A geographical division of work defined by engineering with construction input. CWAs are not discipline-specific, each is an activity on the Level 2 schedule, and the boundaries are best set by hard coordinates so they can be reflected in the 3D model. Underground scope is separated from above ground.
Construction Work Package
A single discipline within a CWA that defines a logical division of construction work. It is one activity in the Level 3 schedule, the downstream product of one EWP and one PWP, bounded by a 3D envelope, and sized as one general foreman's work for 6 to 8 weeks, about 7,000 to 12,000 hours.
Engineering Work Package
A package of engineering deliverables containing all the engineering information required for one CWP. It has three components, the documents (cover page and drawings), the 3D model or its extract carrying EWP attributes, and the material take-off. Engineering is planned, progressed and released by EWP.
Vendor Engineering Work Package
The engineering data, documents and 3D models produced by vendors and required for a single CWP. It is managed through VEWP attributes in the EDMS, the 3D model, the MTO, the Level 3 schedule and the vendor bill of material, and no physical package is assembled.
Fabrication Engineering Work Package
The fabrication deliverables developed by a steel, pipe or module fabricator, referring to the engineer's EWP, for a single CWP. For steel it holds erection and shop drawings, mark and bolt lists and the fabricator model. For pipe it holds spool drawings, spool lists and weld maps.
Procurement Work Package
The metadata for all the materials required to satisfy a single CWP. It is a data object in the procurement and material management systems and the Level 3 schedule, starts when the purchase order is issued, finishes when all material has been received at site, and has a one to one relationship with its CWP.
Fabrication Procurement Work Package
A discrete package used by fabricators to plan steel or pipe fabrication. Every piece mark or spool is assigned to an FPWP, and each FPWP feeds one CWP, so site always knows which fabrication lot serves which package.
Module Work Package
The activities to load, ship and set a module at site. Each MWP is an activity in the Level 3 schedule, is aligned in the AWP Matrix, and is reviewed two weeks before planned shipment, with the carry-over work list agreed before the module leaves the yard.
Installation Work Package
A discrete portion of constraint-free construction work executed by a single foreman and crew in a 7 to 10 day period, dissected from a single CWP and made up of drawings and materials. Each IWP is one Level 4 activity in the 4 week lookahead and may be executed at site or in a module yard.
Test Work Package
A discipline-specific package for planning and executing pre-hydro, hydro and post-hydro testing. TWPs follow the same planning and execution philosophy as IWPs, and the line number is the connection between an IWP and its TWP.
System Work Package
A multidisciplinary package tied to a system or part of a system that lets a commissioning crew work safely, predictably and measurably. It captures all remaining work for the system, including open punch items, outstanding RFIs and pre-commissioning tasks, and carries the transition from area-based to system-based execution.
AWP Matrix
The master alignment tool of the project. It is the single controlled list that maps every CWP to its EWP, general EWPs, VEWP, FEWP, PWP, FPWP and MWP by CWA, discipline and sub-discipline. It is owned by the owner's AWP lead, issued weekly and reviewed monthly, and no package is created, split, merged or deleted outside it.
Master Document Register
The authoritative list of every document a contractor will produce, placeholders included, with its number, title, discipline, revision, status, planned dates and package allocation. It is issued weekly and kept synchronized with the EDMS.
Document Allocation Matrix
The governing reference for assigning documents to packages. It defines the approved relationships between disciplines, document types and EWPs or VEWPs, so that discipline leads and document control allocate documents the same way every time.
Tag Register
The single source of truth for tag data. It records each tag, its description, its discipline, its parent and child relationships, its EWP, CWP and PWP, and the systems in which it appears. Every other tag table is derived from it or reconciled against it weekly.
Placeholder
A record in the MDR and the EDMS for a planned deliverable that has not yet been issued. Placeholders define package scope early and are registered no later than eight weeks before the planned release of their package, which makes placeholder completeness one of the earliest leading indicators of readiness.
HOLD
A controlled suspension of work or of a deliverable. Every HOLD is recorded in the Engineering HOLDs Register with an accountable owner, a status and a forecast release date, one document per row. An EWP may be released with accepted HOLDs only after review with construction and approval by the owner.
Required-on-Site Date
The date by which the material for a CWP must be at site to support its planned start. ROS dates are applied to components in the material management system, drive PWP planning and expediting, and are compared against supplier delivery forecasts.
Rule of Credit
The agreed basis for claiming progress. For an EWP it is the number of documents issued IFC over the total documents in the package, placeholders included, with credit per document being all or nothing. PWPs earn credit by weighted phase, such as engineering, procurement, fabrication, inspection and delivery to site.
8 Week Lookahead
The weekly review of the EWPs, VEWPs and PWPs planned for release in the next eight weeks, with their constraints, HOLDs and forecast dates. Forecasts are snapshotted week over week so that slippage is visible, and delay reasons are recorded and analyzed.
90 Day Lookahead
The sequence of CWPs to be executed in the next 90 days, organized by CWA and craft. It is a Level 3 view reviewed monthly, and it is the bridge between the baseline schedule and the 4 week lookahead of IWPs.
Constraint
A condition that prevents the execution of a task. Constraints are identified and removed before a package is released, and a package cannot enter the released state while any constraint on it remains open.
Material Take-Off (Primary and Secondary)
The Primary MTO is the engineering-issued list of modeled, tagged components, with traceability to the deliverables that define them. The Secondary MTO expands standard details, supports, hookups, fasteners and other items that are not modeled into individual rows at catalog level, each tied to its parent tag and its package. Both are delivered as structured digital datasets, and quantities embedded in drawings are not accepted as a substitute.
Common Data Environment
The governed environment in which a project's documents, data and models are held and related, with a single source of truth for each dataset. On an industrial project it spans the EDMS, the project data warehouse and the reporting that reads from them.