A constraint is any condition that prevents a crew from executing a task. Workface planning exists to find each one before a package is released, clear it, and release only work a foreman can start without waiting for anything.
The Categories a Workface Planner Clears
The list is short and it is the same on every project.
- Drawings issued IFC, with the latest revision in the planner's hands and the package flagged if a revision landed after it was built
- Material received at site, verified against the bill of materials, and reserved to the package
- Scaffold erected and inspected where the work needs it
- Access to the work area, including permits and, in an operating plant, isolations
- RFIs answered, because an open RFI on a drawing is a constraint on every item that drawing covers
- Engineering HOLDs released or formally accepted, which is why the HOLD register lists one document per row and names the EWP
- Equipment and tools on hand, including cranes and lifts booked for the window
- Predecessor work complete, since a pipe package cannot start on a rack that is still being erected
Release Is a State the Package Cannot Enter Early
The released state has one entry condition. Every constraint on the package is cleared. A planner cannot mark a package released with a material line still open or a HOLD still active, and a register that enforces this is doing part of the planner's job on a Friday afternoon. Before release the package is virtual, so it can still change without approvals. After release it is a commitment to a crew, and any change goes through the change process and reaches the foreman as a revision.
The Make-Ready List Is the Planner's Week
Every open constraint on every package inside the 4 week lookahead sits on one list, each with an owner and a due date, and the overdue ones are flagged. That list is the agenda of the weekly meeting. Field material requests go in two weeks before the field need date so the warehouse can stage the material, bag it and tag it. RFIs are loaded into the AWP software against the CWPs and IWPs they affect, so one answer clears a constraint on every package at once, and an unanswered one is visible as the reason a package is not ready. The sizing rule in IWP Sizing for One Foreman and Crew only works when this list is kept current, because a package that releases with a hidden constraint is the package that ages.
In openAWP the Releases page holds the lookahead Gantt, the Skyline and the weekly commit on the same packages, with the make-ready list beside them, and the released state is gated on every constraint being closed. AWPBI's workface planning service runs the routine on the project's own register, and the constraint history stays with the client together with the software when the engagement ends.