Areas

Areas are categories for organizing tasks in LeanCPM. They help structure the project and make it easier to navigate and manage tasks.

How LeanCPM projects are structured

If you’re familiar with Activity Codes from Primavera or SureTrak, then the concept here is very similar.

Areas

While not required, we recommend that all projects use a standard or template list of Areas and that software providers display them in a Kanban view. The reason for using the same list is the ability to compare projects. While every project is different, structured data is structured data. The fast and loose style of WBS is preventing valuable anylitics.

Here’s a standard list of Areas we recommend every project start with:

Phase (Turnover)

This will be different on every project. If you have different phases as outlined in the design documents, for example, you

1. Early Release Projects
2. Phase 1 - Tower
3. Phase 2 - Garage

Phase

Below is a standard way of grouping work for most construction projects. Heavy Civil or other infrastructure projects will have different lists.

1. Site: Site clearing, earthwork, utilities, erosion & sediment control, roads, parking, landscaping, lighting, etc.
2. Pre-construction: Planning, design, permits, and site preparation.3. Substructure: Deep and shallow foundations, temporary and permanent retaining walls, excavation4. Superstructure: Steel, Cast-in-place Concrete, Precast Concrete, structural CMU5. Envelope: Exterior walls, roofing, and glass.
3. Buildout: Framing, Drywall, Overhead & In-Wall MEP, Doors & Frames7. Systems: Mains, equipment, and rooms, for mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection systems, vertical transportation
4. Specialty: Baggage Handling, Kitchens, Canopies, Art9. Finishes: Flooring, paint, fixtures, Division 10, casework, appliances10. Post-construction: Commissioning, furnishings, inspections, handover

Floor

Floor will be different on every project, however it’s good to keep the names consistent. I always recommend to keep things as concise as possible, without losing meaning. While the design docs might call Level 1 “Level 1”, “Floor 1”, or “1st Floor”— keeping it concise and consistent across projects makes it easier for everyone —“L1” is a great choice as everyone knows what it means, it doesn’t take up space on your plan.

• B2
• B1
• L1
• L1.5
• M
• L3
• LR
• HR

Floor Area

Floor Area is usually used for the #Buildout. Floor plans are divided into smaller sections, allowing multiple crews to work simultaneously in different areas of the floor. Here, we recommend using geographical naming schemes like “North” or “Kitchen.”

Referencing the Life Safety Plans is the best way to break up floors into areas. Use the highest fire-rated walls as your lines between floor areas.

Elevation

This is universally understood: in construction, the elevation represents the side or face of the project. The most common representations are directional.

An interesting potential conflict is with Floor Areas. If your floor areas match your elevations, maybe you don’t need a floor area?

Some standard elevations:

• North
• West
• South
• East
• NorthWest

Location

We recommend using an agnostic identifier that works for most areas.

• Above Ceiling
• In Wall
• Finishes

Why do it this way

The primary issue with traditional CPM is the scarcity of historical data. This is partly due to the lack of structured data. Isn’t it ironic that the Work Breakdown Structure isn’t structured?

The advantages of Area labels:

1. We can automatically add them when appropriate
2. We can selectively show them when appropriate
3. Better historical data
4. Less redundancy

For example, when you’re in a view that is for the #2nd Floor only, any tasks that are added to this view automatically get the 2nd Floor tag.

When in any view that doesn’t filter for just the #2nd Floor, tasks added in the previous view will display the words “2nd Floor” appended or prepended to the task name by default.