Plan Quantity Tracking Overview

As one of the applications within the InEight portfolio of products, InEight Plan is a tool for engineers and superintendents to plan work and track quantities during the execution of their project.

Plan is organized into two modules:

Plan Modules
Work Packaging	Creating and managing work packages.
Quantity Tracking	Creating and managing components and claiming schemes. Claiming completed quantities.

InEight Plan Work Flow

This course focuses on the Quantity Tracking module of InEight Plan.

Quantity Tracking Terminology

Plan Quantity Tracking uses some key terminology to describe how the work is broken down for tracking.

The table below defines each of the key terms you should know.

Term	Definition	Managed In..
CBS (Cost Breakdown Structure)	Hierarchy of budgeted work activities (cost items) in a project.
WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)	Code assigned to terminal cost items for tracking purposes.
ACS (Account Code Structure)	Standard Classification code used for benchmarking similar types of work between projects.
Component	Item or element of work used for maintaining quantities.
Claiming Scheme	A method used for tracking component progress via use of sublevel tasks (steps).

The relationship between these terms is shown in the following diagram:

The image above depicts a layout for a steel structure project.  The project consists of erecting 30 separate steel structures on opposite sides of a road.  Each structure or module has been assigned a number 1-30.

Components

Within the InEight Control application, cost items are identified by a WBS Phase Code (commonly referred to as simply the WBS).  A unique WBS is assigned to each cost item in the CBS, including superior and terminal items.  The WBS codes can be set up to be automatically assigned or manually input.

In InEight Plan, the Quantity Tracking module allows you to break down quantities into more manageable tasks to track and claim against. You accomplish this by breaking down your WBS Phase Code quantity into smaller pieces called components.

Referring to the scenario above, your project has an ‘Erect Steel – Light’ cost item with a WBS Phase Code of 1005, as seen in the CBS register of the Control application.

For tracking purposes, in the Quantity Tracking module of Plan, you can break down the ‘Erect Steel – Light’ WBS Phase Code into distinct components by structural steel piecemark:

Each component has a measured quantity: 

Component	Quantity
A14: Beam	0.44 Tons
F16: Beam	0.45 Tons
C23: Cross Brace	0.26 Tons

The sum of the quantities for each component adds up to the total quantity for the assigned WBS.

Component Attributes

Components can have a myriad of attributes assigned to them to help organize and store pertinent information that can be used for filtering and reporting. These include but are not limited to:

• Schedule ID

• Discipline

• Area

• System

• Customizable Attributes

In Lesson 4 – Component Management, you will learn how to create components either through import from an Excel template or by creating them manually.

Claiming Schemes

Claiming schemes break components down further, to a sequence of steps, so that foremen can track the individual steps as the installation of the component progresses. Each step has a weighted rule of credit, based on percentages, that will progress the overall component. 

Claiming schemes can be assigned at either the component, WBS, or Account Code level.  If a claiming scheme is assigned at the WBS level, then every component that is assigned to that WBS will automatically inherit the same claiming scheme.

The level at which claiming schemes will be assigned (Account Code, WBS, or component) will typically be dictated during project initiation in the project settings. See Lesson 3 – Claiming Schemes for more details on assigning claiming schemes.

For example, you may break down the ‘A14: Beam’ component into the following steps for tracking in the field:

Claiming Scheme for ‘A14: Beam’ Component
Step	Description	Percentage
Step 1	Shakeout/Transport	15%
Step 2	Erect/Bolt Up	45%
Step 3	Final Torque	30%
Step 4	QC Verification	10%

The diagram below shows how the claiming scheme relates to the component, WBS Phase Code, and Account Code.

In the field, the foreman can indicate when each step has been completed for a specific component. By indicating Step 1: Shakeout/ Transport is complete for ‘A14: Beam’, this will claim the component is 15% completed. After syncing this information to InEight Control, 15% of the quantity for A14: Beam will be added to the total quantity complete for that WBS code which will drive the earned value.

The diagram below shows the flow of quantity claiming through components and claiming schemes.

Quantities Sent to InEight Control

The quantities tracked at the component level will “roll up” to the assigned WBS Phase Code and be available for progress analysis and forecasting in the Control application. Learn more about syncing in the Control Knowledge Library.

In this example, the quantities claimed for steel components roll up to the ‘Erect Steel – Light’ WBS item, which then gets sent to Control upon request.