How To Solve Out of Sequence Activities
How To Solve Out of Sequence Activities
When you build a baseline programme for a project, the Activities relations used to build that
baseline are classified into types, hard and soft logic. Hard logic means that the relation is a fact
that is inevitable to happen such as Installation of the block works cannot finish before finishing
the Concrete Skeleton, or closing the false ceiling cannot be done before finish all the MEP works
under that ceiling. Soft logic means that the relation is used to achieve planned sequence by the
Contractor, and changing that sequence is applicable. Usually, the actual sequence that occurs
on site differs from the planned sequence. So, when the baseline for the project is updated after
achieving actual progress on site and reflecting that in the update, out of sequence activities
show up.
There are different cases for out of sequence activities as illustrated below:
1- Successor Activity is started while the Predecessor Activity is already started but is not
completed yet, and the relation type between them is (FS)
2- Successor Activity is started while the Predecessor Activity didn’t start yet, and the
relation type between them is (FS) or (SS)
3- Successor Activity is completed while the Predecessor Activity is already started but is
not completed yet, and the relation type between them is (FS) or (FF)
4- Successor Activity is completed while the Predecessor Activity didn’t start yet, and the
relation type between them is (FS), (FF) or (SS)
To solve the out of sequence you need to modify the relationship type as follows:
1- In the 1st case you can modify the relationship type to be (SS) or (FF), but in this case
also it is better to make it (SS) to avoid having the activities out of sequence again
2- In the 2nd case you can modify the relationship type to be (FF) only
3- In the 3rd case you can modify the relationship type to be (SS) only
4- In the last case, modifying the relationship type will not be helpful, and that means that
the out of sequence in that relationship may be result from improper update for the
Project Activities or that this relationship is already invalid relationship.
Modifying the relationship type for each out of sequence relationship manually in Primavera P6
may consume a lot of time especially if those out of sequence activities number is huge. So, to
solve that issue, exporting Excel file from Primavera P6 will be more helpful and quicker.
The following steps show how to use Excel files to solve the out of sequence:
1- Export the Excel file of Activity Relationships from Primavera P6 using the template
shown in Figure 1
2- Open the exported Excel file and use Excel filters as shown in Figure 2
3- To apply the solution of the 1st case, select “In Progress” in the “Predecessor Activity
Status”, select “In Progress” in the “Successor Activity Status” and unselect the “SS” in
the “Relationship Type” (as it is logical) as shown in Figure 2
4- Copy the Activity Relationships that resulted from the applied filters to duplicate them.
Then insert the letter “d” under the column “Delete This Row” for the copied Activity
Relationships and that step is used to remove the out of the sequence Relationships as
shown in Figure 3
5- To replace the removed Relationships, change the “Relationship Type” for Activity
Relationships that resulted earlier from the applied filters to be “SS”
6- In the 2nd case, select “Not Started” in the “Predecessor Activity Status”, select “In Progress” in
the “Successor Activity Status” and unselect the “FF” in the “Relationship Type”
7- Repeat the same steps as we did in the 1st case and change the “Relationship Type” for the
filtered relations to be “FF”
8- In the 3rd case, select “In Progress” in the “Predecessor Activity Status”, select “Completed” in
the “Successor Activity Status” and unselect the “SS” in the “Relationship Type”
9- Repeat the same steps as we did in the 1st case and change the “Relationship Type” for the
filtered relations to be “SS”
Using Excel files exported from Primavera P6 can save a lot of time and effort in solving the out
of sequence activities. So, it is better to have the knowledge of how to use benefit from the
features provided from Oracle to use link Primavera P6 with the Excel.