Building out sub-packages inside a Work Package

What sub-packages are for

A sub-package is a smaller piece of work inside a Work Package. Almost all of the real detail on a job lives on the sub-package, not the parent — planned dates, required trade and skill level, estimated hours, the operatives and assets allocated to it, and any dependencies.

The parent Work Package is just a container. Its progress bar fills in automatically as you tick off its sub-packages, so you never have to maintain it by hand.

When to add sub-packages

Add sub-packages whenever you want to break a Work Package down into the actual bits of work that will get planned, allocated, and signed off. Reach for them when you need to:

• Schedule different stages of the same Work Package on different days
• Allocate different trades to different parts of a job
• Track progress on each section of the work separately
• Set up dependencies between specific stages, not just the whole Work Package

The sub-package tree

Sub-packages form a tree. Every sub-package can have its own children, which can have their own children, and so on — there's no limit on how deep you can nest things.

Here's what that might look like for a groundworks Work Package:

Groundworks (Work Package) ├── Excavation (sub-package) │ ├── Topsoil strip │ └── Reduced dig ├── Footings └── Drainage

The tree appears on the Work Package detail page in the Sub-packages card, with controls to expand and collapse branches. Click any sub-package to open its detail view.

Adding a sub-package

1. 1

   Open the Work Package you want to add a sub-package to.

2. 2

   On the Sub-packages card, click Add Sub-package. To create a child of an existing sub-package instead, open that sub-package's actions menu and choose Create Child.

3. 3

   Fill in the form (see the next section for what each field does).

4. 4

   Click Create. The new sub-package appears in the tree at the right level.

What's on the sub-package form

When you add or edit a sub-package, you'll see these fields:

• Name — the description of the sub-package
• Planned Start Date — when the work is planned to start
• Planned End Date — when the work is planned to finish
• Estimated Duration (hours) — how many labour hours the work is expected to take
• Required Trade — the trade needed for the work, used to suggest matching operatives during allocation
• Required Skill Level — Apprentice, Tradesperson, Supervisor, and so on, also used for matching
• Weather Sensitive — tick this if the work depends on the weather
• Cost Code — the cost code to book the work against
• Value Fields — total value, labour value, material value, and subcontractor value

The trade and skill level feed straight into the operative allocation form. When you go to allocate someone, the suggestions are ranked by how well their profile matches what the sub-package needs.

The actions menu on each sub-package

Every sub-package in the tree has an actions menu with these options:

• Edit — opens the sub-package form to change its fields
• Create Child — adds a nested sub-package underneath
• Allocate — opens the operative allocation form
• Assign Asset — opens the asset allocation form
• Delete — permanently removes the sub-package

How progress rolls up

The parent Work Package's progress bar is calculated from its sub-packages — the count of completed ones divided by the total. Tick off the work as it finishes and the parent updates itself automatically.

You can also track progress on individual sub-packages directly from the sub-package detail page if you want a finer-grained picture.

Real-world example

You've got a Work Package called M&E First Fix. To plan it properly you might add sub-packages for:

• Sleeves and back boxes — needed for the dryliners to follow on
• First fix electrical — the bulk of the cabling work
• First fix mechanical — the pipework
• Inspection — a milestone-style sub-package for the QA check before the next trade comes in

Each one gets its own dates, its own trade requirement, and its own allocations. The Work Package's progress bar fills as each sub-package is completed.

Next steps

• Allocating operatives — for the allocation form and the suggested operatives list.
• Allocating assets — for assigning equipment to sub-packages.
• Scheduling and rescheduling — for drag-to-reschedule and the date-adjustment dialog.