Advanced Project Planning and Modeling Capabilities in Aurora

Project management software can look surprisingly similar when compared by standard feature lists. Most high-end platforms can build schedules, manage dependencies, assign resources, and track progress—but the similarities often end there. Aurora was designed to address planning and scheduling challenges that can be difficult to represent with conventional project management tools, particularly when resources, operational constraints, shifting conditions, and complex task relationships affect how work can actually be performed. As a result, it includes capabilities that are not available, or are not handled to the same extent, in tools such as Microsoft Project, Asta Powerproject, Planera, Wrike, Smartsheet, Planview, and Primavera P6.

Aurora offers advanced capabilities across several areas of project management, but this blog focuses specifically on project planning and modeling. In particular, we’ll examine capabilities Aurora provides that other high-end alternatives don’t, and how Aurora can help planners create models that more accurately reflect real-world project conditions.

Project Planning / Modeling Capabilities Not Seen in Other Software

Aurora provides more ways to represent these conditions directly within the project model. Its advanced constraints, resource options, calendars, and activity definitions allow planners to account for the operational rules that determine when and how work can actually be performed. The capabilities below help create a more detailed and realistic foundation for scheduling complex projects. 

Advanced Constraint Modeling

By accounting for limitations such as resource availability, shifts, workspace, and operational requirements, planners can create more realistic and executable schedules.

• Concurrent constraints
• Non-Concurrent constraints
• Absolute Finish-to-Constraint: successor task starts immediately
• Advanced offset (lead and lag) to account for actual progress on related task, not just a fixed time
• Maximum lag constraint, which initiates a countdown or expiration period when one task starts, setting a time limit for the commencement of a related task.

1. Preferred Resources

Specifying preferred resources allows the user to specify a preference order when defining a set of resources that are mostly interchangeable including:

• Prefer work in default shop
• Prefer work by tech, but supervisor can substitute
• Prefer certain equipment
• Prefer certain lab space
• Use consistent auditors for a client

2. Powerful Variable Duration Activities

This allows the user to specify that a job could use more people and get done more quickly, or fewer people and get done more slowly, as well as other efficiency options.

3. Shift Based Constraints

Shift-based constraints allow planners to account for operational rules that determine whether and when work can be performed within a particular shift. Aurora can model the following shift based constraints (but is not limited to):

• Task needs to be completed during single shift
• Do not start task unless x% of time left in shift
• Only start a task if it can finish during the same shift
• Task can only be performed during a specific shift
• Task can take multiple shifts, but requires the same resources (e.g., specific people)

4. Human Physical Limitations

Ergonomic constraints account for human physical limitations, helping ensure schedules assign work at a pace and duration that can be performed safely and realistically. For example, workers may have limitations on how long they can work on their knees, both in one sitting and throughout the whole shift. Others include, but are not limited to:

5. Spatial / physical space constraints:

• • Task requires a certain location or type of space, including the creation and elimination of the space during the project
  • Physical space can only accommodate some many people
  • Modeling of the creation and elimination of the physical space during the project
  • Compatibility of tasks using a space, normally a space has a capacity of X persons, but compatible tasks can accommodate X+2 persons in the same space

 

6. Alternative Resource Combinations

Alternative resource combinations give planners more flexibility in modeling how work can be completed when different combinations of qualified personnel can perform the same task. Consider the following: Plumber & Mechanic

A task may require a Plumber and a Mechanic; however, there may also be cross-trained people that can perform Plumber and Mechanic operations. As such, the resource requirements for a task could be:

• (Plumb & Mech) OR (Cross-trained).
• For cases where the same number of people are always needed, the resource requirement could be
• ((Plumb & Mech) OR (Cross-trained & Mech) OR (Plumb & Cross-trained) OR (2 Cross-trained)).

Aurora’s intelligent scheduling assigns the Cross-trained individuals to maximize throughput.

7. Hierarchy of Labor Resource Occupations and Skills/Certifications

Modeling labor hierarchies, skills, and certifications helps ensure tasks are assigned to appropriately qualified personnel while providing flexibility when multiple workers can meet the requirements.

• Cross-shift resource coordination
• Coordinates resources and activities across multiple shifts while preserving continuity and operational rules
• Support tasks that can be outsourced if deadlines can not be met

8. Capacity Change Constraints

Capacity Change Constraints help planners model how project activities can increase or decrease resource availability, ensuring the schedule reflects changing capacity as work progresses.

The ability to model such constraints allows the user to specify a relationship between a task and a resource. Some tasks may make a resource available (e.g., adding a space zone that can subsequently be used for work), others may make a resource unavailable (e.g., installing panels that block access to a space zone).

9. Constraint Notes and Justifications

Add more information about constraints (such as justifications and additional notes), as well as the option to make the constraint active or not.

Model More of the Real-World Project

Complex projects rarely operate according to dependencies and resource availability alone. Shifts, qualifications, physical space, resource preferences, alternative staffing combinations, changing capacity, and other operational constraints can all influence when and how work gets done.

Aurora gives planners the ability to incorporate more of these real-world conditions directly into the project model. For organizations that have reached the limits of what they can represent in software offered by Microsoft Project, Wrike, Primavera P6, and others, these capabilities can provide the additional flexibility needed to build more detailed, realistic, and executable project plans that react correctly to updates during project execution providing the transparency needed to understand what is happening and then Aurora updates the schedule to maximize project efficiency and throughput.

Want to see which of these project modeling capabilities could benefit your projects? Complete the demo form below.