Standard
ChainLink Standard is the entry level version of the software, which provides a quick and simple way to produce a Time Location (Time Chainage) Chart from data entered by the user or imported from an existing Project Management System.
Data
Data can be entered manually or imported from your favourite Project Management software by use of the five built-in import methods or by simple cut and paste.
The import methods make use of interim storage such as a Primavera P6 XER file, a Microsoft Project MPX file, a Microsoft Excel XLS or XLSX file, a standard text TXT or CSV file or the Clipboard. All methods use a common interface window, shown below, where the data to be imported is selected and the fields of the interim file or clipboard are matched with the ChainLink fields.
Using an XER or MPX file allows the import of Project, Calendar, Task and WBS Library Data, other methods only allow Task Data to be imported.
Data is stored in a collection of spreadsheets, familiar to most computer users, and, once imported individual data items can be formatted, amended, added to or deleted.
On the Task table columns can be shown or hidden and the widths adjusted as required. Tasks can be filtered on an individual or a selection of the fields to display only those Tasks which are currently being amended.
The Task data can also be formatted or amended using the Task Details pane. This pane contains all the single entry data shown on the Task table together with multiple entry data such as User Fields
Calendars
Shift Variance
This feature allows the Standard Working Week shifts to be varied by a number of hours for each day of the year. The shifts may be increased or decreased by entering a positive or negative number in the Shift Variance table cells for each individual Calendar. Shift Variations applied to Non-Working Days and Holidays are ignored.
When scheduling a project the addition/reduction in hours is taken into account and the Task durations decreased or increased accordingly. To show the effects of the Shift Variance the last two columns show the Schedule Durations for both Early and Late Dates, which can be compared with the Planned Duration.
The variance between the Early and Late Start durations is due to the proportion of the Task which falls within the period of shift variation, which can be different for each schedule.
Libraries
Personal
Unique to the user, these libraries can be added to produce a standard set of parameters to be used on each project.
The libraries are:-
Codes - A coded list of Bar Types and colour combinations which define a specific Task discipline.
Types - A numbered list of User Defined textual bar types or Emojis to add to the standard Bar Type groups and styles.
Colours - A named list of Colours to be used instead of the colour number.
Filters - A set of conditional selections used to filter which Tasks appear on the Task table and Charts.
Project
Unique to the project, the Codes , Types and Colours libraries are created as data is entered or allocated from the Personal Libraries or as data is manually entered into them.
An additional Library is also available:-
WBS - A WBS tree structure for sorting, filtering and grouping purposes.
Conflicts Detector
It is not always obvious from the Time Location Chart that there may or may not be a conflict between Tasks where more than one Task is scheduled to be carried out at the same time and same location.
This anomaly can be due to several factors, some of which are listed below:-
1. Tasks which may appear to be being carried out at the same time and location on the chart may be separated by a Safe Work Distance across the site.
2. Tasks which do not appear to be being carried out at the same time and location on the chart may not be separated by a Safe Work Distance.
3. A Task may be being hidden on the chart by another Task which occurs between the same times and locations.
To resolve these issues
ChainLink has a
Conflicts Detector.
Charts and Layouts
The Chart can contain a single chart or up to six different charts. These individual charts may be Time Location (Time Chainage) or Gantt charts. They may also have up to four Logo boxes, a Notes box, a Legend Box, a Task Data box and a Title Block.
A selection of standard Chart layouts are provided with the ChainLink software, however, these may be added to by the user using the Layout Designer . The Title Block is also customizable for each Layout using Title Block Designer .
Each individual chart can be customized by the user to show specific Location, Centre Line Offset and Time windows together with a cropped copy of the project layout at the top or left of the chart, depending on whether the Time Grid has been specified to run Up or Down the chart or Horizontally.
Selection of the Layout and what is to appear on each Chart is determined by the Chart Options pane which is found on the right hand side of the chart window.
This pane comprises three or four tabbed sections dependent on the chart type. Layout, Time Grid and Location Grid plus Gantt Chart when selected
