Introduction to Asta Connect

Use the master plan to stay connected with the project, which can either be imported from Asta Powerproject or Microsoft Project, or created from scratch in Asta Connect. The master plan displays your project in a familiar spreadsheet and Gantt chart format.

Pull plans are used in the 'phase planning' phase of the Last Planner^© System to assign responsibility for each task to an individual, contractor or subcontractor. During the creation of a pull plan, the workflow of the project phase is determined and the last planners work together to determine how long it will take for them to complete their parts of this phase of the project. Once each last planner has determined how long each task will take, a more definite schedule for the project can be created. You can use 'pull planning' during this phase, in which you work backwards from the end-phase milestone and ensure that all can complete their tasks in time for the next phase to begin.

Use the whiteboard to stay collaborate with your team to create and keep track of key tasks. Each task is represented by a card on the whiteboard, which you can move around and link just as you would with a series of sticky notes on a physical whiteboard.

You can use project tags to 'tag', or categorise, your projects, master plan activities, pull plans, project teams and tasks in any way you want. For example, you might use project tags to categorise projects, activities, pull plans, project teams and tasks as 'High Risk'; 'Commercial'; 'Decorating'; and so on. When viewing a project's master plan, you can filter the activities that appear according to the project tags that have been assigned to any of the activities or to their pull plans or tasks.

Use project teams to reflect the organisation of your individual team, then build up 'swimlanes' on the whiteboard to organise tasks by team.

Use build locations to categorise pull plan tasks according to the place at which they are carried out, then build up 'swimlanes' on the whiteboard to organise tasks by location.

Powerproject is a registered trademark of Eleco PLC in the UK, the European Union (Community Trademark Office), Norway, the USA and Australia.

Elecosoft is a registered trademark of Eleco PLC.

Last Planner is a registered trademark of the Lean Construction Institute.