Last Planner System

Contents

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 1 Introduction
 2 Five key processes
 3 Measurement & learning
 4 Last Planner principles
 5 Find out more

 5.1 Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki

 5.2 External references

Introduction

The Last Planner System (LPS) is a collaborative planning process that

involves trade foremen or design team leaders (the last planners) in planning in greater and
greater detail as the time for the work to be done gets closer. In the UK it is sometimes known
as Collaborative Planning and, in the USA, sometimes called Pull Planning.

LPS was created to enable more reliable and predictable production in projects. It also:

 supports the flow of work through the project

 builds trust and collaboration with a project team
 delivers safer projects faster.

LPS brings together those who will execute the work (the team) to plan when and how work will be
done through a series of conversational processes. It requires the team to collaboratively
remove constraints as a team and to promise delivery of each task. These systematic processes
increase the chances that work flows reliably, and recognises that personal relationships and peer
pressure are critical to that process.

LPS is a planning, monitoring and control system that follows lean construction principles. It was

developed by Glenn Ballard and Greg Howell who later founded the Lean Construction Institute at the
behest of a number of constructors who had benefited from their use of LPS.

Five key processes

Each process (or conversation) within the system brings its own benefits. When all are working
together they reinforce each other and the overall benefits are greater. The processes are:
1. Collaborative Programming [1] - Creating and agreeing the production sequence (and
compressing it if required) and agreeing the key hand-overs from one trade or design team to the
next.
2. Make Ready [2] - Making tasks in the Look Ahead period ready (i.e. constraint free) so that
they can be done when the team want to do them.
3. Production Planning - Collaboratively agreeing production tasks for the next period (e.g. shift,
day or week) – this is often referred to as Weekly Work Planning (WWP).
4. Production Management - Collaboratively monitoring production to keep activities on track,
generally on a daily basis.
5. Measurement, learning and continual improvement - Learning and
improving project, planning and production processes so as to improve the flow and the rate of flow
of the work.

Figure 1: In the Last Planner System the level of plan detail increases as the day for the work to be

done approaches (source: Mossman 2015 with permission)

Measurement & learning

The Last Planner System has a number of measures:

 Percent Plan (or Promises) Complete (often referred to as PPC, a measure of plan reliability).

 Tasks made ready (a measure of the effectiveness of the Make Ready Process).
 Tasks anticipated (a measure of the ability of the team to anticipate the work they need
to plan).

The metrics are calculated for the project as a whole. The reason for using these metrics is to learn. If
the metrics are used for any other purpose than as an aid to learning and improvement their value as
a learning aid diminishes as those involved start to 'game the system'.

When tasks are not completed as promised the 5Why process can be used to find the root cause of
the late or early delivery and then countermeasures developed to reduce the chances that the
problem will happen again. In this way learning this week is built into operations next week.

Last Planner principles

 All plans are forecasts; all forecasts are wrong.

 The longer the forecast, the more wrong it gets.
 The more detailed the forecast, the wronger it is (first formulated by Ballard ca. 1991).

The implication of these principles are that it is important to (Ballard et al 2009):

 Plan in greater detail as you get closer to doing the work.

 Produce plans collaboratively with those who will do the work.
 Reveal and remove constraints on planned tasks as a team.
 Make and secure reliable promises.
 Learn from breakdowns.

In addition, it is important to:

 Measure promises kept (see above) and improve by learning from early, late or incomplete
deliveries and workflow disruptions.
 Improve workflow as a team based on what has been learned.

Find out more

Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki

 Lean construction.

External references

 Lean Construction Institute

 Ballard Glenn & Gregory A. Howell (1998) Shielding Production: An Essential Step in
Production Control. J Constr Eng & Proj Mgmt, 124(1) 11–17. [this is an important paper and still
very relevant.]
 Ballard, Glenn (2000). Last Planner™ System of Production Control (pdf) (Ph.D.). UK:
University of Birmingham. [note: LPS has moved on in the 15 years since Ballard completed his
thesis – both theory and practice have developed since then.]
 Ballard Glenn & Gregory A. Howell (2003) An update on Last Planner. IGLC
 Ballard, G. , Hammond, J. & Nickerson, R. (2009) Production Control Principles IGLC
 Gregory Howell and Hal Macomber (2011) The Last Planner System: Conversations that
Design and Activate the Network of Commitments LPC
 Ballard, Glenn (2014) The Last Planner System of Production Planning & Control Norway
ppt.pdf
 Mossman, Alan (2015) Last Planner®: 5 + 1 crucial & collaborative conversations for
predictable design & construction delivery. 36pp
 LPC (2011) Last Planner System - Just the Essentials
 Macomber Bettler (2011) Responsibility-based Project Delivery [LPC] — an agile adaptation
of LPS for use in design
 Andrew Baldwin David Bordoli 2014 Handbook for Construction Planning and
Scheduling App2 362-366 The Shepherd Way and Collaborative Planning [Note that this version of
LPS, like many that use the terms Collaborative Planning or Pull Planning, is only a partial
implementation of Last Planner. The make ready process (called 'forward planning') did not bring
the whole team together and there was no explicit learning process built in. Despite this the
benefits for Shepherd were significant.

[1] sometimes called pull scheduling, pull planning, reverse phase scheduling, collaborative planning,
collaborative mapping, sticky-note planning

[2] sometimes called LookAhead planning [all plans look ahead!]

What is the Last Planner System?

by Tom Richert

It’s full name is the Last Planner® System of Production Control. Production control is
necessary on projects to support working toward planned accomplishments, doing what can
be done to move along a planned path, and when that becomes impossible, determine
alternative paths that accomplish desired goals. The term Last Planner® is a registered
trademark of the Lean Construction Institute, which is why the “®” symbol should appear
when first used in a document.

The Last Planner® is a holistic system, meaning that each of its parts is necessary to support

lean project planning and execution. Resist the temptation to treat the system as a menu from
which you select only the parts you want to use. The system is organized into five major
parts.

Figure 1: Last Planner System

The first two parts focus on identifying the work that should be done to complete a successful
lean project. Master Planning, part one, is done at the very beginning of a project. The master
planning work is focused on identifying major milestones that help gauge the pace at which
the project will progress if it is to be successful. Normally milestones are completion dates
for each of the major project phases and dates for releasing the purchase of major long lead
building items. Ideally both design phase and construction phase last planners participate in
developing the master-planning schedule. The term “last planner” refers to the people on the
team responsible for making the final assignment of work to specific performers and ensuring
they have the materials, equipment and information available to complete their assignments.
During the design phase, last planners are typically architectural and engineering project
managers. During the construction phase, last planners are typically foremen and
superintendents for the trade contractor crews.

Phase planning, part two, is done two to three months before the beginning of each phase.
Phase in this context refers to a portion of the project that makes sense to consider as a
complete unit. The phase breakdown for a project will depend upon the size and complexity
of the work, with beginning and completion milestones for phases identified during the
master planning. Phase planning develops an agreement between last planners on how all the
work between those two milestones will be completed.

Phase planning utilizes a pull planning approach, wherein last planners are very clear about
the sequence of requests and commitments they are making with each other. The approach
follows a central lean practice of developing flow by starting with the final condition required
to complete a phase, and building the sequence of work though a series of customer requests
and performer promises to define clearly how work will be released from one operation to
another. These phase planning sessions are important opportunities for the team to determine
how to pace the work so that it progresses at a steady rate with limited variation.

The third part of the Last Planner System focuses on ensuring that work can be done. It is the
make ready planning through which last planners look ahead to evaluate whether there are
constraints to upcoming tasks identified during phase planning. Most teams look ahead six
weeks when make ready planning, though on complex projects a longer time horizon may be
warranted. A lookahead plan is used to help the team focus on which tasks need to be made
ready.

Constraints are conditions that prevent a planned task from being completed, and include
concerns such as labor and material availability, equipment access, construction document
conflicts and permits.

Constraints are identified on a log, with responsibility for removing a constraint identified
along with a promise for removing each constraint by a certain date. Insufficient make ready
planning is often the single most factor in project workflow breakdowns, so it is vital that the
team attend to make ready planning in a diligent manner. The make ready planning also
includes the refinement of tasks identified during phase planning into more detail, as the
work is better understood.

There are two additional aspects of make ready planning that need consideration. Those tasks
in the phase planning that were not broken down to the level of operations sufficient for daily
and weekly execution planning need to be developed into further detailed tasks. This is also
when project teams collaboratively can more precisely design the first run of their operations
through that phase of work.

The fourth part of the Last Planner System focuses on what each last planner will do to fulfill
the promises made during the phase planning. This is accomplished through the preparation
of a project Weekly Work Plan, wherein each last planner identifies the tasks their teams will
complete each day of the following week. Reliability is extremely important in developing
these shared plans.

The fifth part of the Last Planner System focuses on learning from what the team did.
Learning is a daily action for lean project teams. Last Planner provides two specific
opportunities for learning. One is through the daily coordination meeting, often called the
daily huddle. In this brief stand-up meeting, last planners confirm whether their teams
accomplished the planned work that day, and if not agreed upon adjustments required to stay
on plan for the week. These daily adjustments are vital, as daily adjustments are easier than
weekly adjustments, which are much easier than monthly adjustments.

The other learning opportunity provided by the Last Planner System is through the analysis of
a few key metrics. One is Percent Plan Complete, a measurement of the percentage of weekly
planned tasks that were completed as planned. Another is Tasks Made Ready, a measurement
of the percent of tasks identified during phase planning that were ready to begin as planned.
A third is Tasks Anticipated, a measurement of the number of tasks in a weekly plan that
were identified in the look ahead plan.

There are two important considerations in making your implementation of the Last Planner
System successful. First, you won’t leverage the full potential of the Last Planner in a
command and control environment. Management practices need to be aligned with the lean
respect for people principle and project leaders need to see themselves as coaches and
facilitators of the planning and learning by last planners on the project.

Second, the use of the Last Planner System is a discipline, and like any other discipline such
as an athletic activity or playing a musical instrument requires continued daily practice to first
become proficient and then ultimately master. Make it the cornerstone of project team
collaboration and you have taken a large step toward implementing a lean project.
An Intro to the Last Planner® System
 Michael Carr

June 18, 2018

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What Is the Last Planner® System?

The Last Planner® System (LPS) is a realistic way to collaboratively manage project-based
production. It enables issues to be identified and resolved and increases the chances that
workflows and projects are completed on time. Simply put, LPS is exactly what its namesake
suggests, a system that engages last planners—the people ultimately responsible for getting
the work done—in the planning and efficient execution of a project.

Developed by Glenn Ballard and Greg Howell, LPS was designed to produce a predictable
workflow with rapid learnings for continuous improvement. A common misconception is that
teams need to subscribe to all parts of Lean construction and its principles before using the
Last Planner® System. While Lean and other theories like Agile Construction
Management are useful to understand the origin of LPS, the only requirement to get started is
a team’s commitment to working together and becoming more efficient by adhering to the
Last Planner® System.

LPS is useful at any stage, from design through construction, and everyone from owners and
project executives to trade partners and superintendents can use and benefit from using LPS.
The outcome of enacting the Last Planner® System is a continuously improving project
workflow with increased team accountability and commitment.

If you’re looking to get started using LPS, we break down the five stages of the system below
and provide tips on how you can implement it today. Please note that all projects are unique
and therefore, each of the following steps and recommendations should be customized to the
project scope and team.

Breaking Down the Last Planner® System

LPS is made up of five components:

1. Master Scheduling
2. Phase Scheduling
3. Look Ahead Planning
4. Commitment Planning
5. Learning
1. Master Scheduling
What it is: The process of building a schedule covering an entire project start-to-finish. It
involves identifying and planning for high-level milestones that end up defining phases of
work and their relative overlaps.

When to use it: Master scheduling should start as soon as is practical, with the master
schedule being further refined as project details come into more focus. It is not essential to
have the entire master schedule complete to the same level of detail from the start. What
matters is that the full project is captured and that the earlier phases are better defined.

Why do it: The master schedule is the basis for all other planning during the project. It sets
the milestones and phase durations for the project. All future detailed activities will be built
out in the following steps.

Who is involved: During the conceptual and design stage, typically the construction
manager/owner’s representative and the architect are involved. Once the general contractor is
aboard, they take the baton.

How to get started: Teams should get together and identify the project’s milestones first—
this is what all other work will be based off of in the master schedule.

2. Phase Scheduling

What it is: The collaborative planning process of defining and sequencing tasks to complete
phases of work established in the master schedule. It is often done using a technique known
as “pull planning” where teams work backward from a clearly defined milestone, identifying
in detail the tasks required to complete the milestone as well as the conditions of satisfaction
for the handoffs between the tasks.

When to use it: Typically six to twelve weeks ahead, depending on the lead times required to
remove constraints.

Why do it: Phase scheduling often produces better plans because the people involved in
actually doing the work are the ones planning it. Phase scheduling also develops a strong
sense of ownership for the plan across the entire project team, which leads to improved
reliability and accountability.

Who is involved: The last planners. During design, it’s the design team leads or the actual
designers. During construction, it’s the general contractor project team and trade contractor
foremen. Lean leaders often join to support and discuss as well.

How to get started: Project teams should have an in-person planning meeting to sequence
out the phase work. (Each participant should detail out their own work beforehand.) A
facilitator, often the lead architect (for design) or the project superintendent (for construction)
should lead the planning conversations while team members sequence out their work
together. Software like Touchplan offers a virtual planning environment that makes real-time
collaborative phase scheduling a breeze.
Further Reading:  Here Are 10 Construction Blogs and Articles You Need to Read from
October

3. Look Ahead Planning

What it is: A way to identify and clear constraints preventing upcoming work from being
completed as planned before these constraints become a problem.

When to use it: During weekly meetings. Ideally, the team is reviewing work planned four to
six weeks out to remove any potential obstacles.

Why do it: To ensure work is ready to start when planned.

Who is involved: The last planners.

How to get started: Have everyone consider their upcoming work and spend time
identifying constraints that could hold them up if not addressed. Record these constraints and
assign specific people to run each to ground. Follow up weekly to make sure progress is
being made. For instance, Touchplan has a tailor-made constraints module that simplifies the
process of identifying and tracking constraints.

4. Commitment Planning (or Weekly Work Planning)

What it is: A way for teams to regularly meet, talk about current and future work and
collectively commit to getting next week’s work done.

When to use it: The best practice is to have teams meet once a week to discuss their work
and make commitments, then to meet briefly in daily huddles to ensure everyone is tracking
to the plan.

Why do it: Team members refine their plan for the upcoming week one last time before
committing to getting their specific tasks done on specific days, with the goal of ensuring that
team members who follow can count on being able to start their work on time.

Who is involved: The last planners.

How to get started: Schedule a mandatory weekly time for project teams to connect in
person and be prepared to commit to what they intend to accomplish over the coming week.
Solutions like Touchplan enables team members to instantly transform their phase scheduling
tasks into detailed weekly tasks, make further refinements as necessary, and then capture and
track everyone’s commitments automatically, greatly reducing time spent in these weekly
meetings.
5. Learning

What it is: To constantly improve, teams must regularly take inventory of what went well
(plusses) and what didn’t (deltas) with the previous week’s plan.

When to use it: Immediately following completion of the prior week’s plan.

Why do it: This crucial step is how teams identify root causes of plan failures and figure out
how to prevent them or plan around them for the remainder of the project. The idea is to take
lessons learned and immediately adjust the rest of the plan to accommodate the lesson
learned.

Who is involved: The last planners.

How to get started: With Touchplan, for instance, the Percent Plan Complete (PPC) is
automatically calculated based on the proper execution of the previous steps. Evaluating the
PPC and reviewing the associated variance reasons give context to what happened. Teams
should then work through a process known as “5 Whys” to get to the root cause of any
identified problem, and then, once the root cause is known, develop countermeasures to
prevent reoccurrence.

How to Get Started Using Last Planner® System

Today
It is exciting to discover a new process that will take your company to new heights, but also
daunting to get buy-in and widespread implementation. Here are a few ways to get the idea of
the Last Planner® accepted within your organization and spreading to every project team.

How to Spread the Last Planner® System in Your

Organization
Getting LPS to spread like wildfire takes five steps:

1. Convince decision makers about the benefits

2. Pick a project or a team to use Last Planner®
3. Find a tool that will make Last Planner® easy to learn and quick to apply
4. Commit to consistent implementation
5. Measure and report results to validate the benefits and garner interest from others
1. Convince decision makers of the benefits.
Before you address the possibility of adoption, it’s important to answer the question, “why do
we want to do this?” Start by clearly announcing problems—productivity, labor shortage,
confrontational nature of the industry or lack of industry advancement—and then propose a
solution and its benefits to overcome them. If you’re ready to get started, here are some tips
to help your organization adopt a new idea:

Become an expert on Last Planner® and the Lean theories behind it: The better you know
the practice of LPS and why it was established, the more you and others will become invested
in its potential. Understand how LPS works for individual projects as well as the whole
company and use this guide to get the process started. Also, educating yourself as an expert
will give you confidence and lead to others having confidence in you (and could land you in
the driver’s seat of the LPS application).

Discuss the idea and tools to implement the change early and enlist others in the
process: Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Keep that expression in mind when you’re
pushing for acceptance of a new idea and tool to support it. Start using your expert-level
knowledge on Last Planner® and Lean by being vocal in your professional circles. Talk the
idea up to other influencers and encourage forward thinking. When the organization starts to
hear about a more productive way to operate from several people, accepting it—even for a
trial—will be inevitable.

Articulate how LPS will positively affect project outcomes, teams and individuals: A
huge part of becoming an expert is learning the benefits of properly applying the Last
Planner®System. Allowing teams to be as efficient as possible and advancing projects faster
than others in the industry is a monumental promise that LPS has seen work time and time
again. In addition, sharing the worst-case scenarios if the company chooses not to adopt will
also spark conversation.

Understand your audience and their communication style to get, then confirm
support: An effective concept to remember—know your audience! Are they better in casual
conversations or formal meetings? Does data or emotion drive them? Do they need the
support of others to make a decision, or is it their decision alone? Using these relatively
simple tactics can make all the difference. Once you’ve distributed the information, get key
decision makers to affirm that they’re ready to put LPS in place.

Follow up with any comments, questions or challenges: It’s so important to offer time for
additional remarks so everyone’s voice is heard. Use your LPS expertise to wrap up the
conversation by addressing any fears or objections and in the future, be sure to use those
points as key measurements to show that LPS is working.

2. Pick a project or a team to use Last Planner ®.

If you sense that applying LPS across all projects is a monumental challenge for your
organization to undergo, select a project or two to test it out with. Look at tapping projects
that have project managers and superintendents that are looking to improve their process
immediately.
Further Reading:  Our 10 Most-Read Construction Blogs from 2019

3. Find a tool that will make Last Planner ® System easy to

learn and quick to apply.

There are manual ways you can apply LPS, but they yield inconsistent execution and results
and mass confusion—negating the benefits you carefully explained and committed to.
Manual or analog execution is also unreliable and very time-consuming, not to mention easily
abandoned. To get the most out of your adoption of LPS, seek out a technology option that
allows project teams to be connected to measure, validate and continuously improve their
building process in real time. Be sure to check out ease of use, as you want all project team
members—from trade partners to owners—to be able to access and operate the tool.

4. Commit to consistent implementation.

Once you have a project team and tool selected, it’s time to start using LPS. Recognize that
there must be a commitment from the entire team to apply and embrace the system and
technology. Solutions like Touchplan have excellent training programs to ensure everyone is
introduced and ready to use it on their own, while also providing ongoing coaching for any
newcomers.

5. Measure and report results to validate the benefits and

garner interest from others.

The purpose of rolling out LPS slowly is to prove the benefits to get the rest of the
organization excited and on board. It’s important to learn, apply, refine and execute for
project teams, but sharing the data is equally important. Be sure the measurements are visual
and simple to understand and access. When selecting your tool to apply LPS, take into
account its reporting capabilities, too. Ensuring effortless visibility into key metrics will help
put company-wide LPS application on the fast track. Showcasing consistent reports of project
teams becoming more efficient (and therefore winning more projects), will make widespread
interest inevitable. With the entire organization committed, rest assured more projects will be
won that lead to company growth and increased profit growth rate.

Further Reading:  Guide to the Top 2020 Construction Conferences & Events

Improve Your Projects with the Last

Planner® System
It’s understandable that learning and then campaigning for a new idea in your organization
can be challenging. However, it’s important to realize that there are mounting obstacles that
no company in construction can escape, like the lack of labor, rising costs and the increasing
complexity of projects. Those that refuse to acknowledge these changes and learn about and
implement safeguards, like the Last Planner® System, will watch others in the industry
advance and innovate while they are left behind.  

Michael Carr

Michael is the President of MOCA’s software products division, Touchplan, and a co-
founder of MOCA. He has 20 years of construction management experience with
significant expertise in project controls. He currently leads the development of
Touchplan. Prior to launching Touchplan, he served in multiple leadership and
operational roles within MOCA providing construction management services to
owners.

About Touchplan:
Touchplan is the only Lean way for project teams to easily execute the Last
Planner® System by digitizing the old, analog process of sticky notes on the wall.
Touchplan is a web-based, accessible-anywhere tool with a way to quantify and
qualify areas for continuous improvement. Project teams can learn and use it within
minutes of introduction and it also integrates with master schedules and creates
constraint logs instantly. Designed for field planning and management, Touchplan
serves everyone on the project team—from subcontractors, superintendents and
project managers in the field, to project executives, architects and owners planning
the build. As a division of MOCA Systems and with nearly 20 years of experience, it’s
no wonder why 15% of the ENR top 100 list are veterans of this unique, common-
sense solution.
Last Planner System in Construction
Written by
LetsBuild

Project planning and execution play two equally important roles in the
success of any project in construction. Whether the project is of small or
large scope, production control is a necessity which ensures that people
meet milestones according to the pre-set timeline.
As you know, in construction projects, there are plenty of task
dependencies, and projects often have to be taken in alternative paths so
that tasks can be completed and goals achieved.
What if there was a system in place that brings all business processes,
project manager, department leaders, and available tools to one place?
This system, collaborative in nature, would allow project managers to meet
the deadlines, and increase efficiency during all phases of the project.
This system exists, and it’s labeled as the Last Planner® System. Let’s see
what it stands for and how it can transform project management in the
construction industry.

What Is The Last Planner

System®?
The Last Planner® System of Production Control was brought to us by the
Lean Construction Institute, and it is a registered trademark. It’s designed
as a planning system to help managers with production control on complex
projects with a lot of task dependencies and strict deadlines.
Thus, in its essence, the Last Planner® System: improves communication,
helps in identifying and overcoming bottlenecks, allows everyone on board
to be on top of details, and introduces commitment-based planning.
The case study confirms the benefits of implementing the Last Planner® in
construction project management.
In other words, the Last Planner methodology focuses on lean project
management execution – deliver more value and achieve goals with less
wasted resources and assets. The system has five parts conveniently
divided into two categories “As Needed” and “Weekly”.
Master Planning and Phase Planning encompass processes needed for the
successful completion of the project.

Master Planning
Master Planning is the first thing to be done. During this phase, the most
important things about the project are planned:

 Milestones – the completion dates for each project phase are

established
 Master schedule – each task and milestone gets attached to a
specific date in the schedule
 Promises of a project – clearly defined goals of a project

Who is involved in the master and phase planning phases? The term is
“last planners”. But who are the last planners? The last planners are people
on the team appointed to take care of work assignments.
They also include people who have to make sure that everyone has access
to enough materials, equipment, and information.

Phase Planning
Phase planning is the next step in the Last Planner® System. During this
phase, the processes have to be clearly defined. This is usually done a
couple of months before the project execution starts. The number of tasks
and the paperwork depends on the project complexity.
Finally, this phase results in an accurate workflow schedule and execution
plan devised by all the last planners. The nature of doing things during this
phase reflects the principles of pull planning, which we will address in detail
later on.

Make-Ready Planning
The thirds phase “Make-Ready Planning” ensures that all the planned work
can be done. Every task planned during phase planning gets reviewed by
last planners. They look for possible constraints and solutions so that the
project can continue without hitting any unforeseen obstacles. These
obstacles include:

 Equipment access
 Labor and material availability
 Possible construction documents conflicts
 Required permits

If the obstacles get identified, each responsible last planner has to remove
it and specify the date of when the obstacle is going to be removed. This
ensures there are no breakdowns in the project workflow once it starts. We
are going to come back to it in the “What’s a Constraint Log” Section.
During the Make-Ready Planning phase, teams make a “look ahead” plan
to stay focused on the tasks that need to be made ready before anyone
begins to work on them.

Weekly Work Planning

During the fourth phase, named “Weekly Work Planning”, all last planners
have to review the tasks specified during phase planning and prepare a
Weekly Work Plan. Each team gets appointed to tasks which have to be
completed during the following week.

Learning
Since this is a lean project concept, with the fifth phase “Learning”, Last
Planner® System ensures that everyone stays on top of the latest
developments and information. Last Planner® System provides two
learning opportunities:

 Daily coordination meetings – where last planners meet up to report

whether their teams have accomplished the work planned for the
day. If there is still work to be done, the last planners come up with
daily adjustments to get back on the planned project execution
timeline.
 Analysis of key metrics – assessing the project plan and execution
via relevant key metrics is also an actionable and valuable learning
opportunity. The following 3 key metrics are commonly considered:

Percent Plan Complete – the percentage of completed weekly planned

tasks.
Tasks Made Ready – the percentage of outlined tasks in the phase
planning that are ready to begin as initially planned.
Tasks Anticipated – identify the tasks in a weekly plan that are also in the
look-ahead plan, so that necessary work can be done to get them ready for
execution.

Last Planner® System

Implementation in Construction
To successfully implement the Last Planner® System in construction, you
will have to abandon the principles of your current project management
practices. It simply won’t work in a traditional command and control
environment. Managers, team leaders, and laborers have to become
coaches.
On top of that, everyone on the construction site has to contribute to
planning and learning, especially those appointed to last planner positions.
Implementing lean project management is not easy, especially when it is
structured like the Last Planner® System is. It will require some time and
practice to get there, and the best way to do it is to start by facilitating
collaboration and work your way from there.

Last Planner System® With Pull

Planning
Pull planning is an important concept introduced by the Last Planner®
System in the “Phase planning” phase. Pull planning promotes
collaboration between all the last planners.
In other words, all experts responsible for supervising work have to sit
down and, in a collaborative manner, address every phase in terms of the
most optimal assets and resources to be used in its completion.

What’s Pull Planning in

Construction
Pull planning plays a vital role in construction management. And, might we
say, it fits perfectly with the nature of a construction project. It refers to
working on construction projects in reverse order. This means that the
collaborative team of last planners start with the end goal of the project.
They review each milestone in a backward fashion and lay out the clearly-
defined workflow of the construction project plan, or in other words, a
workflow of the pull plan.

What’s Reverse Phase Scheduling

Reverse phase scheduling is one of the concepts of pull planning. It
encompasses numerous actions ranging from:

 Isolating phases defined during the “Master schedule” phase.

 Adding details to each phase by working backward from a defined
milestone and creating the reverse phase schedule.
 Adding details from the reverse phase to a look ahead schedule.
 Using this information to devise an informative and accurate weekly
work plan.
What’s a Constraint Log
The Constraint Log is the document that has to be created and updated
during the “Make-Ready Planning” phase of the Last Planner® System.
The Constraint Log contains:

 All identified constraints that can cause a project workflow breakdown

 Who is responsible for removing a specific constraint
 The date by which the constraint will be removed
 
As you can see, using the Last Planner® System in construction ensures
that construction project runs smoothly and gets finished before the
deadline. Since it is based on lean management, the Last Planner®
System emphasizes collaboration, communication, and commitment.
Written by
LetsBuild
Last updated 19 Apr 201
 LAST
PLANNER® SYSTEM
 Home
 
 What We Do
 Key Components
 Lean Tools & Techniques
 Last Planner® System

LeanProject, Inc. offers a packaged approach to

implementing the Last Planner® System on your
projects.
Our Approach

A company’s first lean projects take hand-holding, encouragement and follow-up. LeanProject’s
Last Planner Quick-Start leverages interaction with the team until those new habits have been
established. LeanProject project coaches engage project participants as reflective practitioners.
Theory matters and action matters more. So we do a brief introduction to Lean Construction and
then quickly put people in the new practice. We work with the leadership of the project team to
(re)establish the milestone plan and develop a pull schedule. We then engage the larger group of
planner-doers in their first experience with the LPS. At the end of the sessions the expanded team
will have a 6-week make-read plan and weekly work plan that they can operate to and learn from.
Later we investigate that new practice with the team to make sense of why it is working or not.

THERE ARE TWO SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS OF THIS APPROACH:

1. Project teams are getting results early in their experience with the LPS.
2. Training is focused on just what the team needs. This approach is not
suitable for all teams. The teams that are ambitious, challenged, and open
to change do the best.

Coaching and Reinforcement

The First 30 Days coaching program distinguishes LeanProject’s work with teams. Even well-
prepared teams need reinforcement and coaching. We created a six-week program titled Your
First 30 Days on the Last Planner System. Every day for six weeks, project participants read a 3-
minute lesson and discuss it with an LeanProject coach usually by phone or by video conference
for about 15 – 20 minutes. The lesson is relevant to where they are in their implementation. These
lessons are quite practical. Each lesson starts by giving direction – “Do this” – and continues in a
reflective style introducing some of the theory of lean project delivery. By the end of six weeks
diligent team members will have a solid foundation in the theory and practice of the Last Planner
System. At the end of the eight weeks the project team will have new habits for planning and
executing their project. Throughout the time LeanProject project coaches are available by phone
and email. Your schedule is apt to be different than the one above to accommodate the needs and
issues associated with your team and the project. The Quick-Start supports the client’s effort to
develop the ability to deliver projects on a lean basis.

Mobilizing Change

The Quick-Start will mobilize that change and to create opportunities to leverage our work with
the team. For example, we encourage creating fishbowl environments for learning. Members on
early project teams are in the fishbowl. People from following projects or from other parts of the
company are invited to observe team practices and participate in training opportunities. The
success of the Quick-Start depends on the leadership provided to the team. Project teams are most
successful when both project and corporate leadership are highly engaged operating in the mode
of “What can we do to help?” This contrasts with a somewhat detached objective leadership
group operating in the mode of “Let’s see what they can do on their own.” We work with each
leadership group to design an approach that fits with their style while maximizing the
opportunities for success.
WHAT IS THE LAST PLANNER SYSTEM AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

The Last Planner System (LPS) is a workflow method developed by the Lean Construction
Institute to increase worker productivity and accountability through tight scheduling and detailed
group planning.

Last Planner is seen as a managerial approach on how to efficiently run a construction project.
The guiding principle of the system is to ensure that each contractor and subcontractor on a
construction site can manage their workload, while holding them responsible for the work they
promised to complete.
This works through a collaborative exercise where the contractors and subcontractors specify
the work they will accomplish and determine which phase of the project must be complete
before the next phase begins. The advancement of workflows based on the timing and
preparedness of the subsequent stage is known as Pull Planning; a practice adapted from Just-
in-Time delivery.

When utilizing Pull Planning in LPS, there must be one person who's responsible for controlling
when the next phase begins. This individual is referred to as the Last Planner. Typically on large-
scale construction projects, each phase of the project will have its own Last Planner.

While this approach appears to assign greater responsibility to certain individuals over others,
the nature of the Last Planner System is still collective. LPS succeeds in ensuring that every
worker on a construction project is a stakeholder [1] by tracking and assigning accountability
through entire workflows. Ultimately, every worker has a vested interest in completing their piece
of the project because all phases are set up do be interrelated and interdependent.

This shared responsibility largely takes shape by following the five steps of LPS. They are as
follows: [2]

1. Create Master Schedule

The first step in LPS is creating a master schedule that will dictate the flow of the entire
construction project. Here, the lead contractors and subcontractors work together to determine
major milestones and goals for the construction project. During this step, the entire project will
be outlined in detail. Every task from the ground breaking to the ribbon cutting will be examined. 

2. Create Phase Schedule

The second part of LPS is phase scheduling. This is where responsibility for each task is
assigned to individuals, contractors and subcontractors. During phase scheduling, the project’s
workflow is determined and the Last Planners work together to determine how long it will take to
complete their aspects of the project. Once each Last Planner determines how long their task
will take, they can form a more concrete schedule for the project.

3. Hold ‘Make Work Ready Planning’ Meeting

This phase in the Last Planner Systems is vital to ensuring that each person on a construction
site has the necessary resources to complete their portion(s) of the project. The ‘make work
ready planning’ meeting occurs for tasks that are to be complete four to six weeks from the date
of the meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to identify any constraints that may come up
during the project that could inhibit progress.

As constraints are identified, they get put into a logbook where each item can then be assigned
to an individual who is responsible for fixing the issue by a certain date.

Issues such as materials not arriving on time, or not having the proper tools are some of the
biggest constraints that construction sites face. Having a 'make work ready planning' meeting
helps avoid unforeseen issues which can derail a project and send it over time and over budget.

4. Hold Weekly Check-ins

This stage in LPS happens every week during the construction project. It is meant to ensure that
Last Planners and workers alike know what their upcoming tasks are for each week. During the
weekly work planning meeting, every person who has been assigned a task will confirm that their
job will be accomplished on time. While the completion time for each task was previously
determined during phase scheduling, it is still important to verify during the weekly work planning
meeting that these expectations will be met. If deadlines are not met the entire project could be
thrown off schedule, incurring wasted materials, money, and time.

5. Hold Daily ‘Learning Meetings’ for Last Planners

The final stage of LPS occurs at the end of each work day. Before leaving the site, the Last
Planners will convene to confirm that their tasks for the day were accomplished as assigned. If
there was an issue that stopped the completion of their task, the Last Planners can
collaboratively tackle the issue and work to put the project back on course. On a lean
construction project, even small scheduling errors need to be fixed as soon as possible. If left
unchecked, these could pile up and undo all the careful planning that came before.
The learning meetings are a perfect opportunity to perform a few different statistical analyses (or
KPI's) to ensure that the project is on time and within budget. Minimally, these should include:

 Percent Plan Complete (PPC) - This analysis determines what percentage of the weekly
tasks were accomplished. This can help Last Planers visualize what went wrong during
the week so that they can make adjustments for the following week.

 Tasks Made Ready (TMR) - By measuring TMR the Last Planners can check if the phase
scheduling process worked and is being followed. If there were fewer tasks made ready
than planned, then the Last Planners should perform a root-cause-analysis to determine
what went wrong and how they can improve.
 Tasks Anticipated (TA) - This analysis simply measures how many tasks were identified
for the upcoming week. This provides the opportunity for Last Planners to see how much
work is expected week by week, and allows them to understand what may have
contributed to more productivity one week or less productivity in another week.

To conclude, LPS is a highly effective tool for construction management as it demands the use
of multiple lean construction principles in a single system. It manages workflows and ensures
that every single worker on a construction site is responsible for their piece of the puzzle. While
the Last Planner System certainly requires practice to learn, refine, and implement, the
productivity and efficiency that it affords makes the effort fully worthwhile. 
 Last Planner System
Efficient construction processes,
transparency & collaborative work.

Critical path method Last Planner System

The Last Planner System is a  collaborative production management system  for one-off

individual productions, such as B. planning and building a bridge. This allows project
managers to increase their productivity as well as  customer and user satisfaction
significantly . The Last Planner System connects people, systems and business
processes. This allows project teams to use the experience and knowledge of all parties
involved so that they  generate the  greatest possible added value for customers (while
generating an appropriate return for all parties involved). The LPS reduces waste
and  maximizes efficiency  during all project phases, from  project development through
planning to construction. Starting with the first draft and ending with the project handover.
 The Last Planner System - Summary
The system was developed by Glenn Ballard and Greg Howell in the 1980s. You developed
the system based on research to improve productivity in construction in order to improve
predictability and reliability in construction production. The Last Planner System enables
production planning and related decisions to be mapped on the process level. This makes it
possible to develop and present all information, relationships between the project participants
and commitments transparently and collaboratively.

Last Planner was initially used as a short-cycle project planning system in civil
engineering. Since then, it has enabled a considerable optimization of planning and
construction, reliability, productivity, speed of project implementation, profit and the well-
being of project employees. The Last Planner System thus offers a method for collaborative
project management and thus project completion on schedule. Because it identifies problems
and difficulties at an early stage and accelerates the finding of solutions before they obstruct
the workflow (construction process).

It thus forms a link between logistics and execution trades, which is why more and more
clients are setting the LPS as the standard in project management. Because the promotion of
collaboration and communication results in discussions between foremen and construction
management at a level of detail that shows problems before they become really
critical. Finally, the activities on the construction site can also be brought into a continuous
flow, so that bottlenecks and waiting times are reduced.
LPS - systematic & process-oriented for
project success
Visual, structured & collaborative process planning for projects

Prototyping and project-based work have a lot in common. Because both are based on a
process that cannot simply be dictated from above. Nor is it possible or sensible to use
outdated methods such as Gantt charts for project management. To achieve this goal it is
necessary to collaboratively combine the following eight factors.

 Employee
 material
 information
 Machines & tools

 Preparatory activities
 Common project understanding
 Environmental factors
 Safe working environment
 The Last Planner System helps to achieve this goal. In the following we show how the system
basically works. Based on this basic system, we adapt the Last Planner System to your needs
and projects.

 Overall process analysis

 Milestone & phase plan
 6 week preview
 Upcoming week
 Evaluation
Overall process analysis
The overall process analysis (GPA) generates an overview of the value streams in the
production process. The GPA defines and visualizes the processes in each project in a clear
and understandable way. This creates a clear picture of the dependencies between the
trades. The analysis is then used to achieve a common understanding of the project with those
involved and to achieve a collaborative approach to the project. To this end, internal and
external customer requirements are jointly defined in order to optimize the processes
accordingly. Possible risks and bottlenecks as well as opportunities and potential for
improvement are directly identified by the Last Planner System.

Milestone / phase plan

A milestone / phase plan in which the weekly work packages are visualized is
derived from the overall process analysis. To this end, the relevant project
milestones, such as submission of the building application, start of earthworks,
shell sealed, TGA ready, acceptance milestones & commissioning, are
defined. The project team then collaboratively develops a pull plan (see also pull
principle ) to validate the milestone planning from back to front. In the planning
phase in particular, the LPS illustrates the deadlines for necessary decisions and
enables easy communication with the customer. This makes it easy and transparent
to show the effects of a late decision.
6 week preview
Based on the milestone / phase plan, the 6-week preview provides a detailed, daily
overview of the next six project weeks. The trades themselves define activities,
dependencies, binding goals as well as required resources and machines on a daily
basis. With a simple, pre-structured system based on Post'its ®, creating and
adapting plans is very easy. Finally, we developed the digital solution “Yolean” in
order to further simplify the process and to enable it without physical meetings.

Upcoming week
The weekly lean meetings enable agile and efficient control of construction
processes. This enables you to coordinate planned activities and identify possible
risks immediately. As a result of the collaborative approach of the Last Planner
System, deviations are detected immediately without causing more serious
problems. As a result, you minimize fire brigade operations and save costs. In the
course of the project, the duration of these meetings is usually shortened
enormously. Because the focus is exclusively on process planning. The necessary
technical details are then clarified in a construction meeting. As a result, this
construction meeting is also shortened considerably, as the topics can be discussed
much more precisely and efficiently.
Evaluation of the past week
From the activities and disruptions of the past week, the trades draw conclusions in
the lean meeting to optimize the planning for the coming week. The collection of
key figures helps to become even faster and more efficient. Thus the Last Planner
System actively supports continuous improvement (Kaizen ). This is even better
possible with Lean Construction software, so that key figures can be collected
automatically and across projects. This allows processes to be improved beyond
the boundaries of project teams.
 LAST PLANNER
SOFTWARE
Collaborate regardless of location and experience visual process planning on a new
level.

TRY IT NOW
Why you should use the Last Planner System!
As early as 1988, the Last Planner System was explicitly mentioned as one of the few
methods in the Egan Report "Rethinking Construction". Subsequently, several planners, site
managers and the airport operating company BAA endorsed the use of the LPS in all of their
projects because it ...

 Complete projects more safely

 create a more predictable construction schedule
 reduce the project duration
 have a better grip on costs
 reduce the stress of project management staff
 improve the whole building process
 Projects reliably prepared for just-in-time deliveries
 and it works even when the traditional critical path method fails
A study carried out in 2012 with 26 individual case studies shows that the Last Planner
System even exceeds these expectations and has other advantages.

 Increased reliability of the workflow (workflows)

 Improved supply chain integration
 Reduced project execution or production time
 Improved communication between those involved in the project
 Fewer firefighters or daily problems
 Better quality of working methods on construction sites
 Improving management practices in construction projects
 Knowledge expansion and learning from and with one another in the project team
 Reduced stress on construction sites
The stadium construction for the Olympic Games in London has shown that the Last Planner
System really works .

All advantages of the Last Planner System at a glance

Recognize problems early on
Last Planner as an early warning system
Bad news provides good information. Therefore, the sooner you get the bad news,
the better! If you identify problems early on, you can react to them early. It is
therefore also easier to take corrective measures before the problem affects the
subsequent trades and can no longer be eliminated (or only with considerable
effort). After all, with the Last Planner System, bad news is quickly exposed before
it becomes a major problem.

Reduce fire brigade operations

Prevents expensive fire brigade operations
A large part of construction management activities are “fire brigade operations” -
this means that construction managers try to find things that have gone wrong and
get them back on track. If you take up this metaphor, you can say that the Last
Planner System is an integrated fire protection system. With the help of the
collaborative phase scheduling, problems can be identified at an early stage, which
helps the team to develop countermeasures. Prepare for execution identifies and
eliminates constraints and issues before they impact planned production. Then,
collaborative production planning reduces potential problems even
further. Continuous learning is the basis for improvement, so as not to repeat
mistakes and to work together more effectively when problems arise.
 Minimize stress
Minimizes stress for site managers and project participants

Stress is one of the biggest triggers for illnesses and mistakes in the job. The
involvement of all heads, from the project manager to the manager of the execution
(foreman / foreman), gives everyone a feeling for the vision and direction of the
project. In addition, it makes everyone think about risks and how they can be
managed together. This reduces the stress for everyone involved in the project to a
minimum. Because the collaborative approach enables faults and problems to be
identified at an early stage. Therefore there are far fewer problems in the course of
the project. After all, fewer problems mean less stress for everyone involved.

Stabilization of process fluctuations

Effective collaboration
Collaboration through Last Planner
Coordination is particularly important in construction. Because, whatever the plan
says, activities are carried out after people and teams have given each other
promises of what needs to be done by when. That is why the discussions about
making commitments with the Last Planner System take place at the right time, at
the right level and throughout the process. The LPS creates trust between the trades
and supports efficient cooperation. Furthermore, the visualization of dependencies
and commitments ensures that on-time completion is possible even with
demanding projects.
 Shorter project duration
Last Planner shortens the project duration
By reducing waiting times, scheduled buffers can also be reduced. In addition, the
commitment cycle creates trust within and between the teams and supports the
smooth flow of activities. As a result, the entire project duration can be reduced by
around 20% on average.

Improved work safety

Last Planner improves work safety
In the construction industry, the number of accidents worldwide is three times as
high as in other industries. The LPS helps to improve these accident and injury
statistics. For example, a Danish study shows that construction projects that use the
LPS have 65% fewer accidents at work and up to 70% less sick

leave. Furthermore, a comparable study from Chile shows that there are even 75%
fewer accidents at work compared to projects in the same company that are
implemented without the LPS.
https://www.dguv.de/de/zahlen-ffekten/au-wu-geschehen/au-1000-
vollarbeiter/index.jsp

Proactive control
Action instead of reaction
Traditional project management primarily focuses on identifying things that have
been done wrong in order to act on them. Accordingly, this can be described as
reactive behavior if, for example, you notice a missed milestone in the schedule. In
contrast, the Last Planner System focuses on the individual activities. Because it
ensures that the activities can be carried out as they were planned, so the control
works proactively instead of reactively.

Reduced waiting times

Reduce waiting times
Systematic process planning ensures that all necessary resources are available at
the start of an activity. So there are no waiting times

 Access
 Planning information
 Building materials or equipment
 the previous trade or planning team,
that cause the workflow to stagnate.

Applicable in large construction projects and single-family homes

All project sizes
With the Last Planner System you have a simple and efficient tool at hand that is
very suitable for both small and large projects. As mentioned above, it was used in
the construction of the Olympic Stadium in London. Also in the construction of
Terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport with a project volume of £ 400 million.
However, we have already had very positive experiences with the LPS in small
projects such as converting a farmhouse into holiday apartments. However, in large
projects it is advisable to use software support such as Yolean to make the system
easily accessible to everyone from anywhere.

Supports value creation

Oriented towards the value stream
Often, added value depends on the definition and approach. The Last Planner
System supports the focus on added customer value. The benefit for the subsequent
trade also plays an important role here. Because ideally, the value for each trade is
interpreted in such a way that they know exactly what they have to do in order to
generate the value that the subsequent trade needs and thereby deliver high-quality
work. The high flexibility and responsiveness that the LPS offers also helps to
react to changing customer requirements. Consequently, this combination of a
focus on added value and flexibility helps projects with the Last Planner System to
be implemented more cost-effectively and at the same time of higher quality.

Manage conflicting goals

Allows management of conflicting goals
In projects there are contradicting goals for the various parties involved. Because
those involved in the project strive to maximize profit or minimize costs. However,
managing these goals requires a high level of collaboration, communication and
commitment, which the LPS encourages.

Decentralized decision-making
Decisions are made decentrally and collaboratively
Construction projects are becoming more and more complex, faster and less
secure. That is why decentralization is important in order to still be able to make
decisions. In addition, Last Planner offers the final planners, i.e. the foremen /
foremen and the planning team, the authority, information and the space they need
to jointly make decisions about the use of resources for project execution. At the
same time, the LPS helps those involved to develop their skills as decision-makers.
 Promotes management skills
Develops your employees
The Last Planner System enables foremen to plan their weekly activities and assess
the performance of their teams on a daily basis, as well as to make an accurate
forecast of the number of workers required per week / day. As a result, this plan is
based on fact and not on a site management wish list. As soon as the foremen have
understood the Last Planner System and are confident in handling the
documentation, the frequency of visits by the counseling & trainer on site can be
reduced. Because the foremen are able to deal with situations that arise, as their
decisions are based on facts that are documented weekly.

Source: Mossman, Alan: "Last Planner 5 + 1 crucial & collaborative conversations for
predictable design & construction delivery".
In: researchgate.net. April 2013. 
https://bit.ly/2Lghhoe  [07/16/2018]
Lean Construction Software:
Efficient processes in the
construction industry
Visual process planning
Yolean enables digital & visual process planning
with all lean systems. From last planner to cycle planning.

Simple & clear

We focus on simple handling and thus enable
every user easy access to process planning.

Regardless of location & always with you

All parties involved in one software, from planning
through implementation to commissioning.