If you're in the early stages of getting your team set up in Aphex, or if you're a Planner joining an existing Project, this guide is for you.
There is also a step-by-step video guide on the Aphex Academy.
We will answer what core elements a new Admin should understand (Planning Approach, Assets, and Users) and any actions you need to take to get things moving.
Step 1 : Planning Approach
Top down or bottom up?
A good thing to nail down in the beginning is the type of planning approach you want your Project to take. This quick video outlines the two approaches you can take along with each of their strengths:
With a Top Down approach, as the Admin, you'll be in charge of Importing and Distributing work from the Master Schedule. You can run a dummy import and test out how to distribute activities to the Engineers with our example import file.
If you're taking the Bottom Up approach, you'll be building your plan from scratch in Aphex.
Configure your Publication Routine
The first thing we recommend setting up is the Publication Routine - in simple terms, this is
creating a weekly deadline for all plans to be updated by. Then, when the deadline passes each week, you can create the official weekly Published Version.
Published Versions are read-only versions of the lookahead, which can then be shared and used as a baseline.
You can also control the level of detail you'd like engineers to add to their plans. When setting your Publication Routine, you will choose the mandatory set of required information for all tasks in the Project to have completed.
How to set the Routine:
Click the Aphex icon at the top left of the Gantt, and open Publishing
From the Publishing page, click the Settings icon to open Publication Routine Settings
In the modal, use the toggle to enable a Publication Routine.
Once you've chosen the day, time and frequency for Scheduled Publications and selected any Publication Requirements, click Save Routine Configuration.
Step 2 : Assets
As a Project Admin, you will also create and maintain the library of available assets. These are the pieces of information the team can add to their plans.
Resources
Resources can be assigned to work to attribute performance, communicate requirements and understand allocation across the Project.
As an Admin, you're in charge of creating and maintaining the Subcontractors, Materials, Plant and Labour of the Project, as well as customising the Calendars and Delay Reasons.
You can manage your Project Assets from their respective page of the side-menu:
Select the Project Asset you'd like to edit, for example, Subcontractor
Click Add Subcontractor (or whatever other asset your adding), input a name then hit Create Subcontractor
As soon as you've created the asset, it will appear as an available option to assign to tasks
Locations
Locations are used to track where each Task is physically happening. Depending on the scale and nature of your Project, you may have a single Location of the overall site GA, or you may have many Locations representing specific zones, areas or floors.
How to create a Location:
Click the Aphex icon at the top left of the Gantt, and open Project Assets
From the Locations page of the side-menu, click Create Location
In the menu, input a Location Name and select Drawing Location
Click Add Location
In the Location you just created, click Add Layer
Next, drag or drop your or click Browse Files and select your Location image (JPEG, PNG, PDF or TIFF)
If your Location Image contains areas that aren't relevant, click Crop to trim your image to just the relevant information
Click Finish to save your Location or Clear if you'd like to upload a different file
As soon as you've created the Location, it will be visible on the Maps page, and available as an option to assign to tasks.
Step 3 - Users
Adding Users
You can add or remove users from a Project at any time from the Users page.
We automatically send every added user an invitation email letting them know they've been added to the Project, and guide new users through creating their account.
The Project Role you grant a user will govern their editing abilities. Here's a quick breakdown:
Role | Description |
Project Admin | Can edit all work across the Project and set the Project Routine and Assets (Typically Planners and Seniors) |
Standard | Edit work they own (typically Engineers) |
Lite | Do not operate in Aphex Planner (cannot see the Gantt) but receive assigned work in our connected app, Aphex Field. |
Training
Bringing your team up to speed is simple. The Aphex Academy contains short instructor-led, self-paced courses available for all users to take, at anytime.
We'd recommend that users building plans take our 'Getting Started in Aphex' course.
There are courses for Planners, Engineers and Site Teams. You can guide all new users to access the Academy from their Aphex homepage, or link them directly to a specific course. We are happy to provide you updates on completion - just drop us a line.
 |
Take the course → Mastering Your Backlog (for Top Down Teams) |
What's Next?
Now you've set up your Routine, created your Assets and added your team.
At this point, most teams start to Ready their work before the first weekly deadline.
Once the deadline passes, you can decide when you're ready to create the first Published Version. Each new Published Version is automatically issued via email to all Project Users.
After the Published Version is created, the cycle restarts. The team will continue to update their plans to reflect delays or improvements on site, and begin to ready their work for the next Published Version.