Project Delivery Through Last Planner System Course

Course Introduction

Project Delivery Through Last Planner System is a practical, results-focused professional course designed to improve project execution through collaborative planning, reliable commitments, workflow management, and continuous improvement. The Last Planner System (LPS) is a production planning and control approach widely used in construction and complex project environments to connect master schedules with phase planning, look-ahead planning, weekly work planning, and daily coordination. This course equips participants with the knowledge and techniques required to transform project schedules into executable work plans, strengthen coordination between project stakeholders, and improve the reliability of commitments made by the people closest to the work.

Traditional project planning often relies on centrally developed schedules that do not fully reflect field constraints, changing site conditions, resource availability, or the readiness of individual work packages. As a result, planned activities may fail to start or finish as expected, causing waiting time, disrupted sequences, inefficient resource utilization, and cascading delays. The Last Planner System addresses these challenges by involving the supervisors, engineers, subcontractors, and other responsible individuals who directly influence work execution. Participants learn how collaborative planning, transparent communication, and realistic commitments can reduce the gap between what a project intends to accomplish and what its teams can reliably deliver.

The course explores the fundamental components of the Last Planner System, including master scheduling, phase scheduling, pull planning, look-ahead planning, constraint analysis, weekly work planning, daily coordination, and learning from plan failures. Participants examine how these elements work together as an integrated production management process rather than as separate scheduling exercises. Particular attention is given to identifying prerequisites before work is released, making activities ready for execution, coordinating handoffs between trades, and ensuring that weekly commitments are achievable. This approach supports a more stable workflow and helps project teams detect and resolve problems before they disrupt production.

Effective implementation of the Last Planner System requires more than conducting planning meetings or calculating performance indicators. It depends on disciplined preparation, active participation, clear ownership, reliable information, and a culture in which teams make realistic commitments and openly discuss obstacles. This course explains how to facilitate collaborative pull-planning sessions, establish meaningful look-ahead reviews, manage constraint registers, and conduct weekly work planning meetings that result in specific, measurable commitments. Participants also learn how to investigate reasons for non-completion without assigning blame, encourage constructive problem-solving, and use lessons learned to improve future planning reliability.

Performance measurement and continuous improvement are central to sustainable Last Planner System implementation. The course introduces key practices such as Percent Plan Complete (PPC), variance analysis, reasons-for-non-completion tracking, constraint aging, and workflow reliability assessment. Participants learn how to interpret these indicators alongside schedule progress, productivity, quality, and safety information to distinguish isolated execution problems from recurring systemic weaknesses. The course also examines how digital planning platforms and visual management tools can support collaborative planning, action tracking, progress reporting, and management visibility while preserving the practical, people-centered principles that make the system effective.

By completing this course, participants will be better equipped to apply the Last Planner System to improve project predictability, strengthen team accountability, and increase the reliability of field execution. They will gain practical methods for aligning production plans with project milestones, preparing work before commitment, managing constraints proactively, and improving coordination across contractors and disciplines. These capabilities can help organizations reduce avoidable delays, minimize workflow interruptions, improve labor productivity, and develop a culture of continuous improvement. The course is relevant to construction, infrastructure, industrial, engineering, and capital project environments seeking to deliver work more reliably through collaborative planning and disciplined production control.

Duration

5 days

Who Should Attend

• Project managers responsible for improving delivery reliability, coordinating stakeholders, and aligning field execution with project objectives.

• Construction managers seeking to strengthen collaborative planning, work readiness, production control, and subcontractor coordination.

• Planning and scheduling engineers responsible for integrating master schedules with phase plans, look-ahead plans, and weekly work commitments.

• Project controls professionals monitoring schedule performance, plan reliability, production trends, and corrective actions.

• Site managers and construction supervisors coordinating daily activities, resource deployment, work sequencing, and trade interfaces.

• Last Planner System implementation leaders responsible for introducing collaborative planning practices and supporting continuous improvement.

• Workface planning engineers preparing executable work packages and coordinating materials, labor, equipment, and work-area readiness.

• Subcontractor managers and trade supervisors responsible for making realistic commitments and coordinating interdependent construction activities.

• Project engineers coordinating technical information, approvals, inspections, and other prerequisites needed for planned work.

• Lean construction professionals implementing production management, waste reduction, and workflow improvement initiatives.

• Project directors and senior managers seeking greater visibility into execution constraints, planning reliability, and delivery performance.

• Procurement and materials management personnel coordinating material availability with short-term construction requirements.

• Quality assurance and quality control professionals integrating inspection readiness, acceptance requirements, and quality hold points into work planning.

• Health, safety, and environmental professionals contributing to safe work preparation, risk reviews, and coordination of simultaneous activities.

• Consultants and project management professionals seeking practical methods for applying Lean planning principles to complex project delivery.

Course Objectives

• Explain the principles, structure, and operating philosophy of the Last Planner System and its role in connecting project milestones with reliable field-level production commitments.

• Integrate master scheduling, phase scheduling, pull planning, look-ahead planning, weekly work planning, and daily coordination into a coherent production management process.

• Facilitate collaborative planning sessions that engage responsible supervisors, subcontractors, engineers, and project stakeholders in developing achievable work sequences and shared commitments.

• Apply constraint identification and removal techniques to ensure that activities are supported by the necessary information, materials, labor, equipment, access, permits, and approvals.

• Develop realistic weekly work plans using explicit readiness criteria, clearly defined responsibilities, measurable outputs, and coordinated handoffs between work teams.

• Calculate and interpret Percent Plan Complete and other planning reliability indicators to assess commitment performance and identify opportunities for improvement.

• Investigate reasons for non-completion through structured analysis that identifies root causes, supports corrective action, and encourages learning without creating a blame-oriented culture.

• Improve workflow stability by coordinating trade interfaces, balancing work sequences, reducing waiting time, and addressing recurring disruptions before they affect production.

• Use visual management tools and digital planning systems to improve transparency, communicate commitments, track constraints, and strengthen coordination across project teams.

• Establish a sustainable Last Planner System implementation and improvement framework that strengthens accountability, improves productivity, and supports predictable project delivery.

Comprehensive Course Outline

Module 1: Fundamentals of the Last Planner System

• Principles of Lean construction, production management, workflow reliability, collaborative planning, and the role of the Last Planner System in project delivery.

• Differences between traditional push-based scheduling and collaborative, commitment-based planning that considers actual work readiness and execution conditions.

• Roles and responsibilities of project managers, planners, superintendents, foremen, subcontractors, and other last planners within the production planning process.

• Relationships between project milestones, production activities, work packages, workflow dependencies, reliable commitments, and continuous improvement.

Module 2: Master Scheduling and Phase Planning

• Development and interpretation of master schedules that establish project milestones, major deliverables, contractual dates, and overall execution priorities.

• Application of phase scheduling to break complex project milestones into coordinated sequences of work with clear handoffs and intermediate completion targets.

• Use of pull planning to work backward from defined milestones, identify predecessor requirements, and develop realistic commitments between participating trades.

• Coordination of phase plans with engineering deliverables, procurement activities, resource requirements, site logistics, and commissioning or handover priorities.

Module 3: Collaborative Pull Planning and Team Coordination

• Preparation and facilitation of pull-planning sessions that engage the people responsible for executing work and managing trade interfaces.

• Development of collaborative sequence maps that define activity durations, predecessor relationships, handoffs, and the commitments required to achieve phase milestones.

• Identification of conflicting assumptions, unrealistic durations, resource competition, and sequencing dependencies through structured team discussions.

• Establishment of clear planning outputs, action ownership, agreed milestones, communication procedures, and follow-up practices to maintain plan integrity.

Module 4: Look-Ahead Planning and Constraint Management

• Development of rolling look-ahead plans that translate phase schedules into upcoming work activities requiring readiness verification and coordinated preparation.

• Identification of constraints involving drawings, technical approvals, materials, labor, equipment, access, permits, inspections, and site conditions.

• Creation and maintenance of constraint registers that document responsible owners, required actions, target dates, priorities, and verified resolution status.

• Application of make-ready planning to remove barriers before activities enter weekly work plans and to maintain a reliable pipeline of executable work.

Module 5: Weekly Work Planning and Reliable Commitments

• Development of weekly work plans that define specific activities, accountable owners, required resources, expected outputs, and realistic completion commitments.

• Application of work-readiness criteria to confirm that planned activities can proceed without unresolved prerequisites or avoidable interruptions.

• Coordination of weekly commitments across subcontractors and disciplines to manage shared resources, work-area access, and dependent activities.

• Establishment of commitment review routines that connect weekly plans to look-ahead schedules, phase milestones, and actual field execution conditions.

Module 6: Daily Coordination and Production Control

• Use of daily coordination meetings and field huddles to confirm priorities, verify readiness, review progress, and address emerging execution issues.

• Monitoring of actual work against daily commitments to identify deviations, communicate changes, and protect downstream activities from unnecessary disruption.

• Coordination of trade interfaces, simultaneous operations, access restrictions, resource conflicts, and changing site conditions through timely field-level decisions.

• Integration of daily observations and execution feedback into weekly planning updates, constraint registers, and subsequent production commitments.

Module 7: Percent Plan Complete and Performance Measurement

• Definition and calculation of Percent Plan Complete as the proportion of planned commitments completed as agreed within the specified planning period.

• Establishment of consistent completion rules that distinguish fully completed commitments from partially completed activities and changed or withdrawn commitments.

• Analysis of PPC trends alongside reasons for non-completion, constraint aging, productivity information, and schedule performance indicators.

• Development of visual dashboards and performance reviews that communicate planning reliability, identify recurring weaknesses, and support evidence-based improvement.

Module 8: Reasons for Non-Completion and Root-Cause Analysis

• Classification of non-completion causes, including missing materials, incomplete design information, equipment shortages, labor constraints, access restrictions, and coordination failures.

• Application of root-cause analysis techniques to distinguish underlying process weaknesses from immediate execution symptoms and isolated incidents.

• Development of corrective and preventive actions with clear ownership, realistic deadlines, verification criteria, and links to future planning cycles.

• Establishment of a learning-oriented review culture that encourages transparency, constructive problem-solving, and accountability without discouraging honest reporting.

Module 9: Digital Tools, Visual Management, and Workflow Integration

• Application of visual planning boards, commitment logs, constraint registers, scheduling applications, and collaborative platforms to support Last Planner System practices.

• Integration of master schedules, phase plans, look-ahead plans, weekly work plans, and field progress information within a consistent planning framework.

• Use of digital notifications, action tracking, shared work plans, and reporting dashboards to improve information visibility and coordination between stakeholders.

• Establishment of data standards, update responsibilities, meeting records, and document controls that maintain reliable planning information across project teams.

Module 10: Implementation, Governance, and Continuous Improvement

• Development of a practical Last Planner System implementation roadmap defining pilot areas, stakeholder responsibilities, meeting routines, planning standards, and success measures.

• Establishment of governance arrangements that align project leadership, planning teams, site management, and subcontractors around reliable production commitments.

• Evaluation of implementation effectiveness using planning reliability, constraint removal performance, workflow stability, productivity trends, and lessons learned.

• Application of continuous improvement cycles to refine planning processes, strengthen team participation, address recurring barriers, and sustain long-term delivery benefits.

Training Approach

This course will be delivered by our skilled trainers who have vast knowledge and experience as expert professionals in the fields. The course is taught in English and through a mix of theory, practical activities, group discussion and case studies. Course manuals and additional training materials will be provided to the participants upon completion of the training.

Tailor-Made Course

This course can also be tailor-made to meet organization requirement. For further inquiries, please contact us on: Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com Tel: +254 721 331 808

Training Venue 

The training will be held at our Upskill Training Centre. We also offer training for a group (at a discount of 10% to 50%) at requested location all over the world. The Onsite course fee covers the course tuition, training materials, two break refreshments, buffet lunch, airport transfers, Upskill gift package, and guided tour.

Visa application, travel expenses, dinners, accommodation, insurance, and other personal expenses are catered by the participant

Certification

Participants will be issued with Upskill certificate upon completion of this course.

Airport Pickup and Accommodation

Airport pickup and accommodation is arranged upon request. For booking contact our Training Coordinator through Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com, +254 721 331 808

Terms of Payment:

Unless otherwise agreed between the two parties’ payment of the course fee should be done 3 working days before commencement of the training so as to enable us to prepare better.