Weekly Report and Look-Ahead
Last reviewed 9 September 20262,350 words11 min read
The weekly cycle is for making next week happen — not for rescheduling the programme
🟩 In one line: Every week the planner issues a three-week look-ahead from the accepted schedule, a constraint list showing what must be true for each activity to start, and a one-page report with last week's percent-plan-complete — actuals go into P6, nothing is rescheduled, and the monthly update stays the only contractual update.
👤 Who this is for: Junior planners running the weekly cycle; mid-level planners setting it up for a site team. Prerequisites: Weekly-vs-monthly-cycles, Data-date, P6-layouts-and-filters.
First, let's be honest about why this page exists
The weekly report goes wrong in two opposite directions. Either it becomes a second monthly update — the planner statuses, reschedules, and emails a new completion date every Thursday, so the contractual programme has four unofficial versions a month and none of them is the record — or it becomes a slideshow of photographs with no numbers, and the site team learns nothing about what stops next week's work.
The weekly cycle has one purpose: to make the next three weeks' activities ready — information, materials, access, labour, permits, predecessors — and to measure whether last week's commitments were kept. That is a production-control loop, and it is where Last Planner ideas earn their place without changing a single P6 setting.
🟨 The standard — what "good" looks like
| Source | What it says (paraphrased) | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| SCL Protocol 2nd ed., Core Principle 1 and Guidance on records | Programme updated regularly; contemporaneous records of progress, resources and events kept | The weekly sheet is a record |
| FIDIC 1999 Cl 4.21 / 2017 Cl 4.20; Cl 6.10 | Monthly reporting; records of personnel and equipment by category (check against your copy) | Weekly data feeds the monthly report |
| NEC3 / NEC4 Cl 32.1, 32.2 | Revised programme at the Contract Data interval shows actual progress and remaining work; look-ahead style detail not specified | Weekly is internal control unless the Scope says otherwise |
| Ballard, The Last Planner System of Production Control (2000) | Look-ahead planning, constraint removal (make-ready), weekly work plan, percent plan complete (PPC), reasons for non-completion | The weekly method (Check the citations in a law report before relying on them.) |
| AACE RP 38R-06 | Update frequency and reporting cycle recorded in the SBM | Cycle declared once |
| Client specifications (typical Gulf) | Weekly progress meeting with three- or four-week look-ahead from the approved programme, in the approved programme's activity IDs | The look-ahead must be traceable to the schedule |
| Hub convention | Weekly = look-ahead + percent sheet + constraint list; actuals only into P6, no reschedule; PPC <60 % fiction, >85 % working; layout 02 with relative DD filter; three-week window (four for procurement/interface) | Your defaults |
🟢 Rule: the look-ahead is a filter on the accepted schedule, never a separate programme; the weekly report reports the week and readies the next three, and the completion date is only ever quoted from the last contractual update.
How it actually works
1. The weekly calendar. Pick one day and keep it. Typical Gulf cycle with a Thursday coordination meeting:
| Day | Action | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | Site walk with foremen and subcontractor planners; quantity sheet updated for the week; last week's committed activities marked done / not done with a reason | Weekly quantity sheet; PPC data |
| Tuesday pm | Actual starts, finishes and Physical % entered into P6 by spreadsheet import; no F9; data date not moved | P6 holds actuals to date |
| Wednesday | Run layout 02 Look-ahead (filter: Early Start ≤ DD + 21 d or Early Finish ≥ DD, not complete); constraint list built per activity; next week's commitments agreed with foremen | Look-ahead PDF and constraint list |
| Thursday | Weekly meeting: last week's PPC and reasons, constraints with owners and dates, next three weeks by area | One-page report issued same day |
Data date stays on the monthly DD. The look-ahead is read against early dates from the last reschedule; that is accurate enough for three weeks and it keeps the record clean.
2. Layout 02 Look-ahead.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Filter | Not complete AND (Early Start ≤ DD + 21 days OR Early Finish ≤ DD + 21 days OR Actual Start not blank); exclude LOE and WBS Summary |
| Group | Area → Level (activity codes), then Subcontractor |
| Sort | Early Start |
| Columns | Activity ID, Name, OD, RD, Early Start, Early Finish, Physical %, Total Float, Subcontractor, UDF Constraint Status, UDF Committed This Week |
| Bars | Current early/remaining; baseline bar; DD line |
| Timescale | Days, three weeks plus one week of history |
| One area per page; footer with DD, source update (UpdNN), baseline name |
Because the filter is relative to the data date it is never edited; the same layout works every week and every project.
3. The constraint list — the point of the exercise. For every activity due to start in the window, six questions with an owner and a date:
| Constraint | Question | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Predecessor | Is the preceding work finished and inspected? | IR closed |
| Information | Are the IFC drawings, RFIs and submittals approved? | Document register status |
| Materials | Are materials on site or confirmed for delivery before the start date? | Delivery note / procurement register |
| Labour | Is the crew on site in the numbers the RD assumes? | Gate log vs Max Units |
| Access / plant | Is the area released, the scaffold up, the crane or hoist slot booked? | Interface register; lift plan |
| Permits / approvals | Work permit, authority NOC, hot-work, night-work permit? | Permit register |
An activity with all six clear is Ready. One open item = Constrained, with the item, owner and clear-by date. An activity is committed for next week only if it is Ready or its constraint clears before its start. The UDF Constraint Status (Ready / Constrained / Committed) carries it in P6 for filtering; the detail lives in the weekly workbook.
4. Percent Plan Complete. PPC = activities completed as committed last week ÷ activities committed. Count activities, not percentages of activities; "committed" means the foreman said it would finish this week. Reasons for non-completion in five to eight controlled categories: predecessor, information, materials, labour, access/plant, permits, weather, other. Trend PPC weekly on one chart; trend reasons by category monthly.
| PPC | Read |
|---|---|
| < 60 % | Commitments are guesses; the look-ahead is not being made ready |
| 60–85 % | Normal; work the top reason category |
| > 85 % | The loop is working; the schedule's RDs are probably right |
PPC is not progress and not a contractual metric. It goes in the weekly report and in the monthly report's internal section, never in the narrative to the Engineer.
5. The one-page weekly report.
| Block | Content | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Header | Week ending; source update UpdNN and DD; baseline in force | Register |
| Progress this week | Planned vs achieved for the week's committed activities; key quantities (m³ poured, m² blockwork, m² façade) planned vs achieved | Quantity sheet |
| PPC | This week and 8-week trend; top three reasons | Weekly workbook |
| Milestones | Next 3 contractual and interface milestones with early dates from the last update | Milestone register |
| Constraints | Open constraints in the window: item, activity, owner, clear-by; overdue in bold | Constraint list |
| Look-ahead | Three weeks by area, from layout 02 | P6 |
| Manpower | Actual headcount by trade vs planned for the week | Gate log vs histogram |
| Issues for escalation | Items the site cannot clear: Employer information, access, authority | Notice register |
No completion date. No float. Those belong to the monthly update, and quoting them weekly from an un-rescheduled file is how unofficial programmes are born.
6. What flows into the monthly update. Four weekly quantity sheets = the monthly quantity sheet. Four constraint lists = the monthly constraint register and half the notice register. Reasons-for-non-completion by category = the cause tags in the trend register. Weekly headcount = the FIDIC Cl 6.10 return. The monthly cycle then adds the reschedule, the forecast, the comparisons and the narrative (Monthly-update-checklist).
🟥 Where people go wrong
- Rescheduling weekly. F9 every Thursday and a new completion date in the email. There are now five programmes a month and the Engineer will pick the worst one in the claim. Actuals in, no reschedule, date quoted from UpdNN.
- Look-ahead built in Excel by hand. Activity names retyped, IDs dropped, dates invented. The Engineer cannot trace it to the accepted programme and the specification says it must be. Layout 02, filtered, printed.
- Constraints noted but not owned. "Awaiting drawings" for six consecutive weeks with no name and no date. Owner and clear-by every time; overdue items escalate automatically in the report.
- PPC measured on percent complete. "Blockwork 80 % done, committed 100 %" counted as 0.8. An activity is done or not done; PPC is a count. Fractions make every week look like 78 %.
- PPC sent to the Engineer. It is a production-control number; upstream it reads as an admission. Internal section only.
- Weekly report as a photo album. Twelve photographs and no planned-vs-achieved quantity. Photographs are records; the report is numbers with photographs attached.
- Window fixed at three weeks for everything. Procurement, permits and interfaces need four to six weeks of visibility to clear. Keep the production window at three; run a second filter at six weeks for the constraint categories with long leads.
⚖️ When you're challenged
"Why doesn't the weekly report tell me the completion date?" Because I haven't rescheduled — on purpose. The weekly cycle puts actuals into the schedule and readies the next three weeks; the date comes from the monthly update, where it's rescheduled, compared and explained. Quoting a date weekly from a file that isn't rescheduled would give you a different number every week, none of them the record.
"PPC is 55 %. Is the schedule wrong?" Not yet — it means the foremen are committing to work that isn't ready. Seven of the twelve misses this week were materials and access, and both have owners and dates on the constraint list. If PPC stays under 60 % for a month, then the RDs are optimistic and the monthly update will say so.
"The subcontractor's look-ahead doesn't match yours." Mine is a filter on the accepted programme; theirs is their Level 4. Where they differ, the difference is on the constraint list with an owner. Their look-ahead is an input to Tuesday's walk, not a competing programme.
"Can't the site engineer just do the look-ahead?" The site engineer should chair the constraint conversation — it's their work. The look-ahead itself is a P6 layout so it traces to the accepted IDs and dates; I print it, they own the readiness.
📄 Related pages
- Weekly vs monthly cycles — why the two cycles do different jobs
- Monthly update checklist — where the weekly data lands
- Quantity tracking and physical progress — the weekly quantity sheet
- P6 Layouts and Filters — building layout 02 with a relative filter
- Last Planner System — make-ready, PPC and reasons in full
- Subcontractor and Interface Integration — subcontractor look-aheads as inputs
- Notice Requirements and Records — overdue Employer constraints become notices
- Redirect: weekly-progress-report and look-ahead-schedules are merged into this page
✏️ Worked example — Abu Dhabi residential tower AUH-RT14, week ending 12-Mar (source Upd11, DD 25-Feb)
PPC last week: 14 committed, 10 complete → 71 %. Reasons: materials 2 (ironmongery L07, tile adhesive L06), predecessor 1 (IR rejection L08 screed), access 1 (hoist H1 down 1.5 days).
Constraint list extract (window to 02-Apr):
| Activity | Early Start | Constraint | Item | Owner | Clear by | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARC-L09-BLK-010 Blockwork L09 Zone A | 15-Mar | Predecessor | L09 MEP sleeve set-out IR | MEP SC | 14-Mar | Ready pending IR |
| ARC-L07-DOR-020 Door frames L07 | 17-Mar | Materials | Frames lot 4 at port, clearance 15-Mar | Procurement | 16-Mar | Constrained |
| MEP-L11-DUC-030 Duct L11 Zone B | 19-Mar | Information | RFI-212 duct route vs beam | Engineer | 12-Mar | Overdue — escalated |
| FAC-L14-UCW-010 Curtain wall L14 | 22-Mar | Access | Crane slot booked; hoist H1 tie-in at L14 due 20-Mar | MC logistics | 20-Mar | Constrained |
| ARC-L06-TIL-040 Floor tiling L06 | 24-Mar | Labour | Tiling crew 18 on site vs 24 in RD | Finishes SC | 22-Mar | Constrained — 6 tilers mobilising 21-Mar |
Commitments for week ending 19-Mar: 13 activities; two excluded until constraints clear (door frames L07, duct L11).
Report header line: "Source Upd11, DD 25-Feb, BL1-Accepted-DD 25Aug-Rev1. Milestones: L12 slab handover to MEP (IF-024) early 28-Mar; hoist tie-in L14 (IF-029) 20-Mar; Section 1 podium completion 30-Sep per Upd11. No completion date is quoted in this report; see Upd11 narrative."
Manpower: 1,410 actual vs 1,460 planned for the week; tilers 18 vs 24, steel-fixers 62 vs 60.
📖 References
- SCL Delay and Disruption Protocol, 2nd ed. (2017), Core Principle 1; Guidance on records (check against your copy)
- FIDIC Conditions of Contract for Construction 1999, Cl 4.21, 6.10; 2017, Cl 4.20, 6.10 (check the edition in your contract)
- NEC3 / NEC4 ECC, Cl 32.1, 32.2 (check the edition in your contract)
- AACE International RP 38R-06, Documenting the Schedule Basis
- Oracle Primavera P6 Professional User Guide — Filters; Layouts; Import from spreadsheet (check against your P6 version)
From the field
Experience from working planners. Unreviewed — read it as experience, not guidance.
Add what you know about weekly report and look-ahead. What worked, what the consultant pushed back on, what you would do differently next time. A paragraph is plenty.
Contributors get their name and one link on the site — your own templates, course or consultancy. We take nothing and hold nothing.
Add your experience