Level of effort

An activity is an operation or process consuming time and possibly other resources. An individual or work team can manage an activity. It is a measurable element of the total project programme.

The term ‘level of effort’ can be used in relation to:

‘…a special activity type in programming software with unique qualities for duration. The software calculates the duration of a level of effort activity based on dates from its predecessor(s) and successor(s) rather than having a duration assigned to the particular activity. They are supposed to be used for support work, such as meetings, which occur during the timeframe of the predecessors and successors. In practice, they are sometimes also used in the older context of ‘hammocks’ but are not in fact a hammock.'

A hammock can be used to refer to an activity representing the period from the start of an activity to the completion of another. It is sometimes used as a way of summarising the duration of a number of activities in a programme as one single duration.

Ref Society of Construction Law Delay and Disruption Protocol, 2nd edition, February 2017, published by the Society of Construction Law (UK). https://www.scl.org.uk/resources/delay-disruption-protocol

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki

• Acceleration.
• Critical path.
• Extension of time.
• Hammock.
• Programme.
• Programme float.
• Progress of construction works.
• Scheduling construction activities.