Work packages

A work package joins the organization, funded project and responsible team member to a specific subject. Its record number identifies the unit of work. Due date, budgeted hours and revision make the plan reviewable before execution. As work progresses, the status distinguishes a draft plan, planned work, active execution, review, acceptance and cancellation. Started and accepted dates preserve the point at which the team moved between those phases.

Use the package as the parent of tasks, milestone evidence, attachments, review decisions and operation receipts. That relationship keeps a reviewer on the right scope. A similar subject on another project does not make its task or evidence interchangeable. The Operations Overview is the place to examine the package lifecycle across organizations and find review backlog or exceptions.

• Scope. Package Owner sets subject, funded project, organization and due date for a traceable piece of work.
• Baseline. Research Coordinator checks budgeted hours, owner and task dependencies before treating the plan as the active basis for delivery.
• Review. Independent Reviewer decides on a named revision; Research Coordinator checks completed progress before recording acceptance.

Agree how the team divides a funded project into packages and when a new record is preferable to changing an old one. Choose a record-number convention that makes a package easy to discuss in meetings and evidence requests. Decide who may change budgeted hours or due date after work starts. Keep the revision visible whenever a decision is requested; a review against an earlier revision should lead to a fresh check.

The owner and coordinator should agree what qualifies as completed task progress. They should also decide how a cancelled package is explained to the project contact and which evidence remains attached. Acceptance is a human decision informed by task completion and independent review; a status change alone is an incomplete handoff.

A research coordinator opens a planned package for a field study. The owner has entered a subject, due date, budgeted hours and dependent tasks. Before work begins, the coordinator checks that the owner belongs to the chosen organization and that the funded project is the intended counterparty. The owner then records actual task hours and adds evidence as the study proceeds.

At the review point, the Independent Reviewer checks the package revision and supporting files. If the owner edits the scope after the reviewer starts, the team must check the new revision before treating the earlier decision as current. Once the tasks are complete and the decision is recorded, the coordinator can accept the package and retain the acceptance date. The same sequence gives Operations Analyst a useful explanation for a package still sitting in review.

• Package Review Board — Packages grouped by lifecycle status without mixing the review decision into the status itself.
• Packages Awaiting Review — The current review queue with revision, owner and due date.
• Due Work Packages — Due packages that need a coordinator’s attention.

See package planning, evidence review, and roles.