9781925185447 451 461 160809 p6 v16 admin

Oracle® Primavera® P6 Version 8, 15 and 16 EPPM Web Administrators Guide

This publication is only sold as a bound book and no parts may be reproduced by any means, electronic or print. © Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd i

ORACLE® PRIMAVERA® P6

VERSIONS 8, 15 AND 16 EPPM WEB

ADMINISTRATORS GUIDE

BY

PAUL EASTWOOD HARRIS

Sample book with two chapters


This publication is only sold as a bound book and no parts may be reproduced by any means, electronic or print. © Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd ii

©Copyright 2016 by Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any method without the written permission of the author.

Oracle and Primavera are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Windows, Microsoft® Office Project Standard 2016, Windows, Microsoft® Office Project Standard 2013, Microsoft®Office Project Professional 2013, Microsoft® Office Project Standard 2010, Microsoft®Office Project Professional 2010, Microsoft® Office Project Standard 2007, Microsoft® Office Project Professional 2007, Microsoft® Project Standard 2003, Microsoft® Project Professional 2003, Microsoft® Project Standard 2002, Microsoft® Project Professional 2002, Microsoft® Project 2000, Microsoft Project® 98 and Excel are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Asta Powerproject is a registered trademark of Asta Developments plc.

Adobe® and Acrobat® are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.

All other company or product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Screen captures reprinted with authorization from Oracle Corporation.

This publication was created by Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd and is not a product of Oracle Corporation.

DISCLAIMER

The information contained in this publication is to the best of the author’s knowledge true and correct. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of this publication, but may not be held responsible for any loss or damage arising from any information in this publication. Furthermore, Oracle Corporation reserves the right in their documentation to make changes to any products to improve reliability, function, or design. Thus, the application of Service Packs or the use of upgraded software may result in the software operating differently from the descriptions in this publication.

AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER

Paul E Harris Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd PO Box 4032 Doncaster Heights, 3109 Victoria, Australia

e-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.eh.com.au Tel: +61 (0) 4 1118 7701 Skype [email protected]

Please send any comments on this publication to the author.

ISBN 978-1-925185-44-7 (1-925185-44-3) – B5 Paperback ISBN 978-1-925185-45-4 (1-925185-45-1) – A4 Spiral ISBN 978-1-925185-46-1 (1-925185-46-X) – eBook

9 August 2016



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INTRODUCTION This publication has been written to explain the functions that an administrator must understand in order to set up and manage a Primavera P6 EPPM database. Please note there are no P6 Versions 9 to 14 as Oracle changed their naming convention with the release of Version 15.1, and now the name is the same as the year of the release.

The author would appreciate any constructive comments on how this publication may be improved. Feedback may be submitted to the author at [email protected].

SUMMARY The publication may be used as:

A training manual for a training course, or

A self-teach book, or

A reference manual.

The screen shots for this publication are taken from Primavera Versions 8.2 to 16.1 EPPM Web Client.

A training course may be run using this publication and it includes exercises for the students to complete at the end of each chapter. After the course, students may use this publication as a reference book.

Instructors’ PowerPoint presentations are available from Eastwood Harris web sites.

CUSTOMIZATION FOR TRAINING COURSES Training organizations or companies that wish to conduct their own training may have this publication tailored to suit their requirements. This may be achieved removing, reordering or adding content to the publication and by writing their own exercises. Please contact the author to discuss this service.

AUTHOR’S COMMENT As a project controls consultant I have used a number of planning and scheduling software packages for the management of a range of project types and sizes. The first publications I published were user guides/training manuals for Primavera SureTrak, P3 and Microsoft Project users. These were well received by professional project managers and schedulers, so I decided to turn my attention to Primavera Enterprise / Primavera P6 after a request from Primavera Systems Inc. to write a book. This publication follows the same proven layout of my previous publications. I trust this publication will assist you in understanding how to use Primavera P6 on your projects.

APPRECIATION I would like thank Jan Hanak and Thomas Grant for their assistance in the preparation of this book.



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CURRENT BOOKS PUBLISHED BY EASTWOOD HARRIS Planning and Control Using Microsoft Project 2013 and 2016 99 Tricks and Traps for Microsoft Project 2013 and 2016 Planning and Control Using Microsoft Project 2013 or 2016 and PMBOK Guide Fifth Edition Planning and Control Using Oracle Primavera P6 Versions 8, 15 and 16 EPPM Web Planning and Control Using Oracle Primavera P6 Versions 8, 15 and 16 PPM Professional Oracle Primavera P6 Version 8, 15 and 16 EPPM Web Administrators Guide Planificación y Control Usando Oracle Primavera P6 Versiones 8.1 a 15.1 PPM Profesional 规划和控制 Oracle Primavera P6 应用版本 8.1-15.1 PPM 专业版 SUPERSEDED BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR Planning and Scheduling Using Microsoft® Project 2000 Planning and Scheduling Using Microsoft® Project 2002 Planning and Scheduling Using Microsoft® Project 2003 Planning and Scheduling Using Microsoft® Office Project 2007 Planning and Scheduling Using Microsoft Office Project 2007 - Including Microsoft Project 2000 to 2003 - Revised 2009 Planning and Control Using Microsoft Project and PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition Planning and Control Using Microsoft Project 2010 and PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition Planning and Scheduling Using Microsoft Project 2010 - Updated 2013 Including Revised Workshops Planning and Control Using Microsoft Project 2010 & PMBOK® Guide Fifth Edition 99 Tricks and Traps for Microsoft Office Project - Including Microsoft Project 2000 to 2007 PRINCE2TM Planning and Control Using Microsoft® Project Planning and Control Using Microsoft® Project and PMBOK® Guide Third Edition Project Planning and Scheduling Using Primavera Enterprise® – Team Play Version 3.5 Project Planning and Scheduling Using Primavera Enterprise® – P3e & P3e/c Version 3.5 Project Planning and Scheduling Using Primavera® Version 4.1 for IT Project Project Planning and Scheduling Using Primavera® Version 4.1 or E&C Planning and Scheduling Using Primavera® Version 5.0 – For IT Project Office Planning and Scheduling Using Primavera® Version 5.0 – For Engineering & Construction Project Planning & Control Using Primavera® P6 – Updated for Version 6.2 Project Planning and Scheduling Using Primavera Contractor Version 6.1 - Including Versions 4.1, 5.0 and 6.1 Planning Using Primavera Project Planner P3® Version 2.0 Planning Using Primavera Project Planner P3® Version 3.0 Planning Using Primavera Project Planner P3® Version 3.1 Project Planning Using SureTrak® for Windows Version 2.0 Planning Using Primavera SureTrak® Project Manager Version 3.0 Planning Using Primavera Project Planner P3 Version 3.1 - Revised 2006 Planning Using Primavera SureTrak Project Manager Version 3.0 - Revised 2006 Planning and Control Using Oracle Primavera P6 - Version 8.1 Professional Client & Optional Client Planning & Control Using Primavera® P6TM For all industries including Versions 4 to 7 Planning and Control Using Oracle Primavera P6 - Versions 8.2 EPPM Web Planning and Control Using Oracle Primavera P6 - Versions 8.2 & 8.3 EPPM Web Planning and Control Using Oracle Primavera P6 - Version 8.1 & 8.2 Professional Client & Optional Client Planning and Control Using Oracle Primavera P6 - Version 8.1, 8.2 & 8.3 Professional Client & Optional Client Project Planning and Control Using Oracle Primavera P6 - Versions 8.1, 8.2 & 8.3 Professional Client & Optional Client Planificación y Control de Proyectos Usando Oracle Primavera P6 - Versiones 8.1, 8.2 y 8.3 Cliente Profesional y Opcional 项目规划和控制 ORACLE PRIMAVERA P6 应用 - 版本 8.1, 8.2 & 8.3 专业&可选客户端 Project Planning and Control Using Oracle Primavera P6 - Versions 8.1 to 8.4 Professional Client & Optional Client Planning and Control Using Oracle Primavera P6 - Versions 8.2 to 8.4 EPPM Web Planificación y Control de Proyectos Usando Oracle Primavera P6 Versiones 8.1 a 8.4 Cliente Profesional & Cliente Opcional 规划和控制 ORACLE® PRIMAVERA® P6应用版本 8.1-8.4 专业&可选客户端 Planning and Control Using Oracle Primavera P6 - Versions 8.2 to 15.1 EPPM Web Planning and Control Using Oracle Primavera P6 Versions 8.1 to 15.1 PPM Professional Project Planning & Control Using Primavera P6 Version 7 - For all industries including Versions 4 to 7 Updated 2012 Planning and Control Using Microsoft Project 2013 Planning and Control Using Microsoft Project 2013 & PMBOK® Guide Fifth Edition - No Subtitle Planning and Control Using Oracle Primavera P6 - Versions 8.2 & 8.3 EPPM Web 99 Tricks and Traps for Microsoft Project 2013



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1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Readers/Student Prerequisites 1 1.2 Objectives 1 1.3 Understanding Enterprise Portfolio Project Management 2 1.4 Understanding System Implementation and Administration 3 1.5 Implementing Web Based Project Management Tools 3 1.6 Additional Reading Material 3

2 REVIEW OF THE P6 WEB INTERFACE 5 2.1 Background on P6 Development 5 2.2 P6 Modules 5

2.2.1 Database Options 5 2.2.2 Tools 6 2.2.3 Database Strategy 7 2.2.4 Integration Options 7

2.3 Key Data Structures 8 2.3.1 EPS – Enterprise Project Structure 8 2.3.2 P6 Projects 9 2.3.3 Project Codes & UDFs 10 2.3.4 P6 Project Templates 11 2.3.5 Calendars 11 2.3.6 WBS - Work Breakdown Structure 12 2.3.7 Activities 12 2.3.8 Project Baselines 13

2.4 Roles & Resources 14 2.4.1 Resources 14 2.4.2 Roles 14 2.4.3 Resource Codes 14 2.4.4 Resource Teams and Role Teams 14

2.5 Administer Menu 15 2.5.1 My Calendar 15 2.5.2 My Preferences (User Preferences in the Web Client - EPPM) 15 2.5.3 Application Settings 15 2.5.4 Enterprise data 16 2.5.5 Global Scheduled Services 16 2.5.6 User Access 16 2.5.7 User Interface Views 17 2.5.8 User Sessions 17

2.6 Security 17 2.6.1 Users 18 2.6.2 OBS - Organizational Breakdown Structure 18 2.6.3 Security Profiles 18

2.7 Other Functions 18 2.7.1 Currencies 18 2.7.2 Locations 18 2.7.3 Risks 18 2.7.4 Issues 18 2.7.5 Collaboration through Document Reviews 18

2.8 Import/Export 19



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3 STARTING UP AND NAVIGATION 21 3.1 Implementing Web Based Project Management Tools 21 3.2 New Interface Features in Primavera P6 EPPM 16.1 21 3.3 Increased Functionality in Activities Page Standard View 25 3.4 Logging In 26 3.5 Primavera P6 Architecture 27

3.5.1 Databases 27 3.5.2 Web Tools 27 3.5.3 Windows Client Server Tool 28 3.5.4 Other Tools 28

3.6 P6 Web Functionality Areas and Interface 28 3.6.1 Understanding a Project Portfolio 29 3.6.2 Dashboards Tab 29 3.6.3 Portfolios Tab 31 3.6.4 Projects Tab 32 3.6.5 Resources Tab 32 3.6.6 Administer Tab 33 3.6.7 Administer Menu, My Preferences 33 3.6.8 Navigating Around P6 Web 34 3.6.9 Bottom Pane Tabs – Classic View 35 3.6.10 Bottom Pane Tabs – Standard View 36 3.6.11 Saving Data 37

3.7 Viewing Project Data – Projects Tab 38 3.7.1 Projects, EPS Tab 38 3.7.2 Projects Tab Menu and Activities Tab 38 3.7.3 Opening a Project 39 3.7.4 Viewing the OBS 40 3.7.5 My Preferences – Date and Time Display 41

3.8 Understanding the Projects Window 42 3.8.1 Activities Window 42 3.8.2 Activities Window Menu 42 3.8.3 Activity Toolbars 43 3.8.4 Viewing the Hierarchy for Activity, Project, and Resource Codes 44 3.8.5 Workspace 44 3.8.6 Team Usage 45 3.8.7 Issues 45 3.8.8 Risks 45 3.8.9 Documents 45

3.9 Right-clicking with the Mouse 45 3.10 Full Screen Mode Icon 45 3.11 Multiple Browser Windows and Tabs 46 3.12 Search Function 46 3.13 Accessing Help 46 3.14 Find and Replace Option 47 3.15 Global Search and Replace 48 3.16 Closing a Project 49 3.17 Popup Windows 50 3.18 Closing Down 50 3.19 Workshop 1 – Introduction to the P6 Interface 51



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4 PLANNING IMPLEMENTATION 53 4.1 Defining Operational Requirements 53 4.2 Defining and Documenting Roles and Responsibilities for Operations 54 4.3 Defining Master Data 54

4.3.1 Enterprise Project Structure (EPS) 55 4.3.2 Project IDs and EPS IDs 55 4.3.3 Creating a Project 56 4.3.4 Project Codes 56 4.3.5 Calendars 57 4.3.6 Database Default Calendar 58 4.3.7 WBS and WBS Standardization 58 4.3.8 WBS Categories 59 4.3.9 Activity Codes 60 4.3.10 User Definable Fields - UDF 60 4.3.11 How to use Roles and Resources 61 4.3.12 Resources 63 4.3.13 Roles 64 4.3.14 Resource Teams & Role Teams 64 4.3.15 Resource Codes 65 4.3.16 Expenses 65 4.3.17 Advantages and Disadvantages of Roles, Resources and Expenses 65 4.3.18 Currencies 66 4.3.19 Financial Periods 66 4.3.20 Risks 66 4.3.21 Issues 67 4.3.22 Documents 67 4.3.23 Define Security & Access 67

4.4 Additional/Add-on Software 68 4.5 Reporting 69 4.6 Procedures & Operational Support 69 4.7 Workshop 2– Planning P6 Implementation 71

5 KEY MASTER DATA CONFIGURATION – EPS & WBS 73 5.1 Introduction to Master Data 73 5.2 EPS - Enterprise Project Structure – Classic View 74

5.2.1 Viewing only the EPS Nodes 74 5.2.2 Adding New EPS Nodes 75 5.2.3 Reordering and Moving EPS Nodes 75 5.2.4 Deleting an EPS Node 75

5.3 EPS - Enterprise Project Structure – Standard View 76 5.3.1 Viewing only the EPS Nodes 76 5.3.2 Adding New EPS Nodes 77 5.3.3 Reordering and Moving EPS Nodes 77 5.3.4 Deleting an EPS Node 77

5.4 Projects 78 5.4.1 Creating a Project 78 5.4.2 Creating a Blank Project or Copying a Project 79 5.4.3 Copy an Existing Project or EPS Node 80 5.4.4 Creating a New Project from a Template 80 5.4.5 Creating a New Template 81 5.4.6 Deleting a Project 81

5.5 Primavera Project WBS 82 5.5.1 Viewing and Navigating the WBS 82



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5.5.2 Creating and Deleting a WBS Node - Classic View 83 5.5.3 Creating and Deleting a WBS Node - Standard View 83 5.5.4 WBS Node Separator 84 5.5.5 Activity Window Work Breakdown Structure Lower Pane Details 85

5.6 Workshop 3 – EPS 87

6 CALENDARS 91 6.1 P6 Calendar Types 91 6.2 Database Default Calendar 91 6.3 Accessing Global, Resource and Project Calendars 92 6.4 The Project Default Project Calendar 92

6.4.1 Understanding the Project Default Project Calendar 92 6.4.2 Assigning a Default Project Calendar 93

6.5 Creating Calendars 94 6.5.1 Creating a New Global Calendar 94 6.5.2 Creating a New Project Calendar 94

6.6 Shared Calendar 95 6.6.1 Creating a New Shared Calendar 95 6.6.2 Creating New Personal Calendar 96 6.6.3 Personal and Shared Calendars Calculation and Display 97

6.7 Calendar Calculations 97 6.8 Administer, My Calendar 98 6.9 Promote, Copy, Rename and Delete a Calendar 98

6.9.1 Promoting a Project Calendar to a Global Calendar 98 6.9.2 Copy a Calendar from One Project to Another 99 6.9.3 Renaming a Calendar 99 6.9.4 Deleting a Calendar 100

6.10 Base Calendars 101 6.10.1 Understanding Base Calendars 101 6.10.2 Remove a Base Calendar from a Calendar 101

6.11 Adjusting Calendar Working Hours 102 6.11.1 Editing Selected Days Working Hours 104 6.11.2 Viewing the Calendar Working Hours 104 6.11.3 Calculation of Activity Durations in Days, Weeks or Months 105 6.11.4 Individually for each Calendar – RECOMMENDED 105 6.11.5 Globally for All Calendars – NOT RECOMMENDED 106

6.12 Calendars and Activity Types 106 6.13 Calendars for Calculating Project, WBS and Other Summary Durations 106 6.14 Tips for Mixed Calendar Schedules 107 6.15 Workshop 4 – Calendars 109

7 ROLES AND RESOURCES 113 7.1 Creating Roles 113

7.1.1 Description Tab 114 7.1.2 Resources Tab 114 7.1.3 Prices Tab 114 7.1.4 Limits Tab 116 7.1.5 Role Teams Tab 116

7.2 Creating Resources and the Resources Window 117 7.2.1 Resources General Tab 118 7.2.2 Resource Team Tab 119 7.2.3 Resources Roles Tab 119 7.2.4 Resources Codes Tab 119 7.2.5 Resources Units and Prices Tab 120



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7.2.6 Resources Settings Tab 120 7.3 Role & Resource Teams 122 7.4 Workshop 5 – Roles and Resources 123

8 CONFIGURING APPLICATION SETTINGS AND ENTERPRISE DATA 125 8.1 Administer Menu 125 8.2 Application Settings 125

8.2.1 Audit 125 8.2.2 Data Limits 126 8.2.3 Earned Value 126 8.2.4 General 126 8.2.5 ID Lengths 127 8.2.6 Gateway 128 8.2.7 Reports 128 8.2.8 Services 128 8.2.9 Timesheets 129 8.2.10 Time Periods 129

8.3 Enterprise Data 130 8.3.1 Currencies 130 8.3.2 Financial Periods 131 8.3.3 Global Calendars 134 8.3.4 Locations 134 8.3.5 Overhead Codes 134 8.3.6 Timesheet Periods 135 8.3.7 Baseline Types 135 8.3.8 Funding Sources 135 8.3.9 Notebook Topics 135 8.3.10 Project Calendars 136 8.3.11 Project Codes 136 8.3.12 Project User Defined Fields - UDFs 137 8.3.13 WBS Categories 138 8.3.14 WBS User Definable Fields - UDFs 138 8.3.15 Activity Codes (Global, EPS & Project) 139 8.3.16 Activity User Definable Fields - UDFs 139 8.3.17 Cost Accounts 139 8.3.18 Expense Categories 139 8.3.19 Expense User Definable Fields - UDFs 140 8.3.20 Step Templates 140 8.3.21 Step User Definable Fields - UDFs 140 8.3.22 Assignment User Definable Fields - UDFs 140 8.3.23 Rate Types 141 8.3.24 Resource Calendars 141 8.3.25 Resource Codes 141 8.3.26 Resource Curves 141 8.3.27 Resource User Definable Fields - UDFs 141 8.3.28 Units of Measure 142 8.3.29 Risks 142 8.3.30 Risk Categories 142 8.3.31 Risk Scoring Matrices 143 8.3.32 Risk Thresholds 143 8.3.33 Risk User Definable Fields - UDFs 144 8.3.34 Issues 144 8.3.35 Issue Codes 144



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8.3.36 Issue User Definable Fields - UDFs 144 8.3.37 Documents 144 8.3.38 Document Categories 145 8.3.39 Document Statuses 145 8.3.40 Document User Definable Fields - UDFs 145

8.4 Miscellaneous Defaults 146 8.4.1 Default Project in the Professional Version of P6 146 8.4.2 Default Project in the Web Tool 147

8.5 Things to Avoid When Setting Up Master Data 147 8.6 Workshop 6 – Configuring Administer Settings 149

9 SECURITY & ACCESS CONFIGURATION 151 9.1 Introduction to User Access 151 9.2 Users 152 9.3 OBS 153 9.4 Global Security Profiles 154 9.5 Project Security Profiles 155 9.6 User Interface Views 155

9.6.1 Understanding User Interface Views 155 9.6.2 Create, Edit or Delete a User Interface View 156 9.6.3 Assigning a User Interface View to a User 156 9.6.4 Copy User Views when Copying a User 157

9.7 User Sessions 157 9.8 Workshop 7 – Create a New User 158

10 USER CONFIGURED ITEMS 161 10.1 New Activity Defaults 161

10.1.1 Setting New Activity Defaults 161 10.1.2 Duration Type 162 10.1.3 Percent Complete Type 165 10.1.4 Activity Types and Milestones 166 10.1.5 Cost Account 168 10.1.6 Calendar 169 10.1.7 Price/Unit 169 10.1.8 Auto-numbering Defaults 169

10.2 My Preferences 169 10.2.1 Global, General Tab 170 10.2.2 Global, General, Time Units Format Tab 170 10.2.3 Global, Resources Tab, Resource Staffing 171 10.2.4 Global, Resources Tab, Resource Assignments 172 10.2.5 Global, Project Score Tab 173 10.2.6 Global, Performance Threshold Tab 173 10.2.7 Global, Currency Tab 174 10.2.8 Global, Date Format Tab 174 10.2.9 Global, Issues Tab 174 10.2.10 View Tab 175 10.2.11 Setting a Default Start Page 175 10.2.12 Password Tab 176

10.3 My Calendar 176

11 OPERATIONAL SUPPORT 177 11.1 Baselines 177 11.2 Collecting Actuals 178 11.3 Updating Projects 178



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11.4 Progress Reporter 179 11.5 Publishing Projects 180 11.6 Controlling User Defined Data 182

11.6.1 User Preferences 182 11.6.2 Planned Dates and Budgets 182 11.6.3 Managing Filters 183 11.6.4 Managing Views 183

12 REPORTING 185 12.1 Project Portfolio – a Group of Projects 186

12.1.1 Understanding a Project Portfolio 186 12.1.2 Creating, Editing and Deleting a Project Portfolio 187

12.2 Thresholds 188 12.2.1 Understanding Thresholds 188 12.2.2 Defining Thresholds 188 12.2.3 Editing Thresholds 189

12.3 Scenarios 189 12.3.1 Understanding Scenarios 189 12.3.2 Creating, Editing and Deleting Scenarios 190

12.4 Waterline 191 12.4.1 Understanding Waterlines 191 12.4.2 Setting a Waterline in Portfolios, Portfolio Analysis, Scorecard View 191 12.4.3 Setting a Waterline in Portfolios, Capacity Planning View 192

12.5 Dashboards 193 12.5.1 Understanding Dashboards 193 12.5.2 Creating, Deleting and Editing Dashboards 195

12.6 Portfolios 197 12.6.1 Understanding Portfolios 197 12.6.2 Functional Areas of Portfolios 198

12.7 Portfolio Analysis 199 12.7.1 Configuring Portfolio Analysis 199 12.7.2 Bubble Chart 200 12.7.3 Histogram 200 12.7.4 Pie Chart 201 12.7.5 Scorecard 201 12.7.6 Side-by-side Histogram 201 12.7.7 Stacked Histogram 201

12.8 Capacity Planning – Roles Only 202 12.9 Performance Status 204 12.10 Gantt Chart 205 12.11 ROI 206 12.12 Details 207 12.13 Views - Projects and Activities 208 12.14 BI Publisher 211

12.14.1 Understanding BI Publisher 211 12.14.2 Running Reports 211 12.14.3 Scheduling Reports 212

12.15 Reporting Using the Windows Client 213 12.15.1 Windows Client Layouts 213 12.15.2 Reports 213 12.15.3 Running Reports 214 12.15.4 Editing Reports 214 12.15.5 Publish to a Web Site 214



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12.16 Visualizer 215 12.16.1 Understanding Visualizer 215 12.16.2 Starting Visualizer 216 12.16.3 Create a New TSLD – Time Scaled Logic Diagram 217 12.16.4 Create a New Gantt Diagram 220 12.16.5 Open an Existing TSLD or Gantt Chart 222 12.16.6 Manage Layouts 223 12.16.7 Claim Digger – Schedule Comparison in Visualizer 224

13 DATA IMPORT AND EXPORT TOOLS 225 13.1 Importing and Exporting Project Data with P6 Web 225

13.1.1 Understanding XML 225 13.1.2 File Types handled by the P6 Web Tool 225

13.2 Excel Data Import and Export with P6 Web 226 13.3 XML Data Import and Export with P6 Web 228 13.4 Importing and Exporting Data with P6 Professional 230

13.4.1 Primavera File Types handled by the Professional Tool and/or Visualizer 230 13.4.2 Non Primavera File Types handled by the Professional Tool 230

13.5 Excel Import and Export Professional Tool 231 13.5.1 Notes and/or Restrictions on Export Using P6 Professional 232 13.5.2 Notes and Restrictions on Import 232

13.6 Check List for Importing from and Exporting to Microsoft Project 234 13.6.1 Table of Different Calculations between P6 and MSP 234 13.6.2 Checks before Importing from Microsoft Project 235 13.6.3 Checks on Import from Microsoft project 236 13.6.4 Checks After Import from Microsoft project 236

14 APPENDIX A - ADDITIONAL IMPLEMENTATION RESOURCES 237 14.1 Oracle Primavera Information Resources 237 14.2 Oracle Implementation and Integration Tools 237

14.2.1 Primavera Connectivity Options 237 14.2.2 Choosing an API / SDK 238 14.2.3 Documentation 238 14.2.4 Licensing Implications 238

14.3 Other Non-Oracle Primavera Sources of Information 238

15 APPENDIX B - P6 IMPLEMENTATION PLAN TEMPLATE 239 15.1 Operational requirements 239 15.2 Organization Design 239 15.3 Data Structure Design 239 15.4 Reporting Requirements 240 15.5 Processes and Procedures 240 15.6 Interfaces with corporate software, databases or systems 241 15.7 Requirement for third party software 241

16 APPENDIX C – SAMPLE SECURITY PROFILES 243 16.1 Global Profiles 243 16.2 Global Profile Definitions 245 16.3 Project Security Profiles 249 16.4 Project Security Profiles Definitions 251

17 INDEX 255



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5 KEY MASTER DATA CONFIGURATION – EPS & WBS

5.1 Introduction to Master Data Master Data is tables of data that include the EPS, Projects, Calendars, WBS Nodes, Activities, Activity Codes, User Defined Fields, Resources and Roles.

The Master Data has a special significance to a database:

• Unlike many of the other database application settings they are regularly updated and evolve over time,

• Users assign these elements to projects,

• They are frequently used for Grouping, Sorting, Filtering, and Reporting projects and portfolios.

In this module we will look at configuring the important key Master Data and including:

• Enterprise Project Structure

• Projects and WBS (depending on the level of control your organization puts on a database may or may not be created by the Administrator)

The following topics are also considered Master Data but as they are large topics they will be covered in their own chapter.

• Calendars

• Roles and Resources

The following topics are also considered Master Data and will be covered under the DATA IMPORT AND EXPORT TOOLS chapter.

• Project Codes

• Activity Codes

• UDFs

We will assume that your organization has gone through the planning process and is in the process of establishing a Prototype database.

Typically you will begin with an empty database, but this book has been written using the sample database supplied by Oracle with P6.




5.2 EPS - Enterprise Project Structure – Classic View

5.2.1 Viewing only the EPS Nodes

This section will explain how to create and modify the EPS in the Classic View:

• The EPS is viewed by selecting Projects, EPS and filtering on the EPS Nodes only:

• To filter on the EPS Nodes only you may either: Apply the EPS Only View, or Create a view that only displays the EPS Nodes, as per the picture below:

• The two pictures above are from P6 Version 16.1.




5.2.2 Adding New EPS Nodes

New EPS Nodes are created by using the Add Sibling EPS and Add Child EPS commands found on the toolbar of the right click menu:

5.2.3 Reordering and Moving EPS Nodes

The EPS Nodes may be reordered by using the blue Move buttons: Found on the Edit toolbar or Right clicking on the Edit toolbar or the Edit menu to show a menu with these

commands:

5.2.4 Deleting an EPS Node

An EPS Node is deleted by selecting the EPS Node and using the Delete command found on the Actions toolbar.




5.3 EPS - Enterprise Project Structure – Standard View This section will explain how to create and modify the EPS in the Standard View:

5.3.1 Viewing only the EPS Nodes The EPS only is viewed by selecting Projects, EPS and either:

• Applying a View that shows only the EPS:

• Filtering on the EPS Nodes only from an existing view:

• Creating a new View that displays only the EPS Nodes:




5.3.2 Adding New EPS Nodes

New EPS Nodes are created by using the Add Sibling EPS and Add Child EPS commands found by

right clicking on the Cog icon which is displayed when clicking on an existing EPS Node:

5.3.3 Reordering and Moving EPS Nodes

The EPS Nodes may be reordered by using the Sort function in the Customize View form:

5.3.4 Deleting an EPS Node

An EPS Node is deleted by selecting the EPS Node and right clicking on the Cog icon and selecting Delete:




5.4 Projects

5.4.1 Creating a Project

There are several methods to create a new project from the Projects, EPS window:

• Use the Adding a new project function to create a new project without any data, or

• Copying an existing project and editing it, or

• Using the Project Template function, or

Importing a project created from another Primavera database or created with another software program such as Microsoft Project, or Asta Powerproject, but saved in Microsoft Project XML or Primavera XML format. Importing projects and data is covered in the DATA IMPORT AND EXPORT TOOLS chapter.

Projects in P6 XER and Microsoft Project MPX format may not be imported with the Web tool but may be imported with P6 professional. The picture below is from P6 Professional and shows the options available using the File, Import function:




5.4.2 Creating a Blank Project or Copying a Project

You may create a new project at any point in time in the Classic View by selecting either:

• The Projects, EPS, Actions, Add, Add

Project… icon from the menu or

• Clicking on the Add Project… icon on the toolbar to open the Add Project form.

In the Standard View you need to:

• Select an EPS Node,

• Right Click on the cog icon to open a menu and

• Select Add Project.

You will be required to enter the following information:

• The Project ID, a Unique code within one database to represent the project (a maximum of 20 characters), and Project Name.

• The Description section may be used to record project information.

Information entered in the Description section may not be viewed with the Professional Client. You should use the Notebooks function or a Custom User Field if there are Optional Client Users on the system who need to see the data.

• The EPS Node the project is to be assigned.

• The Responsible Manager is selected from the OBS structure. If the OBS has not been defined or the responsibility not assigned, then Enterprise may be selected as the Responsible Manager.

• A Project Planned Start date, which is the earliest date any un-started activity will be scheduled to commence and an optional project Must Finish By date.

Be sure to check the Start Time as P6 may default to an unwanted time.

• A project Must Finish By date is optional. When a project Must Finish By date is set the project Total Float will be calculated to this date and not to the latest activity finish.

• The box Copy from an existing project or template allows you to copy any existing project or template and this topic is discussed next.

It is a normal practice to copy and paste projects, to keep a copy of a project at a specific point in time, normally after each update. When copying projects you should consider utilizing the Primavera defaults for the renumbering of the Project ID.

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5.4.3 Copy an Existing Project or EPS Node

A Project may be copied when creating a new project or in the Projects, EPS Window by:

• Highlighting the project you wish to copy and select Edit, Copy or Ctrl+C,

• Highlighting the EPS Node that you wish to associate the new project with and select Edit, Paste or Ctrl+V,

• The Copy Project Options form will then be displayed, enabling you to choose which Project data items you wish to copy with the project,

• Open and edit the new project.

An EPS Node may also be selected and copied in the Projects window, and pasted to another location, which will copy the projects and add another EPS Node.

Multiple projects may not be copied in P6 Version 8.4 and earlier, except by copying an EPS Node.

P6 Version 15.1 introduced the option of copying multiple projects.

The copied projects and copied EPS Nodes will be assigned a new ID with a sequential number added to the Original ID.

Unlike the Windows Client, the settings in the form above are not remembered the next time you copy a project.

5.4.4 Creating a New Project from a Template

P6 Version 8 released a new feature called Project Templates which has replaced the former P6 Methodology Manager feature.

The project templates are complete copies of projects and store items such as project and WBS information, as well as activity level data, including relationships and cost information. This can allow the organization to enforce common scheduling standards across the enterprise.

Projects can be created from templates and templates may also be created from existing projects, allowing best practice projects to be used in the future.

You may create a new project from an existing template by following the same steps in the Creating a Blank Project procedure above until you reach the Copy from existing project or template step, then:

• Select the icon from the Copy from existing project or template option.

• The Select Project or Template form will now be displayed:

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• Change the filter at the top of the form to display the templates:

• Navigate to the required template and

select OK.

5.4.5 Creating a New Template

To create a new Project Template:

• Select the Projects, EPS Window,

Actions, Add, Add Template ,

• Use the Copy from existing project or template option to select an existing template or project to copy,

• Click on the Advanced tab to select which data to copy:

5.4.6 Deleting a Project

To delete a project:

• Select Projects, EPS,

• Select the project,

• Select Actions, Delete or use the delete key,

• Then Save to confirm deletion.




5.5 Primavera Project WBS A WBS Node is a term used by Primavera that is often called a WBS Code and is a single point in the WBS structure that activities are assigned. A Primavera WBS Node may record more information than P3, SureTrak, or Microsoft Project, including the following data:

• Anticipated Dates, which are used to create a bar in the Activities Window when there are no activities under the WBS Node, but do not summarize in the Projects Window.

• Notes, which are recorded under Notebooks,

• Funding and Budget Log,

• WBS Milestones, which may be used for assigning progress at WBS Node Level. These are created in the Activities Window,

• Documents (WP & Docs in the Windows Client) that provide links to documents, and

• The rules for calculating Earned Value for each WBS Node.

The start and finish dates of a WBS Node are adopted from the earliest start date and latest finish date of the detailed activities under that WBS Node and use the WBS Anticipated Dates to create a bar when there are no activities assigned to a WBS Node.

The duration of a WBS Node is calculated from the start and finish dates, the database Default Calendar and the User Options.

A WBS Node may not have costs or resources assigned directly to the node. All costs and quantities are calculated from the activities associated with the WBS Node.

5.5.1 Viewing and Navigating the WBS

There is no WBS Window as in the Windows Client, to view, edit, or create a WBS structure:

• The project must be open,

• The Activities Window must be displayed by selecting Project, Activities,

• Ensure you have a view with a WBS icon beside it, such as the Gantt Chart by WBS, as this ensures that you may see and add a WBS Node.

The following picture is of the OzBuild Project with 3 WBS Nodes and before adding any activities:

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5.5.2 Creating and Deleting a WBS Node - Classic View

To create a new WBS Node select a WBS Node or the Project Name and either:

• Right-click to display the menu and use the menu commands Add Child WBS or Add Sibling WBS, or

• Use the menu toolbar Add Child WBS icon.

• Use the icons on the Move toolbar to put the WBS Nodes at the right level or to reorder them.

The commands Add, Delete, Copy, Cut and Paste all work to create, delete, move, and copy WBS Nodes.

• Add will add a new WBS Node under the level currently highlighted.

• Delete will delete the WBS Node. When a WBS Node has been assigned activities you will be given the option to either delete the activities or reassign the activities by selecting the Merge Element(s) option in the Merge or Delete WBS Element(s) form.

• Copy copies a WBS Node and the associated activities,

• Paste pastes the WBS Node and the associated activities, including all associated data such resources and relationships amongst the activities,

• Cut prepares to move a WBS Node and the associated activities to another location.

5.5.3 Creating and Deleting a WBS Node - Standard View

To create a new WBS Node select a WBS Node or the Project Name and:

• Click on the Cog icon and

• Select Add Child WBS or Add Sibling WBS.

Add, Delete, Copy, Cut and Paste all work to create, delete, move, and copy WBS Nodes.

Sorting WBS in the Standard View is via the sort function.

To indent and outdent WBS Nodes in the Standard View they have to be cut and pasted.




5.5.4 WBS Node Separator

The Default WBS Node Separator is assigned by selecting Administer, Application Settings, General tab.

Each individual project WBS Node separator may be defined from the Projects Window by:

• Selecting the EPS tab,

• Selecting your project,

• Right-click and select Set Project Preferences…,

• Select the General tab and

• Enter the required separator in the WBS Code Separator field:

An alternative separator may be needed to meet client or contract requirements or to allow import of data from an enterprise system by matching the code structure. i




5.5.5 Activity Window Work Breakdown Structure Lower Pane Details

The Activity Window lower pane displays different tabs when a WBS Node is selected, to when an activity is selected.

• The tabs may be hidden or displayed by right clicking on a tab to open a menu:

• General – in this tab you may assign many data items pertinent to the WBS Node including:

The WBS Code - has to be unique for each project.

WBS Name is the description for the WBS Node.

The Responsible Manager enables access to data to be controlled at the WBS Node level. When a User has access to change data in one WBS Node only, they are still able to see the whole project but may only change data in the one node.

Anticipated Dates, as with the Project Anticipated Dates, this will display a bar when the WBS Node has no activities, but does not summarize in the Projects Window.

The Project Status – there are four WBS Status types: Planned, Active, Inactive, and What-if. The status of a WBS Node controls viewing and access to the Nodes and Activities assigned to the nodes by Primavera Timesheet users.

Other columns of data may be added by clicking on the Customize Columns icon to add or remove columns from the WBS General tab.

• The Notebooks function is used in the same way as the activity Notebook and is used to record notes about the WBS Node.

• Budget Log tab is used as part of the top-down method of assigning budgets and are independent of the costs assigned at the activity level.

• WBS Milestones tab is where WBS Milestones are created at the WBS Node level and provide a summary method of assigning a Performance Percent Complete to activities assigned to that node. For this function to operate there must be at least one activity assigned to a WBS Node.

• Earned Value tab is where the rules for calculating the Estimate to Complete (ETC) and other Earned Value parameters are set.

• Documents tab enables the assignment of documents to a WBS Node and operates in the same way as the activities Documents tab.

• Issues tab is where Issues may be assigned to activities.




5.6 Workshop 3 – EPS

Objective

Assume that you are an employee in a building construction company called GoldCraft that is implementing Primavera P6 EPPM. The Operational Requirements, Roles and Responsibilities have been defined and you must start entering them.

Remember to press F11 at any time to go in and out of the Full screen mode.

Assignment

For this exercise, you will add additional EPS Nodes to your existing database, create a new project and associated WBS Nodes.

1. In Primavera EPPM, select Project – EPS and select a Classic View that shows the basic EPS structure only without projects, such as the EPS Only view:.

2. Add new Add-Sibling EPS titled GoldCraft by left clicking on the lowest EPS Node,

3. Add 4 Child EPS for Development Projects, IT Projects, Business, New Products, 4. Create EPS ID’s as per the picture below,

5. Move the GoldCraft EPS above the Project Templates using the blue arrow . 6. Click on the Save button to save your edits, 7. Rollup the other EPS Nodes:




8. Create a new project with the following information by selecting Projects, EPS to open up the Enterprise Project Structure window: • Select the Business EPS Node in your database to create a new project, • Right-click and select Add Project from the menu or click on the toolbar icon:

9. This should open the Add Project form, enter the following information in the form:

Project ID – OZB. NOTE: This Project ID may not be accepted if you are working in a shared database

when there is another project with this Project ID. You may need to use another unique Project ID in this situation, for example OZB plus your initials.

Project Name – Bid for Facility Extension Description – You may wish to enter details of the project here. EPS – Accept the default, which is the one you highlighted, but may be changed here, Responsible Manager – Accept the default Planned Start Date – 03 December 2018 at 08:00 NOTE: Ensure that the 08:00 (8:00 AM) is added in this step. Forgetting to check and, if

required, setting the time when assigning dates may lead to the schedule not calculating correctly.

Must Finish By – Leave Blank Copy from existing project or template – leave blank

Click to create the project. The project should now be open.

10. Select Project, Open Projects and ensure only your new project is open.

11. NOTE: You are able to close all projects before you create a new project by selecting

Project, EPS, Actions, Close All.




12. You will now need to select an EPS View in the Project, EPS view that displays the EPS and projects, such as the Budgetary Planning view to see the new project under the new EPS Node:

13. If using Version 16, switch to the Standard View and your screen should look like the picture

below:

14. Switch back to the Classic View.

15. Check the project icon under the Projects, EPS, this shape indicates the project is open.




16. Select the Project, Activities view and add the following 3 WBS Nodes to the project:

17. Click on the Save button, your screen should look like the picture below:

18. If using Version 16, switch to the Standard View and your screen should look like the picture

below:

19. Switch back to the Classic View:

20. You have now completed a task often performed by an administrator involving creating new EPS Nodes and projects.




10 USER CONFIGURED ITEMS After a user or administrator has created a project there are a number of parameters that an administrator is unable to control or lock so a user may not change them. It is important that the administrator understands what these parameters are and what procedures are available to users so the appropriate options are selected for their projects.

Most defaults in P6 are good but there are some that should be changed.

It is also important that the preferred corporate options are included in procedures and that these are reviewed before a schedule is published.

10.1 New Activity Defaults After a project has been created by an administrator or user, there are a number of options that may be set that are adopted by new activities when they are created and adopted by resources and/or roles when they are assigned to activities.

This section will not discuss the aspects of adding and linking activities in P6 but look at the defaults and activity attributes an organization may wish to standardize.

10.1.1 Setting New Activity Defaults

After creating a new project and before adding activities it is important to set the defaults such as the Activity ID Numbers and Calendars. By setting them correctly before adding activities you will save a significant amount of time because you will not have to change a number of attributes against all activities at a later date. These defaults are set in the Project Preferences form by selecting Projects, EPS, select your project, Set Project Preferences…, Defaults tab:




10.1.2 Duration Type

The Duration Type becomes effective after a resource has been assigned to an activity.

The Duration Type for all new activities is set in in the Project Preferences form by selecting Projects, EPS, select your project, Set Project Preferences…, Defaults tab:

The Duration Type for each new activity may be changed in the Activities Window, General tab or by displaying the Duration Type column:

The Duration Type determines which of the following variables change when one of the others is changed in the equation:

• Resource Units = Resource Units per Time Period x Duration

For example, a 40-hour activity with 2 people working 8 hours per day will take 20 hours or 2.5 days:

• 40 hours of work = 2 people per hour x 20 hours

When an activity is in-progress this equation is modified to:

• Remaining Resource Units = Resource Units per Time period x Remaining Duration

Primavera has four options for Duration Type, Microsoft Project has three options, and P3 and SureTrak have two options (which are a lot easier to understand).

The Primavera terminology that describes the way the software treats the relationship between Durations, Resource Units and Resource Units/Time Period is different from Microsoft Project, P3, and SureTrak. Primavera has more options than all the other products and this gives the product more flexibility. The following table should clarify these options:




Purpose of the Duration Types

Duration Type Purpose

• Fixed Duration & Units

Option 1 This option is used when the Duration of an activity should not change when Resources are added or removed or Units/Time changed. For example, when the time to complete an activity is fixed, the resources may be manipulated until a satisfactory resource loading is established without the activity duration changing. Option 2 A change to the Duration will change the Units/Time; however, the Units will remain constant. If one person is assigned to an activity for 8 hours per day and the activity is doubled in duration, there will now be one person working on the activity for 4 hours per day and the activity will require the same number of hours to complete. IMPORTANT POINT: The Estimate at Completion WILL NOT change when the activity duration is changed and the number of resources WILL change.

• Fixed Duration & Units/Time

This Duration Type disables the My Preferences, Calculations tab option Recalculate the Units, Duration, and Units/Time for existing assignments based on the activity Duration Type. Option 1 This option is used when the Duration of an activity should not change when Resources are added or removed or Units/Time changed. For example, when the time to complete an activity is fixed, the resources may be manipulated until a satisfactory resource loading is established without the activity duration changing. Option 2 A change in the Duration will change the Units; however, the Units/Time will remain constant. For example, when there are two people assigned to an activity and the activity is increased in duration, there will still be two people working but for a longer period of time. IMPORTANT POINT: The Estimate at Completion WILL change when the activity duration is changed and the number of resources WILL NOT change.

• Fixed Units This option is used when the amount of work required to finish an activity is constant. For example, if there are 8,000 bricks to be laid and a bricklayer is able to lay 100 bricks per hour, there are 80 hours of work for one bricklayer, 40 hours for 2 bricklayers and 20 hours for 4 bricklayers. Changing the Duration or the Units/Time will not change the number of hours required to complete the activity.

• Fixed Units/Time This option is used when the same number of people are required to complete an activity irrespective of the activity duration. For example, if a machine requires two people to operate it and therefore a Resource is assigned to the Activity at 200%, changing either the Units or the Duration will not change the Units/Time and there will always be two people operating the machine.




The duration of both Fixed Units and Fixed Units/Time activities will change if the resource Units/Time Period or Remaining Units are changed. It is the author’s preference to use:

• Fixed Duration & Units when the estimate at completion must not change, and

• Fixed Duration & Units/Time when the crew size must remain constant.

The following table displays what happens to the relationship in each of the four options when one variable is changed and

• The My Preferences, Calculations tab option Preserve the Units, Duration, and Units/Time for existing assignments is selected:

Duration Type Labor Units Change in General Tab

Activity Duration Change

Resource Units Change

Units/Time Period Change

Add or Remove Resources

Fixed Units/Time

Duration Change

Units Change Duration Change

Duration Change

Activity Units Change, Resource Units Constant, Duration Constant

Fixed Duration & Units/Time

Units/Time Change

Units Change Units/Time Change

Units Change Activity Units Change, Resource Units Constant, Duration Constant

Fixed Units Duration Change

Units/Time Change

Duration Change

Duration Change

Activity Units Change, Resource Units Constant, Duration Constant

Fixed Duration & Units

Units/Time Change

Units/Time Change

Units/Time Change


The following table displays what happens to the relationship in each of the four options when one variable is changed and

• The My Preferences, Calculations tab option Recalculate the Units, Duration, and Units/Time for existing assignments based on the activity Duration Type is selected:

Duration Type Labor Units Change in General Tab

Activity Duration Change

Resource Units Change

Units/Time Period Change

Add or Remove Resources

Fixed Units/Time

Duration Change

Units Change Duration Change

Duration Change

Activity Units Constant, Resource Units Change, Duration Change

Fixed Duration & Units/Time

Units/Time Change

Units Change Units/Time Change


Fixed Units Duration Change

Units/Time Change

Duration Change

Duration Change

Activity Units Constant, Resource Units Change, Duration Change

Fixed Duration & Units

Units/Time Change

Units/Time Change

Units/Time Change

Units Change Activity Units Constant, Resource Units Change, Duration Constant

• Bold descriptions in the right column in the table indicate the differences from the upper table.

• The My Preferences, Calculations tab option Preserve the Units, Duration, and Units/Time for existing assignments will not freeze the Activity Units when the Duration Type of Fixed Units is selected.

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10.1.3 Percent Complete Type

The Percent Complete type should be understood if it is intended to be used to update (status or progress) the schedule. This option may be set for each activity individually in Primavera and the default for new activities is set in the Percent Complete Type drop down box. Primavera has many Activity Percent Complete fields that may be displayed in columns and we will discuss four of them now:

Activity % Complete, which may be linked to one only of the three following % Complete fields and is always linked to the % Complete displayed on the Gantt Chart bars:

• Physical % Complete, which is independent of activity resources and durations,

• Duration % Complete, which is linked to activity Original and Remaining Durations, and

• Units % Complete, which is linked to resource units.

There are three percent complete options; each new activity is assigned the project default Percent Complete Type and then this may be edited for each activity as required.

Therefore, for example, when the option of Physical % Complete is selected for an activity then the Activity % Complete and the Physical % Complete are linked and a change to one will change the other and this value would be displayed on the Gantt Chart.

Default Percent Complete Type

The Default Percent Complete Type for each new activity in each project is assigned in the Defaults tab of the Projects, EPS, Set Project Preferences form:

• A new activity Percent Complete Type is set to the Default Percent Complete when created and may be changed at any time.

Percent Complete Types

• Physical % Complete – This field enables the user to enter the percent complete of an activity and this value is independent of the activity durations. This is similar to the way P3 and SureTrak calculates the % Complete when the Link Remaining Duration and Percent Complete option is NOT selected.

• Duration % Complete – This field is calculated from the proportion of the Planned Duration and the Remaining Duration and they are linked. A change to one value will change the other. When the Remaining Duration is set to greater than the Planned Duration this percent complete is always zero. This is similar to the way P3 and SureTrak calculate the % Complete when the Link Remaining Duration and Percent Complete option is selected.

• Units % Complete – This is where the percent complete is calculated from the resources’ Actual and Remaining Units. A change to one value will change the other and when more than one resource is assigned then all the Actual Units for all resources will be changed proportionally. This is similar to the Microsoft Project % Work Complete.




The Units % Complete is calculated from the value of all the Labor and Non-Labor, so be careful when more than on type of resource is assigned to an activity. For example the software could be adding labor hours with excavator hours.

Activity % Complete

The Activity % Complete field is linked to the Percent Complete Type field assigned to an activity in the Activities Window, Details form, General tab or the % Complete Type column:

• The Activity % Complete is NOT linked to the % Complete Bar and the Duration % Complete is displayed on the % Complete Bar, in the same way as Microsoft Project’s default % Complete bar.

In the Windows Client the Activity % Complete is displayed on the Bar:

10.1.4 Activity Types and Milestones

An Activity may be assigned one of the following default Activity Types using the drop down box in the General tab:

• Finish Milestone

• Level of Effort

• Resource Dependent

• Start Milestone

• Task Dependent

• WBS Summary

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Activity Type

Description

Task Dependent

These Activity Types have a duration and will only calculate the duration using the assigned calendar even when one or more resources are assigned to an activity.

Resource Dependent

These Activity Types have a duration and will calculate the duration only using the calendar assigned to the activity when NO resources are assigned to the activity.

These activities acknowledge Resource Calendars when resources are assigned.

This is similar to an Independent Activity Type in P3 and SureTrak.

They acknowledge the Activity calendar to calculate the Early Start date.

Level of Effort – LOE

This Activity type is similar to P3 and SureTrak Hammock activities. It spans from the start or finish of one or more predecessor activities to the start or finish of one or more successor activities which are linked by relationships.

NOTE: Do not schedule with a LOE activity unless it has relationships. If you do schedule it will calculate to a zero duration and be marked as Complete on the Data Date. You will then have to mark it as not started in the Activities Window, General tab and assign a duration so you can see it on the Gantt Chart.

Start Milestone

A Start Milestone has a start date and no finish date in the Windows Client but shows both a Start and Finish in the Web. It is scheduled at the start of a time period and may not be assigned Resources.

Finish Milestone

A Finish Milestone has a finish date, no start date in the Windows Client but shows both a Start and Finish in the Web. It is scheduled at the end of a time period and may not be assigned Resources.

Changing a milestone from Start to Finish would not affect a schedule when all the activities are on one calendar but would move the milestone from the start of a day to the finish of the previous day.

WBS Summary

This Activity type calculates in the same way as P3 and SureTrak WBS activities and they span all activities with the same WBS code, but without relationships that are used with LOEs.

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A Milestone has zero duration and is used to mark the start or finish of a major event. Primavera differentiates between Start and Finish Milestones in the same way as P3 and SureTrak, where a Start Milestone has a start date and no finish date and a Finish Milestone has a finish date and no start date. This is unlike Microsoft Project, which only has one type of Milestone. Later versions of Microsoft Project allow milestones with durations.




The Windows and the Web Client display Milestone dates differently so both are displayed below.

• In the Client the Start Milestone does not show Finish Dates and the Finish Milestone does not show Start Dates as P3 and SureTrak:

• In the Web the Start Milestones and Finish Milestones both show Start Dates and Finish Dates as most other scheduling software like Microsoft Project and Asta Powerproject:

10.1.5 Cost Account

This selects the default Cost Account for all new Resources and Expenses and is blank by default.

Cost Accounts are normally created and assigned to Resource and/or Expense assignments so costs of a specific type may be added up to create an Accounting Budget.

This area is where Costs Accounts are managed.

Normally in other software a default Costs account is assigned to a Resource and then when a resource is assigned to an activity the Resource Assignment adopts the default Costs Account assigned to the Resource. In Primavera the default Costs Account is assigned to the Project and all Resource Assignments adopts the default Cost Account which makes the Costs Account field in P6 less useful as every Resource assignment will have to be edited if the default is not valid.




10.1.6 Calendar

This topic is covered in detail in the CALENDARS chapter. This drop down box is used to select the default calendar for an activity. A Default Project Calendar is assigned to each project from the Global or Project calendar list.

All new activities are assigned the project Default Project Calendar when they are created; however, individual calendars may be assigned for each activity after they have been created.

10.1.7 Price/Unit

Like Microsoft Project an activity may be assigned a Unit (hours or work) without a resource being assigned. This value is used to calculate a cost when a Unit has been assigned to an activity without a resource assignment.

10.1.8 Auto-numbering Defaults

The Auto-numbering Defaults decides how new activities are numbered. The first activity added to a new project will be based on the defaults set in this form.

It is possible to have the same Activity IDs in many projects and the Unique Identifier for an activity in a database is the WBS Code + Activity ID.

Organizations may wish to standardize the prefix of activities in their procedures to prevent duplicate Activity IDs when multiple P6 projects are being used to represent a project.

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There is no function of Increment Activity ID based on selected activity as found in the Windows Client.

There are no Activity ID Codes allowing logic to be automatically embedded into the Activity IDs, which are a powerful features of both P3 and SureTrak.

10.2 My Preferences It is possible for different users to be working on the same project but having different preferences. This will result in the data being displayed in a different format for each user. For example one user could display resource units in hours and another user in days. This is bad practice and results in confusing project members who are reviewing the schedule and is a very simple way to annoy customers when reports are submitted in a different format each time they are submitted. It is therefore important that an administrator makes sure all users have consistent preferences that are suited to the projects they are working on.

Select Administer, My Preferences to open the My Preferences form. This form is used to set up a number of user defined parameters there, which will determine how data is displayed:




The My Preferences form has three tabs:

• Global – where the My Preferences options that control how data is calculated are edited,

• View – where the user formats many of their Views, allowing the user to hide or display data and

• Password – where the user changes their password.

10.2.1 Global, General Tab

Maximum number or rows displayed in each section and Maximum number of rows displayed in trees and pick lists restrict the amount of data available in lists. An example of this type of restriction is displayed in the picture.

It is recommended that high values are set here so as not to hide data.

Send e-mail to resources upon adding or removing assignments and Prompt before sending email are self-explanatory.

Calculate performance and earned value information by Costs or Labor Units affects EV calculations and this is an interesting feature as this allows different users to report different data for the same projects.

10.2.2 Global, General, Time Units Format Tab

The Display Time Units in section of the tab is used to define the Unit of Time format that resource information and resource assignments are displayed with, e.g. days or hours.

The Display Durations Format in section of the tab is used to define the Unit of Time format that activity durations are displayed with, e.g., days or hours.

The picture to the right shows the author’s recommended settings. It is best to show both the Duration sub units and label then you will see if you have durations that are not round days.

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The Units/Time Format section of the form enables the Microsoft Project-type formatting options of Resource/Time Format to show Resource utilization as a percentage (50%) or as units per duration (4h/d). Therefore there are several options here; for example, three people assigned to an activity may be displayed in many formats including the following which all calculate the same value of three resources:

• 300%

• 24h/d

• 3d/d

• 3h/h

10.2.3 Global, Resources Tab,

Resource Staffing

Automatically summarize project after assigning resources ensures that summary data displayed in other views has been recalculated by the system.

Display Resource Assignments

Unchecking these does not hide these data items in the Project, Activities bottom window but will hide this data in some other views.

Display Notebook

Unchecking these does not hide these data items in the Project, Activities bottom window but will hide this data in some other views.

Display Steps

The Unchecking these does not hide these data items in the Project, Activities bottom window but will hide this data in some other views.




10.2.4 Global, Resources Tab, Resource

Assignments

When adding or removing multiple resource assignments on activities section has two options:

Preserve the Units, Duration, and Units/Time for existing assignments. With this option, as Resources are added or deleted the total number of hours assigned to an Activity increases or decreases. The hours assigned for each resource are calculated independently.

Recalculate the Units, Duration, and Units/Time for existing assignments based on the activity Duration Type. The total number of hours assigned to an activity will stay constant as second and subsequent resources are added or removed from an Activity, except when the Activity Type is Fixed Duration and Units/Time.

Recalculate the Units, Duration, and Units/Time for existing assignments based on the activity Duration Type is similar to making an activity Effort Driven in Microsoft Project. There is no similar function in P3 and SureTrak.

With the Recalculate the Units, Duration, and Units/Time for existing assignments based on the activity Duration Type option as you assign or remove resources to or from an activity the total number of hours of work stay constant and the work is divided amongst all the resources.

Thus, assigning resources will reduce the work for each resource and either the activity duration will reduce or the Units per Time Period for each resource assignment will reduce. This calculation is dependent on the Duration Type.

The author prefers as a default Preserve the Units, Duration, and Units/Time for existing assignments. In this situation each resource work is independent on other resources assigned to an activity.

When assigning a resource to an existing activity assignment: The options allow a user to decide what Units/Time are assigned to a resource when a resource is assigned to an existing assignment.

When a resource and role share an activity assignment: The options allow a user to decide what Price/Unit is assigned to a resource when a resource is assigned to an existing assignment.

Display the role limit based on: Primavera introduced Role Limits in Version 6.0 and this enables options for displaying the Role Limits in Resource Profiles. A role may have been defined a limit of six resources but only have four Primary Resources assigned. This option allows you to decide if you wish to display a limit of four based on the resources available or six based on the limit assigned to the role.

Number of available items to search for Roles, Resources, and Resource Codes

This sets the lines available in the Open a request for a resource form, in the picture the option is set to 2:




10.2.5 Global, Project Score Tab

These options are used for Project and Portfolio reporting and are out of scope of this book.

10.2.6 Global, Performance Threshold Tab

This section is used to customize the dashboards:




10.2.7 Global, Currency Tab

The Currency Options tab selects the currency symbol used to display costs.

The Currencies form, available from the Administer, Enterprise Data, Global section menu item, is used to define the Base Currency. All costs are stored in the Base Currency and all other Currencies are calculated values using the Base Currency value and conversion rate.

10.2.8 Global, Date Format Tab

The Date Format tab is self-explanatory and is used to format the display of dates and time.

NOTE: It is not possible to hide the year and there always has to be a date separator, thus leading to wider date columns than otherwise could be achieved. It is also not possible to display the days in characters such as Mon or Monday with the date.

The picture to the right shows the author’s recommended settings. People in the US may wish to use their local Date Format.

The author recommends that the Time should always be displayed so a user may see what time Primavera has selected when assigning Actual dates, Constraint dates, Suspend and Resume dates. Often Primavera selects 00:00, which is midnight on the morning of the selected date.

The author recommends that the Month name should always be displayed to avoid confusion between the US date format of mm/dd/yy and the ROW (Rest of World) date format of dd/mm/yy.

10.2.9 Global, Issues Tab

This is where a user specifies which Issues they are informed about.

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10.2.10 View Tab

The View tab is used to display or hide P6 windows:

10.2.11 Setting a Default Start Page

In P6 R8.3 it is possible to specify the default start page that a user will be presented with upon logging in by:

• Setting the default start page; • Then selecting a P6 section in the Start Page list and; • Ensuring that the start page is the top-most page selected for display.

To access this feature either:

• Go to Administer, My Preferences and select View tab; or • Go to Administer and select User Interface Views and • Click on the Content tab of the General section.




10.2.12 Password Tab

The User Password tab is used to change the user password.

10.3 My Calendar When a user is also created as a resource in a database and has a Personal Calendar created then the user may edit their own calendar in this area to reflect their personal availability and may add their holidays etc. in their calendar.

This option works in the same way as editing any other calendar.

A resource calendar will ONLY be used to calculate activity durations when an activity is assigned an Activity Type of Resource Dependent.




11 OPERATIONAL SUPPORT

11.1 Baselines There are a number of reasons to baseline a schedule and these include:

• At the start of a project to record the agreed contract program,

• After each update to record the project status at a point in time and thus being able to compare one period’s progress with the next period,

• Before adding or removing a delay activity in order to evaluate the effect of a delay on a schedule at a point in time,

• After a substantial change to a schedule where the original baseline is no longer valid.

A Baseline is a copy of a schedule at a point in time. P6 Baselines function in the following way:

• A complete project only may be baselined. P6 will not create a partial Baseline like some other scheduling products, so it is not possible to Baseline incomplete work or a particular Phase or Stages of a project unless it is created as a separate P6 project.

• An unlimited number of baselines may be created,

• The EPPM Web tool may create two baseline, Project Baseline and User Primary Baseline and only display a maximum of three bars, typically the Current Bar and the two baselines. Each User may define different User Baselines which is an issue as each user potentially may display different baseline data. NOTE: P6 PPM Professional allows four baselines to be defined and displayed; Project Baseline, User Primary Baseline, User Secondary Baseline and User Tertiary Baseline and may display up all four baseline bars and bars and data the same time.

• The project is effectively locked away and may not be opened unless it is copied or removed from being a Baseline,

• It is not possible to display a Resource bar or a Resource Baseline bar,

• Much Baseline data is not readable from a Baseline project. For example relationships, constraints, resource assignments may not be read from a Baseline schedule. Some Resource Type data may be read such as Baseline Labor Hours and Labor Costs but not Individual Resource Hours and Costs.

Corporate policies should cover the following topics:

• Who has permission to Baseline projects, the administrator or some or all users.

• When are the projects to be baselined? For example is a baseline set at the start of a project or is a new baseline taken after each update and which baseline is used for each. For example the Current Baseline may be used for the Original Baseline and the User Baseline used for last period status.

• When there are multiple users opening and setting User Baselines there must be strict procedures so each user sets the same User Baseline otherwise different users will be displaying different data as a baseline.

The Earned Value Calculation options must be understood by the Administrator as they apply to all projects in a database. Imported Baselines may calculate differently in other databases if these setting are not the same in both databases.

• The Administer, Application Settings, Earned Value tab, Earned value section has three options, displayed in the picture below. This option decides which Baseline schedule values are read to calculate the Earned Value fields and which bars are displayed as Baseline Bars. The At Completion values with current dates is the author’s preferred option when resources are assigned.
