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Layouts in Primavera P6
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 BY MARY WILLIAMS 11 COMMENTS
The Layout Options Bar is used to create customized layouts that fulfill your
project reporting requirements. The Layout Options Bar is located in the
Activities Window.
The Layout Options Bar enables you to customize/incorporate the
following (in addition to other options):
Bars
Columns
Filters
This Primavera P6 training tutorial addresses the procedures for printing the
Layouts once you have customized them to your needs.
Step 1: Open the layout that you want to print using the Layout Options Bar.
The layout displayed below is: X Current vs. Baseline Bars. This layout
includes the Activity Table on the left and the Gantt chart on the right. The
Gantt chart includes both current and baseline bars. Click the Print Preview
icon on the toolbar (see yellow arrow).
Step 2: In the Print Preview Dialog Box, you can use the toolbar at the top left
to access various print/view options.
Step 3: We will access the Page Setup option, which is the first icon from the
left. Page Setup consists of 5 tabs, and we will review each of those tabs.
The first tab is the Page tab, which can be used to select page orientation,
scaling and paper size.
Step 4: The Margins tab allows you to establish the top, bottom, left and right
margins.
Step 5: The Header tab enables you to select the appearance of the Header.
You can divide the header (see yellow arrow) into up to 5 sections and can
control the contents of each section. You can also identify on which pages you
would like to include the Header, as well as the height of the Header. In our
example, we will divide the Header into 3 sections. We will put a logo in the
first section, insert the Project Name & Layout Name in the second section,
and the Date/Time in the third section.
To insert the logo into section 1, click the drop-down list for section 1 and
select Picture (see red arrow below),
Step 6: Use the browse button to select the filename of the logo (see yellow
arrow) . Click the Apply button on the right to preview the layout with the new
modifications. Notice that the logo is barely visible (see green arrow below)
because the Header height is only .25.
Step 7: Increase the Header height to 1 and click Apply to view the result.
Notice that the logo is now more prominent.
Step 8: Lets work on the 2nd Section of the Header. Currently, the 2nd section is
set to display the Layout Name (see Red arrow). We would like to display the
Project Name in addition to the Layout Name and would also like the Project
Name to be displayed as red text.
Step 9: In section 2, select Text/Logo (see yellow arrow) to identify the desired
contents. Click the drop-down list at the bottom left to pick Project Name (see
red arrow).
Step 10: Use the text formatting tools to format the text for the contents of
section 2 (see red arrow). Click the Apply button to view the results. You can
see that the text for Project Name has been set to red using the text formatting
tools.
Step 11: We will let Section 3 of the Header reflect Date/Time (see red arrow).
Step 12: The Footer Tab works exactly as the Header tab.
Step 13: The Options tab will be available if your Layout includes a Gantt
chart, Profile, Spreadsheet, or Trace Logic. You can identify the Timescale
Start and Timescale Finish. These can be predefined dates or you can specify
a custom date. We have selected DD (Earliest Data Date) for the Timescale
Start and PF (Latest Project Finish) for the Timescale Finish. Of course, youll
want to ensure you descrunch the Gantt chart if youre printing it with this trick.
Notice the other print options that can be selected. We will explore those
options with the subsequent images.
Step 14: The preview displayed below depicts printing the Gantt chart, only
without the Activity Table.
Step 15: The preview below selects to print the Activity Table, displays all
columns on the Activity Table, as well as the Gantt chart.
Step 16: The preview below displays only those Activity Table columns visible
on the layout versus all columns.
Step 17: This preview displays only the Activity Table (ie. No Gantt chart).
Step 18: View the finished product. Use arrows on the toolbar to navigate
through the preview. Use the print setup & print icons to establish printer
options. You can also publish the layout to an HTML file (red arrow identifies
the print preview dialog box options).
In the Resources (Units of Measure) tab, click Add (the plus symbol, or
Insert)
5.
In the Unit Abbreviation column, type in the new unit of measure as an
abbreviation for example,
BPH
6.
In the Unit Name column, type the full name of the new unit of
measure for example Bolts Per
Hour
7.
Click Save (the disk symbol or Ctrl+S.)
PrescienceAdvantageTM Primavera Support
A PrescienceAdvantage Primavera Support agreement is flexible, scalable
and value driven. It offers functional and technical Oracle Primavera
assistance, delivered remotely or on-site, if needed. To find out more about
setting up a customised Support Agreement for your site, simply
email info@prescience.com.au or call us on 1300 086 816.
TM
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Date Fields
Two date fields that often get confused are Planned Start /
Finish and Early Start / Finish. For any Activity that has not yet begun,
Planned Start represents the date the activity is scheduled to begin. These
dates are automatically set equal to the Early Start date by the program (P6)
and cannot be updated manually.
Once an Actual Start is applied, P6 leaves the Planned Dates unchanged
while the Early Dates are recalculated and move as the scheduling Data date
changes. Once an Actual Start is applied, the Planned Dates will, usually, no
longer equal the Early Dates.
To ensure all of the dates align, under the Calculations Tab within the project
level, ensure that the setting Link Planned and At Completion for Not-Started
Activities, is selected. Otherwise, you might find that the Original Duration
could be different from the At Complete Duration for any Activities that have
not yet started, resulting in major differences between Planned Dates and
Early Dates.
Another Date Field combination which can be confusing is Anticipated
Start / Finish Date. These dates are used during the project planning
stage, and can be set at the Enterprise Project Structure (EPS), Project, or
WBS level. These dates are displayed at EPS level bars and columns when
there are no activities. These dates remain as historical records when
activities are added.
Hopefully this quick overview of some of the most common Date Fields will
help to keep your schedule on track. If are uncertain about any other date
fields, dont hesitate to get in touch with us.
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Understand the way data is structured and the levels of data that can be
accessed.
Know what you can and cant alter before importing back into P6.
Get the formatting right especially for date fields.
Take time to prepare the data, including the templates.
Make a copy of your project before importing into the existing one just in
case something goes wrong.
Activity codes and resource codes should have been assigned (they must
exist) in the project dictionary before attempting to import.
Activity IDs should not be changed otherwise they cant be imported.
Do not delete or modify the USRDATA worksheet in any way. This contains
some data that is required for importing Excel files
By following these simple tips, you will ensure a smooth data transfer.
PrescienceAdvantageTM Primavera Support
Following on from last months post, in this extract from the monthly
newsletter we provide to our Support clients, we share some tips on
the capabilities and restrictions of what data can be imported and
exported from Oracle Primavera P6 EPPM using the XER file format.
Financial Periods dictionary. If they do not match, no past period actual data will
be imported.
3.
No risk data is imported / exported when using XER format.
4.
The XER format supports all project data, while the XML (Excel) format does
not. Ideally, you should not use the Export wizard to back up your entire
database.
By following these simple tips, you will ensure a smooth data transfer any
time you use XER.
PrescienceAdvantageTM Primavera Support
By default, Layouts and Filters do not export with the XER format. However,
they can be manually exported by doing the following:
To export Layouts:
Note: More than one Layout can be exported at once. Each one saves
individually using the Layout name with a .plf extension.
To export Filters:
Filters can be manually exported with the Layouts by copying them to the
Layout via the P6 feature Copy As Layout.
By following these simple tips, you can ensure that you can share your
schedules with others, so they can see the same information as you.
PrescienceAdvantageTM Primavera Support
This extract from the Primavera P6 Tip we shared with our Support
Clients explains how to use Dashboards to ensure all the relevant
information regarding the status of a project is in one centralised
location.
Dashboards
A common pitfall in project management is misinterpreting project
information or, in some cases, even just finding information scattered
throughout the different parts of the program, within different fields and
layouts. Users often also need different information, depending on their role.
Thankfully, the developers of P6 EPPM R8.2 recognised these issues and
developed a series of portlets (sections of project information that you can
view in a Dashboard). This ensures all the relevant information regarding the
status of a project is in one centralised location.
Dashboard views can be customised to each P6 user and can be configured
to show only the information critical to the role. There are many different
types of views or portlets available in the dashboard view of Primavera P6
R8.2. These include:
Schedule performance;
Gantt chart;
Resource allocation; and
Portfolio analysis.
The portlet uses a number of key symbols to quickly highlight the data on
which you should focus. These visual indicators are based on performance
thresholds you define:
This extract from the Primavera Tip we shared with our Support
Clients explains how to use Resource Portlet Dashboards to
determine which resources are over or under allocated and ensure
resources are being used effectively.
The Resource Team Summary portlet allows you to view resources, their
primary role, and the number of active projects for a team you select. The
portlet lists those members of the resource team that you have access to,
based on resource security. If you choose to view a resource team that is
available only to you, all resources that you have added to the team are
listed.
Tips
The Resource Analysis Chart allows you to view a variety of chart formats
plotting the total (remaining plus actuals) units or costs for a resource,
resource team, or resource code you select.
A user can now exchange XML project files with previous versions of
Primavera P6 from R6.2 SP4 onward. Also, all features supported by the P6
Professional XER format constraining of external relationships during
import, inclusion of Price/Unit in resource assignments and importing of Past
Period Actuals are supported in XML format as well.
P6 R8.3 also enables a user to import or export multiple
projects simultaneously. When exporting multiple projects, the projects are
combined into a single XML file. Thus importing multiple projects requires the
projects to be contained in a single XML file.
Granular Control over Data during XML Import
My personal favourite is that you can now rename columns in the Web
Interface. This feature ensures the application terminology aligns with the
organization and enables users to work with column names that are
familiar. Right-click a column header and select Rename Column to
launch the Rename Column dialog box. The dialog box displays the columns
default name and provides a New-name field in which you can edit the
default name or type in a different name.
The last feature we will cover is one that I think most P6 users will quickly
appreciate. Primavera P6 R8.3 (Web Client) offers a new Relationships detail
window on the Activities page that enables a user to create and manage
predecessor and successor relationships within the same window. The
window provides the same capabilities as the separate Predecessors and
Successors detail windows, and is also still available within the Primavera P6
R8.3 Professional Client.
Many of you may have had the fortune of road testing the new
Primavera P6 R8.3 update. In this extract from our Primavera Support
Clients Tips and Tricks newsletter we continue our overview of some
further features and welcome enhancements.
Viewing the Hierarchy for Activity, Project, and Resource Codes in Primavera P6 R8.3
To help solve the problem of duplicate codes, P6 R8.3 displays the full
hierarchical chain for assigned project, activity, and resource codes in the
Codes detail window. Previous releases of P6 displayed only the lowest
hierarchical level.
Displaying the full chain in the detail window can provide useful information
without requiring a user to navigate to a codes dictionary to view the
hierarchy. In addition, a new column in the Codes detail window on the
Activities page indicates whether an assigned activity code is an EPS, global,
or project-level code.
To access this feature, click the Codes detail window on the EPS or Activities
page in the Projects section, or on the Resources tab on the Administration
page in the Resources section.
P6 R8.3 enables a user to find and replace text in displayed columns on the
EPS, Activities, and Resources Assignments pages, making it easier to
change items in the project plan. A Find option was previously available;
the Replace option is new. The new option is available via the Edit menu, the
Edit toolbar, or the right-click menu.
To access this feature click Replace on the Edit or right-click menu or click
the icon on the Edit toolbar.
Copy Activity Options
P6 now enables a user to select the data to include when copying and
pasting activities on the Activities page. This feature can save significant
time and effort by reducing the time to manually add or remove data when
editing or building project schedules. The feature applies to single or multiple
activities within a single project or across multiple projects.
On the Activities page, users can copy/paste one or more activities. The Copy
Activity Options dialog box displays when you paste the activities. Clear the
check boxes for data you do not want to include, and then click OK.
To access this feature, on the Activities page, the Copy Activity Options
dialog box displays as part of the copy/paste operation.
My personal favourite new feature in release 8.3 is the ability for a user to
print from the EPS or Activities page and include only the Project or Activity
Table with no Gantt chart, offering the flexibility to create a more tabular
report.
Previous versions of P6 printed both the table and the Gantt chart (even
when the Gantt chart was not displayed on the screen). The same was true
for Print Preview (the preview included the Gantt chart whether or not it was
displayed on screen). In P6 R8.3 both Print Preview and Print include only
what is displayed on the screen.
You can also specify a date range when printing (or previewing) the Gantt
chart.
On the Activities page, choose dates or use rolling options to define a date
range, eliminating the need to repeatedly open the view to set the time
frame.
To access this feature, on the EPS or Activities page in the Projects section,
click Page Setup on the Actions menu (or click the Page Setup icon from
within Print Preview), and then use the Print Range options on the Sheet tab.
P R E S C I E N C E A D VA N TA G E T M P R I M AV E R A S U P P O R T
Primavera P6 Calendars
You can also assign calendars to each resource and activity to determine
time constraints in a uniform way. For example, based on its calendar, a
resource might not be available; or, if the resource is available, the activity
might not fit the calendar requirements. P6 uses your calendar assignments
for levelling resources, scheduling, and tracking activities.
The Primavera P6 application supports three types of calendars:
Global Calendar: If a calendar is defined under this category, that calendar
can be assigned to any project, activity and resource in the database.
Project Calendar: This category of calendars can be assigned to a specific
project (and/or its activities). If a calendar is defined under this category then
that calendar can be assigned to that specific project (and/or its activities)
only. These calendars cannot be assigned to any resource. If we link the
project calendar to the global calendar then any change made in the global
calendar will be reflected in the project calendar but not vice versa.
Resource Calendar: This category of calendars can be assigned to a
specific resource. These types of calendars are used in a special case where
the availability of the resources (Material/Machinery/Labour etc.) is critical.
These calendars cannot be assigned to a project or its activities. If a resource
calendar in P6 is linked with a global calendar then any change made in
global calendar will be reflected in the corresponding resource calendar but
not vice versa.
Changing the P6 Calendar Type
You can change the type of calendar you created from a resource calendar to
a global calendar, a personal calendar to a shared calendar, or a shared
calendar to a personal calendar.
1.
2.
3.
Within P6 Web, click the Administer menu and select Enterprise Data.
In the Enterprise Data pane, expand Resources and click Resource Calendars.
On the Resource Calendars page, click on a personal or shared calendar.
A new specific calendar has been created for an existing project. How do you
apply this calendar as the default project calendar for this project only?
Within P6 Professional, open the project, but remain in the Projects screen.
Click on the Defaults tab and change the default calendar as appropriate.
This will set the default activity for new activities, but will not change the
calendar for existing activities.
It is not possible to directly copy and paste Calendars in P6, however there is
an option to base the calendar on an existing calendar.
When creating a calendar in the P6 client, you can base the calendar on
either a resource calendar or a global calendar.
When creating a calendar in P6 web, you can base the calendar on
either a resource calendar, global calendar, or project calendar (if both
projects are open).
Changing the calendar for multiple activities
1.
Display a column for Calendar.
2.
Change the first activitys calendar to the calendar that you require.
3.
Highlight all the activities making sure that the cell is on the last activity in
the Calendar ID column.
4.
Choose Edit, Fill Down.
P R E S C I E N C E A D VA N TA G E P R I M AV E R A S U P P O R T
Over the years, Primavera has been adopted as the recognised standard in
numerous industries worldwide to manage complex and capital intensive
projects. Oracle Primaveras project management software has gone through
many changes and revision updates. Primavera P6 was expanded from its
original Windows platform to offer an additional internet based version which
is now referred to as Oracles Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio
Management (EPPM).
What is Primavera P6 Professional?
S u p p o r t o f w o r k b re a k d o w n s t r u c t u re s ( W BS ) , u se r- d e fi n e d fi e l d s
a n d c o d e s , c r i t i c a l - p a t h - m e t h o d ( C P M ) s c h e d u l i n g , a n d re s o u rc e
l e ve l l i n g .
Multiple users can access the same projects concurrently.
Issue tracking.
Management by threshold.
A tracking feature that enables you to perform dynamic cross-project rollups
of cost, schedule, and earned value.
Work products and documents that can be assigned to activities and
managed centrally.
Time-scaled Logic Diagrams (in particular P6 Visualizer).
Resource and role administration.
A report wizard that creates customised reports to extract any data from the
P6 EPPM database.
Tiled and tabbed window layouts for easy navigation.
Configurable menus and toolbars.
Enhanced page breaks on grouping bands.
Email reports as attachments.
Streamlined installation process.
P6
P6
P6
P6
P6
P6
the data items you select. When you use both grouping and sorting to
organise your layout, the data are grouped first and then sorted.
When you add a hierarchical item to the Group By list, it will display all of the
available levels for that item as specified in the Admin Preferences. If you are
only using four of those levels, set the To Level to 4. You will then have
space for another hierarchical item to be grouped beneath the first item.
If you do not wish to show hierarchy, uncheck Indent to allow you to
group by additional hierarchical items.
Mixing AND and OR Options in Primavera P6 Filters
Earned Value in P6
Some benefits of calculating Earned Value in P6 are the ability to caluclate
activity percent complete and view in graphical form to predict obstacles
early in a project schedule; forecasting project progress more effectively; and
developing an early understanding of progress according to budget and
schedule to identify problems as they arise.
Actual Cost (ACWP)
Actual Cost (ACWP) is the actual total cost incurred on the activity as of the
project data date. ACWP is the same as the Actual Total Cost.
ACWP = Actual Labour Cost + Actual Non-Labour Cost + Actual Material Cost
+ Actual Expense Cost
Budget At Completion (BAC)
This is always the Total cost from the Baseline, calculated using the Baseline
Budgeted Values or Baseline At Completion values depending upon the
Earned Value Calculation setting (Admin, Admin Preferences, Earned Value).
If the Earned Value Calculation is set to Budgeted Values with Planned
dates or Budgeted Values with Current Dates:
A CPI greater than 1 means that Earned Value is greater than the actual
amount spent. A CPI of less than 1 means that the Earned Value is less than
the actual amount spent.
Cost Variance is the difference between the Earned Value and the actual cost
of that activity.
CV = EV Actual Cost
Earned Value Cost (BCWP or EV)
Earned Value Cost (EV) is the portion of the budgeted total cost of the
activity that is actually completed as of the project data date. Also known as
the Budgeted Cost of Work Performed for the activity. The method for
computing the performance percent complete depends on the Earned Value
technique selected for the activitys WBS.
Planned Value Cost (PV) is the portion of the budgeted total cost of the
activity that is scheduled to be completed as of the project data date
according to the baseline dates. Also known as the Budgeted Cost of Work
Scheduled for the activity. The Schedule % Complete specifies how much of
the activitys original duration has been completed so far based on the
baseline dates.
PV = BAC * Schedule % Complete
A SPI greater than 1 means that Earned Value is greater than the Planned
Value. A SPI of less than 1 means that the Earned Value is less than the
Planned Value.
SPI = EV / PV
P R E S C I E N C E A D VA N TA G E P R I M AV E R A S U P P O R T
Click on Administer, Enterprise Data in the menu bar, and choose Resource
Codes.
Click on the Add Code icon.
Type the New Resource Code name Manager.
Click on the Add Code Value button, to add PM to the Manager Resource Code
and a description. You may add as many Code Values as you wish.
Click on Save in the resource code window to save your changes.
A resource usage profile can also be grouped by Resource Codes. This allows
the user to click on, for example, the managers name in the profile and see
a rollup of all of the limits for the resource under that managers name. This
view is useful for creating a great capacity planning report. These views can
be accessed via the Resource page under Resource Usage or via the
Activities page by selecting the Resource Usage Profile tab.
Resource Assignments
Accessing the User Preferences within P6 Professional, and then selecting the
Calculations tab, allows you to choose your Resource Assignment options.
Assignment Staffing
Options when assigning a resource to an existing activity assignment
or, to be prompted every time so you can select the units/time and overtime
factor you want to apply to the assignment.
The following options are available:
Always use the new resources Units/Time and Overtime factor: The
manual future period values of the existing resource assignment may be re-spread
across future period buckets based on the new resources values.
Always use current assignments Units/Time and Overtime
factor: The unit values for the new resource are spread evenly over future period
buckets and the manual future period values for the existing resource assignment
are not changed.
Ask me to select each time I assign: Every time you make an assignment,
you will be prompted to use the units/time and overtime factor for the new resource
or the current assignment.
Options when a resource and role share an activity assignment
Always use the resources Price/Unit: The manual future period values
for the existing role assignment may be re-spread across future period buckets
based on the new resources values.
Always use the roles Price/Unit: The manual future period values for the
existing resource assignment may be re-spread across future period buckets based
on the new roles values.
Ask me to select each time I assign: Every time you make an assignment,
you will be prompted to use the resources or roles price/unit.
P R E S C I E N C E A D VA N TA G E P R I M AV E R A S U P P O RT
EPS and OBS need to have a one-to-one relationship. If you give a user a
Responsible Manager assignment (OBS) that is not tied to an EPS, Project or
WBS level, they will not see any projects when they log into P6 Professional
and P6 Web.
PROJECT ACCESS
Project access and security privileges are determined by a combination of
Responsible Manager/OBS assignment(s), Project Security profile
assignment(s) and where the assignments fall within the EPS structure.
headers in P6? The most effective solution is to change the font or font size.
Read on to discover a couple of different ways to edit fonts and font sizes in
both P6 Windows Client and P6 Web.
Step 2: In the Print Preview screen click on the Page Setup icon (top
left).
Step 3: Click on the Paper size and set A3 then click Apply.
Step 4: In the Scaling menu select Fit timescale to and select 1, then
click Apply.
Step 2: When the Update Baseline screen appears, select the options
required, and click on the run Update tab to perform the update.
With a baseline in place it is possible to report any activity that has moved
away from its baseline date in the current project schedule.
The Primavera P6 scheduling engine uses the Actual Dates to calculate early
and late dates.