ORACLE PRIMAVERA P6 VERSIONS 8 AND 15 EPPM …eastwoodharris.com/...P6_V15_Admin_A4_Sample_Book.pdf · Oracle Primavera P6 Version 8 and 15 EPPM Web Administrators Guide This publication

Oracle® Primavera® P6 Version 8 and 15 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 AND 15 EPPM WEB

ADMINISTRATORS GUIDE

BY

PAUL EASTWOOD HARRIS

Sample Book with two chapters only


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©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.

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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 978-1-925185-13-3 (1-925185-13-3) – B5 Paperback ISBN 978-1-925185-14-0 (1-925185-14-1) – A4 Spiral ISBN 978-1-925185-15-7 (1-925185-15-X) – eBook

9 February 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 15.2 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 Using Primavera Project Planner P3 Version 3.1 - Revised 2006 Planning Using Primavera SureTrak Project Manager Version 3.0 - Revised 2006 Project Planning and Scheduling Using Primavera Contractor Version 6.1 - Including Versions 4.1, 5.0 and 6.1 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 Planning and Control Using Oracle Primavera P6 Versions 8.1 to 15.1 PPM Professional 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 Planning and Control Using Oracle Primavera P6 - Versions 8.2 to 15.1 EPPM Web 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 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 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


Oracle Primavera P6 Version 8 and 15 EPPM Web Administrators Guide

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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 Logging In 21 3.2 P6 Web Functionality Areas and Interface 22

3.2.1 Understanding a Project Portfolio 22 3.2.2 Dashboards Tab 22 3.2.3 Portfolios Tab 24 3.2.4 Projects Tab 25 3.2.5 Resources Tab 25 3.2.6 Administer Tab 26 3.2.7 Administer Menu, My Preferences 26 3.2.8 Navigating Around P6 Web 27 3.2.9 Bottom Pane Tabs 28 3.2.10 Saving Data 29

3.3 Viewing Project Data – Projects Tab 30 3.3.1 Projects, EPS Tab 30 3.3.2 Projects Tab Menu and Activities Tab 30 3.3.3 Opening a Project 31 3.3.4 Viewing the OBS 32 3.3.5 My Preferences – Date and Time Display 33

3.4 Understanding the Projects Window 33 3.4.1 Activities Window 34 3.4.2 Activities Window Menu 34 3.4.3 Activity Toolbars 35 3.4.4 Viewing the Hierarchy for Activity, Project, and Resource Codes 35 3.4.5 Workspace 36 3.4.6 Team Usage 36 3.4.7 Issues 37 3.4.8 Risks 37 3.4.9 Documents 37

3.5 Right-clicking with the Mouse 38 3.6 Full Screen Mode Icon 38 3.7 Multiple Browser Windows and Tabs 38 3.8 Search Function 38 3.9 Accessing Help 39 3.10 Find and Replace Option 39 3.11 Closing a Project 40 3.12 Popup Windows 41 3.13 Closing Down 41 3.14 Workshop 1 – Introduction to the P6 Interface 43

4 PLANNING IMPLEMENTATION 45 4.1 Defining Operational Requirements 45 4.2 Defining and Documenting Roles and Responsibilities for Operations 46 4.3 Defining Master Data 46

4.3.1 Enterprise Project Structure (EPS) 47 4.3.2 Project IDs and EPS IDs 47 4.3.3 Creating a Project 48 4.3.4 Project Codes 48 4.3.5 Calendars 49 4.3.6 Database Default Calendar 50 4.3.7 WBS and WBS Standardization 50 4.3.8 WBS Categories 51 4.3.9 Activity Codes 52



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4.3.10 User Definable Fields - UDF 52 4.3.11 How to use Roles and Resources 53 4.3.12 Resources 55 4.3.13 Roles 56 4.3.14 Resource Teams & Role Teams 56 4.3.15 Resource Codes 57 4.3.16 Expenses 57 4.3.17 Advantages and Disadvantages of Roles, Resources and Expenses 57 4.3.18 Currencies 58 4.3.19 Financial Periods 58 4.3.20 Risks 58 4.3.21 Issues 59 4.3.22 Documents 59 4.3.23 Define Security & Access 59

4.4 Additional/Add-on Software 60 4.5 Reporting 61 4.6 Procedures & Operational Support 61 4.7 Workshop 2– Planning P6 Implementation 63

5 KEY MASTER DATA CONFIGURATION – EPS & WBS 65 5.1 Introduction to Master Data 65 5.2 EPS - Enterprise Project Structure 66

5.2.1 Viewing only the EPS Nodes 66 5.2.2 Adding New EPS Nodes 67 5.2.3 Reordering and Moving EPS Nodes 67 5.2.4 Deleting an EPS Node 67

5.3 Projects 68 5.3.1 Creating a Project 68 5.3.2 Creating a Blank Project or Copying a Project 69 5.3.3 Copy an Existing Project or EPS Node 70 5.3.4 Creating a New Project from a Template 70 5.3.5 Creating a New Template 71 5.3.6 Deleting a Project 71

5.4 Primavera Project WBS 72 5.4.1 Viewing and Navigating the WBS 72 5.4.2 Creating and Deleting a WBS Node 73 5.4.3 WBS Node Separator 73 5.4.4 Activity Window Work Breakdown Structure Lower Pane Details 74

5.5 Workshop 3 – EPS 77

6 CALENDARS 81 6.1 Database Default Calendar 81 6.2 Accessing Global, Resource and Project Calendars 82 6.3 The Project Default Project Calendar 82

6.3.1 Understanding the Project Default Project Calendar 82 6.3.2 Assigning a Default Project Calendar 83

6.4 Creating Calendars 84 6.4.1 Creating a New Global Calendar 84

6.5 Creating a New Project Calendar 84 6.5.1 Creating a New Shared Calendar 85 6.5.2 Creating New Personal Calendar 86 6.5.3 Personal and Shared Calendars Calculation and Display 86

6.6 Calendar Calculations 87 6.7 Administer, My Calendar 87



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6.8 Promote, Copy, Rename and Delete a Calendar 88 6.8.1 Promoting a Project Calendar to Global. 88 6.8.2 Copy a Calendar from One Project to Another 88 6.8.3 Renaming a Calendar 89 6.8.4 Deleting a Calendar 89

6.9 Base Calendars 90 6.9.1 Understanding Base Calendars 90 6.9.2 Remove a Base Calendar from a Calendar 90

6.10 Adjusting Calendar Working Hours 91 6.10.1 Editing Selected Days Working Hours 93 6.10.2 Viewing the Calendar Working Hours 93 6.10.3 Calculation of Activity Durations in Days, Weeks or Months 94 6.10.4 Individually for each Calendar – RECOMMENDED 94 6.10.5 Globally for All Calendars – NOT RECOMMENDED 95

6.11 Calendars and Activity Types 95 6.12 Calendars for Calculating Project, WBS and Other Summary Durations 95 6.13 Tips for Mixed Calendar Schedules 96 6.14 Workshop 4 – Calendars 97

7 ROLES AND RESOURCES 101 7.1 Creating Roles 101

7.1.1 Description Tab 102 7.1.2 Resources Tab 102 7.1.3 Prices Tab 102 7.1.4 Limits Tab 104 7.1.5 Role Teams Tab 104

7.2 Creating Resources and the Resources Window 105 7.2.1 Resources General Tab 106 7.2.2 Resource Team Tab 107 7.2.3 Resources Roles Tab 107 7.2.4 Resources Codes Tab 107 7.2.5 Resources Units and Prices Tab 108 7.2.6 Resources Settings Tab 108

7.3 Role & Resource Teams 110 7.4 Workshop 5 – Roles and Resources 111

8 CONFIGURING APPLICATION SETTINGS AND ENTERPRISE DATA 113 8.1 Administer Menu 113 8.2 Application Settings 113

8.2.1 Audit 113 8.2.2 Data Limits 114 8.2.3 Earned Value 114 8.2.4 General 114 8.2.5 ID Lengths 115 8.2.6 Gateway 116 8.2.7 Reports 116 8.2.8 Services 116 8.2.9 Timesheets 117 8.2.10 Time Periods 117

8.3 Enterprise Data 118 8.3.1 Currencies 119 8.3.2 Financial Periods 119 8.3.3 Global Calendars 122 8.3.4 Locations 122



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8.3.5 Overhead Codes 122 8.3.6 Timesheet Periods 123 8.3.7 Baseline Types 123 8.3.8 Funding Sources 123 8.3.9 Notebook Topics 123 8.3.10 Project Calendars 124 8.3.11 Project Codes 124 8.3.12 Project User Defined Fields - UDFs 125 8.3.13 WBS Categories 126 8.3.14 WBS User Definable Fields - UDFs 126 8.3.15 Activity Codes (Global, EPS & Project) 127 8.3.16 Activity User Definable Fields - UDFs 127 8.3.17 Cost Accounts 127 8.3.18 Expense Categories 127 8.3.19 Expense User Definable Fields - UDFs 128 8.3.20 Step Templates 128 8.3.21 Step User Definable Fields - UDFs 128 8.3.22 Assignment User Definable Fields - UDFs 128 8.3.23 Rate Types 129 8.3.24 Resource Calendars 129 8.3.25 Resource Codes 129 8.3.26 Resource Curves 129 8.3.27 Resource User Definable Fields - UDFs 129 8.3.28 Units of Measure 130 8.3.29 Risks 130 8.3.30 Risk Categories 130 8.3.31 Risk Scoring Matrices 131 8.3.32 Risk Thresholds 131 8.3.33 Risk User Definable Fields - UDFs 132 8.3.34 Issues 132 8.3.35 Issue Codes 132 8.3.36 Issue User Definable Fields - UDFs 132 8.3.37 Documents 132 8.3.38 Document Categories 133 8.3.39 Document Statuses 133 8.3.40 Document User Definable Fields - UDFs 133

8.4 Miscellaneous Defaults 134 8.4.1 Default Project in the Professional Version of P6 134 8.4.2 Default Project in the Web Tool 135

8.5 Things to Avoid When Setting Up Master Data 135 8.6 Workshop 6 – Configuring Administer Settings 137

9 SECURITY & ACCESS CONFIGURATION 139 9.1 Introduction to User Access 139 9.2 Users 140 9.3 OBS 141 9.4 Global Security Profiles 142 9.5 Project Security Profiles 143 9.6 User Interface Views 143

9.6.1 Understanding User Interface Views 143 9.6.2 Create, Edit or Delete a User Interface View 144 9.6.3 Assigning a User Interface View to a User 144 9.6.4 Copy User Views when Copying a User 145



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9.7 User Sessions 145 9.8 Workshop 7 – Create a New User 147

10 USER CONFIGURED ITEMS 151 10.1 New Activity Defaults 151

10.1.1 Setting New Activity Defaults 151 10.1.2 Duration Type 152 10.1.3 Percent Complete Type 155 10.1.4 Activity Types and Milestones 156 10.1.5 Cost Account 158 10.1.6 Calendar 159 10.1.7 Price/Unit 159 10.1.8 Auto-numbering Defaults 159

10.2 My Preferences 160 10.2.1 Global, General Tab 161 10.2.2 Global, General, Time Units Format Tab 161 10.2.3 Global, Resources Tab, Resource Staffing 162 10.2.4 Global, Resources Tab, Resource Assignments 162 10.2.5 Global, Project Score Tab 163 10.2.6 Global, Performance Threshold Tab 164 10.2.7 Global, Currency Tab 164 10.2.8 Global, Date Format Tab 165 10.2.9 Global, Issues Tab 165 10.2.10 View Tab 166 10.2.11 Setting a Default Start Page 166 10.2.12 Password Tab 167

10.3 My Calendar 167

11 OPERATIONAL SUPPORT 169 11.1 Baselines 169 11.2 Collecting Actuals 170 11.3 Updating Projects 170 11.4 Progress Reporter 171 11.5 Publishing Projects 172 11.6 Controlling User Defined Data 174

11.6.1 User Preferences 174 11.6.2 Planned Dates and Budgets 174 11.6.3 Managing Filters 175 11.6.4 Managing Views 175

12 REPORTING 177 12.1 Project Portfolio – a Group of Projects 178

12.1.1 Understanding a Project Portfolio 178 12.1.2 Creating, Editing and Deleting a Project Portfolio 179

12.2 Thresholds 180 12.2.1 Understanding Thresholds 180 12.2.2 Defining Thresholds 180 12.2.3 Editing Thresholds 181

12.3 Scenarios 181 12.3.1 Understanding Scenarios 181 12.3.2 Creating, Editing and Deleting Scenarios 182

12.4 Waterline 183 12.4.1 Understanding Waterlines 183 12.4.2 Setting a Waterline in Portfolios, Portfolio Analysis, Scorecard View 183



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12.4.3 Setting a Waterline in Portfolios, Capacity Planning View 184 12.5 Dashboards 185

12.5.1 Understanding Dashboards 185 12.5.2 Creating, Deleting and Editing Dashboards 186

12.6 Portfolios 189 12.6.1 Understanding Portfolios 189 12.6.2 Functional Areas of Portfolios 189

12.7 Portfolio Analysis 191 12.7.1 Configuring Portfolio Analysis 191 12.7.2 Bubble Chart 192 12.7.3 Histogram 192 12.7.4 Pie Chart 192 12.7.5 Scorecard 193 12.7.6 Side-by-side Histogram 193 12.7.7 Stacked Histogram 193

12.8 Capacity Planning – Roles Only 194 12.9 Performance Status 196 12.10 Gantt Chart 197 12.11 ROI 198 12.12 Details 199 12.13 Views - Projects and Activities 200 12.14 BI Publisher 203

12.14.1 Understanding BI Publisher 203 12.14.2 Running Reports 203 12.14.3 Scheduling Reports 204

12.15 Reporting Using the Windows Client 205 12.15.1 Windows Client Layouts 205 12.15.2 Reports 205 12.15.3 Running Reports 206 12.15.4 Editing Reports 206 12.15.5 Publish to a Web Site 206

12.16 Visualizer 207 12.16.1 Understanding Visualizer 207 12.16.2 Starting Visualizer 208 12.16.3 Create a New TSLD – Time Scaled Logic Diagram 209 12.16.4 Create a New Gantt Diagram 212 12.16.5 Open an Existing TSLD or Gantt Chart 214 12.16.6 Manage Layouts 215

13 DATA IMPORT AND EXPORT TOOLS 217 13.1 Importing and Exporting Project Data with P6 Web 217

13.1.1 Understanding XML 217 13.1.2 File Types handled by the P6 Web Tool 217

13.2 Excel Data Import and Export with P6 Web 218 13.3 XML Data Import and Export with P6 Web 220 13.4 Importing and Exporting Data with P6 Professional 222

13.4.1 Primavera File Types handled by the Professional Tool and/or Visualizer 222 13.4.2 Non Primavera File Types handled by the Professional Tool 222

13.5 Excel Import and Export Professional Tool 223 13.5.1 Notes and/or Restrictions on Export Using P6 Professional 224 13.5.2 Notes and Restrictions on Import 224

13.6 Check List for Importing from and Exporting to Microsoft Project 226 13.6.1 Table of Different Calculations between P6 and MSP 226



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13.6.2 Checks before Importing from Microsoft Project 227 13.6.3 Checks on Import from Microsoft project 228 13.6.4 Checks After Import from Microsoft project 228

14 APPENDIX A - ADDITIONAL IMPLEMENTATION RESOURCES 229 14.1 Oracle Primavera Information Resources 229 14.2 Oracle Implementation and Integration Tools 229

14.2.1 Primavera Connectivity Options 229 14.2.2 Choosing an API / SDK 230 14.2.3 Documentation 230 14.2.4 Licensing Implications 230

14.3 Other Non-Oracle Primavera Sources of Information 230

15 APPENDIX B - P6 IMPLEMENTATION PLAN TEMPLATE 231 15.1 Operational requirements 231 15.2 Organization Design 231 15.3 Data Structure Design 231 15.4 Reporting Requirements 232 15.5 Processes and Procedures 232 15.6 Interfaces with corporate software, databases or systems 233 15.7 Requirement for third party software 233

16 APPENDIX C – SAMPLE SECURITY PROFILES 235 16.1 Global Profiles 235 16.2 Global Profile Definitions 237 16.3 Project Security Profiles 241 16.4 Project Security Profiles Definitions 243 16.5 246

17 INDEX 247



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8 CONFIGURING APPLICATION SETTINGS AND ENTERPRISE DATA

8.1 Administer Menu The Admin menu is available in the P6 Professional Client. When the Web Client is installed and the P6 Professional Client is used, then the Admin menu is no longer available and all administration functions must be accessed through the Web module when using the Professional Client.

The Web Client Administer menu is where the Admin commands are located and these are all very similar to the Professional Client.

This chapter will look at the following topics under the Administer menu, which were not covered in the KEY MASTER DATA CONFIGURATION chapter:

• Administer Settings

• Enterprise Data

The other items in this menu will be covered in the following areas:

• Global Schedule Services will be covered in the OPERATIONAL SUPPORT Chapter

• My Calendar in the CALENDARS Chapter

• My Preferences, called User Preferences in the Professional Client, in the MY PREFERENCES Chapter

The following menu items are covered in the SECURITY & ACCESS CONFIGURATION chapter: • User Access

• User Interface Views

• User Sessions

8.2 Application Settings This is where some database parameters are created and edited:

8.2.1 Audit

This was added to Version 15 and enables a report to be run that lists date and time of all changes to a database. Reports showing changes to the database are run from Reports.




8.2.2 Data Limits

The Data Limits tab specifies:

• The maximum number of levels allowed in all hierarchical code structures,

• The maximum number of Activity Codes per project,

• The maximum number of Baselines per project,

• Primavera Version 6.0 added the Maximum baselines copied with project, which now is limited to a maximum of 50 projects.

8.2.3 Earned Value

See the Earned Value chapter in the Professional Client book for more detailed information.

This tab sets the WBS defaults for calculating Earned Value, and may be changed individually for each WBS, and apply to all activities within each WBS Node.

• The Technique for computing performance percent complete selects the formula for calculating the Earned Value.

• The Technique for computing Estimate to Complete (ETC) selects the formula for calculating the ETC. The ETC is a calculated field and is independent of the At Completion Fields but may contain the same value.

Earned value calculations selects some options for calculating the Earned Value and displaying the Baseline Bar. The Primavera default is usually set to Planned Values with Planned Dates. This setting should NEVER be used and please read the warning below.

It is very important that users read the sections on Planned Dates, as leaving the setting at Planned Values with Planned Dates will result in the risk that all in-progress Baselines may display irrelevant dates as Baseline dates.

8.2.4 General

• Code Separator sets the default separator for new project WBS Codes and other codes such as Cost Accounts. The Code Separator may also be set for each individual project in the Project Window, Setting tab.

• Starting Day of the Week sets the First day of week that is shown on the timescale and the left column of calendars.

The default is usually Sunday and should be changed to a Monday, which results in the calendar day in the timescale representing a working day, which is often a lot more useful than the date of a non-work day displayed.

• Activity Duration sets the default Activity duration for new activities.

• Password Policy, introduced in Version 6.2, allows the requirement for a password of a minimum of 8 characters including a letter and number.

In P6 R8.3 the Password Security Policy is enabled by default.

To Enable / Disable this: Go to Administer, Application Settings and select General, Enable / Disable the check box titled Password Policy.

• Industry Selection allows the selection of an industry type which only affects how some data labels are displayed in the Windows Client.

i




The following table displays the terminology:

Industry Type Terminology Name of Project Comparison Tool

Engineering and Construction

Budgeted Units & Cost Original Duration

Claim Digger

Government, Aerospace, and Defense

Planned Units & Cost Planned Duration

Schedule Comparison

High-Technology, Manufacturing

Planned Units & Cost Planned Duration

Schedule Comparison

Utilities, Oil, and Gas Budgeted Units & Cost Original Duration

Claim Digger

Other Industry Planned Units & Cost Planned Duration

Schedule Comparison

Engineering and Construction:

Government, Aerospace, and Defense:

8.2.5 ID Lengths

The ID Lengths tab specifies the maximum number of characters in the Code ID fields, not the Code Description.

If you are importing data from other systems then this may need to be considered.

i




8.2.6 Gateway

This is where the synchronization with external products, Primavera Prime, Primavera Unifier and Unifier are set up.

8.2.7 Reports

This section allows for standard report headers and footers to be set up that may be selected in reports.

8.2.8 Services

Services allow Publication and Summarization to run automatically and both of these services must be reviewed and configured before reports are run. There is more information on this topic in chapter 12 REPORTING.

Publication

When BI Publisher Reports are run they are run from Global Data and reporting tables called Extended Schema Tables. Extended Schema Tables are a copy of project data at a point in time and reports are not run directly from live project data. Thus this Extended Schema Tables would normally be populated after all the project schedules have been updated at the end of a period and thus reports run from this updated data. The scheduler may then edit and update a schedule without affecting any reports.

Oracle Primavera P6 is supplied with sample reports, but should you wish to modify existing reports or create your own, you will be required to purchase a BI License.

You have the option of either manually or automatically Publishing data to the Extended Schema Tables. Manual publication is possible from Projects, EPS, Actions menu.

Summarization

The data viewed in an Enterprise view is only accurate after the data has been summarized. The advantage is that the software operates more quickly and the disadvantage is that the data you are viewing at Enterprise level may be incorrect.

Therefore before running any reports at Enterprise Level, the database must be Summarized to ensure the latest data is reported.

The following projects will not be Summarized:

• Baselines

• Checked Out Project

• Projects opened Exclusively

• What-if Scenario Projects

• Templates

• Requested Projects




8.2.9 Timesheets

This is where some of the timesheet rules are set by the administrator.

8.2.10 Time Periods

Checking Use assigned calendar to specify the number of work hours for each time period (titled Allow users to specify the number of work hours for each time period in the Windows Client) enables users to edit the Hours per Time Period in each calendar.

When this is not checked, then the Hours per Time Period values in this form are used to convert from one time period Unit to another for all calendars, for example from days to hours. Therefore, a 40 hours activity would be always calculated as 5 days with the setting displayed in the picture above, irrespective of the activity calendar Hours/Day.

It is important that these conversions are understood. Please refer to the CALENDAR chapter to understand how these calculation works.

It is very important when multiple calendars with different hours per day are being used that this check box is checked and the user correctly sets the Hours per Time Period in each calendar.

Time Period Abbreviations are used to indicate the duration abbreviations everywhere in the software for all users.

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8.3 Enterprise Data This is where Global Codes, Calendars and other database fields are created and edited:

This section of the software is normally managed by the database administer and careful planning should be undertaken by an experienced P6 User. The following tables are maintained




8.3.1 Currencies

The Currencies form opened from the Administer, Enterprise Data, Global section menu item is used to define system currencies. Currency fields are:

• Currency ID

• Currency Name

• Currency Symbol

• Exchange Rate

To make the Base currency into your country’s currency you will need to edit the Currency ID and Currency Symbol as the first currency is permanently checked.

It is possible to have two currencies with the same symbol and if a user selects a different currency then all costs displayed by the user will be converted to a different value.

This option must be carefully monitored and if you do not need multiple currencies then it is suggested that you should delete all but one currency, to avoid any possible problems. If you are using multiple currencies, then make sure that all have a different sign so there is no confusion.

8.3.2 Financial Periods

This is where the Financial Periods associated with Storing Period Performance are created.

Financial Periods have to be used when it is important to have data that reflects how much work was completed or costs spent in each period and not just averaged over the periods to date. Period data is often used to create S-Curves.

Financial Periods allow a more accurate option to see a true picture of how much was spent in each period instead of having expenditure spread over the duration of an activity, which leads to historical S-Curves changing over time when expenditure is not equal in each period.

The decision to use Financial Periods must be made early as the period values must be saved at each schedule update.

This process takes substantially more time and should have a procedure for people to follow so no steps are missed.

This new function to Primavera Version 5.0 enables:

• The creation of user definable financial periods, say monthly or weekly, and

• The ability to record the actual and earned costs and quantities for each period.

Therefore, actual costs and quantities which span over more than one past period will be accurately reflected per period in all reports. If Store Period Performance is not used, then the actual costs or units are spread equally over the actual duration of an activity, which may not accurately reflect when the work was performed and what was achieved in each period.

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These Periods apply to all projects in the database.

If one project requires financial periods of months and one of weeks then it would be best to consider setting up two databases, one for each project.

This function is similar to the P3 Store Period Performance function.

To display Financial Period data then two steps are required:

• The Financial Periods must be set up using Administer, Financial Periods…, and

• The period data is stored after each schedule update using Tools, Store Period Performance….

The steps required to store period performance are:

• Ensure that the user has the necessary privileges to edit Financial Period Dates, Store Period Performance, and Edit Period Performance when past actuals need to be edited.

• Create the Financial Periods by selecting Administer, Enterprise Data, Financial Periods menu.

Select the Actions, Set Project Preferences, Calculations tab from the Projects Window, EPS tab and ensure Link Actual to date and Actual This Period Units and Cost is enabled by checking the check box:

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• To store the period performance select Projects, Activities, Actions, Run, Store Period Performance… to open the Store Period Performance form, select the projects to have the

period performance stored and click the icon.

• The following columns may be displayed in the Project, Activities view:




8.3.3 Global Calendars

These were covered in the CALENDAR chapter.

Global Calendars are available to all projects and all Resources.

One Global Calendar is assigned as the Global Default Calendar and this is used to display all non-working time for all views for all projects and is also used to calculate the Summary Durations in the Projects Window.

8.3.4 Locations

This is where the location table is edited. A location may be assigned to Activities, Resources or EPS Nodes and used on reports.

When an address is added the software will look up the Longitude and Latitude:

8.3.5 Overhead Codes

This is where the Overhead Codes are created. These may be used with timesheets and reports run utilizing them.




8.3.6 Timesheet Periods

This is where Timesheet Periods are created. These are used as part of the timesheet approval process and a manager selects a Timesheet Period when approving timesheets.

8.3.7 Baseline Types

Baseline Types are used to identify the type of Baseline when a Baseline is created, such as Original Baseline, Contract Baseline, Last Period Baseline, etc.

8.3.8 Funding Sources

Used to identify project funding sources.. This is particularly useful when a project has multiple sources of funding.

8.3.9 Notebook Topics

Topic under which Notebook Topics are created.




A common set of Note Book Topics is created and may be made available by checking the appropriate box to any of the following:

• EPS Nodes

• Project

• WBS Nodes

• Activities

8.3.10 Project Calendars

Covered in the CALENDAR chapter of this book.

8.3.11 Project Codes

Project Codes are created, edited and deleted by selecting Administer, Enterprise Data, Project Codes.

Each Project Code may have hierarchical values and be comprised of:

• A Project Code, which is the code dictionary name, and

• A Project Code Value, which is assigned to a project for tagging, filtering, Grouping and Sorting projects.

• The Name field is used for both the Project Code and Project Code Value and is more normally referred to as the code value and must be unique.

• The Maximum Length applies to the maximum character length of the Name field, enabling the Administrator to set a maximum code size.

• The Secure field prevents a User without the appropriate privilege from editing the field.

• The Weight fields allow ranking of Code Values against other Code Values in the same Project Code. These may be viewed in views such as Project Scorecards and Project Statistics fields.




Project Code Values have to be created before they may be assigned to Projects and then the Projects may be Grouped, Sorted or Filtered by the Project Codes:

8.3.12 Project User Defined Fields - UDFs

Project User Defined Fields are created, edited and deleted by selecting Administer, Enterprise Data, Project UDFs.

A Project UDF comprises of:

• A UDF Name,

• A Data Type which may be Text, Start Date, Finish Date, Cost, Number, or Integer. Normally these fields may have any data entered or imported, as long as the format is consistent with the data type. Therefore a Text UDF may have any data entered but a Number must have a number and a date UDF must have a date entered.

• The UDF Type allows the option of Manual and any data may be entered; or Formula and then a Formula may be entered into the Formula tab at the bottom of the screen. This is similar to a Microsoft Project Calculated Field and is NOT available with Activity UDFs.

• When a UDF Type of Indicators is selected then this allows the selection of a graphical indicator to be assigned in the Indicator tab at the bottom of the screen.

• The Summary Calculation decides how values are displayed in bands; the options are None, Average, Minimum, Maximum and Sum.

• Summary Indicators decides how the indicator column is populated in summary bands.

To assign a UDF the appropriate column is displayed. Therefore an Activity Deadline UDF is assigned from the Projects, Activities view by displaying the Deadline UDF column, see the example below:




A UDF may be assigned any valid value and it is simple to enter two similar values, such as “Bookshop” and “Book shop” into a column, as UDF values are not drawn from a lookup table. When this happens the values do not filter and sort properly, which is a disadvantage of UDFs.

8.3.13 WBS Categories

Create WBS Categories by selecting Administer, Enterprise Data, Projects, and WBS Categories:

WBS Categories are assigned to and removed from WBS Nodes by inserting the WBS Categories column into the General tab.

One use of a WBS Category in the Windows Client could be, for example, to tag the WBS Nodes with the phases, such as Design, Procure and Install and then the Activities may be grouped by WBS Category and then WBS or some other Activity Code.

In the Web it is not possible to Group or Filter activities with the WBS Category.

• This topic is covered in more details in chapter 5 KEY MASTER DATA CONFIGURATION – EPS & WBS.

WBS Categories may also be used in the Tracking Window of the Windows Client.

8.3.14 WBS User Definable Fields - UDFs

These are created in the same way as Project UDFs.

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8.3.15 Activity Codes (Global, EPS & Project)

An Activity Code is created in a table and has a Value and Description.

These are created in the same way as Project Codes and will not be covered in detail.

Activity Codes may also be assigned a color, which enables the Activity bars to be colored according to their Activity Code.

Normally the Administrator would create EPS and Global Codes and project schedulers would create Project Activity Codes.

The value is assigned to an activity and the description is looked up from the table.

An activity Code must exist in the table before it is assigned but may be created when assigning a code:

The activity code may be used to Group or Filter activities and allows a higher level of discipline and control than UDFs.

8.3.16 Activity User Definable Fields - UDFs

Activity UDFs are created in the same way as Project UDFs.

Calculated fields are not available, but are available in Project UDFs.

8.3.17 Cost Accounts

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

Normally, in other software, a default Cost 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 and does not usually require changing. In Primavera, the default Cost Account is assigned to the Project and all Resource Assignments adopt 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.

8.3.18 Expense Categories

Expense Categories are managed here. These categories may be assigned to Expenses and allow Expense to be summed up by a Category. This function may be used to set financial budgets by exporting the total cost per Expense Category to a financial management software package.




8.3.19 Expense User Definable Fields - UDFs


8.3.20 Step Templates

An activity may be broken into Steps, allowing progress to be measured against an activity in a measurable way.

Steps for a document could be for example:

• Start – 10%

• First Draft – 40%

• Internal Review – 30%

• Complete – 20%

A Step Template allows for Steps to be assigned to activities quickly and they may be edited after they have been assigned to an activity, without affecting the Step Template.

For Steps to calculate, the User must:

• Check the Activity percent complete based on steps check box in the Projects Preferences, Calculations tab,

• Select Physical in the % Complete Type for each activity that is to be measured by steps in the General tab of Activities Window,

8.3.21 Step User Definable Fields - UDFs


8.3.22 Assignment User Definable Fields - UDFs


These are UDFs that may be assigned to a Resource Assignment. If you wish to make a note of why this resource has been assigned to an activity, you may choose to use an Assignment UDF.




8.3.23 Rate Types

Primavera has five resource rates types and the Resource Rate Types form enables you to rename the titles of the rates.

You may have, for example, rates for:

• Standard rate

• Internal consulting,

• External consulting,

An organization must decide if it wishes to use multiple rates and then, include guidance in their procedures documentation.

It is recommended that those rates not being used should be renamed “DO NOT USE”

8.3.24 Resource Calendars

These were covered in the Master Data chapter.

8.3.25 Resource Codes

Resources may be assigned Resource Codes, which may be used to record information about a resource that may be taken from a pick list, such as the office, employment type (full or part time), gender (Male or Female) etc.

8.3.26 Resource Curves

Resource Curves enable a non-linear assignment of resources to schedules in the same way as P3 and Microsoft Project. These are often used on long activities where a linear resource assignment is not required.

Resource curves are assigned in the Curve column in the Assignments tab of the Activities lower pane.

8.3.27 Resource User Definable Fields - UDFs


Resources may be assigned Resource UDFs to record personal details that are not suited to using Resource Codes, such as address, next of kin name, etc.




8.3.28 Units of Measure

These are created here and are used in conjunction with material resources, but not Expenses.

8.3.29 Risks

Risks are an optional module in P6 for organizations to manage their Risks and this section will outline what data has to be created, and in what order, in order for users to use the Risk functions in P6.

8.3.30 Risk Categories

Risk Categories are hierarchical categories that are used in conjunction with the Risk Module to Group, Sort and Filter your Risks.

Your Risk Management policy and procedures should be consulted and used to create you P6 Risk Categories:




8.3.31 Risk Scoring Matrices

This module allows a Qualitative Risk Analysis on projects using the traditional method of creating one or more Risk Scoring Matrix.

The Matrix is built up from user defined Probability, Impact and Tolerance and the matrix is assigned to projects.

Risk Thresholds must be created before the Risk Scoring Matrix may be completed.

8.3.32 Risk Thresholds

Risk Thresholds are created for:

• Cost, by cost or percentage and assigned between 2 and 9 levels.

• Probability, between 2 and 9 levels.

• Schedule, by value in days or percentage and assigned between 2 and 9 levels.

• Tolerance

Risk Thresholds are created before the Risk Scoring Matrix may be completed.




8.3.33 Risk User Definable Fields - UDFs

These are created in the same way as Project UDFs and used to assign additional Risk data that may not be assigned in the Risk module.

8.3.34 Issues

Issues are an optional module in P6 for organizations to manage their Issues and this section will outline what data has to be created, and in what order, in order for users to use the Issue functions in P6.

8.3.35 Issue Codes

Issue Codes enable you to group and sort issues on user defined fields such as Issue Type or Issue Criticality.

8.3.36 Issue User Definable Fields - UDFs

These are created in the same way as Project UDFs for assigning any relevant data to an Issue.

8.3.37 Documents

Documents are an optional module for organizations to manage their documents in P6 and this section will outline what data has to be created, and in what order, in order for users to use the Document functions in P6.




8.3.38 Document Categories

Document Categories are an organizational specific set of categories which may not be hierarchical and are assigned to documents to Group, Sort and Filter on documents.

8.3.39 Document Statuses

Document Statuses are an organizational specific set of categories which may not be hierarchical and are assigned to documents to Group, Sort and Filter on documents.

8.3.40 Document User Definable Fields - UDFs





8.4 Miscellaneous Defaults

8.4.1 Default Project in the Professional Version of P6

When multiple projects are opened:

• The system selects the Default Project when two or more projects have been opened at the same time.

• The Default Project Scheduling Options are used to calculate all the open projects.

• Select Project, Set Default Project… to open the Set Default Project form where you may change the default project:

• All open projects WILL have their Scheduling Options set to the same as the Default Project after the projects have been scheduled.

The Help file indicates that the Default Projects scheduling and leveling settings are used for scheduling. It is also the default project for new data such as activities or issues when the projects are not grouped by WBS.

NOTE: When more than one Primavera project is opened at the same time and each project has different scheduling options, then the non-default project’s scheduling options are changed to be the same as the default project’s, without warning. These non-default projects may calculate differently when opened with other projects. In addition, the next time a non-default project is opened in isolation it may calculate very differently from the previous time it was opened in isolation. To prevent this, either all projects in each database must have the same scheduling options, or access to projects carefully restricted, or ensure users only open one project at a time.

An example of changing the default project when each project has different options is demonstrated in the following picture. The first has retained logic and the second has progress override. Activity PG3-2 has moved forward in time as it is now being scheduled with Progress Override after initially being scheduled with Retained Logic. These types of unexpected changes may significantly affect your project and may occur when two or more projects, each with different scheduling options, are opened together.




8.4.2 Default Project in the Web Tool

There is no Default Project in the Web as in the Windows Client.

When opening multiple projects in the Web it calculates differently to the Windows Client. The Windows Client has a Default Project option that does not exist in the Web.

• In the Web tool the Schedule Options of the project listed at the top of the opened projects list (which will rearrange when you close the form to an alphabetical list) is used to calculate all projects and (unlike the Windows Client) will not change the Schedule Options of the other opened projects. Thus, a change to your Project ID, when opened with other projects, may result in a project calculating differently, if the project is pushed down the list of opened projects and when the project at the top of the list has different Scheduling Options.

• In the Windows Client the Schedule Options of the Default Project are used to calculate all the open projects and the Schedule Options for non-default projects are then changed permanently to those of the Default Project, so they will never calculate the same way when opened on their own.

Changing the Schedule Options may change the way the schedule calculates and users must be very careful if considering changing any of them. You may wish to copy the schedule, baseline it, and then change the options to see what the effect is on the schedule calculation.

8.5 Things to Avoid When Setting Up Master Data There are a number of considerations when setting up Master Data in P6, and many other Enterprise systems:

• It is best to create codes that do not have: Spaces – particularly at the beginning or end of a code, these would be dropped off on

export and a duplicate created on import, Numbers with leading zeros – these are often dropped off by products like Excel, Special characters – e.g. !@#$%^&*()_, these are not liked by many other products

when data is being imported or exported, Codes that look like a date format – e.g. 121216 0r 12122016, these may be converted

to a date when imported into another product like Excel, “Commas” – as these are often used as field separators and the data will end up in the

wrong fields.

• Avoid long descriptions for Code Descriptions, Calendars, resources etc. as this will allow users to see all the description in a narrow column.







8.6 Workshop 6 – Configuring Administer Settings

Objective

There are many settings that have to be configured.

We will look at some of the more important ones that must be understood and changed.

Assignment

1. Select Administer, Application Settings, General: The Start Day of Week is best changed to Monday so the first day of the week on a

Calendar is a Work day and a date that people would be interested in as opposed as a Sunday which is the default and normally a Non Work day that no one is interested in the date.

Activity Duration is the duration new activities are assigned when created and should be left large, say 5 days, so new activities will be seen on a Gantt Chart when created.

Industry Selection decides which terminology is displayed for Professional Users. Select the most appropriate for your company.

Open P6 Professional, open a project and observe the terminology in an Activities, Status tab.

2. Select Administer, Application Settings, Time Periods: Time Periods ensure that the hours per Time Period is never unchecked otherwise

summary durations of calendars that are not 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week will never be correct.

3. Select Administer, Enterprise Data, Currencies: The entries under Base Rate have to be edited, so if you are in Australia the ID of USD is

edited to read AUD and the Name is changed to Australian Dollar. If your company is not using any other currency then delete all the other currencies so

people cannot select another currency and mess up the costs.

4. All other Codes, UDFs and other database attributes should be planned and defined.







13 DATA IMPORT AND EXPORT TOOLS

13.1 Importing and Exporting Project Data with P6 Web Different Versions of Primavera run on different databases including Oracle and Microsoft databases. Primavera will only operate with the database format that it was installed and set up with.

Primavera will not open a stand-alone project file, does not supply a reader, and any project data has to be imported into a database before it may be opened.

Importing a complete project, either in Microsoft Project format or from another P6 database, may bring in large quantities of unwanted data or is likely to calculate differently from the source that it originated from. There are many third party tools available to remove unwanted data when importing a project from another source and these should be considered.

You may be required to import a project that has been created in another program supplied by someone from within or outside your organization and Primavera is equipped with a set of tools for importing projects from other sources.

13.1.1 Understanding XML

XML stands for Extensible Markup Language and is a computer language that enables both machines and humans to read the document.

• Primavera XML

• Microsoft Project XML

• UNCEFACT XML..

The language that the data is saved in are all the same XML, but the formatting and content of each is different.

It is important that users clearly identify what the source of the XML file is when importing and exporting in order to pick the correct tool to manage the data.

Therefore when you save data in these file formats it is recommended that you place the format of the data in the file name so when you look at the file which will have a *.XML extension you will know what format the data is in.

13.1.2 File Types handled by the P6 Web Tool

P6 Web Client is able to import and/or export data to and from the following file types:

• Excel

• Primavera XML

• Microsoft Project XML

• UN/CEFACT XML

Excel is used to import and export some data from a database.

• Primavera XML, Microsoft Project XML and UN/CEFACT XML. Are used to export and import (except UN/CEFACT XML) complete projects.




13.2 Excel Data Import and Export with P6 Web Excel - the Primavera Web tool will:

• Export and Import a list of Project Activities to and from Excel This function is far less powerful than the P6 Professional tool, You will need to be in the P6 Activities view to access the appropriate menu, The function will export and import the visible column data, The Create Import Template will create a blank spreadsheet with appropriate headers

which may be populated and imported.

• A list of Projects may be Exported to Excel from the EPS view: This will export the columns of data that are visible in the P6 view.




• Other datasets that will be exported in Excel format are: Locations from the Administer, Enterprise Data menu:

Risk data from the Risk page:

A List of Reports data from the Reports page, The Reports tab is only available when Oracle Primavera BI reports have been installed.




13.3 XML Data Import and Export with P6 Web Primavera XML is a format introduced with Primavera Version 6.0 which can be used to exchange data from one primavera database to another primavera database.

• The Primavera XML file format conforms to the Primavera security settings within the tool allowing greater control over which data items can be imported.

• Version 15.1 introduced the ability to import and export Baseline Projects and users no longer have to restore a baseline to be able to export it in XML format.

• Version 15.2 now supports the export of Microsoft Project Version 13 XML files.

Microsoft Project XML format - the Primavera Web tool will import and export complete projects from Microsoft Project files that are saved in Microsoft Project XML format.

UN/CEFACT XML format. This format is mandated by many US Government agencies and it is designed to exchange schedule and cost data in a software-neutral format. This feature is of particular importance for all the users who work with U.S. Department of Defense and other U.S. government agencies.

To import or export an XML file:

• Select Projects, EPS Window and

• Select the Actions, Import/Export menu has the XML Import/Export icon:

• At this point there are a number of options including: Importing or Exporting a project, Selecting the files to import or the project to export, Creating or selecting a Microsoft Project Map. A Map is a set to of rules that decide how

to handle data that may not be directly imported into P6, such what to do with MSP Summary Tasks.

Creating a new project or updating and existing project, and The status of the import of a project.




Read the Administrators Guide carefully before importing a project as this is a very complex operation and may import unwanted data into your database.

It is recommended that you consider establishing a sacrificial database into which you import projects so that corporate databases are not filled up with unwanted data.

It is also likely that you will receive a different answer in P6 than in Microsoft Project when importing or exporting a Microsoft Project file. Careful Checking is required.

When Exporting a Microsoft Project file:

• Ensure there are no blank lines,

• Remove all special characters from resources.

When importing a Microsoft Project into P6 you should:

• Check the calendars have been converted correctly, often 24 hour per day calendars are imported into P6 as 1 hour per day calendars.

• All Milestones are imported as Start Milestones and some may be required to be converted to Finish Milestones.

• Check Lag calculations as Microsoft Project uses the predecessor calendar to calculate lags.

There are some articles on www.eh.com.au that outline the differences in the ways the two products calculate and some of the issues when transferring data between the two products.




13.4 Importing and Exporting Data with P6 Professional

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

There are several Primavera proprietary file formats that you need to be aware of that the Professional tool will manage:

• XER – Used to exchange one or more projects between Primavera databases regardless of the database type in which it was created and exports all project data. Earlier versions of XER files may be imported into later version databases. A layout (formatting) is not part of an XER file.

• PLF – Used to exchange Layouts between Primavera databases regardless of the database type in which it was created. In Primavera Version 15.1 PLF files may now be imported into Visualizer.

• ANP – Used to save the position of activities in an Activity Network.

• ERP – Used to exchange Reports between Primavera databases regardless of the database type in which it was created.

• XML – A format introduced with Primavera Version 6.0 which is used to import data from the Project Manager module. This is the same software language but a different format to a Microsoft Project XML file. Version 15.1 introduced the ability to import and export Baseline projects.

• PCF – Used to exchange Global Changes between Primavera databases.

• VLF - Visualizer Layout File allows the import and export of Visualizer Layouts between databases.

XER files may only be imported using the Professional Client tools and not with the Web Client.

13.4.2 Non Primavera File Types handled by the Professional Tool

In the professional tool select File, Import… to open a wizard that will guide you through the process of importing projects into your database.

Project (*.mpp).This is the default file format that Microsoft Project uses to create and save files. Microsoft Project 2010, Microsoft Project 2007 and Microsoft Project 2000 – 2003 are three different formats.

Primavera will not import any mpp file when Microsoft Project 2007 or Microsoft Project 2010 is installed as these disable the mpp import function.

Primavera will import and export to the following non Primavera file types using the wizards found under the menu commands File, Import… and File, Export…:

• Project 2000 – 2003 (*.mpp).This is the default file format that Microsoft Project 2000, 2002 and 2003 use to create and save files. Importing these files requires Microsoft Project 2000, 2002 or 2003 to be installed on the PC.

• MPX (*.mpx). This is a text format created by Microsoft Project 98 and earlier versions. MPX is a format that may be imported and exported by many other project scheduling software packages.

• Microsoft Project XML format is supported in Version 6.2 and later. This allows import of a file created by Microsoft Project 2013, 2010, or 2007, or 2000 to 2003 XML without the installation of Microsoft Project.

• Primavera Project Planner P3 and SureTrak files saved in P3 format. A SureTrak project in SureTrak format should be saved in Concentric (P3) format before importing.

To import files saved in P3 format you need Btrieve loaded on your PC. Btrieve is loaded when P3 is installed. A demonstration version of P3 will load Btrieve onto your machine and enable P3 files to be imported. P3 may not be loaded on more recent operating

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systems such as Windows 7 make the use of this function difficult without an old operating system.

• XLS. Primavera Version 5.0 has a new function allowing the import and export of data in Excel format. This is covered in detail in the next section as it is a powerful tool for creating projects.

Read the Administrators Guide carefully before importing a project as this is a very complex operation and may import unwanted data into your database. It is recommended that you establish a sacrificial database into which you import projects so that corporate databases are not filled up with unwanted data.

13.5 Excel Import and Export Professional Tool Primavera has a built-in tool for importing to and exporting from Excel the following data when the user is assigned a Superuser security profile:

• Activities

• Relationships

• Resources

• Resources Assignments, and

• Expenses.

To import or export data to Excel select File, Import… or Export… and follow the instructions in the wizards. Export Templates may be created and re-used at a later date with this tool.

The following sheets are created upon export and these sheet names must not be changed:

• TASK containing Activity data

• TASKPRED containing Activity Relationships data

• PROJCOST containing Expenses data

• RSRC containing Resources data

• TASKRSRC containing Resource Assignments data

• USERDATA containing user data that should not be changed.

These templates allow the user to specify what data is to be imported and exported; an example is below:




13.5.1 Notes and/or Restrictions on Export Using P6 Professional

A few points to understand when using the Primavera Excel Import function:

• The following sheets are created on export and these sheet names must not be changed: TASK containing Activity data

TASKPRED containing Activity Relationships data

PROJCOST containing Expenses data

RSRC containing Resources data

TASKRSRC containing Resource Assignments data

USERDATA containing user data that should not be changed.

• Do not change the language between importing and exporting.

• The first row of data in each sheet that is exported contains the database field name. The first row must not be changed otherwise the data will not be imported.

• The second row in the spreadsheet contains Captions that are deleted on spreadsheet import by the “Delete This Row” entry in the right column of the spread sheet. This “Delete This Row” entry may be copied to any line of data that is to be deleted from the P6 project on import.

• Dictionary data such as Activity Codes being imported must exist before the data is imported.

• Only Activity Codes may be imported, if you wish to import the Activity Code descriptions then you will have to use the Software Developers Kit (SDK).

• Only a maximum of 200 columns of data may be exported.

• Sub-units of time are not supported and the Sub-unit check boxes in the Edit, User Preferences..., Time Units tab should be unchecked.

• Percent Completes must be a value of between 0 and 100.

• Anything listed as a field may be exported.

• The User Preferences will affect how your data is exported and may give different values for resources.

13.5.2 Notes and Restrictions on Import

When attempting to import data using this type of tool there are some guidelines that apply to many applications, not just to this Primavera tool:

• Create a test project and experiment with this function before using it on a live project.

• Export some data first as this exports the correct column headings and sheet names.

• Change or add data to the exported spreadsheet and import new data into the test environment. Then review that the data is importing correctly and that the schedule is calculating as expected.

• Back up or take a copy of your live project before importing into a live project.

• It is often better to import into User Defined Fields to ensure the data gets into the database and then Global Change into the desired place.

• Activity data must have the Activity ID and WBS Code as these are the unique identifiers for each activity within a database.

• The delete_record_flag¸ in the far right hand column, titled Delete titled this row against line 2 of the Excel spreadsheet deletes the line 2 activity on import.

• The Delete This Row flag may be placed against any spreadsheet line and the activity will be deleted on import.




Calculated fields may not be imported and are marked with an (*). See picture below:

• To see if the data field you wish to import may be imported, export the field and see if the field has an (*) by the second line description in the spreadsheet. Fields that may not be imported include but are not limited to: Most dates except the Actual Start and Actual Finish Expected Finish Actual, Remaining, and At Completion Durations

• Therefore if you wish to import dates to create un-started activities without importing the Original Duration then you will have to import the activity with Actual Start and Actual Finish dates where you want the activity to lie and use a Global Change to take-off the Actual Dates:

• When only exporting some data on an occasional basis then it may be easier just to copy and paste the data into a spreadsheet.

There is an article at www.primavera.com.au or www.eh.com.au under Technical Papers that describes in detail how to use the SDK.

If you wish to import dates into a database then you need to use the API. This has been removed from the P6 V8 Professional Client but is still available in the P6 V8 EPPM (Web) version.

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13.6 Check List for Importing from and Exporting to Microsoft Project This is a check list written for P6 Professional but will apply to P6 Web Microsoft Project Web import process.

13.6.1 Table of Different Calculations between P6 and MSP

There are many differences in the way the products calculate and understanding them always helps in understanding why an imported schedule calculates differently. Here are some points to consider:

Function MSP P6

Project Dates Project Start or Project Finish only. Project Start and optional Project Finish.

Milestones Software defined, calculated as a Start MS when no predecessors and Finish MS when assigned Predecessors.

User Defined.

Elapsed Durations

Allowed. Not Supported.

As Late As Possible constraint

Consumes Total Float and all successor tasks with Total Float are delayed.

Only Free Float is Consumed and only the task with the constraint is delayed.

Split Tasks Multiple Splits in the past and future allowed.

Not Supported, only one Suspend and Resume.

Actual Duration User Entered. Calculated by P6.

Status Date (MSP) & Data Date (P6)

Ignored with normal calculation and no incomplete work moved to after the Status date.

All incomplete work moved to after the Status date on scheduling.

No of Relationships between Tasks

One. Four.

No of Constraints per Task

One plus Deadline Date. Two plus Expected Finish Date.

LOE Activities Not Supported. Supported.

Project Calendar

A task does not have to be assigned a Task Calendar and in this situation the Task Finish Date and Time is calculated from the Project Calendar and a change to the Project calendar will recalculate all the Task End Dates.

The Project Default Calendar is used a default for new Activities and a change to a Project calendar will only change the calendar assigned to net Activities and the lags when calculated using the Project Calendar top calculate lags.

Leads and Lags Calculated on Successor Calendar. Four options, predecessor, successor, 24hour or Project calendar.

Task Type Fixed Duration and Fixed Units or Fixed Work display the duration differently in MSP in some circumstances.

Thus when imported into P6 these tasks will calculate differently in P6, than in MSP.




13.6.2 Checks before Importing from Microsoft Project

To get the best result in P6, especially with a progressed schedule check the following before exporting from Microsoft Project.

Status Date

• Set Status Date in Microsoft Project so the Data Date is set correctly in P6.

Split Tasks

• These are not recognized in P6, remove before importing.

In progress Schedules

Make sure the project is properly updates with completed work in the past and incomplete:

Completed Tasks

• Make sure all Actual Start dates and actual finish dates of completed activities are before the Status Date (in the past in relationship to the Status Date)

In-Progress Tasks

• Make sure the Actual Start is in the past, then manually evaluate the Actual Duration so progress is up to the Status Date.

• Then enter the Remaining Duration to calculate the correct Finish Date. This is because the Remaining Duration is the duration that P6 uses to calculate the end date of the activity. The MSP % Complete is the % Duration. It is calculated by the Actual Duration divided by the duration.

• Try using the Mark on track function.

Unstarted Tasks

• Make sure all unstarted activities are in the future.

Another option for importing a project with progress

• Unstatus entire project before importing into p6. Then use Update Progress in P6 to reapply progress.

Blank Lines

• Remove all blank lines before import.

Resources

• Consider removing all resources are removed from milestones.

• MSP allows resources on milestones. P6 import converts this to one of two options: Activity with a resource, or Milestone with expenses, thus removing all resources from milestone.

• Be sure and choose which one you want.




13.6.3 Checks on Import from Microsoft project

Activity ID

• Consider importing the MSP ID field into a UDF because P6 doesn’t sort it properly (1,11, etc.)

• A text or a number field may be best. Be sure and experiment.

Resources

• Consider what will happen when you create new resources.

• If all projects have all the same resources with the same rates, you have no problem.

• Create a new project node for all the resources so that you can better identify where your new resources were added.

• Then you can properly evaluate when you have new resources, if they are duplicates, or needed.

MPP import vs. the XML format

• There are subtle differences. XML allows you to choose whether you want summary activities in MSP to be imported as WBS summary activities, or left out.

Notebook Topics

• Adjust Admin Preferences to create a Notebook topic to import MSP Note into.

• Then map the MSP Project / WBS / Activity notes to the proper P6 Notebook topic.

Custom Field Mapping

• Check the Custom field mappings that allows you to map certain MSP fields to custom P6 UDF field.

13.6.4 Checks After Import from Microsoft project

Project Must Finish By

• This is created on import, consider removing.

Milestones

• All milestones get converted to Start Milestones. So change appropriate ones to Finish milestones and change the relationships (SS FF)

Check Dates and Durations

• Show the hours and sub units and dates with time to see exactly what is happening with the calculations.

Calendars

• Check the calendars as they are not always converted correctly. For example 24h/day calendars are converted as 1h/day.

Final Check

• Copy and paste both schedules into Excel and compare.
