Primavera P6 Training Guide
Primavera P6 Training Guide
What is a Program?
A Program is a group of related Projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and
control not available from managing them individually. Programs may also include some elements
of related work outside the scope of the discrete projects in the program. A Project may or may not
be a part of program but a program will always have projects.
What is a Portfolio?
A portfolio is a collection of projects or programs and other work that are grouped together to
facilitate the effective management of that work to meet strategic business objectives. Organizations
manage their portfolios based on specific goals. Senior Management team takes the responsibility
for portfolio management
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2 INTRODUCTION TO PRIMAVERA
Primavera provides multi-project, multi-user tools for enterprise-wide project management, providing
comprehensive information on all projects in the enterprise, from executive-level summaries to
detailed work assignments for each team member.
P6 Professional
In the past, P6 Professional was required for projects exceeding 15,000 activities. In P6 R8, the
default limit is 5,000 activities per activity view, but administrators can increase the limit to 100,000
activities. Therefore, P6 Professional is now required for organizations that need to display in
excess of 100,000 activities at a time.
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Enterprise Data
Enterprise data provides the global structure needed to manage multiple projects. It is available to
all projects across the organization and provides the structure necessary for centralized project and
resource management. Enterprise data is usually defined and maintained by a system
administrator.
Examples of enterprise data:
Project codes
Resource codes
Resources
Cost accounts
Enterprise Data
Project
Structure OBS
Resource
codes
Admin
categories &
preferences
Project
codes
Roles Cost Resources
accounts
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Project-Specific Data
Project-specific data is only available to the project in which it is defined. Project managers define
project-specific data to further control their projects.
Dates
Activities
Activity relationships
Baselines
Expenses
Risks
Thresholds &
Project-Specific
Activities Data
AS EF
Baseline/Target
AS EF
E EF
Expenses
Risks Project Web Site
Enterprise/Project-Specific Data
The following types of data are enterprise as well as project-specific:
Calendars
Reports
Activity codes
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Enterprise/Project-
Specific Data
200
Activity
Calendars Codes
Reports
Logging In
Type a valid Login Name and Password to log in to Primavera. If you do not know your Login
Name/Password, contact your system administrator.
Steps
1. Click Start, Programs, Primavera, Project Management
2. Type a Login Name <admin> and Password <admin>.
3. Click OK.
Home Window
Steps:
1. In the File menu, click Open
2. Select a sample project from Toolbar – Project
3. Select the project in the Project window, Right click – Open.
Access Modes
You have the option to select an access mode prior to opening a project:
Shared — Multiple users can view, input, and change data. This is the default setting,
Read only — you can view data but cannot input or change data.
Exclusive — the current user is the only user who can edit data on these projects. Other users
can access these projects in Read Only mode
Activities Window
The Activities window is used to create, view, and edit activities for open projects. The table below
lists key navigation items in the Activities window. Numbers in the table correspond to those in the
screenshot.
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Tabbed Windows
The project opens in the Activities window. Open windows are indicated by tabs near the top of the
screen, with the active tab indicated by bold black text and by an Active Tab Title bar directly above
the tabs. A tab is displayed only when a window is opened.
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Click on the appropriate tab to navigate between windows. You also can drag-and-drop the tabs to
arrange the windows as you choose. The X at the right end of the Active Tab Title bar is the close
button for the active tab. When only one window is open, no tab is displayed.
3. Click the Activities tab and drag it to the right end of the tabs.
4. Click the Resources tab, and then click the X on the end of the Active Tab Title bar to close the
Resources window.
5. Click the X on the Active Tab Title bar to close the Reports and Activities windows.
Note that although only the Projects window is open and no tabs are displayed, the Active
Tab Title bar still indicates the active window.
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Tab Groups
Window tabs can be separated into tab groups, with each tab group in its own window. Use this
feature to compare related information in different windows without having to switch between tabs.
For example, you might want to check rates and availability in the Resources window while making
resource assignments in the Activity window.
P6 Professional uses menus and toolbars to navigate between windows and to execute functions
within the application.
Menus – File, Edit, View, Project, Enterprise, Tools, and Help – are located at the top of the screen.
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Toolbars – Located at the top and both sides of the screen. Toolbar commands are represented by
icons.
This training course will generally reference the applicable menu command, not the toolbar icon.
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There are 17 toolbars available in P6 Professional. Several of the most commonly used toolbars are
pictured in the table below.
Viewing Toolbars
To see a full list of the available toolbars, as well which toolbars are currently displayed, click
Toolbars on the View menu or right-click on a blank space in the toolbar area along the top or sides
of the screen. A check mark indicates that a toolbar is displayed.
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The toolbars on your screen are the default toolbars following P6 Professional installation. As you
become more familiar with the application and the procedures required to do your work, you can
customize toolbars for your own personal use.
You can further customize the toolbars by choosing which icons each displays. Hide icons you
seldom use and make the ones you use most often easier to find.
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1. On the Display toolbar (rightmost of the toolbars across the top of the screen), click , and then
Click Add or Remove Buttons to view all the icons available for that toolbar.
Compare the icons in the list and the icons on the toolbar.
3. After making several changes to the toolbar icons, click Reset Toolbar, and then click OK.
Just as you can customize toolbar icons, you also can customize menu commands. Menu
commands can be moved from one menu to another, rearranged on the same menu, or deleted.
Open the Customize dialog box to put menus into edit mode, allowing you to make changes. Click
Reset in the dialog box to return to the default commands.
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Layouts
A layout is a customizable view of information, combining all the visual elements that appear on the
screen. Layouts are available in the Projects, WBS, Activities, Resource Assignments, and Tracking
windows.
Activity Layouts
The Activities window provides the option of viewing data in top/bottom layouts.
Choose one of the following to show on top
- Activity Table
- Gantt chart
- Activity Usage Spreadsheet
- Activity Network
Choose one of the following to show on bottom
- Activity Details
- Activity Table
- Gantt Chart
- Activity Usage Spreadsheet
- Resource Usage Spreadsheet
- Activity Usage Profile
- Resource Usage Profile
- Trace Logic
Gantt chart
The Classic WBS Layout displays a Gantt chart in the top layout and Activity Details in the bottom
layout. The Gantt chart is divided into two sections: Activity Table and Bar Area:
Activity Table — Displays activity data in columns.
Bar Area — Provides a graphical display of activity progress over the duration of the project.
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Steps:
1. In the Layout Options bar, click Show on Top, Activity Usage Spreadsheet
2. In the Layout Options bar, click Show on Bottom, No Bottom Layout
3. Expand the timescale.
4. Move the timescale to working time period.
Activity Network
Use the Activity Network to view the relationships between activities and the logical flow of the
activities in the project. In the Layout Options bar, click Show on Top, Activity Network.
Left pane — Displays the WBS hierarchy.
Right pane — Shows a graphical display of activities and their relationships.
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Trace Logic
Activity Table
The Activity Table enables you to see project data in spreadsheet format. You also can modify the
columns displayed in the Activity Table to meet your needs. You can display the Activity Table on
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the entire screen if you want to analyze data solely in a tabular format. In the Layout Options bar,
click Show on Top, Activity Table
Customizing a Layout
The Activities window can be customized and saved as a layout. Saving layouts for future use
allows you to quickly retrieve information.
The Layout Options bar is the centralized menu for layout customization,
The following is a list of layout elements that are customizable:
- Bars
- Columns
- Timescale
- Table font and colors
- Row height
- Filters
- Activity grouping and sorting
- Top/bottom layouts
Selecting Columns
The Columns dialog box enables you to select columns to display in the Activity Table and specify
the order in which they appear
Available Options section — Lists data items in groups or in list.
Selected Options section — Lists items you have chosen to display.
Single arrows — Move highlighted data items to the other section.
Double arrows — Move all data items to the other section.
Up/down arrows — configure the order of the data items.
Click Edit Column to edit the selected item's title and choose its alignment in the display.
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Steps:
1. In the Layout Options bar, click Columns.
2. In the Available Options bar, click Group and Sort By List
3. Select a data item to display in the Activity Table.
4. Click Right arrow to move the selected data item into the Selected Options
5. Use the navigation arrows to configure the order of the data items as seen
in the screenshot above.
6. Click Apply.
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Steps:
1. In the Layout Options bar, click Show on Bottom, Activity Details.
The tabs displayed in Activity Details can be customized by selecting columns using
available options.
2. Click Right arrow to move the selected data item into the Display Tabs section.
3. Click OK.
Saving Layouts
Layouts can be saved and shared with other users to facilitate project communication. Use the Save
Layout dialog box, to save a layout in the Activities, WBS, Projects, Assignments, or Tracking
windows.
Layout, Save — Saves changes to the existing layout.
Layout, Save As — Prompts you to save the layout with a new name.
Current User - Only the user creating the layout will have access to it in the future.
All Users - All licensed users will have access to the layout (Global).
Another User - A specified user will have access to the layout. Note, however, that the
current user will not have access to the layout.
Project -Apply the layout to any project that is currently open in Primavera.
Though project-specific layouts can be applied to multiple projects, you can only select one
project at a time in the Layout Save As dialog box. After a project-specific layout is saved, it
can be viewed in the Project band in the Open Layout dialog box. Project-specific layout
offers two advantages:
- Exported with the project when it is exported.
- Enhanced organization of multi-user layouts.
Steps
1. In the Layout Options bar, click Layout, Save As.
2. Type a Layout Name.
3. Verify Current User is selected in the Available to drop-down list.
4. Click Save.
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Exercise:
1. Create a Layout in the WBS window with columns WBS Code, WBS Name, Responsible
Manager, and Original Budget. Save as - Creating WBS, Available to – All Users.
2. Create a Layout in the WBS window with columns WBS Code, WBS Name. Select Gantt chat
view. Save as – Gantt chart WBS, Available to – Current User. Similarly try using Chart view.
3. Create a Layout in the Activities window with Activity table columns Activity ID, Activity name,
Original Duration, Early Start, and Early Finish.
- Enable Gantt chart view & Activity details in the toolbar.
- Under Activity details include the fields as shown below for each Tab.
- Save as – Typical Details, Available to: All Users
Resources Tab
Actual Remaining At
Resource Budgeted Cost Remaining Budgeted Actual
Curve Regular Units / completion
ID Name Units Account Units Cost Cost
Units Time Units
Relationships Tab – Predecessors/Successors
Activity ID Activity Name Relationship type Lag
Expenses Tab
At Auto
Expense Expense Budgeted Accural Cost Actual Remaining
completion compute
item Category Cost Type Account Cost Cost
cost actuals
Steps Tab
Step Name Step Weight Step Weight Percent Completed
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Closing a Project
Close the project when you are finished working with it. You are prompted to verify that you want to
close the project. Closing the project takes you back to the Home window.
Steps
1. In the File menu, click Close All.
2. When prompted, click Yes.
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Exercise:
NC NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION 1
MP MANUFACTURING PLANT PROJECTS 2
BP BUILDING PROJECTS 2
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Project Codes
Project codes classify and categorize projects according to your organizational needs.
Project codes are global, which means they are available to all projects in the database.
Filter and organize projects based on your organization's requirements.
Organize projects across the Enterprise Project Structure.
Activity Codes
Activity codes enable you to classify and categorize activities according to your organizational and
project needs.
Activity codes can be defined in three levels:
Global-Level — Available to all activities in the database.
EPS-level — Available to all activities within the EPS node and its children.
Project-level — Available to activities only in the project in which the code is created.
Resource Codes
Resource codes classify and categorize resources according to your organizational needs.
Resource codes are global, which means they are available to all resources in the database.
Filter and organize resources based on your organization's requirements.
Steps
1. To create project codes activate Enterprise/Project Codes menu.
2. Click on the "Modify" button to add Project Codes in the "Project Code Definition" window
and close it after adding the project codes
3. Select the Project Code from the drop-down box and add the Code Values under each code.
4. Add the Project Codes and their values as given in the exercise table.
5. Open "Projects" view from toolbars to assign the Project Code Values to any project.
Note:
• Maximum character length for any Project Code is 40.
• Maximum character length for any Project Code Value is 20 and Value Description is 100.
• Project Code Values can be created up to 25 levels under each Project Code.
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Exercise:
Create Project codes & its values as per the details given below.
Project Code Value Description
TKY Turnkey Project
EPC EPC Project
PROJECT TYPE CON Consultancy Project
BOO Build-Own-Operate
BOOT Build-Own-Operate -Transfer
DXB DUBAI
SHJ SHARJAH
ABU ABU DHABI
PROJECT LOCATION
OMN OMAN
QTR QATAR
IRN IRAN
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Steps:
1. To create project calendar activate Enterprise / Calendar menu.
2. To create project specific calendars opt for Project.
3. Click on ADD and select one of the Global Calendars as the template for the new Project
Calendar.
4. Select the working days by clicking on WORKWEEK and identify the Work and non-work
days.
5. Click OK to confirm the entries.
6. To assign the calendar to the activities, open activities window view from the tool bars.
7. Activate activity detail form from the tool bars and click on General tab.
8. Select the activity and assign the relevant activity calendar.
Exercise:
Create the calendars as per the details given below.
Calendar Name Type Work Week Holidays
HO Calendar Global 5 Day 26 January, 15th August & 2 nd October
th
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Site Calendar EPS 6 Day 26th January, 15th August & 2 nd October
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8 CREATING A PROJECT
Note:
Unlimited projects can be created under any EPS node. Maximum character length for any Project
ID is 20 and for Project Name are 100.
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Projects Window
The project has been created and opened.
To view high-level information about the project, navigate to the Projects window, which displays the
projects within the EPS that you can access. You can also:
Open, create, and save project layouts.
Group projects by the Enterprise Project Structure, project codes, or other project-related items.
Filter projects.
Modify column data.
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Projects Window
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Project Details
Project Details is located in the bottom layout of the Projects window. It can be used to define the
project properties and defaults that are applied to the selected project.
General Tab
The General tab enables you to view or modify general information about the selected project.
Project ID, Project Name, and Responsible Manager can be set when you create the project, or you
can change them here. The remaining fields are set by default.
Responsible Manager — Individual, selected from the OBS, who is responsible for the project.
Risk Level — Indicates the overall risk in performing the project. You can use the risk level to
organize, filter, and report on projects within the project structure. You can enter a value
between Very High and Very Low, the default is Medium.
Leveling Priority — User-defined rank of the project against all other projects, based on its
importance to the organization. You can enter a value between 1 and 100. The highest rank is 1
the default is 10.
Check-out Status — Indicates whether the project is checked in or checked out.
Checked Out By — Displays the user that checked out the project.
Date Checked Out — Indicates the date and time the user checked out the project.
Dates Tab
The Dates tab enables you to edit date information for the selected project. The Planned Start and
Must Finish By dates can be set when you create the project, or you can change them here.
Notebook Tab
The Notebook tab enables you to write, view, or edit project notes such as the project's purpose,
core requirements, or other project-specific details.
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Codes Tab
The Codes tab enables you to assign project code values to the selected project. Project codes
allow you to group the projects in the EPS to specific categories, such as location or division.
Unlimited hierarchical project codes are supported.
Allows for summarization of large amounts of information across projects
Defaults Tab
The Defaults tab is divided into two sections:
Defaults for New Activities — Indicates the settings that will be used when new activities are
added to the project. Note that changing these settings will not affect existing activities.
Auto-numbering Defaults — Sets how new activities will be numbered in your project.
- When the Increment Activity ID based on selected activity field is marked, the prefix or suffix
of the selected activity is applied to the activity that is being added.
Settings Tab
The Settings tab consists of three sections:
Summarized Data — Identifies the date and the level to which the project was last summarized.
Project Settings — Sets the character used to separate WBS levels; identifies the month in
which the fiscal year begins; and specifies the baseline used in earned value calculations.
Define Critical Activities — Identifies which activities are displayed as critical, either longest path
or a value of Total Float.
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Calculations Tab
Use this tab to specify how to calculate cost and resource use when you update activities. Two
fields of note:
Recalculate Actual Units and Cost when Duration % Complete Changes — Mark to calculate
actual units and costs as Actual (units or costs) = Budgeted (units or costs) * Duration %
Complete
- Primavera performs these calculations whenever you update the Duration % complete.
- Values you specify override the application's calculated values. If you clear the checkbox, the
application does not estimate actual and the actual fields remain blank unless you specify
values.
Link Actual and Actual This Period Units and Cost — Mark this checkbox to recalculate actual or
actual this period units and costs when one of these values is updated. This option is selected by
default.
Uncheck - Recalculate Actual Units and Cost when Duration % Complete Changes
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Project A/
Root / Level 1 WBS
Level 2
WBS.1 WBS.2 WBS.3
Level 3
WBS.1.1 WBS.1.2 WBS.1.3
Benefits of WBS:
The WBS provides clear vision of project
Define all the work of the project and only the work of project, thereby clarifying the project
scope
Provides the framework for all deliverables across the project life cycle
Reflects the input from all team members to ensure buy-in and builds team.
It Provides support for focusing communication with stakeholders and aid in clearly identifying
accountability to a level of detail necessary for effectively managing and controlling the project.
The Work Breakdown is foundation for estimating time and cost, and resources
Provides the framework for project control and performance monitoring
When a project is created, a root level WBS element is added with the same ID and name as the
project.
Steps:
1. In the Projects window, select a project, ACC - DUBAI
2. Right-click with your mouse on project ACC - DUBAI, and then click Open Project.
3. In the Toolbar, click WBS.
4. In the Side Toolbar, click Add.
WBS elements added to the root level element are automatically indented to form the
second level of the hierarchy.
5. In the WBS Code/Name column, type as per below mentioned table.
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When you create a new WBS element, it is indented as a "child" of the WBS element that
is currently selected.
If you add a WBS element to the wrong level or in the wrong order, you can use the
indentation keys located on the Side Toolbar to adjust the structure of the WBS
hierarchy.
6. Select a responsible manager in the Responsible Manager field in the General tab in
WBS Details
The "child" WBS inherits attributes from the "parent" WBS. This is illustrated below, when
the WBS element you create, Elevator, inherits the responsible manager of its parent,
Mechanicals
You can determine the level that WBS elements group to by right-clicking in the WBS
window and choosing Collapse To.
Right-click in the WBS window and click Expand All or Collapse All to expand or collapse
elements of the WBS.
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With spending plans in place, you can compare the monthly totals for the EPS Node with those of all
projects in the node, to ensure monthly spending does not exceed your original budget estimate.
The process of top-down budgeting is ongoing through the project life cycle. To manage
adjustments, you can create log records to keep trade-of changes to the original budget in the
project planning stage or after the-project has begun while retaining the original amounts.
First, enter the Total budgeted amount for each EPS node's on the Budget Log tab.
Second, enter the applicable portion of the total budgeted amount to each project in the EPS node's
branch on the Budget Log tab.
Third, apportion anticipated original budgets for each level of the project's WBS on the Budget Log
tab.
You can set up a funding sources dictionary containing any non-profit, government-allocated, or
other funding sources. Then, you can assign funding at the project or EPS level.
Funding Sources
You can set up a dictionary containing non profit organizations, government agencies, or any other
funding sources. The funding sources you establish are global and can be applied to any EPS or
project. You can apply unlimited- funding sources to each EPS and project level.
4. Click Close.
5. Select a project, ACC-DUBAI.
6. Click the Funding tab.
7. Click Add.
8. Select a Funding Source, Unix Bank & Seasonal Bonds.
9. Close the Funding Source dialog box.
10. In the Amount column, type <Dhs 25,000,000>for Each.
11. In the Fund Share column, type <50%> for Each.
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1. Activate "Projects" view from HOME and select "ACC - DUBAI" project and assign original
budget as Dhs.50,000,000.
The Current Budget and Proposed Budget are set equal to the- Original Budget when no
items are in the Budget Change Log.
2. Activate "WBS" view from HOME and select respective WBS and assign original budget as
listed in the table below.
WBS Code WBS Name Original Budget
ACC ACC - DUBAI Dhs.50,000,000
ACC.1 ENGINEERING Dhs.600,000
ACC. 1.1 GENERAL Dhs.50,000
ACC.1.2 ARCHITECTURE Dhs. 100,000
ACC. 1.3 CIVIL Dhs.50,000
ACC. 1.4 EQUIPMENT Dhs. 100,000
ACC. 1.5 PIPING Dhs. 100,000
ACC. 1.6 ELECTRICAL Dhs. 100,000
ACC. 1.7 INSTRUMENTATION Dhs. 100,000
ACC.2 PROCUREMENT Dhs.34,400,000
ACC. 3 CONSTRUCTION Dhs. 14,000,000
ACC. 3.1 GENERAL Dhs. 1,000,000
ACC. 3.2 CIVIL Dhs.2,250,000
ACC.3.3 MECHANICAL Dhs.7,000,000
ACC.3.3.1 EQUIPMENT Dhs.4,000,000
ACC.3.3.2 PIPING Dhs.3,000,000
ACC.3.4 ELECTRICAL Dhs.2,000,000
ACC. 3.5 INSTRUMENTATION Dhs. 1,750,000
ACC.4 COMMISSIONING Dhs. 1,000,000
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The following equations populate the fields on the Budget Summary tab.
Budget
Current Budget = Original Budget + Approved Budget Log changes • (Budget Log tab)
Unallocated Budget = Current Budget - Distributed Current Budget
Distributed Current Budget = Sum of Current Budget values from one level lower
Current Variance
Current Budget - Total Spending Plan
Spending Plan
Total Spending Plan = Sum of the monthly Spending Plan (Spending Plan tab)
Undistributed Current-Variance = Total Spending Plan - Total Spending Plan Tally
Total Spending Plan Tally = Sum of the monthly Spending tally (Spending Plan tab)
Benefit Plan
Total Benefit Plan = Sum of the monthly Benefit Plan (Spending Plan tab)
Total Benefit Plan Tally = Sum of the monthly Benefit Plan Tally (Spending Plan tab)
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Note:
• Activity Code Values can be created up to 25 levels under each Activity Code.
• Maximum character length for any Activity Code is 40.
• Maximum character length for any Activity Code Value is 20 and Value Description is 100.
Steps
1. To create Activity codes activate Enterprise/Activity Codes menu.
2. Click on the "Modify" button to add Activity Codes in the " Activity Code Definition" window
and close it after adding the Activity codes
3. Select the Activity Code from the drop-down box and add the Code Values under each code.
4. Add the Activity Codes and their values as given in the table below.
5. Open "Activity" view from Toolbar Bar to assign the Activity Code Values to any Activity.
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Exercise:
Create Activity codes and its values as per the details given below.
Activity Code Code Value Description
COM Common
FGS Finished Good Store
AREA
MPH Main Production Hall
RMS Raw Material Store
UB Utility Building
TM Tim
JK Jack
SM Sam
RESPONSIBILITY
KN Kevin
PT Peter
PL Paul
GG George
DXB Dubai
TASK LOCATION SHJ Sharjah
ABU Abu Dhabi
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12 ADDING ACTIVITIES
Activities are the fundamental work elements of a project. They are the lowest level of a WBS and
the smallest subdivision of work that directly concerns the project manager.
Most detailed work unit tracked in a project schedule.
Contains all information about the work to be performed.
Also known as a task, item, event, or work package.
Activity Components:
Roles &
Resource
Assignm ents
Duration
Constraints
Dates
Activity
Steps
Calendar
Assignm ent
Notebook/
Feedback Duration &
Percent
Com plete
Types
Relationships Activity
WPs & Docs Codes
Adding Activities
Use the Activities window to create, view, and modify activities for the selected project. To add an
activity to a project, perform one of the following actions:
In the Side Toolbar, click Add.
In the Edit menu, click Add.
Press Insert on the keyboard.
Right-click and click Add.
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Steps
1. Open a project, ACC-DUBAI.
2. Confirm you are in the Activities window. (Or in the Toolbar, click Activities).
3. In the Edit menu, click User Preferences.
4. Click the Assistance tab.
5. Mark the Use New Activity Wizard checkbox.
6. Click Close
Adding Activities via Activity Wizard
While in the Activities window, you can click Add in the Side Toolbar to add new activities. The New
Activity wizard appears only when you click Add in the Side Toolbar.
Steps
1. In the Side Toolbar, click Add.
Type a unique Activity ID and Activity Name, for each activity that you add. You will
assign the activity to the Engineering - General WBS element.
2. Type Activity ID, Activity Name
3. Click Next
4. Select the WBS
5. Click Next.
Assigning Activity Type
Activity Type controls how an activity's dates are calculated.
Select the Activity Type according to the activity's function in the project and the calendar that
should be used for the activity during scheduling.
Start Milestone — This type is typically used to mark the beginning of a phase or to communicate project
deliverables.
- Zero-duration activity.
- Only has a Start date.
- You can assign constraints, steps, expenses, work products, and documents.
- You can assign a primary resource.
- You cannot assign roles.
Finish Milestone — This type is typically used to mark the end of a phase or to communicate
project deliverables.
- Zero-duration activity.
- Only has a Finish date.
- You can assign constraints, steps, expenses, work products, and documents.
- You can assign a primary resource.
- You cannot assign roles.
Task Dependent — This type is typically used when the work needs to be accomplished in a
given timeframe, regardless of the assigned resources' availability.
- The activity's resources are scheduled to work according to the activity calendar.
- Duration is determined by the assigned calendar's workweek.
Resource Dependent — This type is typically used when multiple resources assigned to the
same activity can work independently.
- The activity's resources are scheduled according to the individual resource's calendar.
- Duration is determined by the availability of the resources assigned to work on the activity.
Level of Effort — This type is typically used for ongoing tasks dependent on other activities.
- Duration is determined by its predecessor and successor activities, and its assigned
calendar.
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Calendar Assignments
Use the Select Activity Calendar dialog box to select the calendar that is used for an activity in the
project.
For example, in this project, the default calendar assigned to all activities is the HO You will view the
available calendars on the activity.
Steps
1. Select an activity, EGGEN-03 – Plot Plan.
2. Click the General tab.
3. Click in the Activity Calendar field
4. To view the available global calendars, Select HO and then close the dialog box.
Assign the activity codes and calendars as per below mentioned table:
Task
WBS Activity ID Calendar AREA RESPONSIBILITY
location
ACC.1.1 EGGEN00 HO COM DXB SM
ACC.1.1 EGGEN01 HO COM DXB SM
ACC.1.1 EGGEN02 HO COM SHJ SM
ACC.1.1 EGGEN03 HO COM SHJ SM
ACC.1.2 EGARC01 HO MPH SHJ KN
ACC.1.2 EGARC02 HO RMS SHJ KN
ACC.1.2 EGARC03 HO FGS SHJ KN
ACC.1.2 EGARC04 HO UB SHJ KN
ACC.1.3 EGCIV01 HO MPH SHJ KN
ACC.1.3 EGCIV02 HO RMS SHJ KN
ACC.1.3 EGCIV03 HO FGS SHJ KN
ACC.1.3 EGCIV04 HO UB SHJ KN
ACC.1.4 EGEQP01 HO MPH SHJ PL
ACC.1.4 EGEQP02 HO UB SHJ PL
ACC.1.4 EGEQP03 HO MPH SHJ PL
ACC.1.4 EGEQP04 HO UB SHJ PL
ACC.1.4 EGEQP05 HO RMS SHJ PL
ACC.1.4 EGEQP06 HO FGS SHJ PL
ACC.1.5 EGPIP01 HO MPH SHJ PL
ACC.1.5 EGPIP02 HO UB SHJ PL
ACC.1.6 EGELE01 HO COM SHJ GG
ACC.1.6 EGELE02 HO COM SHJ GG
ACC.1.7 EGINS01 HO COM SHJ GG
ACC.1.7 EGINS02 HO COM SHJ GG
ACC.2 PREQP01 HO MPH DXB PL
ACC.2 PREQP02 HO UB DXB PL
ACC.2 PRPIP01 HO MPH DXB PL
ACC.2 PRPIP02 HO UB DXB PL
ACC.2 PRELE01 HO COM DXB GG
ACC.2 PRINS01 HO COM DXB GG
ACC.3.1 CNGEN01 SITE COM ABU JK
ACC.3.2 CNCIV01 SITE MPH ABU JK
ACC.3.2 CNCIV02 SITE RMS ABU JK
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Step Templates
Activity step templates enable you to define a group of steps common to multiple activities and then
assign the step template to activities.
If a commonly used step or set of steps have already been defined for an activity, you can convert
the steps to a template.
Steps
1. Shift-click to select all steps in the Steps tab.
2. Right-click in the steps, and then click Create Template.
3. Type a Step Template Name <Design Review>.
4. Click OK.
5. Assign the Template to all the Activities under Engineering WBS.
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13 CREATING RELATIONSHIPS
Network Logic Diagram
A network logic diagram is a logical representation of all the activities in a project showing their
dependency relationships.
Precedence Diagramming Method
Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) is a technique for creating network logic diagrams.
A box or rectangle represents an activity.
Lines with arrows connect the boxes and represent the logical relationships between the
activities.
- Predecessor — Controls the start or finish of another activity.
- Successor — Depends on the start or finish of another activity.
Start with either the first activity in the network and enter each successor, or start with the last
activity in the network and enter each predecessor.
Activity
E
A B
First Activity Second Activity
A
First Activity
B
Second Activity
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A
First Activity
B
Second Activity
A
First Activity
B
Second Activity
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A B
FS 7d
Construct Building Construct Building
Foundation Exterior and
Start-to-Start with Lag — The following example shows that the Install Interior Belt Conveyors
activity can start five days after the Construct Building Exterior and Structure activity starts. (SS5
indicates there is a start-to-start relationship with 5 days of lag.)
Construct Building
Exterior and Structure
SS 5d
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Activities in the Assign Successors dialog box can be grouped and sorted in a variety of ways,
including by EPS and by List. In the Display Options bar, click Group and Sort By to view options.
Steps
1. Select an activity
2. In the Successors pane within the Relationships tab, click Assign.
3. Select an activity, from the list, and then click to assign the selection.
4. Close the Assign Successors dialog box.
Using the GoTo Feature
Click goto on the Relationships tab to change the selection in the Activity Table to the activity
highlighted in the successor or predecessor pane.
Steps
1. In the Layout Options bar, click Show on Top, Gantt Chart
2. Select an activity in the Successor pane in the Relationships tab
3. Click Goto option
4. Note that the activity is now selected in the Activity Table.
Assigning Lag
Although the default relationship type is Finish-to-Start with zero days of lag, you can use the
columns on the Relationships tab to make adjustments to the relationship type or to assign lag.
Steps
1. In the Successors pane, click in the Lag field.
2. Type the number of days of lag
3. Press Enter
Viewing Relationships in Gantt Chart
You can also view/modify relationships in the Activity Table and Gantt Chart.
Activity Table — Displays the Predecessors and Successors columns.
Gantt Chart — Click the Relationship Lines icon on the Toolbar to toggle relationship lines on
and off.
Note that even though relationships were added, the activities did not move from the project start
date. When the project is scheduled, the activities will be placed in the Gantt Chart according to the
relationships.
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Exercise: Create the relationship for the entered activities as per the below mentioned table – Use
any for the methods explained above:
Activity Successor Relationship Lag
EGGEN00 EGGEN01 FS 0
EGGEN01 CNGEN01 FS 0
EGGEN02 FS 0
EGGEN02 EGGEN03 FS -5
EGGEN03 EGARC01 FS 0
EGARC02 FS 0
EGARC03 FS 0
EGARC04 FS 0
EGARC01 EGCIV01 FS 0
EGEQP01 FS 5
EGARC02 EGCIV02 FS 0
EGARC03 EGCIV03 FS 0
EGARC04 EGCIV04 FS 0
EGEQP02 FS 0
EGCIV01 CNCIV01 FS 0
EGEQP01 FF 0
EGCIV02 CNCIV02 FS 0
EGEQP05 FF 0
EGCIV03 CNCIV03 FS 0
EGEQP06 FF 5
EGCIV04 CNCIV04 FS 0
EGEQP02 FS 0
EGEQP01 EGELE01 FF 10
EGEQP03 SS 15
EGEQP02 EGELE01 FF 10
EGEQP04 SS 15
EGEQP03 PREQP01 FS 0
EGPIP01 FS 0
EGEQP04 PREQP02 FS 0
EGPIP02 FS 0
EGEQP05 CNCIV02 FF 20
EGEQP06 CNMEC05 FS 0
EGPIP01 PRPIP01 FS 0
EGPIP02 PRPIP02 FS 0
EGELE01 EGELE02 SS 30
EGINS01 FF 0
EGELE02 PRELE01 FS -15
EGINS01 EGINS02 SS 30
EGINS02 PRINS01 FS -15
PREQP01 CNMEC01 FS 0
PREQP02 CNMEC02 FS 0
PRPIP01 CNMEC03 FS 0
PRPIP02 CNMEC04 FS 0
PRELE01 CNELE01 FS 0
PRINS01 CNINS01 FS 0
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14 SCHEDULING
Critical Path
The critical path is the series of activities that determines a project's completion date.
The duration of the activities on the critical path controls the duration of the entire project. A
delay to any of these activities will delay the Finish date of the entire project.
Critical activities are defined by either the total float or the longest path in the project network.
What is the Data Date?
The data date is the date that is utilized as the starting point for schedule calculations. It is the
date used to schedule all remaining work.
During the Planning phase the data date should match the project start date.
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Data Date
J F M A M J J A S
Schedule
Time
Resource
Resource
Quantity
(person-
days)
Time
Cost
Time
Scheduling Concepts
Forward Pass
The forward pass calculates an activity's early dates.
Early dates are the earliest times an activity can start and finish once its predecessors have
been completed.
The calculation begins with the activities without predecessors.
Early Start (ES) + Duration — 1 = Early Finish (EF)
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Backward Pass
The backward pass calculates an activity's late dates.
Late dates are the latest times an activity can start and finish without delaying the end date of
the project.
The calculation begins with the activities without successors (activity E in the graphic below).
For projects without a Must Finish By date, activities without successors are assigned a Late
Finish equal to the latest calculated Early Finish date.
Late Finish (LF) — Duration + 1 = Late Start (LS)
Total Float
The amount of time an activity can slip from its early Start without delaying the project.
The difference between an activity's Late dates and early dates.
Activities with zero Total Float are critical.
Late date — Early date = Total Float (TF)
LS LF
Positive float
ES EF
Positive float
LS LF
Zero float
(critical)
ES EF
LS LF
Negative Float
(extremely
critical) ES EF
Negative float
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An activity's Total Float is automatically calculated each time you schedule the project. You cannot
edit an activity's float values directly.
The critical path is the series of activities that determines a project's completion date. Activities A, B,
C and E are on the critical path in the graphic below.
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Open Ends
Activities without a predecessor or successor.
- No predecessor - activity uses data date as its early start
- No successor - activity uses project finish as its late finish
Open ended activities can portray an unrealistic amount of positive total float.
FINIS
1 7 H
STAR
T
2 3 5 6 8 9
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NOTE: Primavera recommends that each project have only two open ends, the first milestone
activity and the last milestone activity.
Scheduling a Project
When you schedule a project, activity dates are calculated according to durations and logic.
Mark the Log to file checkbox to record scheduling results in a log file (.txt).
After you schedule the project, note the change in the position of activities on the Gantt Chart.
Activities are displayed according to their calculated start and finish dates. Critical activities are
displayed in red.
Steps
1. Open a project, ACC-DUBAI.
2. Confirm you are in the Activities window. (Or in the Toolbar, click Activities.)
3. In the Tools menu, click Schedule.
4. Verify the date in the Current Data Date field, Project Start Date.
5. Mark a checkbox, Log to File.
6. Click Schedule.
Schedule-Log
The Schedule Log records scheduling results, including:
Scheduling/leveling settings
Statistics
Errors
Warnings
Scheduling/leveling results
Exceptions
Steps
1. In the Tools menu, click Schedule.
2. Click View Log,
3. In the File menu in Notepad, click Exit.
4. Click Cancel to exit the Schedule dialog box.
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Driving Relationships
An activity may have a relationship from a predecessor that determines its Early Start. This logic tie
is called a driving relationship.
A solid relationship line indicates a driving relationship.
A dashed relationship line indicates a non-driving relationship.
A
5
ES 1 EF 5
C
15
ES 11 EF 25
B
10
ES 1 EF 10
Steps
1. In the Layout Options bar, select Activity Network.
2. Select a WBS element, ACC.3.3 Mechanical.
3. Notice the continuous line (Driving Relation) & Dotted line (Non-Driving Relation)
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15 CONSTRAINTS
Constraints are imposed restrictions used to reflect project requirements that cannot be built into the
logic. Use constraints to build a schedule that more accurately reflects the real-world aspects of the
project, provide added control to the project, and impose a restriction on the entire project or an
individual activity
Constraints are user-imposed.
Two constraints can be assigned to an activity.
After applying a constraint, the project must be rescheduled to calculate the new dates.
Must Finish By
Used when an overall project deadline must be met.
Forces all activities in the project to finish by the date (and time) specified.
- By default, the time associated to the Must Finish By date is set to 12:00 am. This means that if
the project must finish by the end of day on 23-Jan, assign a Must Finish By of 24-Jan.
Affects the total float of the entire project.
Must be applied in the Dates tab in Project Details.
Start On or After
Use the Start On or After constraint to set the earliest date an activity can begin.
Forces the activity to start no earlier than the constraint date.
Pushes the early start date to the constraint date.
Affects the early dates of its successors.
LS LF LS LF LS LF LS LF
A B A A B B
ES * EF ES EF ES ESEF
* EF ES ESEF EF
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Finish On or After
Forces the activity to finish no earlier than the constraint date.
- Shifts the Early Finish to the constraint date.
- Affects the early dates of its successors.
- Used to prevent an activity from finishing too early.
Start On or Before
Forces the activity to start no later than the constraint date,
- Shifts the Late Start to the constraint date.
- Affects the late dates of its predecessors.
- Used to place a deadline on the start of the activity.
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Finish On or Before
Use the Finish On or Before constraint to set Intermediate completion points in the project,
Forces the activity to finish no later than the constraint date.
Pulls the Late Finish date to the constraint date.
Affects the late dates of its predecessors.
Start On
Forces the activity to start on the constraint date.
- Shifts both Early and Late Start dates.
- Delays an Early Start or accelerates a Late Start.
- Used to specify dates submitted by contractors or vendors.
Finish On
Forces the activity to finish on the constraint date.
- Shifts both Early and Late Finish dates.
- Delays an Early Finish or accelerates a Late Finish.
- Used to satisfy intermediate project deadlines.
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As Late As Possible
Delays an activity as late as possible without delaying its successors.
- Shifts the early dates as late as possible.
- Also called a zero free float constraint.
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Files Tab
After you add a document record, you must establish a link to the document by specifying a file
path. There are two kinds of document location references;
Private Location — References can be viewed only by P6 Professional users. Examples include
invoices, purchase orders, or contracts.
Public Location — References can be viewed by all project participants, including timesheet
users. Examples include procedure guidelines or project checklists.
Steps
1. Click the Files tab.
2. In the Public Location field, click
3. Browse to a file location, select file from the Select File Name dialog box.
4. In the Select File Name dialog box, click Open.
5. Click Launch to view the document.
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Shrink Vertical Grouping Bands — Minimize the width of the vertical grouping bands displayed
in the Activity Table. This setting is available in windows that have the Group and Sort by,
Customize layout option.
Group By — Lists data items used to group the current display.
- Indent — Available if the selected data item is hierarchical.
- To Level — Indicates the number of levels to display when grouping by a hierarchical data
item.
- Group Interval — Indicates the interval by which you want to group the selected data item.
- Font & Color — Displays the font/color for each group title band.
Hide if empty — Mark to hide the group title bands that do not contain activities.
Sort Bands Alphabetically — Mark the checkbox to sort the grouping bands alphabetically rather
than their order in their respective hierarchy. This checkbox is disabled for any grouping that is
not hierarchical.
Show Title — Mark to display the name of the field that the layout is grouped by; the value is also
displayed.
Show ID/Code — Mark the checkbox to display the ID or code value on the grouping band.
Show Name/Description — Mark the checkbox to display the name or description on the
grouping band.
Steps
1. Open a project
2. Confirm you are in the Activities window. (Or in the Toolbar, click Activities.)
3. In the Layout Options bar, click Layout, Open.
4. Select a layout, Classic WBS Layout, and then Click Open.
5. In the Layout Options bar, click Group and Sort
Grouping by Date
Grouping a layout by date allows you to identify activities that are scheduled to occur within a
particular time period.
Steps
1. In the Group by column, select Start.
2. In the Group Interval column, select Month.
3. Click OK.
4. In the Layout Options bar, click Layout, Save As.
5. Type a Layout Name <Monthly Schedule>, and then click Save.
Collapsing/Expanding Grouped Data
Collapse group bands to control the level of detail you are viewing. This functionality is especially
useful if you want to focus on a specific portion of the layout.
In the Activity Table, view summary information for the displayed columns.
In the Gantt chart, summary bars are displayed to represent the Start/ Finish dates in each group
band.
Steps
1. In the Layout Options bar, click Collapse All
2. Click + to expand a group band
Sorting Activities
Sorting determines the sequence in which activities are listed within each grouping band. Based on
the data item you choose, you can sort alphabetically, numerically or chronologically.
Sorting by a Single Criteria
To sort by single criteria, click the data item's column title.
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To modify the visibility of Gantt chart sight lines & Data date style, go to View – Bars chart options or
Right Click in Gantt chart area – Bar chart options.
To change the time period view of Gantt chart, go to View – Timescale or Right Click in Gantt chart
area – Timescale.
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18 FILTERS
Filtering Activities
A filter is a set of instructions that determines which activities should display on screen.
Filters enable you to create customized layouts by limiting the number of activities displayed —
helping you to focus on critical activities, for example.
A set of pre-defined filters is provided, as is the ability to create user-defined filters of your own.
Filters are divided into the following groupings:
• Default
- Available to all users.
- 15 pre-defined filters.
- Cannot be deleted or modified.
• Global
- Available to all users.
• User-defined
- Available to current user for all projects to which he/she has access.
One or more filters may be applied to a layout at a time.
Multiple criteria for selection may be used within a single filter.
Filter specifications can be saved and re-applied.
Filters can be saved as part of a layout.
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Creating a Filter
You can create filters based on a single line of criteria or multiple criteria.
A convenient single-criteria filter to use throughout the life cycle of a project is a look ahead filter. It
displays the activities that are scheduled to occur within a given amount of time — for example, the
next month.
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Steps
1. In the Layout Options bar, click Filters.
2. In the Filters dialog box, click New.
3. In the Filter Name field, type <One Month Look ahead >.
4. Click in the Parameter cell and select a data item, Early Start.
5. Double-click in the Is cell and select a filter criteria, is within range of
6. Double-click in the Value cell and select a date, DD.
7. Double-click in the High Value cell and type <DD+IM>.
8. Click OK to close the Filter specification dialog box.
You will execute the new filter to display all activities scheduled to occur within the next month, and
then save the layout as One Month Look ahead.
Verify the new filter is selected, One Month Look ahead
9. Verify Replace Activities shown in current layout is selected,
10. Click OK to execute the filter.
11. In the Layout Options bar, click Group and Sort.
12. Mark the checkbox, Hide if empty,
13. Click OK.
14. In the Layout Options bar, click Layout, Save As.
15. Type a Layout Name <One Month Look ahead>.
16. Click Save.
Using Multiple Filters
If you cannot achieve your goal with a single filter, you can run two filters simultaneously.
Steps
1. In the Layout Options bar, click Filters.
2. In the Select column, mark the checkbox next to a filter, Critical.
3. Scroll down and confirm that the One Month Lookahead filter also is selected.
4. Click OK to execute the filters.
5. In the Layout Options bar, click Save As.
6. Type a layout name, One Month Lookahead ~ Critical Activities.
7. Click Save.
Note that all grouping bands are not displayed in the layout. Only those bands that have activities
that meet the filter criteria are displayed.
Applying the All Activities Filter
To refresh your screen with all activities, you can run the All Activities filter.
Steps
1. In the Layout Options bar, click FILTERS
2. Mark the All Activities checkbox,
3. Click OK to execute the filter.
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Ben Diamond
Bob Patterson
Charles North
Resource Pool
Oliver Rock
Paul Kim
Sue White
Tim Harris
Wendy Resner
Defining Resources
Resources include the personnel and equipment that perform work on activities across all projects.
Resources are generally reused between activities and/or projects. In the Project Management
module, you can create a resource pool that reflects your organization's resource structure and
supports the assignment of resources to activities. The Project Management module also enables
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you to distinguish between labor, material, and non-labor resources. Labor and non-labor resources
are always time-based, and material resources, such as consumable items, use a unit of measure
you can specify. You can create and assign resource calendars and define a resource's roles,
contact information, and time-varying prices. If a resource uses Timesheets, you can also assign a
login name and password to the resource.
Define a master list of resources consisting of the resources necessary to complete the projects in
your organization. Then, group resources to create an easily accessible pool from which you can
draw when assigning resources to a project. For each resource, set availability limits, unit prices,
and a calendar to define its standard work time and non-work time, then allocate resources to the
activities that require them. To enable grouping and rollups of your resources across the
organization, set up resource codes and assign code values.
Resources are different than expenses. While resources can be time-based and generally extend
across multiple activities and/or projects, expenses are one-time expenditures for non-reusable
items required by activities. The Project Management module does not include expenses when
leveling resources.
Steps for Resource Management
Following are the basic steps for resource management:
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6. Click on Units & Prices tab and give the resource availability and the Price /Time.
7. Unmark Auto compute actuals for each resource (if req).
Exercise: Create the Resource Pool as per the below mentioned table
Resource ID Resource Name Unit of Resource Max Standard
Measure Type Units/Time Rate
NLRP National Limited
DSGENG R
Design Engineers
NLD-21 Ahmed - Labor 14/d Dhs.80
NLD-22 Kathy - Labor 12/d Dhs.80
NLD-23 Kevin - Labor 12/d Dhs.80
NLD-24 Ethan - Labor 12/d Dhs.70
NLD-25 Prashant - Labor 12/d Dhs.70
NLD-26 Kenedy - Labor 12/d Dhs.70
NLD-27 Domnic - Labor 12/d Dhs.72
NLD-28 Sai - Labor 16/d Dhs.72
NLD-29 Joseph - Labor 16/d Dhs.75
NLD-30 Kannan - Labor 16/d Dhs.75
NLD-31 Prabhu - Labor 12/d Dhs.75
FLDENG Field Engineers - Labor
NLF-31 Shankar - Labor 14/d Dhs.55
NLF-32 Mark - Labor 14/d Dhs.55
NLF-33 Suresh - Labor 14/d Dhs.55
NLF-34 Kartik - Labor 14/d Dhs.58
NLF-35 Ali - Labor 14/d Dhs.58
NLF-36 Shiju - Labor 14/d Dhs.56
NLF-37 Rajesh - Labor 16/d Dhs.56
NLF-38 Syed - Labor 14/d Dhs.60
NLF-39 Sajesh - Labor 14/d Dhs.60
NLF-31 James - Labor 14/d Dhs.60
NLCM-41 Anthony - Labor 16/d Dhs.100
NLCM-42 Akbar - Labor 16/d Dhs.100
NLP-11 Anwar - Labor 12/d Dhs.95
NLP-12 Karim - Labor 12/d Dhs.95
EQPT/MC Equipment / Machinery
CR2 Crane 2 (15T Capacity) - Nonlabor 12/d Dhs.2,000
CR1 Crane 1 (5T Capacity) - Nonlabor 8/d Dhs.1,500
SE-MATL Supply / Erection
001 M t i l
Excavation M3 Material 6/d Dhs.120
002 PCC M3 Material 2/d Dhs.210
003 RCC M3 Material 5/d Dhs.300
PIPE Pipe - Supply Meters Material 1/d Dhs.600
FITT Fittings - Supply Numbers Material 1/d Dhs.150
VALVE Valve - Supply Numbers Material 1/d Dhs.1,250
UBEQPT UB Equipment - Supply Numbers Material 1/d Dhs. 16,000
MPHEQPT MPH Equipment - Supply Numbers Material 1/d Dhs.20,000
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Defining Roles
Roles are project personnel job titles or skills, such as mechanical engineer, inspector, or carpenter.
They represent a type of resource with a certain level of proficiency rather than a specific individual.
Roles can also be assigned to specific resources to further identify that resource's skills. For
example, a resource may have a role of a engineer and manager.
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You can create a set of roles to assign to resources and activities in all projects in the enterprise.
You can establish an unlimited number of roles and organize them in a hierarchy for easier
management and assignment. The set of roles you assign to an activity defines the activity's skill
requirements.
You can temporarily assign roles during the planning stages of the project to see how certain
resources affect the schedule. Once you finalize your plans, you can replace the roles with
resources that fulfil the role skill levels. Five proficiency levels can be assigned to roles: Master,
Expert, Skilled, Proficient and Inexperienced.
Roles can be assigned in the Resource Details window or from the Roles dialog box
.
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3
Roles Dictionary Assigning Roles to Replace Roles with
Activity Resources
Civil Engineer
Activity A Activity A
Adding a role:-
1. Choose Enterprise, Roles.
2. Click Add.
3. Click the General tab, and then type a unique ID for the role.
4. Type the role's name.
5. Type a description of the role's responsibilities.
Exercise: Create the Roles & Assign resources as per the below mentioned table
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Exercise: Assign the Resource & Cost Account to the activities as per the below mentioned table
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EXPENSES
Expenses are non-resource costs associated with a project and assigned to a project's activities.
They are typically one-time expenditures for non-reusable items. Examples of expenses include
materials, facilities, travel, overhead, and training.
You can categorize expenses, indicate a unit of measure for expenses, and specify whether an
expense accrues at the start or end of an activity or uniformly over its duration. Each expense has a
budgeted cost, actual cost, and estimated remaining cost.
Expenses are not the same as resources. Resources generally extend across multiple activities
and/or multiple projects. Examples of resources are personnel and equipment. Unlike resources,
expenses are project-specific. The Project Management module does not include expenses when
leveling resources. Resource curves are not supported for expenses.
Adding expenses:-
1. Choose Project, Expenses.
2. Click Add.
3. Select the activity to which you want to assign the expense, then click the Select button.
4. Click the General, Activity, Costs, and Description tabs, and enter details for the expense.
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Exercise:
Assign the Expenses to the activities as per the below mentioned table
Activity ID Expense Expense Budgeted Accrual Type Cost
Item Category Cost Account
EGGEN3 Plotter Equipment Dhs.4,500 Uniform over Activity ACC.1006
EGGEN1 Consulting Legal & Dhs. 10,000 Uniform over Activity ACC.1007
Professional
CNGEN1 Site Office Facilities Dhs.35,000 Uniform over Activity ACC.1005
CMCOM6 Document Testing & Dhs.30,000 Uniform over Activity ACC.1007
Reports
CMCOM1 Transport Shipping / Dhs.15,000 Uniform over Activity ACC.1007
Transport
RESOURCE CURVES
Resource/cost distribution curves enable you to specify how you want resource units or costs
spread over the duration of an activity. Resource units and costs are distributed evenly during an
activity unless you specify nonlinear distribution using curves.
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You can assign a resource distribution curve to any resource or role assignment on activities with a
duration type of Fixed Duration and Units/Time or Fixed Duration & Units. Assign the appropriate
curve to a resource or role assignment by selecting a curve in the Curve column in the Resource
Assignments window. You can also assign a resource curve in the Resources tab in the Activity
Details.
If timesheet data exists for the actuals, curves are ignored for the actuals and are spread using the
timesheet data. Activities with timesheet data continue to spread the remaining units using the
curve.
In order to use curves to calculate the Actual Units/Cost and EV Units/Costs, the new project setting
that uses duration percent complete to calculate actuals should be marked.
Notes:
Resource curves do not support expenses. The Accrual Type will continue to spread the expenses.
Resource lag is taken into consideration. The curve should begin on the "lagged start date."
Resource curves are reflected in the Resource Usage Profile and Resource Usage Spreadsheet.
Adding a resource curve:-
1. Choose Enterprise, Resource Curves.
2. Click Add.
3. Select an existing curve from which to copy the curve value percentages, then click Select.
4. Type a name for the new resource curve. You can type up to 6 alphanumeric characters.
You must enter a resource curve name.
5. Click Modify to define the curve's distribution. Edit the curve value percentages to create a
curve that indicates how your costs/units should distribute over time. Curves are defined by
21 points (5% intervals 0 from to 100%).
6. Click Prorate to make the total of the distribution values equal to 1% while maintaining the
shape you specified.
7. Click OK, and then click Close
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Exercise:
1. Assign the ACC-Curve to Ahmed working in EGARC01.
2. Assign Front Loaded Curve to the following Activities-Resource
EGINS01 – SAI
EGINS02 – SAI
CMCOM05 – Akbar
3. Assign Linear Curve to the following Activities-Resource
EGEQP03 – Joseph
CNINS01 – Rajesh
PRINS01 – Anwar
PRELE01 – Karim
PRINS01 – Ravi
CNMEC03 – Piping Fabrication
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The table below lists the sections of the Resource Usage Profile. Note that there are two Display
Option bars: one that controls display options for the left pane, and another that controls display
options for the right pane.
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Item Functionality
Right Pane Display Displays a menu of the formatting options available for the resource/role
Options bar usage profile.
Legend Displays a legend for the profile's bars and/or lines. This will change
depending on the data/formatting options selected.
Timescale Displays the date intervals: major increment displayed on the bottom and
minor increment displayed on the top.
Display Activities for When viewing Open Projects Only, you can mark Time Period or
Selected... Resource to filter the activities in the top layout.
Resource/Role Lists the names of the resources/roles. Can be filtered to show a shorter
Hierarchy list, e.g., the Current Project's resources.
Left Pane Display Displays a menu of the formatting options available for the resource/role
Options bar hierarchy.
Formatting the Profile
The Resource Usage Profile can be modified by adjusting Data and Graph settings in the Resource
Usage Profile Options dialog box.
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Data settings:
Graph settings:
Vertical Lines — Choose to display major/minor sight lines based on the
timescale interval.
Horizontal Lines — Choose the line style and color.
Additional display options:
• Show Legend — Display the data item each color represents.
• 3D Bars — Add a third dimension to the bars.
• Background Color — Specify the color displayed in the background of the Resource
Usage profile.
• Calculate Average — Specify the values you want to use to divide the timescale interval
totals.
• Divide interval totals by — To divide the timescale interval totals by an increment you
specify, type it in this field.
• Unit of Measure — Specify the unit of measure for the timescale intervals.
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• All closed projects (except what-if projects) — Displays resource/ cost usage data for:
- all projects that are open, and
- all projects that are closed (except what-if projects)
• All closed projects with a leveling priority — When electing to show remaining values
for open versus closed projects, choose this option to include data for all closed
projects with a specific leveling priority.
• Opened projects only — Focus on resource/cost usage in the projects currently opened.
Time-Distributed Data
• Display data based on Remaining Early or Forecast dates.
• Select the time interval for displaying live resource allocation: hour, day, week, or
month.
Note:
If you do not want the resource unit/cost values spread evenly, use resource curves to distribute
those values nonlinearly. The Resource Usage Profile reflects the resource curves. When displaying
units, bars do not display for summary rows if your selection contains mixed units of measure or a
mixture of labor/non-labor and material type resources. Bars and cumulative curves with negative
values do not display in the profile. You can view the negative values in the profile details. Double-
click in the profile area to view the profile details.
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Analyze resource allocation — Evaluate the resources to ensure that the resources are not
overallocated.
Ensure
milestones/project
Schedule
(Scope)
deadlines are achieved.
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Click in the Assign Resources dialog box to quickly replace one resource with another in a
single activity or in multiple activities simultaneously.
Note that this functionality is available only when assigning a resource directly — it is not available
in the Assign Resources by Role dialog box.
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Exercise:
1. Resource Domnic is overallocated in activity EGGEN02, EGELE01 & EGELE02
Assign Kartik to activity EGELE02 to share the total budgeted labour units into half for each.
2. Anwar is Overallocated in activities PREQP02, PRINS01 & PRPIP02
Add a new resource under Field Engineers with below mentioned details
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Assign Ravi to activity PREQP02 to share the total budgeted labour units into
100 for Anwar, 76 for Ravi.
Assign Ravi & Karim to activity PRINS01 to share the total budgeted labour units into
120 for Anwar, 120 for Ravi, 40 for Karim.
Assign Ravi to activity PRPIP02 to share the total budgeted labour units into
76 for Anwar, 100 for Ravi.
3. Crane – 2 (15T Capacity) is overallocated in activities CNMEC03 & CNMEC04
Assign SCR-3 to activity CNMEC03 to share the total budgeted labour units into half for
each.
Assign SCR-3 to activity CNMEC04 to share the total budgeted labour units into half for
each.
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Creating a Baseline
1. Open the projects for which you want to create a baseline.
2. Choose Project, Maintain baselines, if more than one project is open, and select the project
for which you want to create a baseline.
3. If you want to copy the current project as a new baseline, you can select multiple projects; a
baseline will be created for all selected projects.
4. If you want to convert another project to a baseline, you can select only one project.
5. Click Add and choose to save a copy of the current project as a new baseline or convert
another project into a baseline of the current project, then click OK.
6. If you choose to convert another project, select the project in the Select Project dialog box,
then
7. Click the Select button.
Assign a baseline type to categorize the baseline based on how you to intend to use it. For
example, the Initial Plan baseline type can be used for your initial project plan. Another baseline
type, Mid-Project Status, can be used after the project is underway. Baseline types are also useful
in organizing multiple baselines in the project.
Assigning a Baseline
Use the Assign Baselines dialog to assign project, primary, secondary, and tertiary baselines to a
project from Project/Assign Baseline.
Project: Lists all open projects. Select the project to which you want to assign baselines.
Project Baseline: Lists the available baselines for the selected project. Select the baseline to use as
the project baseline. If a baseline does not exist, the current project is the default value.
User Baselines
Primary: Select the primary baseline from the list of available baselines. If a baseline does not
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Steps
1. In the Layout Options bar, click Bars.
2. In the Display column, mark a checkbox next to Prj Baseline Bar.
3. In the Row field in the Bar Style tab, verify 2
4. In the Display column, mark a checkbox next to Prj Baseline Milestone.
5. In the Row field, verify 2.
6. Click OK to close the Bars dialog box.
7. In the Layout Options bar, click Show on Bottom, No Bottom Layout
8. In the Layout Options bar, click Table, Font and Row,
9. In the Row Height section, clear a checkbox, Keep Current Row Heights.
10. Select an option, Select height for all rows,
11. Use arrows to increase row height to 30
12. Click OK
13. In the Layout Options bar, click Layout, Save as – Current vs Baseline Bar
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Updating a Project
Once a project has started, you need to update actual schedule information and resource usage at
regular intervals. Your company will establish a standard update procedure, including how data is
collected and how often it is updated. You may need to update daily/weekly, or monthly, depending
on the length of your project and how frequently you want to adjust your forecasts.
Consider these factors when deciding on a method:
Data precision: The degree to which project data is exact (based on manual data entry) or estimated
(based on automated calculations).
– Is project data entered manually?
– Is project data automatically calculated and applied?
Internal or external: The extent to which individuals other than the project manager are empowered
to update project data.
– Do other persons – resources, for example – update project data?
The goal of the graphic is to present all updating methods in a single view. The graphic is organized
along two axes: The X (horizontal) axis represents data precision. Methods at the right of the X axis
represent the most precise (exact). As you move along the axis to the left, methods become less
precise until reaching fully estimated. The Y (vertical axis) is divided between external updates
(below the line) and internal updates (above the line). Combine the elements to describe each
method. For example, Update Progress is to the far left of the X axis, making it estimated, and is
above the line on the Y axis, making it an internal update. Thus, Update Progress is an internal
update that is estimated. On the following pages, each method is explored in detail. A small version
of the graphic is repeated to reinforce the context of each method within the updating spectrum.
Update Progress
• Updates activity dates, expenses, and resource utilization according to project plan
• Internal update
• Data precision: Estimated
On the Tools menu, click Update Progress. Set data date to to cover some non-statused activities
and click Apply.
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Steps to Activate:
1. In the Tools menu, click Apply Actuals.
2. Click H to select a New Data Date,
3. Click Apply, and then click Yes when prompted.
4. Click Yes to confirm the Apply Actuals command.
5. Click OK.
Recalculate Units, Cost When Duration % Complete Changes
• Project-level setting computes units based on Duration % Complete
• Internal update
• Data precision: Units and costs estimated based on exact Duration % Complete
• Based on Budgeted Units/Time, application calculates Actual Units and subtracts from Budgeted
Units
• Example: 10-day activity with 80 Budgeted Units (8 h/d)
– 2 days progress (Duration % Complete = 20%)
– Actual Units automatically recalculated to 16h
– Remaining Units automatically recalculated to 64h
Manually Update Activities, Expenses, and Resources
• Manually enter values for each element.
• Internal update
• Data precision: Exact
Timesheets
• Resources record hours worked.
• Manager approves / rejects timesheets and then applies actuals
• External update
• Data precision: Exact
• Resources record hours worked against activities.
• Primary resource also can mark activities started or finished and update Remaining Duration.
• After approving / rejecting timesheets, manager applies actuals.
– Only statused activities are recalculated.
– Does not affect activities not in the status period.
– Activities within the status period that are not progressed are pushed out to new data date.
Timesheets can be reviewed only in P6 (the Web application) – not in P6 Professional.
Updating Process
1. Create a baseline plan.
2. Identify the new data date with the Progress Spotlight.
3. Enter activity progress.
4. Report resource use and costs to date.
5. Use Suspend and Resume dates as necessary.
6. Calculate the schedule.
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Data Date
ES
AS AF
EF
5d
AS
ES EF
10d /5d RD
ES EF
8d
ES EF
2d
01-Jan-10
AS AF
5d
AS EF
10d /5d RD
ES EF
8d
ES EF
2d
Statusing Period
01-Jan-10 01-Feb-10
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AS AF
5d
AS EF
10d/ 5d RD
ES EF
8d
ES
2d
01-Jan-10 01-Feb-10
Project managers manually enter the actual date, resource, and cost information.
- Record actual dates and progress, actual resource usage and cost, and expense costs.
Approve and apply timesheets.
- Team members use Timesheets to update activities.
- Project managers review and approve timesheets.
- Project managers apply timesheets to the project.
Auto compute actuate.
- Progress of activities is automatically calculated according to the project plan.
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Lower Upper
Threshold Threshold
Not Not
Acceptable Acceptable Acceptable
Thresholds
Thresholds enable you to define the tolerances you are willing to accept within a project. When you
create a threshold, you must specify the type of threshold parameter to monitor, such as Total Float
or finish Date Variance. You must set a lower and/or an upper threshold value to define the
tolerance. Thresholds can be set at the activity level or WBS level. If a value is not in the acceptable
range between the lower threshold parameter and upper threshold parameter, an issue is
generated.
ISSUES
Issues are known problems within a project which require attention or corrective action before the
project can be completed. Issues can be manually created or automatically generated by monitoring
project thresholds.
An issue is automatically generated when the threshold values for a given parameter are exceeded.
Managing Thresholds and Issues
Thresholds and issues are managed in a two-step process.
1. Create the threshold. (Create once per project)
• Specify a threshold parameter.
• Set the Lower/upper threshold values.
• Select the WBS element you want to monitor.
• Specify the level of detail: WBS or activity.
• Assign a responsible manager.
• Assign an issue priority.
2. Create or generate the issue.
• Monitor the threshold.
• Analyze the issue.
Steps:
Creating a Threshold - Thresholds can be created at any point in the project life cycle.
1. In the Toolbar, click Thresholds.
2. In the Side Toolbar, click Add.
3. Verify the General tab is selected.
4. In the Threshold Parameter-field, select Total Float (days).
5. In the Responsible Manager field, Select the Project Manager - ACC
6. In the General tab, in the Lower Threshold field, type <0>.
7. Select the WBS – ACC Dubai to Monitor,
8. In the Detail to monitor drop-down list, select Activity.
9. In the Status drop-down list, verify Enabled.
10. In the Issue Priority drop-down list, select 2 - High.
Monitoring Thresholds - An issue is created for each WBS/activity that meets or exceeds the
threshold parameters. Use the Details tab to define the time frame in which you want to monitor the
threshold.
11. Click the Details tab.
12. Select a From Date, DD.
13. Type a To Date <DD+1M>.
14. In the Tools Menubar, click Monitor Threshold,
15. Click OK.
16. In the Details tab, in the Threshold Issues section, expand the Issue column.
Addressing Issues - Review the issues generated to help you determine where to begin adjusting
your project. You can quickly access the Project Issues window by clicking the GoTo button on the
Details tab of the Thresholds window.
17. Select an issue
18. Click GoTo to view issue details in the Project Issues window.
19. Verify the information on the General and Details tabs.
Issue History - The Issue History enables you to view and add comments about the selected issue.
When you add a note, your login name and the date are recorded. Once a comment has been
added, it cannot be modified or deleted.
20. In the project issues window, select any issue & right click to select issue history option.
21. Type information about the issue in-the Add to Notes section.
22. Click Add.
23. Click Close to exit the Issue History dialog box.
Navigating issues - The Issue Navigator allows you to select an issue and navigate to different
windows to view issue details. If a button is disabled on the Issue Navigator dialog box, the issue
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does not pertain to that window. The Issue Navigator can be set to open every time you launch
Primavera by selecting Edit, User Preferences, then clicking the Application tab.
24. In the Tools menu, click Issue Navigator.
25. Select an issue.
26. In the Issue Navigator dialog box, click Activities.
27. Click Notify. Inform the issue to the concerned person.
Adjusting the Project - Based on the issues generated, you may need to adjust the project to get
the project back on track.
28. Adjust the remaining duration of activity EGARC04 to 46.
29. After adjusting the project & scheduling, Close the issue
30. In the Toolbar, click Issues.
31. Select an issue
32. Click the General tab.
33. In the Status drop-down list, select Closed.
34. In the Resolution Date field, select a date 01.02.14.
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25 RISKS DOCUMENTATION
Risks are uncertain events/conditions that have the potential to negatively (or positively) impact
project objectives. Primavera P6 Professional includes an integrated Risk Management feature that
enables you to identify, categorize and prioritize risks, assign a responsible person for managing the
risk, assign risks to one or more activities that may be impacted by the risk, and conduct qualitative
analysis on each risk. Additionally, you have the ability to record a risk response.
P6 generates a “Risk Score” based on information that is entered for each risk. The “Risk Score”
can then be used to help you evaluate the significance of the risk. This tutorial demonstrates the
process of using the Risk Management functionality in P6.
Step-1: We will document a possible risk to our project involving the Engineering process. We want
to document that if the customer changes the design of our exercise project, the project may incur
additional costs as well as schedule delays. The image below illustrates the Engineering WBS
element (work breakdown structure). As you can see below, this portion of the project is currently
scheduled to start on Jan 3rd and finish on Oct 3rd, and the total budgeted cost is AED 416,148. We
can also view the activities comprising this WBS element and their corresponding dates & budgeted
cost. Please note that we have added the “Risks” tab in our Activity Details.
Step-2: Access the “Risks” icon on the side toolbar and click the add icon to begin the process of
documenting the potential risk. The details pertaining to the risk are added using the detail tabs. The
“General” tab is used to identify the risk category, risk type, owner or person responsible for
resolving the risk, and status. The Exposure Start and Exposure Finish dates correspond to the start
and finish of the activities in the Engineering WBS. These dates represent the earliest and latest
dates this risk may occur. The Pre-Response Exposure Cost represents the possible cost this risk
may impose, and the Post-Response Exposure Cost is the cost the risk may impose based on your
risk response. Notice that you can also provide the date the risk was identified as well as the
resource that identified the risk.
Step-3: The impact tab enables you to identify both pre-response and post-response parameters.
Notice that you can select the Probability that the risk will occur, the impact that the risk may have
on the schedule, and the monetary impact on the project if this risk occurs. The Risk Score is
calculated based upon the values selected for the above mentioned parameters. The impact tab can
also be utilized to document a response plan as well as response impact parameters to arrive at a
Post-Response Risk Score.
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Step-4: You can use the Activities tab to identify activities that may be impacted by this risk. Assign
all activities on WBS (Civil, Equipment, Piping, Electrical, and Instrumentation)
Step-6: Use the Cause tab to document the cause of the risk.
Step-9: In the Activities window, you can view and/or assign risks to activities using the Risks tab in
activity details.
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You can also use the feature to track previous periods, performance for trend analysis. If past period
data changes after you store period performance, you can edit the data in the Financial Period
columns in the Activity Table, Resource Assignments window, and the Resources tab In Activity
Details.
For example, when you increase the Actual This Period data, Primavera Increases the Actual to
Date value by the same amount at the end of each financial, period, click Store Period Performance
in the Tools menu to store the actuals and P6 will reset the Actual This Period values of all activities
and assignments to zero. Resetting the Actual This Period values does not affect Actual, to Date
values; rather, it prepares you to begin tracking new use for the current period.
You can schedule your project weekly, monthly, or even quarterly. To track actual costs and
progress, update your schedule at the times established in the Financial Periods dictionary. The
next step is to store period performance at the end of the update period and before the start of the
next schedule update.
The example below displays the Actual This Period value and the financial period value (2010-02-
01) before/after actual values are stored.
Before Actual
100 100 0
Values Stored
After Actual
100 0 100
Values Stored
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13. Select a data item, 2010-02-01: Actual Units then move it to the Selected Items section.
14. Arrange data items in Selected Items section as follows: Resource ID Name, Actual Units,
Actual This Period Units, and 2010-02-01 Actual Units.
15. In the Tools menu, click Store Period Performance.
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27 REPORTING PERFORMANCE
In addition to providing a large library of standard project management reports, two reporting tools
are available to access and report information stored in the database: the Report Wizard and the
Report Editor. You can use the Report Wizard to easily create a wide variety of customized reports.
The wizard steps you through the process of creating new reports, enabling you to select the
category of information and specific data fields to include. You can group, sort, and filter project
information and include time-distributed data for units and costs.
The Report Editor is a powerful tool that enables you to create reports that are highly customized.
Although you can create customized reports with the Report Wizard, the Report Editor provides the
capability to tailor a report more closely to your specific requirements. The Report Editor enables
you to group, sort, filter, and roll up project information. You can display time distributions for units
and costs and include graphics and HTML links in your reports. You can use the Report Editor to
further customize reports you create with the Report Wizard. However, if you modify a wizard report
in the Report Editor, when you reopen the report in the wizard, you lose all of the modifications
made in the Report Editor.
You can preview and print reports and you can save reports as text or HTML files. If you save a
report to a file, you can import the data to a spreadsheet program, e-mail the report, publish the
report on a Web site, and/or archive the report.
1. To view a list of the standard reports - select Tools, Reports, and Reports.
2. To create a new report with the Report Wizard:-
3. Choose Tools, Report Wizard. Follow the prompts on each dialog box in the wizard to create
the report.
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Notes:
To create or edit global reports from the Report Wizard or Report Editor, you must have Edit Global
Reports security privileges. To create or edit project reports from the Report Wizard or Report
Editor, you must have Edit Project Reports security privileges. You do not require security privileges
to view global or project reports. You can use the Report Editor to further customize reports you
create using the wizard. However, if you modify a wizard report in the Report Editor, when you
reopen the report in the wizard, you lose all of the modifications made in the Report Editor.
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Creating a Time-Distributed Report: A time-distributed report enables you to create reports that
display time-phased unit or cost data.
Exercise:
1. Run any of the report for the current project.
2. Create a new report to show the Activity ID & Name under which –Budgeted, Actual &
Remaining Units for each resource shown.
3. Grouped by WBS Path, Filter resources actual labour units greater than 0.
4. Save as Resource units, under Resource - Tabular, Report Scope – Current Project. (Using
New Wizard)
5. Create another report showing Budgeted, Actual, Remaining, At completion cost for activities
(Using Current Screen) and save it as Actual cost, under Cost - Tabular, Report Scope –
Current Project.
6. Now export the report.
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28 PROJECT WEBSITE
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Global Change
Global Change is a powerful feature that can change data for a project in a single process. You can
make changes to data in the Activities, Activity Resource Assignments, or Project Expenses subject
areas. Use Global Change to perform various functions, such as replacing existing data with new
data, populating user-defined fields, activity codes, and other data items. Use arithmetic equations
to change numeric data such as units, costs, and durations. For example, you can use global
change to change budget values and store dates for comparison when leveling.
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30 PORTFOLIOS
You can use portfolios to organize projects. Portfolios are a group of projects that have something in
common. Use portfolios to limit the number of projects displayed in the Open Project dialog box.
When you select a portfolio in the Open Project dialog box, only the project data for the projects in
the portfolio-is loaded.
Creating a Portfolio
In the Enterprise menu, click Project Portfolios to create and edit portfolios. In the Project Portfolios
dialog box, you can add a portfolio and specify the projects to include.
You can also specify the users who can access the portfolio — the current user; all users, or
another user. If you choose all users, the portfolio becomes a global portfolio. If you choose another
user, you can specify the user who can access the portfolio.
Steps
1. In the Enterprise menu, click Project Portfolios.
2. Click Add
3. In the Portfolio Name field in the General tab, type <Training Projects>.
4. In the Available to field, verify Current User Is selected.
5. In the User field, verify Admin is selected.
To add Projects to the Portfolio
6. Click the Projects tab.
7. Click Assign to open the Add Projects dialog box.
8. In the EPS level, press Control-click to select the Project.
9. Click assign icon to assign the projects to the portfolio.
10. Close the Add Projects dialog box.
11. Close the Project Portfolios dialog box.
To Open Projects Using Portfolios
12. In the file menu, click Open.
13. In the Select Project Portfolio in the top field.
When you select a project portfolio, the Open Project dialog box displays only projects in the
selected portfolio that the user has security privilege to access. The summary data only
includes information from the projects in the portfolio.
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31 ADVANCED SCHEDULING
Multiple Float Paths
The critical path is a series of activities that determines a project's completion date. In the Advanced
tab of the Schedule Options dialog box, you can choose to calculate a specific number of critical
float paths based on total float or free float. You can also choose the activity you want the float
paths to end on by choosing an activity; you can calculate multiple float paths that affect the entire
project schedule, a specific part of the schedule, or a milestone in the schedule.
The two options in selecting how to calculate the float paths are Total Float and Free Float:
Total Float — If you choose this option then, based on the activity you want the paths to end on,
the application determines which predecessor activity has the most critical Relationship. Total
Float on the backward pass. Primavera repeats this process until an activity-is reached that has
no predecessor relationship. Then, Primavera begins the forward pass from this activity and
determines which successor activity has the most critical Relationship Total Float. The module
repeats this process until an activity is reached that has no successor relationship. These
activities represent the most critical float path. The process begins again until the remaining sub-
critical paths are calculated.
Free Float— Choose this option to define critical float paths based on longest path. The most
critical path will be identical to the critical path that is derived when you choose to define critical
activities as Longest Path in the General tab in the Project Details, in the Projects window. In a
multi-calendar project, the longest path is calculated by identifying the activities that have an
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early finish equal to the latest calculated early finish for the project and by tracing all driving
relationships for those activities back to the project start date. After the most critical path is
identified, the module will calculate the remaining sub-critical paths.
Steps
1. Open a project
2. Confirm you are in the Activities window.
3. In the layout Options bar, click Layout, Open.
4. Select a layout, Classic WBS Layout, and then click-Open.
5. In the Layout Options bar, click Show on Top, Activity Network.
6. In the Tools menu, click Schedule.
7. Click Options.
8. Click the Advanced tab.
9. Click Calculate multiple float paths.
10. Verify that Total Float is selected.
11. Click the ellipse to choose an activity to Display multiple float paths ending with activity.
If the option Displays multiple float paths ending with activity Is not selected, Primavera will
automatically base the float paths on the last -activity in the project.
12. In the Display options bar, click Expand AIl
After setting the multiple float paths options and scheduling, the Float Path Order field is
populated.
To view the float paths after you schedule the project, group activities in the Activity Table by
Float Path. A Float Path value of 1'"indicates that those activities are part of the most critical
float path. The: Float Path Order value indicates the order in which the activities were
processed.
13. Click Schedule.
14. In the Layout Options bar, click Group and Sort.
15. Group by Float Path.
16. Click OK.
17. Click zoom icon in the toolbar to zoom in the Activity Network.
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Ignore relationships to and from other projects: If the current project has relationships with activities
in projects that are not opened when you schedule, then you can choose whether or not to take
those relationships into account when scheduling.
Make open-ended activities critical: P6 Professional will change the Total Float on open-ended
activities to zero, and the activities will appear red on the Gantt chart and in Activity Network.
Use Expected Finish Dates: Select to schedule an activity’s Finish date using the expected Finish
date which, in turn, recalculates the activity’s Remaining Duration. This option is checked by default.
Recalculate assignment costs after scheduling: P6 Professional will automatically recalculate the
activity cost based on the resources assigned to the activity and their effective dates and the
price/unit as defined in the resource pool.
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Work on activities may sometimes proceed out of sequence. For example, Task A might have a
Finish to Start relationship with Task B, but work begins on Task B before Task A has been
completed. Although usually not of serious concern, such instances nevertheless represent changes
to the project plan that, unless accounted for, can disrupt activity relationships later in the project.
To prevent potential problems, P6 Professional offers three scheduling options for handling
progress on outof- sequence activities:
Retained Logic — The Remaining Duration of a progressed activity is not calculated until all
predecessors are complete.
Progress Override — Network logic is Ignored and the activity can progress without delay.
Actual Dates — Backward, forward passes are scheduled using actual dates.
When scheduling using retained logic, an activity that starts out of sequence will not be able
to complete until its predecessor has finished. The Remaining Duration of the successor
activity is scheduled to begin after its predecessor activity is scheduled to' finish.
6. Click Schedule.
7. In the When scheduling progressed activities use field, verify progress override is selected.
When scheduling using progress override, Primavera will ignore the relationship logic-and
schedule the remaining duration of the successor activity from the- data date.
8. Click Schedule.
Calendar Effect on lag
Scheduling activities with different activity calendars can cause unexpected results not only
regarding lag but also regarding other aspects of scheduling, such as durations.
Lag is defined as an offset or delay from an activity to its successor. In the General tab of Schedule
Options, you can choose a calendar for Primavera to use when calculating lag between activities.
The, relationship lag is calculated based on one of the following calendars:
Predecessor Activity Calendar — Lag is-calculated based on the predecessor's assigned
activity calendar. This Is the default calendar.
Successor Activity Calendar — Lag is calculated based on the successors assigned activity
calendar.
24 Hour Calendar — Lag is calculated based on continuous workperiods.
Project Default Calendar — The calendar selected as Default for New Activities on the
Defaults tab of Project Details.
Steps:
1. In the Tools menu, click Schedule.
2. Click Options.
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3. In the Calendar for scheduling Relationship Lag, Select the Predecessor Activity Calendar or
Successor Activity Calendar.
4. Click Close.
5. Click Schedule.
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32 REFLECTION PROJECTS
You can import and export information to and from the Primavera database using external files. You
can then share this information with other Primavera users, Primavera Contractor- users, other
project management tools (such as Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel), and your organization's
human resource and accounting systems. You can use Export to archive your projects or create a
backup of your project. You can import/export: one or multiple projects at a time.
Team members or other P6 Professional users can update status of activities in which they are
designated Activity Owner.
Review and decide which changes to merge into the source project.
What-If status.
Baselines in the source project are copied to the reflection project.
– Enables you to convert reflection project into active project with baseline data in place.
A reflection project is created in the Projects window. To create a reflection project, select a project,
right click in the Project Table, and then click Create Reflection. If the source project has a baseline,
the Copy Baselines dialog box will display, asking you to specify which baselines to copy when
creating the reflection project.
Same name as the original source project, with reflection appended to it.
What-If status.
Contains an internal link to the source project that allows the application to merge changes to
the reflection into the source project.
Contains baseline data.
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Steps:
Use the reflection project to test different project scenarios and then merge selected changes back
into the source project. Or, designate other individuals to update the project and then review their
work before merging the changes into the source project:
Import/Export — Export a reflection project as an .XER file and then send it to third parties —
subcontractors, for example — who import the file into their database. After making changes to the
project, third party users can export the file and send the resulting .XER file back to you. By
importing the .XER file back into your reflection, you can decide which changes to keep when you
merge the reflection back to the source.
Activity Owner — An Activity Owner can update the status and other details of activities in which
they are designated as owners. By offering an Activity Owner OBS access to a reflection project —
rather than its associated active source project — you can collect the data you require and, through
a review process, ensure data integrity for the active project.
After opening the reflection project in activities window, you can make changes to it, including
changing activity status and resource assignments. In the example below, a subcontractor is
updating activities in the reflection project that you will later merge into the source project.
In the reflection project, update status for two activities and one expense (choose any activity &
make the update)
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When the changes are complete, close the project and return to the Projects window, where you
can merge the reflection project into the source project.
Steps:
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Previewing Changes
The Preview Changes dialog box enables you to view changes made in the reflection project prior to
merging them into the source project. For each grouping, values before merging and values after
merging are displayed. You can group the page by:
Subject Area — Show all changes made to the project by subject. In the sample below, subject
areas for Activities and Activity Resource Assignments are listed.
Activity — Show all changes made to an activity under an activity band. When grouped by activity,
a Merge column is displayed for each band. Select the Merge check box to merge all changes for
the activity; clear the check box to not merge changes for the activity. Or, you can mark:
Steps:
You also have options that can be applied to the source project prior to merging, and to the
reflection project after merging.
Prior to merging:
Create a copy of source project as a baseline — Select this check box to create a baseline from
the source project that you can use to roll back the changes you made after merging the projects.
Create a backup file (.xer) of source project — Select this check box to create a .XER file that
you can use to rollback the changes you made after merging via an XER import.
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After merging:
Keep reflection — Keep the reflection project in the database after merging it with source project.
Delete reflection — Delete the reflection after merging it with the source project.
Replace reflection — Replace the reflection with an updated reflection based on the current data in
the source project after the merge.
Steps:
1. Select the Create a copy of source project ACC- DUBAI (After Updating 31.1.10) as baseline
check box.
2. Select Delete “ACC- DUBAI (After Updating 31.1.10) Reflection”.
After reviewing changes, confirm that the Merge check boxes are selected and then click Merge
Changes. Note that merging will not remove items from the source project that have been deleted
from the reflection. If major elements of a project have been deleted from the reflection, you will
have to manually delete them from the source project if you do not want to keep the elements in the
source project.
Elements that are not deleted during a merge include activities, resource assignments, WBS
elements, work products and documents, expenses, issues, and risks.
Steps:
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33 UPDATING BASELINES
During a project's life cycle, changes may impact the project plan. If you have a baseline assigned
to the project, you may want to update the baseline to reflect these changes. For example, the
owner of a project may request a design change during the planning phase of the project. The
baseline of the project needs to be updated with this change.
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Options available in the Update Baselines dialog box enable you to:
Select the project data you want to include in the update. You can include project data,
such as project details, work products and documents, project risks, issues, and
thresholds.
Select specific activities to update. You can select a filter that will only include activities that
satisfy the filter's criteria.
Add new activities to the baseline. You can add new activities and activity data from the
open project to the baseline. Past period actuals are not added in the update.
Update data items based on the data item's last update date,, instead of updating the data
items based on the baseline's last update date.
The options set in the Update Baselines dialog box are saved for each user. Only users with the
proper security privileges can run the baseline update.
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34 CLAIM DIGGER
Claim Digger is a utility that compares two project plans— a revised project and a base project —
and create a report: on the differences between the project plans, including:
Items added
Items deleted
Changed values
Claim Digger is a separate application outside of Primavera. A database link to Claim Digger must
be established during the installation of the component.
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35 DURATION TYPES
Duration Types Overview
Duration Type is a setting which allows you to control how the duration, resource units, and
resource units/time are synchronized for activities so that the following equation is always true:
Progressed Activity
For a progressed activity:
Activity Duration When you change When you change When you change
Type Units, P6 Duration, P6 Unit/Time, P6
changes.. changes.. changes..
Fixed Units/Time Duration Units Duration
Fixed Duration Units/Time Units Units
& Units/Time
Fixed Units Duration Units/Time Duration
Fixed Duration & Units Units/Time Units/Time Units
Use the following information as a reference when selecting Duration Types.
If the duration is fixed, Primavera will never recalculate the duration.
If the duration is not fixed, Primavera will always recalculate the duration.
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Earned value analysis is a technique for measuring project performance according to project cost
and schedule. This technique compares the budgeted (planned) cost of work to the actual cost of
work.
Actual Cost
Actual Cost is the actual total cost incurred for the work accomplished as of the data
date.
Actual Cost = Actual Labor Cost + Actual Nonlabor Cost + Actual Expense Cost +
Actual Material Cost
• Actual Cost is the same as the Actual Total Cost.
Answers the question: How much did the completed work cost?
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Key:
BCWS (Planned) -Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled
BCWP (Earned) - Budgeted Cost of Work Performed
ACWP (Actual} - Actual Cost of Work Performed
SV - Schedule Variance
CV - Cost Variance
ETC - Estimate to Complete
BAC - Budget at Completion
EAC - Estimate at Completion
VAC - Variance at Completion
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WBS WINDOW
P6 Professional automates earned value analysis. Earned value settings are selected on tabs in
WBS Details in the WBS window, and earned value calculations can be viewed in Activity Table
columns in the Activities window
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The Planned Value Cost, Actual Cost, and Earned Value Cost currently equal zero because
the activity has not started.
Calculating Planned Value Cost - Planned Value Cost is the cost of the work that should
have been accomplished as of the data date, if the project had proceeded according to the
baseline plan.
• Planned Value Cost = Budget at Completion * Schedule % Complete
An alternative way to define Planned Value Cost:
One day of work should have been completed with a single resource at 8 h/d and $100/h;
therefore, 8hr x $100/h = $800.
3. In the Tools menu, click Schedule.
4. Select a new data date, 2-Jan-10, and then click Schedule.
Calculating Actual Cost - Actual Cost is the actual total cost incurred for the work
accomplished as of the data date.
• Actual Cost = Actual Labor Cost + Actual Nonlabor Cost + Actual Expense Cost + Actual
Material Costs. (Even though no expenses or nonlabor resources are-assigned, you can
view the Actual Total Cost on the Summary tab.)
5. Click the Resources tab.
Calculating Earned Value Cost - Earned Value Cost is the monetary value of work
performed by a resource as of the data date.
• Earned Value Cost = Budget at Completion * Performance % Complete
Another way to think of Earned Value Cost:
Since 25% of the work has been completed, 25% of the cost should have been incurred -
hence $2000 = (25% * $8000).
6. On the Status tab, assign an actual Start, 2-Jan-10.
7. Type a Physical % <25> and a Remaining Duration <8>.
8. On the Resources tab, type Actual Units <30>.
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Performance % Complete
Activity percent complete — Calculated based on the activity's percent complete type.
WBS Milestones percent complete — Calculated based on the completion of the WBS
element's weighted milestones.
0/100 — Calculated as 0% after an actual start is assigned then as 100% after an actual
finish is assigned.
50/5O — Calculated as 50%-after -an actual start is assigned, then as 100% after an
actual finish is assigned.
Custom percent complete — Calculated as a user-defined percentage after an actual
start is assigned, then as 100% after an actual finish is assigned.
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Weighted Milestones
WBS milestones can be used when higher-level task increments comprise a body of activities and
you want to control the activities at the WBS level. When you assign weights to the WBS
milestones, the completion of each specific milestone is used to calculate the performance percent
complete of the WBS.
Weight of the milestone can be any number between 0 and 999999.
Performance percent complete is calculated based on the relative weights of the
completed milestones versus the incomplete milestones.
• The Performance Percent Complete is applied to all the activities under that WBS
element, and then rolled back up to the WBS.
The following option must be set to use weighted milestones:
• In the WBS window, click the Earned Value tab in WBS Details. Mark the WBS Milestone
percent complete checkbox.
Use when calculating earned value.
In the WBS window, you must enter weights for each milestone.
The weights are relative to one another based on 100% completion of all the
milestones,
Steps to calculate performance % complete based on Weighted Milestone
1. In the Toolbar, click WBS.
2. Select the top level of the WBS.
3. Verify the Earned Value tab is selected.
4. In the Earned Value tab, select a Technique for computing performance percent complete,
WBS Milestones percent complete.
5. Click Yes when prompted.
6. In the WBS Milestones tab, click Add
7. Add milestones title and weights:
• Milestone <MS -1>, weight <3.0>.
• Milestone <MS -2>, weight <1.0>.
• Milestone <MS -3>, weight <6.0>.
Updating Weighted Milestones - The milestone Percent Complete is based on the relative
weights of the completed milestones versus the incomplete milestones.
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Once you have completed an updating cycle, you can draw conclusions about schedule and cost
performance by comparing Planned Value Cost, Earned Value Cost, and Actual Cost.
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Schedule Performance
As of the data date, 30 hours of work is finished (Actual Labor Units), but only 25% of the activity is
complete (Performance Percent Complete). The baseline indicates that 40% of the work should be
complete (Schedule Percent Complete). This shows that the project is behind schedule.
Cost Performance
As of the data date, the project has cost $3,000 (Actual Cost) to achieve only $2,000 worth of work
(Earned Value Cost). The baseline indicates that $3,200 worth of work should have been
accomplished (Planned Value Cost). This shows that the resources on the project are not working
as efficiently as they should be. The project is running over budget.
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Estimate To Complete
ETC identifies how much money you are projecting to spend from now to the end of your project.
The ETC is calculated using one of two formulas:
ETC = remaining cost for activity
• Calculated, as Remaining Units * Resource Price/Units
• Default setting for calculating ETC
ETC = Performance Factor * (Budget at Completion - Earned Value Cost)
• Where Performance Factor Is calculated depending on the technique selected for the
WBS.
Performance Factor
The Performance Factor is used to compute Estimate To Complete (ETC).
There are four ways to calculate the Performance Factor:
Performance Factor = 1 (Yields an optimistic result)
ETC = [PF * (Budget at Completion - Earned Value Cost)]
Performance Factor = 1/CPI (Yields a most likely result)
ETC = (1/CPI)* (Budget at Completion - Earned Value Cost)
Performance Factor = 1/ (CPI *SPI) (Yields a pessimistic result)
ETC = [1/ (CPI * SPI)] * (Budget at Completion - Earned Value Cost)
Performance Factor =
ETC = Performance Factor * (Budget at Completion - Earned Value Cost)
Calculated according to a Performance Factor that the user specifies
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consideration. Historical evidence shows that these trends do not correct themselves over time; they
tend to worsen.
1. In the Toolbar, click WBS.
2. Verify the technique for computing Estimate To Complete (ETC), ETC remaining cost for
activity.
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Therefore, ETC = [1/ (CPI * SPI)] * (Budget at Completion - Earned Value Cost)
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38 RESOURCE LEVELLING
Resource levelling is a process that ensures resource demand doesn't exceed resource availability.
Activities may be delayed if too few resources are available at any time during the activity's duration.
Levelling enables you to determine the earliest dates an activity can be scheduled without
overallocating resources
Primavera compares the resource requirements of all scheduled activities to the
maximum quantity available at the time of levelling.
• The maximum amount of work a resource is available to perform for a given time period
is defined by the resource's standard workhours, as defined in the resource calendar.
• If the resource is not available for the entire duration of the activity, the
activity is delayed until the resource becomes available.
Level all resources in your project or select the resource(s) to be levelled.
Levelling priorities can be assigned at the project or activity level.
• Used to determine which project or activity gets the resource (levelled) first when a
conflict exists.
The following items are ignored during the levelling process:
• Milestones
• Level of effort activities
• Expenses
• Closed what-if projects
• WBS summary activities
An activity's schedule dates may temporarily change when levelling a project
• Reschedule your project to remove the levelled dates.
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Levelling determines the earliest possible dates that activities can be scheduled without exceeding
resource availability.
Starts with activities that do not have predecessors.
Levelled dates temporarily replace the Remaining Start/Finish dates and the
Start/Finish dates.
May delay the project finish date.
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The Level Resources dialog box enables you to level all resources or select resources to level. Click
Select Resources to:
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Before Levelling
After Levelling
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The following table defines some commonly used priority and order options for levelling resources:
Late Start Late Start dates first Late Start dates first.
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Export Format
Export Wizard
The Export wizard enables you to choose the format and data you want to export. You can export
information, such as activities, resource data, projects, and expenses.
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Import Wizard
The Import wizard guides you through the steps for importing projects. The project you want to
import data into must be open. If you are creating a new project, no projects need to be open.
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4. Click Next
5. Select a project to export
6. In the Select Template dialog box, click Add.
Select Template - You can create or modify an existing template that holds specifications
for the export file. In the template, select the columns, filters, and sort criteria for each
subject area. The column, filter, and sort criteria only apply to the subject area selected. You
can define the criteria for each subject area.
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Expenses — PROJCOST
Resources — RSRC
The first two rows in each worksheet consist of the following data:
First row — Column headers identify the database field name that was exported. To
import data successfully, do not change the values in these cells.
Second row — Primavera field names that correspond to each database field
name. These cells are editable.
The following guidelines can assist you in importing project data successfully:
When updating project data in Excel, such as unit, costs, durations, and percent complete
fields, import one updated field at a time. Data integrity may be compromised if you
attempt to update multiple fields simultaneously via import into Primavera.
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In Excel, to delete a row of data, type a 'D' or W in the Delete This Row column.
Add dictionary items to Primavera before assigning these items to activities in Excel. If you
assign a new value to an activity or resource that does not exist in Primavera, then Import
will not add it to the dictionary. This applies to resources, roles, activity codes and values,
calendars, cost accounts, WBS, and resource codes and values
An activity row in Excel must include an Activity ID to import successfully.
Update each subject area- in its own sheet.
Do not change the language set in Primavera (Tools, Set Language) For example, if the
text in the export file is in English the updates you import should be in English.
Export the Activity Type column in Primavera to assign to new activities. Primavera will
assign the default activity type (Project Details, Defaults tab) to a new activity if a type is
not specified.
In Primavera, right-click in the Activities window and select Export to Excel to quickly
export the columns displayed in the current layout.
Use the USERDATA tab in the Excel spreadsheet as a reference for the user-preference
settings (Edit, User Preferences) in Primavera. Do not edit this information.
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A timescaled logic diagram is a bar chart (similar to a Gantt chart) that shows the logical
relationships among project activities during a particular time period.
Click Timescaled Logic Diagram on the Tools menu to access timescaled logic diagram templates
and associated options for specifying the timescale and for controlling the appearance of activity
bars, bar labels, relationship lines, and other elements in a timescaled logic diagram.
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Steps:
1. Open a project, ACC- DUBAI (After Updating 31.1.10), and confirm that you are in the
Activities window.
2. On the Tools menu, click Timescaled Logic Diagram to launch the Timescaled Logic
Diagram Templates dialog box.
Choosing a Template
Timescaled logic diagrams use templates to record, maintain, and apply the numerous option
settings that control a diagram’s final appearance. Templates reduce errors and make configuring
timescaled logic diagrams faster, more convenient, and easier to reproduce.
The Timescaled Logic Diagram Templates dialog box includes several templates from which to
choose. It also provides icons for making changes to the templates available:
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Steps:
1. In the Timescaled Logic Diagram Templates dialog box, select a template, Default Template.
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Specify a timescale.
1. In the Timescaled Logic Diagram Options dialog box, confirm that the Timescale tab is
selected.
2. In the Timescale Start field, click and select Custom from the list.
3. In the date field to the right, click and select a date, 01-Jan-10.
4. In the Timescale Finish field, click and select Custom from the list.
5. In the date field to the right, click and select a date, 01-Sep-10.
6. In the Timescale Line 1 Date Interval field, select Month.
7. In the Timescale Line 2 Date Interval field, select Week.
8. Clear the Timescale Line 3 check box.
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41 ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS OF P6
Administrative functionalities of P6 enable to define users and assign security profiles, admin
preferences, admin categories and currencies.
USERS & SECURITY PROFILES
Security profiles determine a user's level of access to project information. The security profiles
include both global profiles and project profiles. A global profile determines the user's access to
application-wide information. A project profile determines the user's level of access to each project
within the enterprise project structure (EPS). When you assign a project profile to a user, you also
associate the project profile with an OBS element/responsible manager. The user's access
privileges, as defined in the project profile, will then apply only to those elements of the EPS that are
assigned to the OBS element/responsible manager you selected.
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ADMIN PREFERENCES
To activate Admin Preferences click on Admin/Admin Preferences menu.
The General tab enables you to specify general default options, such as the weekday on which the
calendar week begins. You can also specify the character that separates cost account codes to
indicate hierarchy levels and the default duration for new activities.
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Data Limits
Use data limit tab to specify the maximum number of levels for hierarchical structures. One can also
specify the maximum number of baselines and activity codes that can be included in a project. New
settings apply only when adding new elements or editing existing elements.
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ID Lengths
Use the ID lengths to specify the maximum number of characters for ID's and Codes. The ID
Lengths tab enables you to specify the maximum number of characters for codes, from 1 to
20.
Time Periods
Primavera calculates and stores time unit values in hourly increments. However, through User
Preferences, each user can choose to display time unit values as hours, days, weeks, months, or
years. When a user displays data in time unit fields in increments other than hours, the Project
Management module converts the data based on the Hours per Time Period settings. Conversely, if
a user enters time units in increments other than hours, the Hours per Time Period settings are
used to convert these input values to hours for database calculation and storage.
As an administrator, you can specify the conversion factors or you can allow users to specify the
conversion factors. If you want to specify the conversion factors, enter the number of hours to use
as a conversion factor in each field. If you want users to specify the conversion factors, mark the
Allow users to specify the number of work hours for each time period checkbox.
Allow users to specify the number of work hours for each time period: If you do not select this
option, the Hours per Time Period settings you specify here are used as conversion factors. If you
do select this option, the Hours per Time Period the user specifies in User Preferences are used as
conversion factors.
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Options
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Link to Contract Manager: To set up access to Contract Manager (formerly known as Expedition),
mark the Enable Link to Contract Manager checkbox, then choose the Contract Manager/Expedition
product version you are connecting to. For version 9.x and higher, type the URL and port number to
the Contract Manager web server. For HTTP, the default port number is 80, but you do not have to
enter it. If you are not going to use port 80, you must enter the port number. For example:
http://10.12.14.168:110. address). For example: http://10.12.14.168:110. For https, the default port
number is 443. You must always enter the port number, including the default port number, at the
end of the URL. For example: https://10.12.14.189:443.
ADMIN CATEGORIES
Your organization can define a series of application-wide parameters and values that apply to all
projects. Your organization can use these settings to customize your projects to meet specific
project management requirements and standards. While all users can view these settings, a user
must have special security privileges to edit them. The project controls coordinator uses the Admin
Categories dialog box to define standard categories and values you can apply across all projects,
including custom categories and category values for projects, resources, and WBS elements.
Baseline Types - Use to create, edit and delete baseline types. Baseline types enable to categorize
and standardize baselines across projects.
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WBS Category - Create a WBS category and create, edit, and delete WBS category values. Use
this category to standardize and categorize WBS elements
Document Category - Create, edit, and delete categories for work products and documents. Use
these categories to standardize and categorize work products and documents, and organize and
maintain work product and document information.
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Document Status - Create, edit, and delete document status types. Use these status types to
identify the current status of work products and documents within a project.
Risk Types - Can create, edit and delete risk types or categories of possible risk types. Risk types
can be used to standardize and classify possible risks across projects.
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Notebook Topics - To create, edit and delete notebook topics. Typically consists of instructions or
descriptions for performing an activity. However notebook topics can also be assigned at EPS,
Project and WBS levels.
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FINANCIAL PERIODS
Use the Financial Periods dialog box to define global customized financial periods. Users can store
a project's period performance (past period actuals) for any predefined period contained in the
Financial Periods dialog box. The columns, fields, and buttons contained in the Financial Periods
dialog box are described below.
Period Name: A unique identifier for the period. When you create a new financial period, the name
defaults to the start and end dates for the period. Click on the name to edit.
Start Date: The period start date you specified in the Select Financial Period Timescale dialog box.
End Date: The period end date you specified in the Select Financial Period Timescale dialog box.
Add: Click to open the Select Financial Period Timescale dialog box in which you can specify the
start and end date of the new period. When the dialog opens, the default start date is the day after
the previous period's end date; the default end date is seven days later.
Note: The Start Date and End Date of a period cannot overlap the Start Date or End Date of any
existing period.
Batch Create Financial Periods
Last Period End Date: Displays the latest period end date contained in the dictionary. This field is
read-only.
Batch Start Date: Select the date on which you want the financial period batch to start. The module
will adjust the date in this field (if necessary) after you create the batch depending on your selections
in the Financial Period section.
Batch End Date: Select the date on which you want the financial period batch to end. The module will
adjust the date in this field (if necessary) after you create the batch depending on your selections in
the Financial Period section.
Financial Period: Select to make each financial period in the batch Every n Weeks or Every n
Months long (where n is the number of weeks or months); or, select Every Year to make each
period one year long.
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Period Ends On: If you selected Every n Weeks, choose the day of the week you want each
financial period to end on. If you selected Every n Months, this field is disabled. (The end date for
each monthly period is the last day of the month.) If you selected Every Year, select the month you
want the financial period batch to end on.
Batch Create: Creates the financial periods based on your selections.
Notes
All periods start at midnight and end at 11:59 PM. The end date must be at least one day later than
the start date; therefore, the shortest financial period you can create is two days long. For example,
if you create a financial period with a Start Date of Jan 1, 2010, and an End Date of Jan 2, 2010, the
period begins at midnight on Jan 1st and ends at 11:59 PM on Jan 2nd.
You must have the Edit Financial Period Dates global privilege to add, edit, or delete financial
periods in the Financial Period dictionary. You cannot modify the start and end dates of a financial
period after it is created. To modify the start and end dates of a period, you must delete the financial
period, then create a new period with the desired dates.
CURRENCIES
Specify the monetary unit or base currency used to store cost data for all projects in the database,
as well as the monetary unit or view currency used to display cost data in windows and dialog boxes
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