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Oracle Primavera Cloud - A High Level Preview of Project Scope

In Oracle Primavera Cloud (formerly Oracle Prime), you can create and track scope items, work packages, and WBS elements.



If you’re not using the default PBS structure, you can set up a custom PBS structure. The PBS structure commonly reflects a hierarchical structure of the components required for a project. You can use a PBS in initial planning to organize scope items.

Ensuring Accuracy When Reverting Changes in Primavera P6 Using P6-Loader

Recently, I was working with a client who was reorganizing. This client has many business units (BU) that work in the same database, so they have a prefixing standard for each BU.

When they reorganized, all the prefixing for several BUs needed to be brought into alignment with the reorganized BU structure. This involved moving their EPS structure around and updating the prefixes on calendars, codes, resources and roles. I had started moving the structures to accommodate the changes and updating the prefixes with P6-Loader, but I also did some updating directly in P6. I had completed roles and was partially through resources when the client realized their reporting may be effected by the changes. They wanted to revert all the changes I had made. While I did have several P6-Loader change files that I could use to revert the changes I made using P6-Loader, I wanted to be sure the manual changes I made were also restored.

P6-Auditor v5 - New Release

Our latest version of P6-Auditor has a new look and feel making auditing definitions easier and faster to build.

May 28, 2023

Our latest version of P6-Auditor has a new look and feel making auditing definitions easier and faster to build.

New Features

  • New audits - UDF value, project, activity and code assignments

  • Users can be configured into categories. For example, P6-Internal, Standard, API, or by department, or by whichever criteria is needed. The User Category column is shown in all reports where there is a user column, and it is possible to filter by it.

  • It is possible to configure UDFs and code changes to be reported with the corresponding project, activity or resource record

  • Added the ability to easily limit the range of events retrieved from the server - for example, for the past 5 minutes, 15 minutes, etc.

  • UI changes - the reports are now all shown on the left side of the auditor web application and are grouped by type/subject leaving more space for the reports on the right side of the page

  • The EPS auditing now includes changes made to all records in the PROJWBS table, and it includes a column that shows the type of object that was changed

  • Added the ability to freeze columns. You can freeze 1 to 5 columns and those will always be visible when scrolling.

Enhancements

  • All reports now run faster, and event reports run much faster than before

  • Filters have been improved - when possible, multiple options are shown for the user to select from

  • Reworked the OData implementation on the server, allowing much better control over the columns shown in the client, as well as other improvements

  • Layouts now work properly with audit reports

  • Column order that makes sense across all event reports

  • Profile improvement - the teams of a profile are shown in the profile list and a button that lets you save a profile directly is visible when a profile has changes

Restoring Deleted P6 Data - Never Happens Right?

A solution for common cases of accidental data deletion in Primavera P6

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Accidental deletion of important data is something that happens. Everyone has done it at some point.

In Primavera P6 EPPM, some of the most common cases of accidental data deletion are:

  • Deletion of the wrong resource
  • Deletion of the wrong project
  • Deletion of the wrong WBS node or nodes

Safran Risk v22.1.0 - New Release

Safran Risk has released v22.1.0. Read about all the exciting new features.

May 3, 2023

Written by Ian Nicholson

Safran Risk has released v22.1.0. Read about all the exciting new features.

New Features

  • Automatic Report Package Generator - Functionality to generate a report package that contains a number of output chart images, a Word report, and an Excel report. The report package can be run and customized from the analyze tab.

  • The UI of the sensitivity analysis tab has been updated. It now also allows you to run sensitivity against a schedule summary and against the schedule types duration and start date.

  • Cost Module - It's now possible to have more than one top node and to set the type for each top node.

  • The import of external files now allows three options when updating an existing project: overwrite, update, and append.

  • Distribution Graph - It's now possible to set the target to the value of a user field. This allows you to set up target dates for all the activities in the schedule.

Enhancements

  • Hammock to Hammock links are now allowed by the Safran Risk scheduler.

  • Mode added to distribution graph information.

  • Recent projects are now opened with the same access level as they were opened last time.

  • Added option to grouping in the cost tab to see the whole path in the summary ID field.

  • Added Total Float, Free Float, and Calendar to the Activity Information tab in Risk Mappings.

  • Risk Mean Start and Risk Mean Finish columns added to the schedule.

  • Added option for image size for all the output charts. This allows for consistent size of the generated images regardless of the state of the Safran Risk window.

Why Use P6-Reporter When You Could Use XER Files for Free?

There are many approaches to creating reports from your P6 data, and while free always sounds like the right price, we all know that you get what you pay for. Before you choose an approach, you owe it to yourself to fully assess its strengths and weaknesses. In this article, we’ll compare reporting using XER files versus our own tool: P6-Reporter.

Why P6-Reporter?

In executing any type of project, whether it’s a turnaround, construction, manufacturing or other project type, they all benefit from access to quick and current reporting in an easy to digest format. This not only improves project reporting but project communication as well, keeping the team up-to-date with project progress and any issues. With access to self-serve dashboard reporting, the user can easily filter to display the exact data they need to focus on. To deliver reporting for your projects, a reporting tool that is quick to deploy and offers a number of standard reports makes roll out easy. The tool should allow you to produce reports easily on spread data as well, which allows you to compare forecasts captured at different points in time. P6-Reporter offers all of this and more.

Resource Curves and Activity Settings in Primavera P6

Your project schedule has been created with no resource curves incorporated. (Resource curves are not always required.) Suddenly, during project execution and reporting, the project is displaying issues. Budget labor, actual labor units and at completion labor units are out of sync. In checking your schedule, it is one section of the schedule which looks to be displaying the issue. You find one of the schedulers has added resource curves to activity resources. At the time of the change, a number of the activities already had progress posted to them. What can happen when resource curves are added or changed after progress has been posted to activities? (Please note this is an example of what can happen given the settings and information scenario that was present at the time. My intent is purely to share what can happen.)

P6-Scrubber v6 - New Release

In version 6, we added notebook type scrubbing and also made improvements to the P6-Scrubber user interface, reports and functionality in general.

February 27, 2023

Notebook type scrubbing, improved UI

Written by Ravi Wallau

In version 6, we added notebook type scrubbing and also made improvements to the P6-Scrubber user interface, reports and functionality in general.

New Features

  • Notebook scrubbing - remove unwanted notebook types and/or rename them

Enhancements

  • Option to hide users starting with "zz" from the user list, as well as users with no global access to P6

  • Additional safeguards around editing configuration profiles to prevent accidental overwrites

  • Scrub report improvements

  • Up to 10 times faster XER/XML import operations, and up to 5 times faster scrubbing operations

Green Up Reports - Versatile Summarizations

Green up reports can be configured on the specifics required by your project. By using P6-Reporter self-serve dashboards, you and your project teams can have current, easy to digest project information including overall status and highlights for issues requiring immediate attention. Keep in mind that the green up dashboard examples below are meant as food for thought. These examples may be reflecting exactly the items you need to track in your project(s), or you may need to track entirely different elements. Green up reports can be created for the specifics your project teams require whether it is easily tracking manufacturing stages, distribution status, inventory completion status, machine service cycle completions…the list goes on. A green up report can be configured to track many different schedule items.

P6-Reporter - Streamline Communication and Reporting



Above is an example of a Portfolio Dashboard available in P6-Reporter that is displayed using Power BI. Self-serve dashboards provide easy access to data in a very easy to digest format. Notice the gradient color coding in these Portfolio screen shots that help focus on issues quickly. Easily re-sort column data by simply clicking on the column headers. Select graph elements and the column elements that are connected to it automatically filter to highlight on the dashboard. (see below)

Put the Best Tools in Your Scheduling Tool Kit

Your project schedule will be created in P6, and you are looking to provide the best schedule tools for your project team. What can you add to your team tool kit to assist the project team, address building the schedule, monitor schedule quality, utilize options for updating the schedule and make reporting quick and easy? Let’s look at a few examples for some food for thought.

P6-Calculator v6.4 - New Release

Easily Manage Key Resources and Mandatory Activities in P6!

January 31, 2023

Written by Dan MacMillan

Easily Manage Key Resources and Mandatory Activities in P6!

New Features

  • Groups related projects together.

  • Analyzes the order in which key resources move between projects and groups in P6.

  • Automatically builds and maintains a project code hierarchy that shows the groups and projects in the order in which key resources visit them.

  • Automatically builds and maintains logic between projects and between groups that models the movement of these key resources.

  • Automatically adds or removes optional activities on the first or last project in a group to represent resource setup or teardown time.

  • Flags projects with an alert indicator UDF if required activities are missing.

Enhancements

  • A key resource could be a rig, a crane, or any other major equipment or resource that you want to optimize the utilization of.

  • Multiple key resources can be managed.

  • You control what defines a group of projects.

  • Different rules for building logic can be defined for resource moves within a group and resource moves between groups.

  • You control how projects are sorted to determine the order in which each key resource moves between them.

  • The project code dictionary, logic, and optional activities automatically adapt to changes in project order.

  • You control which projects are checked for mandatory activities.