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Articles in Category: P6-Calculator

P6-Calculator v7 - New Release

Easily Manage Key Resources and Mandatory Activities in P6!

December 1, 2023

Written by Ravi Wallau

Easily Manage Key Resources and Mandatory Activities in P6!

New Features

  • Custom field copy - copy custom fields from the primary resource into the activity that holds it, or assign a value in a UDF or code based on the calendar the activity has selected. The rules are fully customizable, and it is possible to create match rules using regular expressions.

  • Required objects feature - check if your project has required objects based on pre-defined rules in the program, and fix the problem if possible or alert the user if that is not possible. For example, WAIT activities with a pre-defined duration and name format.

  • Global change feature - apply changes to project data based on pre-defined rules. For example, change the relationship type from the WAIT activity into its milestone's successors from SF to FF, once the milestone activities have reached a certain status.

  • Resource rate import - allow resource rates to be imported from an external system and applied as new resource rates to the resources, matching on resource codes. Shifts are taken into consideration if they are being used.

  • Dictionary synchronization - in some organizations you may have a project code and an activity code that must have the same values. With this feature, you can define a source code and the code values are synchronized to the target codes. The dictionaries are kept in sync, and if a value is moved in the source hierarchy, it is also moved in the target hierarchy.

  • As part of dictionary synchronization, it is also possible to copy the resource tree as a resource code dictionary.

  • Code assignment copy based on certain rules - for example, you can assign a code in the activity based on a corresponding code value in the primary resource for that activity.

Enhancements

  • Cleanup UDFs - you can configure the P6-Calculator to cleanup some UDFs in the projects regularly. This is useful if you need to re-trigger some calculations on a regular basis for these projects.

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.

Primavera P6 Activity Codes – Why you NEED them

“Tagging and Bagging” - One of the Best Tips I can Share After Working With Primavera for 27 Years

In doing consulting with an IT PMO client the other day I was faced with this comment:

“The last P6 consultant we had told us not to use activity coding because it is an administrative headache!”

Now I have to say, after 27 years of doing P3 and P6 consulting, this demonstrates one of the most unpleasant parts of the role of “Expert”. How do you politely explain to your client that they paid good money for bad advice? And how can I know exactly what was said and in what context for the client to come to that conclusion? However, in this particular case, when in comes to activity coding in P6, it is clear cut no-brainer – THEY GOT TERRIBLE ADVICE.