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Primavera Scheduling

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Omnibus (adjective)

Comprising several items.

The most common Primavera export file is “XER” which harks back to the company that developed this enterprise scheduling software in the first place: Eagle Ray. Primavera Systems bought Eagle Ray, and then Oracle bought Primavera Systems. The very familiar “XER” file format in fact stands for “eXport Eagle Ray”.

XER files can only export project data associated with the current project, or all resources or all roles. For someone who needs to transfer all resources or roles from one database to another the XER file can be very useful, but I find this to be a rather esoteric function for the vast majority of users.

But there is another Primavera export file (XML) that can do so much more:

  1. Export all project layouts associated with the current project
  2. Export all (or some) baselines associated with the current project
  3. Import into any other version of Primavera P6

This might also encourage you to create project layouts. By default, new layouts are user-specific and can therefore be applied to any schedule to which the user has access. Project layouts are only available to the associated project (or a copy of that project) which is desirable when the layout has specific features (such as a grouping or filter) that would not be applicable to other projects. The header or footer might likewise contain wording that is specific to one project.


Primavera P6 EPPM users are more accustomed to this method of importing files because the P6 Web interface only supports XML file imports and exports. However, P6 Professional Client (sometimes referred to as P6 Optional Client) can be used to import XER files into a P6 EPPM database. Confusing, yes, but P6 EPPM databases can be accessed via a Web or desktop interface.


The following screenshots show the process for exporting P6 XML files. Keep in mind, you are not required to export any baselines and can also choose which ones to export. Likewise, you do not have to export project layouts:

Primavera Scheduling

Primavera Scheduling

Primavera SchedulingPrimavera Scheduling

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the sequence for importing P6 files. Notice that we can choose which baselines should be imported:

Primavera Scheduling

Primavera Scheduling

Primavera Scheduling

Primavera Scheduling

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty simple!

Hopefully you will not think of me as a hypocrite if I admit to sending XER files on a regular basis. But as a consultant I do not need to keep sending baselines to clients if they have already received those files previously. For example, if I sent my client the third update last month it is somewhat redundant to send them the fourth update this month with the third update as a baseline. I also do not need to keep sending project layouts unless I have recently created new ones.

Nevertheless, for the recipient, the XML file has everything needed to view the current schedule and make comparisons to previous versions of the schedule. I find that for my construction claims work it is a great way to transmit my entire analysis of a delay to the client. The only downside might be that XML files are not nearly as compact as the text-based XER files. Roughly speaking, XML files tend to be about ten times larger, which in some cases might exceed the maximum file size for email attachments. Not surprisingly, it also takes longer to export and import XML files.


Primavera SchedulingPigeons mystified Charles Darwin. He mentions them in the very first chapter of On the Origin of Species:

“The diversity of breeds of pigeons is truly astonishing. If one compares the English Messenger with the short-faced Culbutant, one is struck by the enormous difference of their beak, resulting in corresponding differences in the skull.”

There are as many species of pigeons as there are of dogs or cats. But today we are focusing on carrier pigeons and their cousins, homing pigeons. And what a noble history! Noah was the first to recognize a pigeon’s ability to carry a message. The Romans used pigeons to transmit the results of chariot races. Genghis Kahn and Charlemagne relied upon pigeons to carry messages to troops, as did the French in the Vietnam War.

Even today, pigeons are used to carry blood samples in remote parts of England and France. Not surprisingly, pigeons have also been dragged into nefarious duties. Drug traffickers in Afghanistan and Pakistan have utilized flocks of pigeons to deliver heroin, each one carrying 10 grams.

But let’s be honest. If rats could fly we might have used them instead. Pigeons deliver a message – right or wrong – from one party to another. They don’t (can’t) read the message or vouch for its accuracy.

Don’t be a pigeon. Too many schedulers are simply delivering information that is incorrect or incomplete. They fail to consider whether the current critical path makes sense, ignore activities that clearly should have had progress by now, and fail to analyze the potential impact of unforeseen events.

Not all information can be easily verified, of course. Unless the scheduler is posted to the field he or she can not independently verify actual dates, installed quantities, percent completes and the like. Still, there are times when the reported progress makes little sense, like my client who said he had started plumbing fixtures on the third floor of the building at a time when the structural steel to the second floor was being erected (he was taking credit for plumbing fixtures that had been delivered to the jobsite, but we had a procurement activity for that scenario).

That story involving the plumbing fixtures happened more than 25 years ago. Schedulers have long memories! More recently, I have been reviewing schedules on a 34-story apartment tower in the midwest for the owner. Ironically, plumbing is once again the issue.

A couple of months ago, installation of water heaters on nearly every floor showed up on the critical path. And with one week scheduled for installation per floor, we had water heaters occupying about seven months of the remaining critical path.

I understood how the water heaters wound up on the critical path. The contractor had added activity relationships between water heaters on each floor – something we were calling “crew restraints” way back in the early 1980s.

Here is the funny part. When I filed my report with the owner, the contractor accused me of modifying his schedule update! He had no idea these crew restraints existed or why they had been added. The reality is that the crew restraints had always been in the schedule but due to better progress on other paths, this water heater path had now been exposed.

If you are wondering why water heaters were such a concern, the fact is that most of the interior work (drywall, painting, etc.) had similar crew restraints. But only the water heaters assumed one floor at a time. I have no idea why. It is clearly a very conservative assumption, and as many of you who read my blog on a regular basis already know, I prefer The Schedule That Can be Beat.

Nevertheless, this project is behind schedule and letting the water heaters control the project completion date is not acceptable. Yet this trend continued for another month. Finally, the contractor revised the logic so that water heaters overlapped on some floors. The critical path is now starting to make a lot more sense.

That’s just it. A good scheduler should know what belongs on the critical path. Even when I am still building the baseline schedule I have an idea of what will be critical. During the monthly updates I believe I know what should be critical as well if my logic is still valid and the contractor makes sufficient progress.

Submittals tend to be ignored by the contractor because so many of them have large float values. Whenever a submittal pops up on the critical path after I make a preliminary run of the monthly update I get very suspicious. Most of the time, the contractor’s memory improves dramatically when I tell him a submittal is on the critical path (“oh yeah, we submitted those shop drawings weeks ago!”).

Schedulers cannot afford to be gullible. People gives us bad data all the time and expect a good result. Not going to happen! The guy who told me he was 75 percent complete last month will report that he is 60 percent complete this month. Which number is the truth? The reality is that we tend to get better information on the most critical activities because everyone more or less understands what “critical” means (fingers crossed).

So how do we avoid becoming pigeons? Here are a few things to consider:

  1. Never publish a schedule until the draft version has been reviewed by the project stakeholders. We do not want someone coming back and saying the logic is wrong, the durations are a fantasy, etc. after the schedule has been submitted to the owner.
  2. Use Activity Steps on complex tasks to make it easier to report progress. I think Activity Steps are one of the best features in Primavera P6 ignored by most casual users.
  3. “Gut check” the critical path. Even if the critical path seems acceptable to other project stakeholders, they are probably not scheduling experts and they certainly do not understand the details of the schedule nearly as well.
  4. Always use Retained Logic as the scheduling method in Primavera P6 for activities with progress. Nothing keeps you, and everyone else, honest like being confronted with out-of-sequence work.
  5. Avoid unnecessary logic changes. If the project is not going according to plan, why? If the owner is causing work to be performed out-of-sequence we need to preserve the logic to show the delay. But if the contractor has simply changed his mind, by all means modify the logic to keep it realistic.
  6. Educate yourself. If scheduling is not something you really understand, you need training or guidance. I studied CPM in college, but I really did not know how to apply it correctly until I started working side-by-side with professional schedulers.

There you have it. Spread your wings and fly! Okay, so perhaps that is not really the best metaphor.

 

 

 

 

 


Spring is in the air, which means another release of Primavera P6 Professional Project Management (PPM) and Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM).

The list of changes to Primavera P6 Professional is short, but sweet. First, after years of begging, Oracle has finally introduced a feature that has long been part of Microsoft Project: the ability to show the relationship type and lag in the Activity Table. Yes! Previously, this information was only available in a tabular Report or by exporting to Microsoft Excel. Now we can finally show this level of detail in a graphical setting. These are new columns called Predecessor Details and Successor Details, as seen below:

Primavera Scheduling

Second, Claim Digger has been moved to Visualizer and is now called Schedule Comparison. I suspect this was done to avoid the problem of running Claim Digger with the SQLite database. This type of database does not support third-party applications like Claim Digger, which is an important tool for many Primavera users. Rather than wait for SQLite to change its spots, Oracle apparently decided to take a more proactive stance.

Quite a few enhancements have been added to Primavera P6 EPPM to improve performance and to bring it more into line with Primavera P6 Professional:

  • Advanced HTML5 Activity and EPS Views
  • Basic HTML5 Resource Assignment View
  • Additional copy project options
  • Daily Timescale in Team Usage View
  • Additional Global Search & Replace functionality
  • Streamlined installation and management of the P6 Pro application with the removal of JRE

One of the new copy project options is the ability to copy projects that are linked to other projects but not copy those (external) relationships. Previously, we could only choose to not copy external relationships when copying one or more activities. Now this option can be applied to the entire project.

HTML5 pages load faster than the Java-based applets that were originally used in Primavera P6 EPPM and do not require plugins. The HTML5-based pages are referred to as Basic View, but users have the option of viewing the Java-based pages in Classic View.

Relationship types and lags can also be shown in the Activity Table in Primavera P6 EPPM.

Additional information regarding these enhancements can be found here. In addition, Oracle has created a very nifty app called the Cumulative Feature Overview Tool. It is sort of like Claim Digger for analyzing different versions of Primavera P6. You input which version you are currently using and the tool will tell you what features have been added since then, and when the changes were introduced. Click here to access the Cumulative Feature Overview Tool.

 

 


3 Strategies for Weather in a Schedule

Categories: P6 EPPM, P6 Professional, P6 Tricks, P6 Web, Primavera P6
Comments Off on 3 Strategies for Weather in a Schedule

protectionUnless you are working indoors, weather is always a consideration when building a CPM schedule. Somehow, normal weather must be addressed for any work that can be impacted by inclement weather. Our only concern should be normal weather; unusual weather is an excusable delay. This of course raises the issue of how do we determine what exactly is normal weather? Contracts often mention that time extensions will only be granted for abnormal weather without defining normal weather. It is easy to find weather data: in the United States the best source of historical weather conditions would be the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The NOAA has records for thousands of weather stations around the country that in some cases go back a hundred years or more.

Even so, there is not a single standard for applying NOAA data. Should we take the average for the past four years to determine what is normal? Five years? Six? Federal contracts generally rely upon an average of the last ten years to determine normal weather conditions. (As a personal aside, I have lived in California for 11 years and the weather during the past four years has been radically different than what I first encountered in 2004). Most private construction contracts are unfortunately silent as to what sort of average might be considered reasonable.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is probably the best example of how to specify normal weather. The USACE typically tells contractors how many days of inclement weather to include in the CPM schedule each month. NOAA data would only tell us the average temperature and precipitation, which leaves open to interpretation how a day with, say, 0.1″ of precipitation should be treated. For good or bad, the USACE specifications leave no doubt how many days should be blocked out for weather – not including weekends and holidays. Contractors can not claim they thought it would only rain or snow on weekends!

Some State agencies use a methodology similar to the USACE. Last year I was teaching a highway contractor in Minnesota how to schedule projects using Primavera P6. Someone pulled out the specifications for an upcoming project. Glancing down to the weather provisions, I was not surprised to see that the Minnesota Department of Transportation expected contractors to block out 20 days for inclement weather in January beyond weekends and holidays. In case you are wondering, that wipes out the entire month! I was there in March and it was still below zero degrees in the morning. Winter work is nearly impossible outside unless you are ice fishing.

Sometimes, the contractor does not have to address inclement weather at all. The California Department of Transportation (CalTRANS) specifies contract durations in working days. As the project moves along CalTRANS tallies only the days the contractor is able to works. Bad weather days are not counted. As you might have guessed, this means the project end date shown in the baseline schedule assumes perfect weather and therefore is unlikely to be maintained.

Once we have established some sort of standard for normal weather, we can then move on to a strategy for incorporating this weather into the CPM schedule. Below are the three basic strategies that I use, in my order of preference:

I. Add Normal Weather to the Work Calendar

If the owner has already told me how many days of normal inclement weather to anticipate, it is logical to block out this number of days as if they were holidays. While it is not possible to distinguish a weather day from a holiday in Primavera P6, I try to put my weather days on any Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays to avoid Monday holidays like Labor Day, Memorial Day and Presidents Day. Obviously Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday but otherwise this works pretty well. NOAA data can even tell us which days of the month typically have the most precipitation if we want to find the best candidates for weather days. I also have a Project Notebook Topic I created in Primavera P6 called “Weather” that I use to list the weather days included in the schedule. This removes any doubt as to why these days were blocked out.

This approach does require two work calendars, however. One work calendar will be for the weather-sensitive work while the other will not include any weather days. After all, shop drawings are not affected by weather and there are usually some field activities that take place indoors. Otherwise the two calendars will probably share the same holidays.

At the end of the month, many schedulers like to replace the planned weather days with the actual weather days. This creates a historical record of when the inclement weather occurred. But actual weather days are presumably being tracked elsewhere so I consider this step to be optional.

II. Create a Contingency Activity for Normal Weather

I started using this strategy in the 1980s as a way to show early completion. The contractor would plan to finish the project early so we needed an activity to bridge the gap between the early completion milestone and the contractual completion milestone. Not all owners would accept the contractor’s right to finish early. In some cases the owner would issue a no-cost change order to modify the contract completion date. Basically, the owner was calling the contractor’s bluff. If the contractor figured he could finish early then why not make that the new contract completion date? Otherwise, the contractor might submit a delay claim based on not being able to finish the project early even though the owner never requested the earlier completion date.

On some projects the bid documents are held in escrow; if a delay claim is submitted the bid documents can be reviewed to see if the contractor based his overhead costs on the shorter project duration. A CPM schedule that shows early completion is often viewed with suspicion unless there is further proof. But in some cases the contract documents specify that early completion is not allowed. The contract effectively becomes a professional services agreement with a fixed time frame.

Normal inclement weather can also be treated as a contingency. The number of expected weather days are added up and inserted into an activity between early completion and contract completion. In this case, however, we are not really expecting to finish early; the contingency will disappear if the total amount of normal inclement weather is realized. During each update we reduce the remaining duration of the contingency activity by the number of actual weather days incurred. In theory, there will be no more weather days once the remaining duration reaches zero days. Otherwise, the contractor is entitled to a time extension.

Both the first and second strategies require an analysis to determine how many weather days are to be expected over the life of the project. Unless the number of weather days are specified in the contract there could be disagreements as to how many days should be included. A smaller number helps the contractor with delay claims while a bigger number protects the owner against the very same claims. Activity durations should be based on perfect weather, as normal weather is accounted for by either the calendar or the contingency.

III. Add Normal Weather to the Activity Durations

This is the oldest strategy and does not require as much effort as the other strategies. The contractor simply adds additional time to the activity durations based on the expected weather. I list this strategy last because it is nearly impossible to verify how much time was added for weather unless the contractor keeps detailed notes (such as using an Activity Notebook Topic in Primavera P6 to explain where the days were added). Moreover, the contractor needs to know what time of year each activity will take place before he can add the right amount of time. For this reason schedule logic is needed first so that the start and finish dates are reasonably accurate. But the reason I list this strategy last is that if an activity is delayed the added time for weather may now be too much or too little. Constant monitoring is required to ensure that activities have not moved into a time frame with different weather conditions.

Update: a member of the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering took exception to this third method after my original post was published. He felt this method should never be used and referred to the AACE’s Recommended Practice for addressing weather in a schedule. But he was missing the point. I have used this third method for years without any issues. Keep in mind that if the weather days are shown on the calendar or as a contingency activity the contractor has boxed himself into a corner. He cannot later claim he expected fewer normal weather days.

The contractor may very well want to give himself some “wiggle room” to clarify his understanding of normal weather once a dispute arises. And who can blame him if the owner does not specify the number of weather days either? The owner is legally responsible for any ambiguities in the contract documents. Conversely, if the contractor feels he has been treated fairly by the owner on all other matters, he may be willing to concede a few weather days that he otherwise felt entitled to claim.

Let’s use liquidated damages as an analogy. Liquidated damages clauses have been around for decades. A contractor is put on notice that a specific amount of money will be withheld by the owner for each day he is late. Liquidated damages are an approximation of the financial impact caused by the project being delivered late. As such, liquidated damages cannot (and are not required to) be proven. The contractor may think the liquidated damages are outrageous, but this is not a matter for negotiation.

Yet the same owner has no clue how many days should be included in the schedule for normal inclement weather? There are multiple sources of historical data to help him make this decision. So perhaps the owner wants a little “wiggle room” as well. He has the information necessary to make a decision; he just decided to leave the contract ambiguous. Shame on him.

The bottom line is that most construction contracts do not adequately address the definition of normal weather. AACE’s Recommended Practice is not the solution either since it still leaves this matter open to interpretation.

What is your favorite method of addressing inclement weather? I can be reached here.


Viewing Data in a Shared Database

Categories: Databases, P6 EPPM, P6 Professional, P6 Web
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puzzlePrimavera P6 users who share a database with other users will not see the most current changes being made by the other users right away. The other users must commit their changes, and then the user will be able to refresh his or her screen to see these changes. We will discuss how changes to a project are committed to the database first.

Most users commit their changes to the database without realizing it. For that matter, many users are not even aware of any specific procedures for committing changes. Yet it happens on a pretty regular basis as long as the other users take one of the following actions:

  • Closing the application
  • Choose File, Commit Data (F10)
  • Choose File, Refresh (F5)
  • Summarize Projects
  • Apply Actuals
  • Schedule
  • Import/Export
  • Delete a resource
  • Delete a project
  • Change a user password
  • Open a project
  • Close a project
  • Save a project baseline
  • Save a layout in Tracking View
  • Add a resource and complete the New Resource Wizard
  • Create a new Report using the Report Wizard
  • Import or Export a report
  • Select a baseline project to use and click OK
  • Edit a calendar from Enterprise, Calendars
  • Delete a Resource Shift from Enterprise, Resource Shifts 
  • Modify a Resource Shift and click Close
  • Leveling resources


Whew! And that is not even the complete list! So if the other users are moving around the program quite a lot they will probably commit their changes to the database by “accident”. Which is fine, but if someone is adding a long list of activities and doing nothing else, other users who open the same project will not see these changes. But as seen below, switching from one of these views to another will also commit changes:

  • Projects View
  • Reports View
  • Resources View
  • Tracking View
  • WBS View
  • Work Products and Documents View
  • Activities View


Once the changes have been committed to the database then other users simply need to refresh this data on their screen. Thankfully, this list is pretty short:

  • Choose File, Refresh
  • Save a copy of the current project as the baseline
  • Choose Tools, Check Project Integrity
  • Selecting Apply on various windows within P6


The user making changes would not lose them because he or she failed to commit changes for the simple reason that closing Primavera P6 automatically commits changes. For that matter, I have never seen a situation where data was lost even when Primavera P6 crashes. So the only concern is whether other users are seeing the latest revisions.


Dissolving vs Deleting P6 Activities

Categories: P6 EPPM, P6 Professional, P6 Tricks, P6 Web
Comments Off on Dissolving vs Deleting P6 Activities

We all make mistakes, or perhaps the scope of work has changed, which leads to activities being deleted in the schedule. And most users will simply delete the unnecessary activities. This, however, often leads to open ends in the logic. After all, you might be deleting the only successor to another activity in the schedule, or deleting the only predecessor to another activity. To avoid this problem, I dissolve activities instead.

All of the current versions of Primavera scheduling software have the ability to dissolve activities: Primavera Contractor, Primavera P6 Professional, and Primavera P6 EPPM. But dissolving activities is nothing new, as Primavera P3 incorporated this feature many years ago. Regardless, many P3 users ignored the feature and continue to do so in the current programs.

So what exactly does “dissolve” do? Well, when you dissolve an activity its predecessors are linked to the successors of the dissolved activity. Say for example that Activity A precedes Activity B, which in turn precedes Activity C. Dissolving Activity B would result in Activity A becoming a predecessor to Activity C. In theory this should be an acceptable change to the logic, since Activity A was already an indirect predecessor to Activity C.

Here is an example of how the dissolving process works. In the screenshot below I have three activities, each with a duration of 5 days, linked together using Finish to Start relationships. So the total amount of time required for these three tasks in 15 days:

Dissolve Activity_1

 

In the next screenshot, I have highlighted Activity B and then right-clicked to select dissolve from the menu:

Dissolve Activity_2

 

Now that Activity B has been dissolved, Activity A is a predecessor to Activity C and the total amount of time has been reduced to 10 days:

Dissolve Activity_3

 

Easy as pie, unless I’m the one baking it. While it is always a good idea to check the Schedule Log for possible open ends elsewhere in the schedule, there should be no open ends as a result of dissolving activities.

Any questions? Feel free to contact me.

 


Oracle released new versions of P6 Professional Project Management (PPM) and P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM) in March 2015. Version 15.1 is the first new release since Version 8.4 was released last September. Why the big jump in numbering? Well, Oracle tells us that all future releases will incorporate the year it was released, so Version 15.1 is the first release of 2015. If nothing else, it will be easier to remember when you bought the software!

 

The biggest improvement is the ability to export baselines along with the current schedule. Yes! Now when you send a schedule to another party they can access the same baselines that you are using. In the past, recipients would have to convert existing schedules in order to make baseline comparisons. However, the sender can choose which, if any, baselines to export.

Note: schedules must be exported in the P6 XML format in order to take advantage of this new feature.

Other changes in Version 15.1 include:

  • Visualizer can now be run on a computer without installing P6 Professional, so users who only want to view a time-scaled logic diagram (TSLD) do not need access to the P6 module.
  • Resource bucket planning is supported. Planned and remaining units can be typed in the remaining time periods (days, weeks, etc.) for more accurate forecasting. Doing this changes the resource curve to manual, indicating that resources are being distributed manually.
  • The ability to cut, copy and paste multiple projects at the same time, which was previously not possible in the P6 Web component of EPPM.
  • The ability to customize columns in the Project, WBS and Activity detail windows, not previously possible in the P6 Web component of EPPM
  • Start, Finish and WBS can now be added as columns in the relationships detail window, also not previously possible in the P6 Web component of EPPM.
In addition, Version 15.1 improves the P6 Professional component of EPPM by restoring the following features that are available to standalone users:
  • EPS
  • OBS
  • Project Codes
  • Activity Step Templates
  • Cost Accounts
  • Funding Sources

Connecting to an EPPM database using the P6 Professional component has always been somewhat of a compromise in the past in terms of functionality so it is nice to see these “new” features.

 

The ability to export baselines and resource bucket planning are the game-changers on this new release. Having to send projects to someone else and then instruct them to convert projects as baselines on their end is a time-consuming process. Pretty much any time I update a project I want to compare progress to a baseline – typically the previous update or the original plan. So this feature is most welcome.

 

Likewise, resource bucket planning was something needed for quite some time. Some of my clients are planning projects that will last 10, 20 or even 50 (!) years. Being able to distribute resources manually as more information becomes available is very important. Funding for long-term projects is often subject to annual appropriations so the resources must be adjusted accordingly.

 

We have been teaching Version 15.1 in our live online and in-person classes for the past two months and have been very impressed with the enhancements. For additional information regarding Version 15.1 click here for P6 Professional and here for P6 EPPM.

 

Below are screenshots from P6 EPPM demonstrating the new export baselines and resource bucket planning features:

 

Copy Baselines_P6 EPPM 15.1
Resource Bucket Planning_P6 EPPM 15.1

The Pitfalls of Using Multiple Calendars

Categories: P6 Calendars, P6 Optional Client, P6 Professional, P6 Web
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Projects often require more than one calendar. For example, the office personnel work 8 hours per day, but the field personnel work 10 hours per day (a good reason to be stuck indoors, I suppose). Another reason might be that some activities involve a process that continues around the clock – concrete curing or a test that has to be performed continuously for several days. One of my clients manufacturers most of its components overseas and uses a 7-day calendar for shipping the components to the United States but the fabrication activities are based on a 5-day work week with holidays. So multiple calendars is a sensible approach.

Nevertheless, using more than one calendar on a project is liable to create issues in Primavera P6. Activities will seemingly start or finish on the wrong day. In most situations we would expect that with a Finish to Start relationship the predecessor finishes the day before the successor starts. This is unlikely, however, if the number of hours being worked each day do not match for the predecessor and successor. In the following example I have a predecessor using an 8-hour calendar and a successor using a 10-hour calendar:

Multiple Calendars_Before

 

The 8-hour task has a start time of 8:00 am and a finish time of 5:00 pm with a 1-hour lunch break. The 10-hour calendar has the same start time but the workday does not end until 7:00 pm. Therefore, the successor can work for two hours on the same day that the predecessor finishes. Since most users do not show the time of day in the date columns it will appear that the relationship between these two activities is something other than Finish to Start.

This problem will reverberate throughout the schedule as one activity after another starts and finishes slightly off the usual time. In order to locate the source of the problem I will sort the activities by the Start date, display the time of day in the date columns and look for the first task that does not start at the usual time.

But how do we stop this from happening in the first place?

The solution is quite simple. Give the 8-hour calendar and the 10-hour calendar the same start and finish times.

I know what you are thinking. The math doesn’t work!

Well, it just takes a bit of fibbing. See, I create an 8-hour calendar with a 2-hour lunch break and a 10-hour calendar with no lunch break. Now both calendars have the same start and finish times. Problem solved. (Our company slogan is “Problems Solved” but I will settle for just one right now).

My solution is displayed below:

Multiple Calendars_After

 

The reality is that most users do not want to see the time of day in the date columns so the 2-hour lunch break has no effect whatsoever. I seriously doubt some worker will disappear for two hours because of the CPM schedule. If he or she does, I will buy them lunch!

Some of you might wonder why we should have two different calendars at all if the start and finish times are going to be exactly the same. Well, for resource-loaded schedules it is important to have the hours per day match expectations.

My oil & gas and nuclear clients who schedule by the hour would never submit to this ruse because the time of day will of course be displayed. It is not enough to say an activity starts on, say, Monday, because the activity durations are just a few hours typically. So the next task starts the same day. But for the rest of us this solution works quite well.

I employ a similar strategy for my 7-day calendars. I make sure that the start and finish times match my other calendars. Which means my concrete curing activities typically start at 8:00 am, take a lunch break, and stop at 5:00 pm if my other calendar is an 8-hour calendar. Using a 24-hour calendar would just make things too complicated.

Any questions? Fee free to contact me.


What “Delete This Row” Really Means in a P6 Spreadsheet

Categories: P6 EPPM, P6 Optional Client, P6 Professional, P6 Web, Primavera Training
Comments Off on What “Delete This Row” Really Means in a P6 Spreadsheet

During a private Primavera P6 training session last week I was showing my client how to import changes into a P6 schedule using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. As you probably know, there are basically four steps involved: (1) create a spreadsheet template inside P6, (2) export the spreadsheet, (3) make changes to the spreadsheet, and (4) import the spreadsheet back into P6. There are a few basic rules to follow, such as not changing the order of the columns in the spreadsheet after it has been exported, but otherwise it is an easy way to share Primavera P6 data with individuals who may not have access to (or understand how to use) P6.

As a consultant, I use spreadsheets all the time for schedule updates. I send spreadsheets to my clients and ask them to provide the status of each activity that has been started or completed since the previous update. I rarely have to input this information manually. This process saves a lot of time and I can focus on more important tasks such as checking the critical path, and looking for open ends and out-of-sequence progress.

Anyone who has used a spreadsheet exported from Primavera P6 has probably noticed the mysterious column that P6 adds at the end. This column is not part of the template created in P6 but always appears in the exported file. While both rows 1 and 2 are column headers, it is the second row that most people notice because of its somewhat cryptic message:

“Delete This Row”

My client understood this instruction to mean that the second row should be deleted prior to importing the spreadsheet back into Primavera P6. And where did they get this crazy idea? From the in-house P6 expert. Granted, it does appear that P6 is telling you to delete the second row. And the real meaning of this instruction does involve deleting a row.

Here’s the deal. Deleting rows in the spreadsheet does not delete the activities when the spreadsheet is imported back into Primavera P6. I sometimes forget to use a filter in my spreadsheet template and when I realize there are more activities in the spreadsheet than I intended, it is often faster just to delete the rows rather than re-export the spreadsheet. And for this reason I also warn my clients that deleting a row in the spreadsheet is not the proper way to get rid of activities that are no longer needed.

The purpose of “Delete This Row” is in fact to delete one or more rows. You type “d” in this column next to any activity that should be deleted from the schedule. When the spreadsheet is imported back into Primavera P6 the activities with “d” next to them will be deleted. It is actually a great way for someone to communicate to me that certain activities should be deleted. In the graphic below, Activity ID 21 has been designated for deletion:

 

Delete This Row_Primavera P6

 

Keep in mind, that when activities are deleted there is a chance that it creates open ends in the logic network, so it is very important to check for missing predecessors and/or successors before publishing the schedule. Otherwise, “Delete This Row” is a very convenient way to get rid of unwanted activities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Primavera P6 R8.4 Database Options

Categories: Claim Digger, P6 EPPM, P6 Professional, P6 Web, Primavera P6
Comments Off on Primavera P6 R8.4 Database Options

Coal miner at work with pick axIn a recent blog for Construction Science I discussed some of the new features of Release 8.4 for Primavera P6 Professional and EPPM. Today I would like to discuss the database options for a standalone installation of P6 Professional. Oracle 10g Express (Oracle XE) has been included with P6 for several years. Users could also choose from one of several versions of Microsoft’s SQL Server, but most opted for SQL Server 2005 Express Edition because it is a free program. Both of these options are still available. But Release 8.4 introduces another option, SQLite. The advantage of SQLite is that it does not have the size limitation of Oracle XE (4 GB) and is easier to manage than Oracle XE or Microsoft SQL. Backing up a database is now as easy as copying a file folder because SQLite is a serverless database engine. For users who have struggled with Oracle XE or Microsoft SQL Server, SQLite seems like a great option.

Ah, but there is a trade-off for simplicity! Oracle’s Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are not compatible with SQLite. This is something Oracle intends to fix in a future P6 release or patch. APIs are the building blocks of many software programs, and while it is not something most of us would ever realize, Oracle’s Claim Digger is an API. So Claim Digger is not accessible when using SQLite. For me, that is a deal-breaker. I use Claim Digger nearly every day to analyze files. In some situations my clients have more than one version of a baseline schedule or update on their server and they no longer remember why. If some of these files are in fact identical we can delete them without any concern. At the very least, Claim Digger will tell us what the differences are. Most owners also expect contractors to explain what changes were made during the update process, and the Claim Digger report usually suffices.

Claim Digger does have some limitations, which I will discuss in a future blog, and there are third-party programs that are more powerful. However, Claim Digger is included with P6 so it is a tool that all users have access to without spending more money. I will accept free help anytime!

Also, because SQLite is truly a single-user environment, there are several other restrictions:

  • There are no User or Security Profiles, as there can only be one user
  • All projects are opened in Shared mode; Read Only and Exclusive modes are disabled
  • Sending e-mail notifications of Project Issues is not supported
  • Advanced import options are disabled for projects in XML format
  • Check In and Check Out of projects are disabled
  • There are no options to save data for All Users or Another User (layouts, etc.)
  • Job Services is not supported; Jobs cannot be scheduled
  • Update Baseline and Risk Analysis are not supported