Project Planning with Primavera®

Course Objectives
• Plan, Schedule, & Manage projects
• Cost & Resource management decisions
• Team collaboration and workflow productivity
• Contributor's skills & responsibilities
• Track progress & Optimize capacity
• Deliver on-time and within budget
 Course Contents
‐ Lesson 1 Introduction to Primavera
‐ Lesson 2 The Project Management Life Cycle
‐ Lesson 3 Data, Navigating, and Layouts
‐ Lesson 4 Enterprise Project Structure
‐ Lesson 5 Creating a Project
‐ Lesson 6 Creating a Work Breakdown Structure
‐ Lesson 7 Adding Activities
 Course Contents
‐ Lesson 8 Creating Relationships
‐ Lesson 9 Scheduling
‐ Lesson 10 Assigning Constraints
‐ Lesson 11 Maintaining Project Document Library
‐ Lesson 12 Formatting Schedule Data
‐ Lesson 13 Roles and Resources
‐ Lesson 14 Assigning Roles
 Course Contents
‐ Lesson 15 Assigning Resources & Costs
‐ Lesson 16 Analyzing Resources
‐ Lesson 17 Optimizing the Project Plan
‐ Lesson 18 Baselining the Project Plan
‐ Lesson 19 Project Execution & Control
‐ Lesson 20 Reporting Performance
‐ Lesson 21 Project Website
Lesson 1
Introduction to Primavera
 Introduction to Primavera
• History
• Oracle Primavera P6
 History
• Primavera roots go back to 1983 when it was first
launched as PC based software for construction and
engineering projects.
• In 2008, Oracle announced it has agreed to acquire
Primavera Software, Inc., a leading provider of
Project Portfolio Management (PPM) solutions, to
accelerate its momentum in delivering mission-
critical operational applications.
• “Primavera P6 EPPM version 8.3” used during
course.
 Oracle Primavera P6
• Oracle Primavera P6 Enterprise Project
Portfolio Management (P6 EPPM) is a robust
and easy-to-use integrated solution for globally
– Prioritizing
– Planning
– Managing
– Executing
projects, programs, and portfolios
 Oracle Primavera P6 (cont’d)
• It optimizes role-specific functionality to
satisfy each team member's
– Needs
– Responsibilities
– Skills
 Oracle Primavera P6 (cont’d)
• It provides a single solution for managing projects
• of any size
• adapts to various levels of complexity within a project
• intelligently scales to meet the needs of
– Various roles
– Functions
– Skill levels
(In the organization and on project team)
 Oracle Primavera P6
Oracle Primavera P6 Enterprise
Project Portfolio Management
Suite

Source: Oracle, P6 User’s Guide Release 8.3

 Primary interface for administering and managing
projects

Source: http://docs.oracle.com
 Application
• P6: Most users will rely almost exclusively on
the P6 web application running in a standard
web browser. Simply termed P6, it is the
primary interface for administering and
managing projects.

Source: http://docs.oracle.com
 Application (cont’d)
• P6 Team Member Interfaces: Optional interfaces for
team members to use to provide status on their tasks.
– P6 Team Member Web: This web interface allows team
members to provide status on their tasks using a web
browser.
– P6 Team Member for iOS and P6 Team Member for
Android: These mobile apps allows team members to
provide status on their tasks while working "on the go".
– P6 Team Member E-mail Statusing Service: This method
allows team members to provide status on their tasks using
any HTML or plain text e-mail application.
 Application (cont’d)
• P6 Professional for EPPM:  The P6 web application is
the main interface for all project management
functionality. You can also use the P6 Professional
software to take advantage of its core project planning
and scheduling functionality. The P6 Professional
application and its features, including P6 Visualizer, run
on Microsoft Windows. P6 Professional is also available
for users who need to work on their projects in an
offline mode. P6 Professional is available for P6 EPPM
users working in a Cloud environment.
 Application (cont’d)
• P6 Professional Cloud Connect: Connects P6
Professional to an EPPM Oracle database on
the cloud. P6 Integration API (in remote
mode) is installed by default. Using this, P6
EPPM users working on a WAN environment
can achieve performance levels comparable to
compression server installation. This is
optional for on premises users.
 Application (cont’d)
• P6 Progress Reporter: P6 EPPM includes the P6
Progress Reporter integrated timesheet entry
software. Resources use P6 Progress Reporter to
record their time spent working on assignments via
electronic timesheets, and approving managers use
P6 to review and approve them.
• P6 Integration API: A Java-based application
programming interface (API) enabling your P6 EPPM
deployment to interface with other components and
systems.

Source: http://docs.oracle.com
 Application (cont’d)
• P6 EPPM Web Services : P6 EPPM Web Services is an
integration technology that extends P6 business objects and
functionality. Based on open standards including SOAP, XML
and WSDL, P6 EPPM Web Services enables developers to
leverage standard interfaces to create integrated software
solutions that interoperate with a wide variety of enterprise
software applications running on a diversity of hardware
and operating system platforms.
• P6 Analytics: An optional integrated dynamic reporting tool
with advanced visual features, including dashboards.

Source: http://docs.oracle.com
 Functionality
• Core Enterprise Functionality: Use P6 for all of the following
core enterprise functionality:
• Administration and Enterprise Data: Administer user accounts,
preferences, views, application settings, and enterprise data.
• Project, Portfolio, and Resource Management: P6 provides an
extensive array of features designed to optimize all phases of
Project Management, Resource Management, and Portfolio
Management. It includes full support for activities, work
breakdown structures, costs, resource administration and
assignment, roles, teams, portfolio analysis, capacity planning,
and convenient dashboards for measuring status at any level at
every moment.

Source: http://docs.oracle.com
 Functionality (cont’d)
• Document Management: P6 includes
document management support with or
without the optional document repository
option. Use the optional document
collaboration features to conduct document
reviews with key stakeholders to keep projects
moving or meet regulatory compliance.

Source: http://docs.oracle.com
 Functionality (cont’d)
• Workflows: The workflow engine bundled
with P6 EPPM provides Business Process
Modeling Notation (BPMN) compliant
graphical notation that depicts the steps in
your project initiation workflows. Use the
integrated Workflows portlet to coordinate
the sequence of tasks that flow between
different process participants in a series of
stages.

Source: http://docs.oracle.com
 Functionality (cont’d)
• Reports: Generate and view reports using your standard
web browser running P6. Reports can be generated
electronically and routed via e-mail, saved to a shared or
local file, or printed to a traditional printer.
• Planning and Scheduling: The optional P6 Professional
component of the suite provides a robust set of features
primarily for planners and schedulers, including
reflections, schedule comparison (Claim Digger), and a
report designer. Use the new built-in Time Scaled Logic
Diagram (TSLD) viewer to create and customize condensed
visual depictions of complex project schedule information.

Source: http://docs.oracle.com
 Functionality (cont’d)
• Time Reporting: P6 EPPM includes P6 Progress Reporter, an
optional integrated timesheet entry application.
• Integrated Solutions: Build or deploy other systems and use the
P6 Integration API or P6 EPPM Web Services to integrate them
with P6 EPPM.
• P6 Analytics: Extend your solution by adding P6 Analytics with
the Oracle Business Intelligence (OBI) metadata layer to facilitate
the creation of ad-hoc reports and interactive custom dashboards
reflecting trends and metrics for activities, portfolios, resource
assignments, utilization, and project history. Also receive
proactive alerts based on integrated report data mined from the
ODS and star databases.

Source: http://docs.oracle.com
 Technology
• The P6 EPPM Database: The main database
for all your P6 EPPM data.
• BPM Workflow: The separate workflow
engine bundled with P6 EPPM.
• Oracle BI Publisher: The database server
hosting the reporting library, templates, and
views required to build complex reports with
ease.

Source: http://docs.oracle.com
 Technology (cont’d)
• The Reporting Database: The P6 Reporting Database
portion of the suite consists of the Star database
and the Operational Data Store (ODS) database used
to extract, transform, and load data from the P6
EPPM database. This data is specifically designed to
be used to create reports.
• Oracle Universal Content Management: This server
hosts documents in a shared repository enabling
collaborative functionality such as document check-
out/check-in and versioning.

Source: http://docs.oracle.com
Lesson 2
Project Management Life Cycle
 PROJECT LIFE CYCLE / PHASES
Activity
Level

Initiating Planning Executing

Closing
Monitoring & Control

Project Start Project Close

Time
 PROJECT LIFE CYCLE / PHASES

Source: PMBOK 5
Lesson 3
Data, Navigating, and Layouts
 Enterprise data
• It provides a global structure needed to manage multiple projects.
• Available to all projects across the organization.
• Provides the structure necessary for centralized project and resource
management.
• Enterprise data is defined and maintained by administrator
• For example
– Enterprise Project Structure (EPS)
– Organizational breakdown Structure (OBS)
– Resource codes
– Project codes
– Resources
– Cost accounts
– Admin categories and references

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Enterprise data

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Project Specific Data
• Project specific data is only available to the project in
which it is defined.
• Project Manager defines project specific data to
further control his/her project.
• For Examples
– Dates -- Baselines
– Work Breakdown Structure -- Expenses
– Activities -- Risks
– Relationships -- Project Website
– Thresholds and Issues
– Work Products and Documents
Source: Primavera System Inc.
 Project Specific Data

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Enterprise/ Project Specific Data
• Following data are both enterprise data as
well as project specific data
– Calendars
– Reports
– Activity codes

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Enterprise/ Project Specific Data

Source: Primavera System Inc.

Logging In
Enter Password
Logging-in (In Progress)
 1
Interface
2

1. Title Bar : Display current application and name of open projects

3 2. Menu Bar : Click to perform functions in Primavera 5
3. Directory Bar : Click to display Primavera windows
4. Tool Bar : Displays icons to change the look and feel of the layout
5. Command Bar: Actions performed in an open window (Add, Delete etc.)
6. Status Bar : Displays Login Name, Data Date of open project, Access Mode, and

Current Baseline

6
Source: Primavera System Inc.
 1
Interface
2

Item Functionality
1. Title Bar Display current application and name of open projects
3 2. Menu Bar Click to perform functions in Primavera 5
3. Directory Bar Click to display Primavera windows
4. Tool Bar Displays icons to change the look and feel of the layout
5. Command Bar Actions performed in an open window (Add, Delete etc.)
6. Status Bar Displays Login Name, Data Date of open project, Access Mode,
and Current Baseline

6
Source: Primavera System Inc.
 Open an Existing Project
• The Open Project dialog box lists all the projects you
have access to open
– Open a single project indicated by
– Open a single node indicated by
– All projects under the node are opened.
• Open multiple projects
under different nodes
– Press Click-Ctrl to open
more than one project.

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Access Modes
• One has the option to select an access mode prior to opening a
project.
– Read Only
• You can view data but cannot
input or change data
– Shared
• Multiple users can view, input,
and change data (Default)
– 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.

Source: Primavera System Inc.

•
Activities Window
Activities window is used to create, view, and edit activities for open project.
1 2 3 4

8
Source: Primavera System Inc.
 Details
Item Functionality
1. Tool Bar It allows you to change look the layout
2. Activity Bar Displays activity information in spreadsheet format
3. Gantt Chart Provides graphical display of activity progress over time
4. Command Bar Displays options for adding or removing activity data
5. Layout Option Bar Displays menu of available options for activities window
6. Vertical Split Bar Drag bar to hide/show more information in each pane
7. Activity Details View/edit detailed information for selected activity
8. Horizontal Split Bar Hide or show more information in top / bottom layouts

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Layouts
• It is 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.

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 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

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Activity Layouts (cont’d)
• Choose one of the following to show on bottom:
– Activity details
– Activity table
– Gantt chart
– Activity usage spreadsheet
– Resource usage spreadsheet
– Activity usage spreadsheet
– Resource usage profile
– Trace logic

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Opening an Existing Activity Layout
• A variety of layouts are available to present activity
data from different perspectives. One can create
user specific layouts and project specific layouts, or
use global layouts provided by the company.
• After selecting a layout one can either click Apply
or Open
– Apply – displays layout but keeps Open Layout dialog
box open.
– Open – displays layout and closes Open Layout dialog
box.

Source: Primavera System Inc.

Layout Open (Step 1)
Layout Open (Step 2)
 Exercise
• In the layout option bar click layout, click Open
• If you make changes to current layout and want
to keep the changes choose “Yes” otherwise
“No”. In most cases choose “No”
• When prompted to save change to the layout
click “No”.
• Select a layout, “Classic EPS/WBS Layout”.
• Click Apply.

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 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
– Bar area
• Activity Table: displays activity data in columns
• Bar Area: Provides a graphical display of activity
progress over the duration of the project
Source: Primavera System Inc.
 Gantt Chart (Figure)

Activity Table Bar Area

 Activity Usage Spreadsheet
• It displays unit, cost, or earned value data by activity over
time. Use this type of layout to review per period and
rolled up activity resource/cost data.
• One can customize the timescale of the Activity Usage
Spreadsheet:
• Move the timescale to focus on a specific time period –
Point in timescale until cursor displays and then slide
cursor left or right.
• Expand the timescale to widen/ narrow width of columns
– Point in minor date interval until the cursor displays
and then slide cursor left or right.

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Exercise
• In the Layout Options bar, click Show on Top,
Activity Usage Spreadsheet.
• In the Layout Options bar, click Show on
Bottom, No Bottom Layout.
• Expand the Time scale
• Move the timescale to display current month
of last year.

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Activity Network
• Use the Activity Network to view the
relationships between activities and the
logical flow of activities in the project
• Left pane: displays the WBS hierarchy
• Right pane: shows a graphical display of
activities and their relationships

Source: Primavera System Inc.

Activity Network
 Exercise
• In the Layout Options bar, click Show on Top,
Activity Network.
• In the Toolbar click several times to have a
closer look at the activities.

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Activity Table
• It enables to see the project data in
spreadsheet format. One can also modify the
columns displayed in the Activity Table to
meet the needs.
• It can be displayed on the entire sheet as well.

Source: Primavera System Inc.

Figure: Activity Table
 Exercise
• In the Layout Options bar, click Show on Top,
Table.

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Customizing a Layout
• Activities windows can be customized and saved as a layout.
Saving layouts for future use allows you to quickly retrieve
information.
• The Layout Option bar is the centralize menu for layout
customization.
• Layout elements’ list that are customizable
• Bars -- Timescale
• Columns -- Table font and Colors
• Row heights -- Filters
• Activity grouping and sorting
• Top/bottom layouts.

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Selecting Columns
• The Column 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 one has chosen to display
• Single arrows – move highlighted data items to the other section
• Double arrow – move all data items to the other section
• Up/down arrow – configure the order of the data items
• Click Edit Columns to edit the selected item’s title and choose its
alignment in the display

Source: Primavera System Inc.

Figure: Columns
 Exercise
• In the “Layout Options” bar, click “Columns”
• In the Available Option Bar, click Group & Sort By List
• Select a data item to display in the Activity Table;
Budgeted Labor Cost
• Click to move the selected data item into the
Selected Options
• Use the Navigation Arrow to configure the order of
the data item
• Click Apply

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Using Hint Help in Columns Dialog Box

• It can be used to view a definition for any data

item

Source: Primavera System Inc.

Figure: Hint Help
 Exercise
• In the Available options bar, click Hint Help
• Click a data item, Budgeted Labor Cost.
• In the Available Options bar, click Hint Help to
disable the onscreen help dialog box.
• Click OK

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Displaying Activities Details
• Activities Details displays detailed information
for the activity highlighted in the Activity Table
or Activity Network.

Source: Primavera System Inc.

Figure: Activity Details
 Exercise
• In the Layout Options bar, click Show on
Bottom, Activity Details.

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Selecting Details Tab
• The tabs displayed in Activity Details can be
customized

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Exercise
• In the Layout Options bar, click Bottom Layout
Options
• In the Available Tabs Sections, select Feedback
• Click to move the selected data item into
the Display Tabs section.
• Click OK.
• Figures Follows …

Source: Primavera System Inc.

Figure 1: Exercise
Figure 2: Exercise
 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 – Save changes to existing layout.
• Layout, Save as – only the user saving 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 the access to the layout.

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Saving Layouts (cont’d)
– Project – Apply the layout to any project that is
currently open in the Primavera. Though Project-
specific layouts can be applied to multiple
projects, you can only select one project 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 layouts offer two advantages.
• Exported with the project when it is exported
• Enhanced organization of multi-user layouts.

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Exercise
• In the Layout Options bar, click Layout, Save
As.
• Type a Layout name <Classic WBS with
Budgeted with Labor Cost>
• Verify Current User is selected in the Available
to drop-down list.
• Click Save
• Figures follow

Source: Primavera System Inc.

Figure 1: Exercise
Figure 2: Exercise
Figure 3: Exercise
 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.

Source: Primavera System Inc.

 Exercise
• In the File menu, click Close All
• When prompted, click Yes.
• Figures follow

Source: Primavera System Inc.

Figure 1: Exercise