Earned Value & Change Management Deficiencies When Reporting From Resource Assignments in Primavera P6

Earned Value & Change Management Deficiencies When Reporting From Resource Assignments in Primavera P6

This article is written for schedulers who are using the Resource Assignment functionality in Primavera P6 and performing the following functions as schedules are developed:

  1. Adding multiple resources to the same activity.
  2. Assigning different companies to resources on an activity.
  3. Utilizing resource codes to distinguish attributes such as direct and indirect labor.
  4. Utilizing a change management process to control added, modified, or deleted work.
  5. Using a dual baseline management process including:
    • Original Baseline – is set and never modified
    • Working Baseline – is updated based on ‘approved’ change orders
  6. Reporting earned and planned value at the resource assignment level.

One of the key benefits of using Primavera P6 is the ability to add two or more resources that perform work for two or more companies and then have the ability to look at the resource budgeted hours or cost at a company or resource level in a consolidated resource assignment view. Another added option is the summary resource reporting.

Note: Given the reporting capability defined above; company management and cost controllers will recognize and realize the benefit of the reports. In order to make the reports usable, however, cost accounts and a rigid company/resource reporting structure needs to be in place.

However, after stating the added benefit of resource budget reporting, Primavera P6 does not have the capability to further breakdown and report either earned or planned value at the resource level. All earned value calculations are performed and reported at a level no lower than the activity. One would think that given the ability to split a single activity at the resource assignment would have also led to the ability to report either earned or planned value at the resource assignment level. This deficiency has led schedulers to either perform manually intensive workarounds or simply assign one resource to one activity giving up one of the key benefits of Primavera P6.

Keep in mind however that in order to report any meaningful planned or earned values in Primavera P6, baseline management must take place to calculate Schedule Performance Index

the key benefits of using Primavera P6 is the ability to add two or more resources that (SPI). This should be done using both an Original baseline and a Working baseline which is used to manage approved changes.

As has been stated; as an activity is added to a schedule, multiple resources can be assigned to that activity as shown below:

An added benefit of the multi-company/multi-resource capability in Primavera P6 is the ability to map the Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS) to the resource performing that work. Even without storing actual cost in Primavera P6, performance could be reported back to the cost controller to help in the tracking of cost. This is generally accomplished by utilizing fields in Primavera P6 such as:

  • Cost Code or Work Order
  • Company
  • Total Budgeted Units (Direct and Indirect)
  • Earned Labor Units
  • Planned Labor Units BL (Primary or Original BL)
  • Planned Labor Units BL1 (Primary or Original BL)
  • Remaining Labor Units

The benefit does come with limitations. The fields noted above are not available at all levels in Primavera P6. Some are available at the activity level only while others are available at the resource level and viewable in the resource assignments view. Herein lies the issue; if there is one activity and two or more resources working for two or more different companies, you cannot report earned or planned values for those companies without going through multiple, time consuming steps. This is one of the main reasons so many schedulers today are seen moving data from Primavera to Excel during a projects lifecycle and as project change occurs.

The views shown below show the disconnect between the resource and activity level in Primavera P6.

Resource Assignments View – note there isn’t a field available for planned or earned units.

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Activities View – several available options, but no ability to group by resource assignment in order to split units, cost account, company, or resource code.

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The remainder of this paper describes the process to obtain the data, maintain the changes, and retain accurate variance and budgeted units reporting utilizing data derived from Primavera P6.

Step One:
Add two baselines – once data has been time distributed, reviewed and approved, and the

budgeted units are in alignment with the estimate.

  1. Original Baseline – add this baseline and assign it as the Primary Baseline in Primavera P6. This baseline will not be updated again.
  2. Working Baseline – add this baseline and assign it as the Project Baseline in Primavera P6. This baseline will be maintained and used to capture approved changes.

From the resource assignment screen you can obtain the budgeted units by copying and pasting or generating a report (this practice is recommended to minimize copy/paste errors) in a time- distributed format. This report will be summarized to the company (generally) and used as the Original Baseline hours in Excel.

If using the “copy/paste” function be aware that your time distribution will be limited to a 24 hour midnight to midnight “shift.” If reports are based on a custom shift calendar you must generate a report to reflect this.

The original hours for the first plot line are now available for Excel graph.

Step Two:

Set actuals in Primavera P6 as the earned so the actual and earned are equal values.

Since there isn’t the capability in the resource assignments view to see earned units or cost, enabling this option gives the scheduler earned hours based on progress % complete.

The same report as above can be built or copied/pasted, then modified to remove the budgeted units and replaced with the actual (earned) units. This will become the earned units which will be reported each period and plotted. This report is generally easy to maintain and run at the end of each progress update to be provided to the cost controllers.

The earned units for the second plot line are now available for Excel graph.

Step Three:

Changes occur and approvals take place (additions or deletions) and they must be:

  • Updated in your current project file – with current Data Date
  • Updated in the Working Baseline – retaining Original Baseline Data Date
    In order to get the Working Baseline data into the Excel graph you must restore the WorkingBaseline from the project schedule.Note: The Update Baseline function in Primavera P6 has been prone to errors and if used will not correctly report milestone variances. The Working Baseline must be time distributed (based on the original Data Date – Do Not Advance the Data Date) to see the new end date based on the approved changes. The Update Baseline function does not work in this manner in Primavera P6.Once the Working Baseline is restored as its own project file, you can now make the approved changes. Most schedulers will open the current project and the Working Baseline at the same time and copy from the current project and paste into the Working Baseline when adding new activities. Note that logic ties must be made exactly the same as they were in the current project file.From the Working Baseline file, and after changes are made, navigate to the resource assignment screen. Utilizing the ‘Budgeted Units’, run the same report built in Step One of this process and plot the Working Baseline in Excel.The planned units for the third plot line are now available for the Excel graph. This process gives you the ability to report the following data utilizing:
  1. Multiple resources assigned to the same activity.
  1. Resources allocated to different companies and assigned to a given activity.
  2. Resource codes to distinguish between attributes such as direct and indirect labor.
  3. A change management process to control added, modified, or deleted work.
  4. A two part baseline process which includes:
    • Original Baseline – added and never adjusted (the starting point)
    • Working Baseline – added and updated based on ‘approved’ change orders
  5. Reporting of earned and planned value at the resource assignment level.
Primavera P6 EPPM User Interface Views

Primavera P6 EPPM User Interface Views

Primavera P6 EPPM User Interface Views are an additional layer of security and used to standardize the P6 Web interface for common business functions/roles (i.e., Executive, Project Manager, Resource Manager, etc.). A User Interface View is a set of pre-configured parameters used to create a standard look and feel for a user or groups of users based on their roles in Primavera P6 EPPM.

Both P6v7 and the P6R8.x versions of Primavera contain the User Interface View function.

In Primavera P6 EPPM, when initially installed, no User Interface Views are defined and a user has full visibility to all views, tabs, and dropdown menus although access to certain functions and data will be restricted based on Global and Project Security Privileges assigned to that user. Note also that if a user is not assigned a certain Primavera P6 EPPM module, that particular tab will not be available when logged in no matter what is contained in the User Interface View.

Example: The user below is only enabled for the Portfolio Module in P6 EPPM.

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In order to create and assign User Interface Views, a user must either be an Admin Superuser or have the ‘Administration > Add/Edit/Delete User Interface Views’ right enabled.

The following describes the steps required to create and assign a User Interface View to a user who is an Executive stakeholder for a portfolio of projects. This example assumes that a Dashboard for an Executive stakeholder has already been preconfigured.

1.Select Administer > User Interface Views from dropdown menu and click ‘User Interface Views.

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2. Select ‘Create User Interface View’ as shown below.

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3. Choose a pre-existing User Interface View from which to create a new User Interface View, or choose ‘Create New….’ and click ‘OK’.

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4. Give the User Interface View a name such as “Executive” and then set the content as shown below:

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5.For this example, ignore the Activity Editing tab and select the ‘Users’ tab in the Details window. Expand the ‘Users without a User Interface View’ drop down.

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6.Move the user(s) who will be assigned this User Interface View to “Selected Users” and do not allow editing. Use the symbols to move the users.

 

7.Click ‘Save and Close’. Logout of P6 Web and log back in as the executive user.

The executive user once logged in will see the Executive Dashboard which is preconfigured with assigned portfolio.

Retained Logic and Progress Override in Primavera P6

Retained Logic and Progress Override in Primavera P6

Retained Logic and Progress Override

The retained logic and progress override setting can drastically affect a schedule depending on which is used, so understanding the details of each is key.

In the Schedule Options window, P6 gives us three options to determine how it will schedule activities when out-of-sequence progress occurs.

An example of out-of-sequence progress is when a successor task is able to start prior to the finish of its predecessor, assuming a Finish-To-Start relationship is assigned between the two.

By pressing F9 on your keyboard and selecting Options, the Schedule Options screen will be available for you to choose Retained Logic, Progress Override or Actual Dates.

There are three ways P6 can react when activities are conducted out-of-sequence.

Retained Logic: The remaining duration of a progressed activity is not scheduled until all predecessors are complete. It also prevents tasks from “front-loading” since the remainder of the work is held out.

As you can see, even though Activity B started early, P6 will not allow the remainder of the activity to continue until its predecessor Activity A is complete.

The staffing plan below shows how Retained Logic prevents “front end- loading”.

Progress Override: Network logic is ignored and Activity B can progress without delay. Although the predecessor logic remains intact, the relationship is ignored and the predecessor is treated as if it has an open end, resulting in unrealistic positive float. It also shows the task now capable of running in parallel, but resource availability may not allow this.

Although it’s not apparent, Activity A is treated as open-ended, resulting in an unrealistic increase of float. (This example increased float from 13 to 27 hours.) Activity A and B are also now running in parallel.

This type of scheduling does not prevent “front end-loading” which could lead to an increased staffing plan or improper staffing of the work.

As you can see, Activity B is now running in parallel with Activity A. Activity C was originally scheduled to Finish on March 28th, but is now scheduled to Finish on March 27th; doing so has pulled all scheduled work back and increased the staffing.

Actual Dates: Similar to Retained Logic, but the actual dates are used to calculate the forward and backward pass and treats the actual dates similar to constraints. The result can be an unrealistic amount of negative float.

Treats Activity A as if it was required to complete before its successor’s actual start date causing an unrealistic amount

The remainder of the activity is still treated the same as when we use Retained Logic. P6 will not allow the remainder of the activity to continue until its predecessor is complete. The activity path will still reflect a gain in duration progress.

Viewing the Schedule Log will provide details about your project and its settings. Out-of-sequence activities are one of these items that can be viewed by running the log.

To view the Schedule Log for your project follow the steps below:

1. Click F9 on your Keyboard
2. Check the Log to file box
3. Click Schedule
4. Click F9 on your Keyboard again
5. Now that Log to file location has been selected you can select View Log

Viewing the Schedule Log

The Schedule Log records scheduling results, including:

• Scheduling/leveling settings
• Statistics
• Critical activities
• Errors, warnings (Out-of-sequence activities) • Scheduling/leveling results

• Exceptions

For additional information on Retained Logic and Progress Override view this tutorial: http://bit.ly/1rwEwsO.

Primavera P6 Release 8.4 Highlights

Primavera P6 Release 8.4 Highlights

This paper provides insight into the anticipated ‘Fall 2014’ release of Oracle’s® Primavera P6 R8.4 PPM/EPPM.

Oracle’s roadmap for the next several years will be focusing on both cloud solutions and the tighter integration of its flagship PPM/EPPM products; Primavera P6, Primavera Prime, and Primavera Unifier.

One of the behind the scene changes in Primavera P6 R8.4 involves the standalone database that comes bundled with the software. Prior to the sale to Oracle, Primavera P6 came bundled with Microsoft® SQL Server® Express 2005 database but soon after the acquisition of Primavera by Oracle, the SQL Server Express database was replaced with Oracle Database Express (Oracle XE). Because of some confusion on how to manage and install Oracle XE, Primavera P6 R8.4 will come bundled with SQLite.

Another change that appears fairly substantial is the ability to transfer global data (codes, calendars, etc.) between P6 databases. In the past, the predominant method to transfer global information from one database to another was through the use of the Software Development Kit (SDK) and in particular the Excel spreadsheets that Primavera had provided throughout the years to support the migration of data. Now it appears that at least some of the global data will be transferrable between two discrete P6 databases. I’m hoping that this will alleviate the issue which pertains to a user implementing a Primavera P6 PPM based solution in-lieu of a Primavera P6 EPPM solution but then later deciding to deploy the P6 Web component. At the very least the global data should be transferrable.

Two new cloud-based services will be added that appear to augment some of the tighter integration between Primavera Unifier and Primavera P6. The P6 Update Baseline and Import/Export functions will now have the capability to be automated via a scheduled service.

A number of enhancements will be made to Primavera P6 Team Member:

  1. Team Member will effectively be merged with Progress Reporter (aka Timesheets) giving it the capability to status both activities and actual labor expended (Browser-based timesheets)
  1. All resources assigned to a given task in Team Member will be able to be updated all together
  2. The ability to update P6 Notebook Topics
  3. The ability to filter by a given resource
  4. The ability to attach a picture as a document (as taken by a mobile device running TeamMember)
  5. The ability to update ‘This Period’ actuals (ability provided by merging Timesheet function)
  6. Will include an enhanced sorting capability

Primavera P6 Visualizer will also contain some improvements with the release of Primavera P6 R8.4:

  1. Will allow a Shift to be used as a date interval
  2. The ability to summarize values into grouping bands
  3. The ability to include a legend in the header or footer
  4. The ability to turn on or turn off gridlines
  5. The option to copy a bar

Future releases of Primavera P6 will focus on an increased integration capability and functionality with Primavera Unifier and Primavera Prime. Included with the release of Primavera P6 R8.4 will be a number of improvements for the integration between Primavera P6 and Primavera Unifier:

  1. The integration of Primavera Unifier and Primavera P6 will rely on Primavera Gateway
  2. Primavera P6 will have the ability to send P6 resources, rates, expenses, and a high-levelWBS to Primavera Unifier
  3. Primavera P6 will have the ability to send summarized and baseline data to PrimaveraUnifier

And finally some ‘ease of use’ enhancements were made to Primavera P6 R8.4 EPPM:

1. The ability to search on resource attributes when assigning a resource
2. The ability to view a scheduled service status in the EPS View (in Primavera P6 R8.3 this function was in the Activities View)
3. The visibility of users that are logged into a given project (versus the entire database)

As far as I can tell, there are no enhancements being made to the P6 Professional Client (although some bug fixes always seem to be present in any major P6 release) and all changes and enhancements primarily focus on the P6 Web component.

Primavera P6 EPPM User Interface Views

The Role of a Primavera P6 Administrator

During the course of implementing Oracle’s® PrimaveraTM P6, one of the most overlooked aspects of the implementation is the handover of P6 administration from the implementer to the end-user. Prior to the implementation handover, thought must be given as to who will be performing, and how the Primavera P6 environment and the data contained therein, will be managed throughout its lifecycle. One specific item to note is there is always a gray area between the administration of P6 from a Systems Administration and P6 Application Administration standpoint.

There is going to always be ‘care and feeding’ required for the P6 environment; its users, and data with some tasks being more common than others:

  • Managing P6 Users, Security, and Licensing.
  • Configuration control of coding structures, resource/role pools, calendars, Enterprise Project Structure (EPS)/Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS), Security Profiles, and settings that are standards and global in nature.
  • If no help desk support function is available the Primavera Admin is typically the first responder to user issues and questions. He or she is “The P6 Subject Matter Expert”.
  • Provides desk-side mentoring of new users as required.
  • Monitoring data and ecological integrity and standard archiving/backupprocesses.
  • Point of Contact to IT (System and Database Administrators).
  • Typically administrator of the company ‘Oracle Customer Support Identifier’ and point of contact for Primavera Help Desk Service Requests via the MyOracleSupport.com website.References:

My Oracle Support: https://support.oracle.com