Using the Leveling Functionality in Primavera

Jun 15, 2020 | Documentation, News

Resource leveling is a process that helps you ensure that sufficient resources are available to perform the activities in your project according to the plan. During resource leveling, an activity is only scheduled to occur when its resource demands can be met. To accomplish this, tasks may be delayed to resolve resource availability conflicts.

A major part of turnaround and project scheduling is understanding resource requirements and resource availability.

Reviewing resource requirements and defining resource availability (Max Units/Time) is an iterative process.
Resource allocation analysis must be conducted throughout the planning and scheduling process.

• Understanding resource limits is necessary for P6 leveling.

Here is a basic process flow:

When you level a project in P6, activities are moved to the right on the Gantt chart in an attempt to remove over-allocation.

Leveling the project is not permanent and can be undone by rescheduling the project. There is no danger in leveling a project.
While resource-leveling provides one way to resolve resource conflicts, you may also want to consider alternative solutions, such as changing activity relationships or reallocating resources.

Prior to using the leveling functionality in P6, consider the following:

Ensure resource assignments have been made to the activities.
Has management defined a definite timeframe for the turnaround or project window? If so, have constraints been applied to the start and finish milestones for the phases? Constraints determine the available float that P6 will level within.
Have the Max Units/Time for assigned resources been identified and entered into the Units& Prices tab in the resource details?
Have you identified the Activity Leveling Priority code value on each activity?

NOTE! Leveling is not rocket science. Many P6 users try to use the leveling functionality to draw a very detailed picture that they want to see. P6 runs numerous algorithms during leveling at a complexity that few people could easily understand.

Some tend to over-use leveling priority codes or level only specific resources. Keep it simple and do not overcomplicate it. Leveling should only come after a well built and scheduled plan has been developed. It should be applied towards the end of the planning phase. Good leveling relies on activity attributes, including priority coding, resource assignments and limits, logic, constraints, and float. Ensure all of these attributes are in place prior to leveling.

There are two primary approaches to resource-leveling:

Pre-defined Start and Finish (Most Common):

Management Question: How many resources do we need to complete the work scope within a limit of X number of days?
The turnaround or project must be worked within a specified window of time. The finish date cannot be pushed out due to over-allocation, so resources must be available to complete all work within the specified window. Over-allocation must be resolved without changing the start and finish dates. P6 is leveled within the timeframe, and resource over- allocation is identified, communicated, and resolved. This concept is based on Fixed Duration.
Primary Data to Review: Resource Profile, Over-allocation

Scope and Resource Availability Determines Duration:

Management Question: How many days do we need to complete the work scope with a limit of X number of resources?
The finish date is determined by the amount of work and the availability of resources. P6 is leveled without imposing a finish constraint to determine how far activities are pushed out based on resource availability. The finish date is defined by leveling, and then communicated to management for approval. This concept is based on Fixed Units/Time (Crew Size)
Primary Data to Review: Duration, Finish Milestones

Pre-Defined Start and Finish: Work must be completed within the duration.

Pre-Defined Resources: Work must be completed with the number of resources.

Duration is not of concern.

In this example, the hard finish constraint is removed. P6 is allowed to level past the finish milestone, resulting in a longer duration, but no over-allocation.

P6 Basic Leveling Examples:

The following examples explain how the P6 leveler will react based on how the option Level Resources Only Within Activity Total Float is set in the P6 leveling options.

The examples are based on three activities, each set with the Activity Leveling Priority 1, 2, and 3 respectively. The fourth activity is a finish milestone that all three activities are linked to, which will used be to describe the difference between leveling within float vs. leveling without float.

Example #1 – Scheduled, but Not Leveled:

This example contains three activities with 10 hours duration each on a 4×10 calendar, each linked to a finish milestone. The finish milestone has a Finish On constraint set to the end of the third day.

Activity #1 is set as Leveling Priority 1
Activity #2 is set as Leveling Priority 2
Activity #3 is set as Leveling Priority 3

The activities are not linked to each other.

A scaffold resource is assigned to each task as a single headcount. Since the three tasks are scheduled to work at the same time, the graph in the lower right indicates that we need three Brand Scaffold resources during the first day to complete the work.

Our limit line in the graph indicates that we only have one Brand Scaffold resource available. The red on the bar indicates our over-allocation.

Example #2 – Leveled within Total Float:

The option Level Resources Only Within Activity Total Float is selected, with both the preserve minimum float and max percent to over-allocate set to zero.

Go to the Level Resources window by pressing Shift+F9 on your keyboard, or click the Level

Resources button in the toolbar.

Example #2 (cont.) – Leveled within Total Float:

This example has been P6 leveled. There was enough float available to level all three tasks based on their Activity Leveling Priorities. Activities #2 and #3 leveled out based on their priority assignments.
Now P6 shows that the single resource can achieve the work over the next three days.

Example #3 – Leveled regardless of Total Float, but with an earlier constraint date on the Finish Milestone:

The option Level Resources Only Within Activity Total Float is de-selected.
Also, the milestone has a finish constraint imposed on it indicating all tasks must be complete by

the end of the second day.

Example #3 (cont.) – Leveled regardless of Total Float, but with an earlier constraint date on the Finish Milestone:

This example has been P6 leveled. Since we de-selected the option to level within total float, P6 ignores the fact that there is a constraint on the finish milestone, so it leveled the tasks and pushed the milestone.

Activities #2 and #3 are again leveled out based on their priority assignments.

The P6 leveler also pushed out the finish milestone, even though it is assigned a Finish On constraint set to the end of the second day.

Example #4 – Leveled within Total Float, but with an earlier constraint on the Finish Milestone:

The option Level Resources Only Within Activity Total Float is selected, with both the preserve minimum float and max percent to over-allocate set to zero.

However, the milestone still has a finish constraint imposed on it indicating all tasks must be complete by the end of the second day.

Example #4 (cont.) – Leveled within Total Float, but with an earlier constraint on the Finish Milestone:

This example has been P6 leveled. The schedule does not contain enough float to level out all three tasks.

P6 determined (based on the activity leveling priority) that Activity #2 can push out, but there is not enough float available to push out Activity #3.

So Activity #3 remains scheduled on Monday, leaving the resource over-allocated.

Example #5 – Leveled within Total Float, finish milestone reset to day 3, but lag imposed:

The option Level Resources Only Within Activity Total Float is selected, with both the preserve minimum float and max percent to over-allocate set to zero.

Example #5 (cont.) – Leveled within Total Float, finish milestone reset to day 3, but lag imposed:

This example has been P6 leveled. Since the milestone constraint has been reset to the end of the 3rd day, there should be enough float to level the tasks just like Example #2 above. However, in this example we have imposed relationship lag between Activity #3 and the Finish Milestone.

Lag is considered NON-WORK time. It is not float. Since lag was imposed on the relationship link between Activity #3 and the Finish Milestone, Activity #3 will not level out. Activity #3’s available float has been reduced due to the lag that was imposed.

P6 Leveling Settings

Prior to leveling any project in P6, the leveling settings must be configured. Settings are saved with each individual project, so they must be set up for each P6 project the scheduler works with.

To view and modify the P6 leveling settings:

1) Open a project
2) Go to Tools, Level or press Shift-F9 on your keyboard. You can also press the Level button in the toolbar.

Level Resources Dialog Box Definitions:

Automatically level resources when scheduling: Mark to automatically level resources each time you schedule a project.
Consider assignments in other projects with priority equal/higher than Mark to include resource assignments in other projects within the range of the leveling priority you specify when determining if a resource is over-allocated. Assignments in closed projects are considered. For example, if you mark the checkbox and specify a leveling priority of 5 in this field, the leveler considers all projects with a project leveling priority of 1,2,3,4, and 5. The leveling priority ranges from 1 (highest priority) to 100 (lowest priority). Set a project’s leveling priority on the General tab of the Projects Window.
Preserve scheduled early and late dates: Mark to preserve the early and late dates that were calculated during project scheduling.
Recalculate assignment costs after leveling: Mark to recalculate resource and role costs after leveling resources/roles in the projects. Use this option to calculate the costs of resource/role assignments that are assigned multiple rates.
Level all resources: Mark to level all resources. When not marked, you can select which specific resources you want to level.
Level resources only within activity Total Float: Mark to delay activities with resource conflicts only up to their late finish date.
Preserve minimum float when leveling: The amount of float you want to maintain when activities are delayed because of resource conflicts. You can type a new number and time unit. NOTE: This field is always converted to hours, regardless of the time unit you enter.
Max percent to over-allocate resources: The maximum percentage by which resource availability can be increased during resource-leveling. This increased resource availability is used to level if resources on an activity cannot be leveled after using up the activity’s float limit. You can type a new percentage.

Leveling Priorities:

Field Name: Lists the fields by which to prioritize resources when leveling. Priorities are used only when more than one activity competes for the same resource at the same time.
Sort Order: The order in which to level resources according to the field names displayed. Double-click the Sort Order field to choose Ascending, Descending, or Hierarchy (option only appears for fields that are hierarchical).
Log to file: Mark to record your leveling results in a log file (.txt). Enter the name of the file in which you want to save your leveling results. Click to select a new file.

Now that we have discussed the different leveling options, here is an example of what you may typically use for turnaround and project leveling:

Leveling All Resources VS. Leveling Selected Resources

The leveling window has an option to level all resources, or you can select to level specific resources. Some schedulers insist on selecting only those resources that they want to level.

Before you make this choice, ask yourself what the benefit is in selecting specific resources versus leveling them all. What does it buy you? In most cases, there is no harm in leveling all resources, even if you have an abundance of a particular craft on hand. Leveling all resources will provide a more gradual S-Curve Planned Value in the baseline. Just because a plan is leveled does not mean that you can’t aggressively work activities sooner than the leveled dates, if you have the capability to do so.

So don’t be afraid to level them all. If the planned value (baseline hours) in the S-Curve is fully leveled, you will find that setting and meeting upper-level management expectations of planned hours per day (SPI) is much easier to manage.

Activity Leveling Priorities

P6 contains a built-in code field called Activity Leveling Priority. By default, all activities are assigned the value 3 – Normal. If you intend on using the leveling functionality in P6 for the TAR, and intend on using the built-in Activity Leveling Priority code values, these value must be set on each activity.

There are five activity leveling priorities in P6:

1 – Top

2 – High

3 – Normal

4 – Low

5 – Lowest

You are not limited to using the Activity Leveling Priority field in P6 for leveling. If you have priority standards in your organization that require more than the five code values, you can create them as an activity code and then use the activity code for leveling priorities.

Define your priorities! Your organization should define what each priority means. Typically high- risk equipment with unknown inspection results or historical data showing a low level of confidence in the equipment will get coded with “1 – TOP”. This would also include all critical path jobs.

Secondary risk and near critical jobs should get coded as “2 – HIGH”, and so on. Only extremely low risk work with a high amount of float will get assigned the low or lowest values.

Float Analysis When Leveling

It is recommended that you do not perform float analysis on a leveled schedule. With this in mind, it is also recommended that you do not set P6 to automatically level when scheduling. Keep the two functions separate. HINT: Press F9 to schedule, and then press SHIFT-F9 to level.

It is also recommended that you apply the leveling setting “Preserve Schedule Early and Late Dates”. This will ensure that the early and late date fields are reflecting the Scheduled dates, not the Leveled dates.

The Start date and Finish date fields in P6 will show the leveled dates.

Total Float and Remaining Float

P6 provides an additional float field called Remaining Float. You can analyze float using this field when a project is leveled.

Total Float = Late Finish minus Early Finish (both are scheduled dates)
Remaining Float = Late Finish (scheduled date) minus Remaining Early Finish (leveled date) minus

NOTE: Remaining Float equals the Total Float when the schedule is NOT leveled.
So if you review the two columns side-by-side, the Total Float is the Scheduled float, and the Remaining Float is the Leveled float.

Cross-Linking Jobs or Equipment

Many schedulers tend to link from one job to another in order to push jobs out for the sake of leveling. (For example, tying piping Job A, to Job B, to Job C, and so on…) The problem is that the jobs have absolutely no relationship to each other. “Chaining” jobs together for this purpose is not a good practice, although there could be exceptions depending on the situation.

Also, when linking jobs together in this manner, float is reduced for each job. The more that are chained together, the more the float is reduced. Eventually, the combination of a bunch of small jobs linked together could turn into the primary critical path.

Cross-linking jobs should only be done when it logistically makes sense, not for the sake of leveling manpower. Doing so only prevents the P6 leveler from functioning properly.

An example of when you might cross-link jobs is when you must remove Exchanger A before you can get at Exchanger B. Exchanger A must be out of the way first. Another example is when you have valves on a column. If the column must be decommissioned, opened, cleaned, and approved for entry before working on the valves, then it’s a good idea to link the start of the valve work to the entry activity of the column.

Using Secondary Leveling Priority Codes

As another example, let’s say you have five columns that are all considered a high priority. They are all independent of each other, so there is not any cross-linking between them. Although they are all considered a high priority, one is high risk for discovery work. In this situation you may want to set up a secondary priority code for equipment. You could create an activity code called Equipment Leveling Priority and assign that priority code for secondary leveling criteria.

Changing Leveling Priorities During Execution

You can change your leveling priorities during execution. Using the previous five columns as an example, let’s say the first column is inspected and it’s discovered that no repairs are required. It might be best to change the remaining activities for the first column to a lower leveling priority, releasing the manpower urgency to the other four columns.

System Leveling Priorities

For turnaround scheduling, as equipment inspection starts to get near completion, you could change your leveling priorities to be based on system turnover priority. Operations have most likely identified the priority of the systems and when they would like them returned. You could set up another activity code called System Turnover Leveling Priority. Once you are to the point in execution where the team is nearing the turnover of equipment back to operations, the leveling parameters can be changed to level based on System Turnover Leveling Priority.

Setting the Resource Limits (Max Units/Time)

Resource allocation analysis must be conducted throughout the planning and scheduling process. Understanding resource limits is necessary for resource management and P6 leveling.

Each resource in P6 contains a Max Units/Time field to impose a limit line when viewing resource profile views.

Although activities should be configured as Task Dependent to ensure the activity calendar is used during scheduling, the Resource Calendar may need to be modified as well, as it also affects how the resource limit lines are displayed in a resource profile.

Adjusting Resource Max Units/Time is an iterative process. You will most likely review a specific resource profile allocation while jumping back and forth to the resource breakdown structure until the Max Units/Time have been sufficiently adjusted to accommodate resource limitations and P6 leveling.

Resource Max Units/Time (Limit) Line Example:

Steps for Adjusting the Resource Limit Line

1) Select the Resource Usage Profile button.

2) In the lower left pane, select the Display drop-down and ensure the view is filtered to display Current Project’s Resources.

3) In the lower right pane, select the Display drop-down and ensure Show All Projects is NOT selected.

4) Schedule (F9) the project.

5) Select a resource in the lower left pane and review their profile in the right pane. Adjust your timescale as needed to show the profile. Notice how the limit line is too low to accommodate the amount of work in this example.

6) Go to the Resources view and select the resource.

7) Adjust the Resource Max Units/Time under the Units & Prices tab

8) Return to the Activities view and look at the resource profile again. The limit line has now increased.

9) Level the project to see the results of leveling the resource. Notice that the resource is still over-allocated.

10) Return to the Resources view and set the Max Units/Time for the resource a little higher.

11) Return to the activities view, level again, and review the profile.

12) If your top activities table is collapsed, right-click and select Expand All

13) In the lower left pane, turn on the filter option checkbox for Time Period.

14) In the resource profile, click on the time periods in the timescale that are over-allocated. The activities table at the top will filter to show the activities that are part of the over- allocation.

- Can we re-assign any activities to another resource to resolve the over-allocation?
- Can we increase the Max Units/Time for the resource even higher, providing more resources to accomplish the work?
- Can logic be changed to allow more flexibility and float to the activity paths that the resource is assigned to?

Continue the same procedure for all the other resources. Continue to re-schedule and re-level as you go through the iterations.

Keep the following in mind:

A small amount of over-allocation is typically okay.
Leveling one resource can cause other resource assignment activities to push out as well. So leveling one resource can change the profile for other resources. So once you have completed a first pass of all resources, you should start the process over and review all the resource profiles again.
If you have a hard limit of resources and are not allowed to increase the Max Units/Time, then leveling may not resolve over-allocation. You will be forced to re-allocate work to other resources or increase the turnaround or project overall duration. Offshore platforms are an example where only so many people are allowed on a platform, resulting in no flexibility to the Max Units/Time.

Level of Effort Calculations When Leveling

Although LOEs are not included in the resource profile analysis when leveling, when an LOE activity is linked to other activities, the LOE duration can increase when the other activities are leveled. Depending on your Duration Type assigned to the LOE, the total resource hours on the LOE can increase when the duration increases due to leveling.

In the following example, the LOE is linked to Activity #1 and Activity #3. Note the difference in the Budgeted Labor Units field before and after leveling. Note: the resource assigned to the LOE is not the same as the resource assigned to the other activities.

Since the manhours on an LOE could increase due to leveling, you will want to analyze your LOEs after leveling to ensure the increase in manhours is justified. An extreme increase may not be feasible. If so, you could change the LOE to Fixed Duration & Units before leveling to lock the total hours down. Keep in mind that the Units/Time will change instead when the duration changes.

If you’re a current Primavera user and would like advanced training on managing resource allocation and leveling, visit AdvancedP6Training and view TEPCO’s 1022 Primavera Advanced course. You may also contact TEPCO’s training department at (832) 514-4482.

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

Jun 15, 2020 | Announcement, Documentation

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:

Adding multiple resources to the same activity.
Assigning different companies to resources on an activity.
Utilizing resource codes to distinguish attributes such as direct and indirect labor.
Utilizing a change management process to control added, modified, or deleted work.
Using a dual baseline management process including:
- Original Baseline – is set and never modified
- Working Baseline – is updated based on ‘approved’ change orders
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.

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

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.

Original Baseline – add this baseline and assign it as the Primary Baseline in Primavera P6. This baseline will not be updated again.
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:

Multiple resources assigned to the same activity.

Resources allocated to different companies and assigned to a given activity.
Resource codes to distinguish between attributes such as direct and indirect labor.
A change management process to control added, modified, or deleted work.
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
Reporting of earned and planned value at the resource assignment level.

Primavera P6 EPPM User Interface Views

Jun 8, 2020 | Documentation

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.

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’.

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

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

Jun 8, 2020 | Documentation

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

Jun 8, 2020 | Documentation

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:

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)

All resources assigned to a given task in Team Member will be able to be updated all together
The ability to update P6 Notebook Topics
The ability to filter by a given resource
The ability to attach a picture as a document (as taken by a mobile device running TeamMember)
The ability to update ‘This Period’ actuals (ability provided by merging Timesheet function)
Will include an enhanced sorting capability

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

Will allow a Shift to be used as a date interval
The ability to summarize values into grouping bands
The ability to include a legend in the header or footer
The ability to turn on or turn off gridlines
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:

The integration of Primavera Unifier and Primavera P6 will rely on Primavera Gateway
Primavera P6 will have the ability to send P6 resources, rates, expenses, and a high-levelWBS to Primavera Unifier
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.

3013 – The Turnaround Planning Process

Jun 8, 2020 | Training Course Outlines

Print Outline

Day 1

Understanding Work Scope Development
Prepare Walk Down Document Needs (P&ID, Isometrics, ITP, Blind List)
Utilize Onsite Training Unit and Perform Job Walk Downs
Complete Work Package Data Markups (P&ID’s, Plot Plans, Picture Templates)
Introduction to Planning Programs
Introduction to Planning Templates
Coding Of Activities
Use of Estimating Tool Box For Durations and Man Hour Entries
Accurate BOM Creation
Attaching Data to the Job Plan
Data Warehousing and Data Mining of Solid Work Plans

Day 2

Assignment of Jobs for Planning
Perform Job Walk Down Per Scope or Work List
Work Package Data Markups (P&ID’s, Plot Plans, Picture Templates)
Create Complete Detailed Job Plan Using The Materials and Tools Provided
Understanding and Performing Job Plan Validations

Day 3

Finalize Plan Validations
Your Plan is Off to The Schedule and What That Means
A Visit With The Schedulers
Staffing, Budgeting, Material Requisitioning, Contractor Validations, and Execution
A Visit With The Cost Department

At the completion of this course the student will be able to:

Apply Learned Planning Processes In A Real World Environment
Understand Planning Processes From Scope Development To Schedule Importing
Obtain 24 PDU’s (Professional Development Units) to PMI (Project Management Institute)
Create Turnaround, Maintenance and Project Plans With Confidence

The Role of a Primavera P6 Administrator

Jun 8, 2020 | Documentation

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

Managing Chaos in a Primavera P6 Production Environment

Jun 8, 2020 | Documentation

Implementing Oracle’s® Primavera™ P6 in an enterprise or global environment is typically a costly and time-consuming endeavor and should be carefully planned with specific business goals in mind.

After many years of use and hundreds of projects later, however, a Primavera™ P6 Production database if not properly managed can become a muddy mess of global information used to group, sort, report, collect performance, and support global change. The maintenance of a Primavera™ P6 database is more than just adding users and creating projects. It takes careful consideration prior to implementation as to how the application will be used, how often external information will be imported, how data archival will be managed, how the global data will be configured and maintained, just to name a few.

This paper will provide some best practice recommendations which can be used to manage a Primavera™ P6 Production environment and help maintain order and avoid the chaos.

Provide a minimum of two Primavera™ P6 databases (databases in a Microsoft® SQL Server or tablespaces in an Oracle® server) for the Production environment. One database meant to contain the production data and one to use as an acceptance or ‘cleansing’ area. This will help prevent pollution of the production database with non-production global data such as codes, calendars, resources, and user defined fields that could inadvertently be imported from external Primavera™ P6 .xer or XML files.
Maintain separate Production databases for managing different types of projects. An example would be Turnaround versus Capital Projects. Turnaround resources and calendars are typically dedicated to specific events whereas Capital Projects will use an entirely different set of resources, calendars and codes. Management of data in a single database for these two distinctly different project types is cumbersome. Training should also take place in a separate database and not in a Sandbox Enterprise Project Structure (EPS) node in Production.
Utilize intelligent, also known as ‘smart’ coding, for global data, project IDs and activity IDs. An example would be to use TA_ for all managed turnaround activity codes and use Project IDs containing the turnaround unit(s) acronym and year of the event. Any of this global data should be locked down and managed through a formal change control process.
Limit the use of user defined fields (UDFs) to support global change or indicators. UDFs are user editable fields and as such can be changed. Try to not utilize for project critical data such as equipment numbers or other data that is more suited to activity coding since you are one key click away from wiping out information associated with that activity. Also try to control the growth of the number of UDFs by creating a subset sometimes referred to as ‘Z’ fields. These ‘Z’ fields could be used for temporary data open for general use but would be cleansed periodically to manage growth and database performance impacts. A UDF text field is 255 characters long no matter how many characters are actually used (e.g., a two character value still takes up 255 characters in the database table) in the field.

Understand that the management of Primavera™ P6 users in the database is essential not just from a data security and access perspective but also from a licensing perspective. Primavera™ P6 is predominantly sold on a per-user license basis and if a 25 user license pack is purchased, then by license agreement, no more than 25 users can be logged into the production database at any one time. Proper management of user licensing is not only needed for legal purposes but can also help prevent purchasing more licenses than needed.
Managing the list of code and values, resource/role dictionaries, and calendars can for the most part be done from the Primavera™ P6 client or Primavera™ P6 Web interface. However managing the relationship of this data with the individual projects and activities would be extremely complex if there were thousands of activities and associated coding and resource assignments. This knowledge is best gathered from direct SQL queries to the data residing in the Primavera™ P6 database. Examples of these queries can be found in the My Oracle Support* knowledgebase.
Keep in the loop on patches that are occurring to the Production environment infrastructure; in particular the database servers and web application servers. Even though these patches and updates are not happening in Primavera™ P6 they can cause inadvertent impacts to Primavera™ P6. Java Runtime Engine (JREs) updates are notoriously finicky and are by no means as backward compatible as they are claimed to be. Keep cognizant of the tested configuration of the particular Primavera™ P6 version and fully test updates prior to allowing them to be rolled into production.
Create a concise data backup and archival strategy during the course of the implementation and prior to rollout. Too often backing up of data is strictly thought of as a DBA concern and no further thought is made as to what happens if you lose or corrupt a project, critical layout or report and the only way to recover these is to do a full database recovery. This is both time consuming and a heavy impact on other users in the database especially if hours or days’ worth of work is lost across the user community. Create a simple file structure on your laptop or better yet in a SharePoint™ repository to export and store your projects, layouts and reports in case you need to recover from a corruption.*https://support.oracle.com

Managing POB on Offshore Platforms

Jun 8, 2020 | Documentation

Managing People On Board (POB) on Offshore Platforms

The main limitation when scheduling shutdowns or project work on an offshore platform or vessel at sea is the amount of workers that can be on the platform or vessel at any given time. An offshore platform is an isolated structure, usually miles from the coast that can only be accessed or exited by ship or helicopter. Regardless if a worker is on their active shift or their off hours, their presence on board has to be accounted for at all times in case of an emergency. Evacuation boats are installed on opposite sides of the platform allowing alternate routes of escape and a redundant number of seats are allocated for the entire crew.

The number of workers on board of a platform or vessel at sea is known as POB (people on board). This number depends on the amount of beds available onboard and the amount of seats available in the evacuation boats.

While scheduling a shutdown or a project, this POB number includes Operations and Support (in this category are the Facility Manager, Operators, Radio Operator, Paramedic and Safety Officer, Cooks, Deck Hands, Platform Crane Operators); the TAR or Project Management Team (Project Manager, Safety Officer, QAQC Inspector, Construction Manager(s) and Materials/Logistic Coordinator) and the craft personnel needed to perform the repairs or improvements required by the project. It’s necessary to maintain the Operations, Support and Management Team to the minimum amount necessary to support the crafts in a safely and efficient manner.

During the decommissioning and commissioning of the systems affected by the shutdown or project, crews in addition to the mechanical crews, will be required to blind, flush, purge, degas, pressure test and restore equipment and piping. For jobs that require confined space entry, a specialized rescue team is usually a requirement from the Safety Department. All of these additional resources should be considered when computing daily POB.

When working on the project schedule, it’s very helpful to create an Excel spreadsheet that calculates the daily POB based on the estimated amount of men per day required to complete each task. This is a time saving exercise that requires input from the planners and craft supervisors and helps the scheduler to create better relationships and sequencing between the tasks in the schedule.

Many scenarios may be considered based on priority, system availability and/or resource requirements.

After sequencing the work activities and creating the required relationships between tasks, POB requirements can be visualized in P6 by utilizing the following method:

Create a resource named “Daily Operations and Support” and use the number of Operations and Platform Support personnel onboard as the maximum units/time.
Create a Level of Effort activity from Shutdown Start (SS) to Shutdown Finish (FF) using that resource and the maximum units/time as the remaining units/time.
Create a resource named “TAR Management Team” and use the number of supervision and TAR support personnel onboard as the maximum units/time.
Create a Level of Effort activity from Shutdown Start (SS) to Shutdown Finish (FF) using that resource and the maximum units/time as the remaining units/time.

5. Build a stacked histogram showing each of the resources as a segment and placing the TAR Management Team and Daily Operations and Support Personnel at the bottom of the histogram.

Knowing that the maximum POB number is 50 and that the scheduled hours per day are 10, we can confirm visually that the daily scheduled hours don’t exceed 500 per day and in the event additional or special resources are required to complete a task, we can arrange a helicopter or boat trip to supplement the crew already onboard.

Other considerations when scheduling resources restricted by a POB:

Rotations: Depending on the length of the project or shutdown, the different crews – Operations and Construction – could be subject to rotations, every week or two weeks; that limits the productivity for a particular day of the week. On the day the rotation takes place, the crews are transported from and to shore by boat or helicopter and the new crews go thru safety orientations and work turnovers. The calendar in P6 should be adjusted to reflect the loss of productivity on the rotation day(s).

Special Resources: During the execution phase, special resources like Inspectors, Engineers, High Voltage Electricians, and Valve Technicians, etc. will be required to come onboard for specific tasks. It is important to emphasize in the schedule all the tasks that require a special resource and to schedule their availability onboard in an efficient manner.
Mansleepers/Additional Beds: It is possible to install temporary living quarters to accommodate more workers on the platform or vessel at sea as long as additional boats are available for their safe evacuation in case of an emergency.
NUI (Normally Unoccupied Installations): These are offshore platforms that are not intended for continuous occupancy and don’t provide living accommodations for Operational or Maintenance personnel. They present logistical challenges of transporting and accommodating the complete crews during the event.
Helicopter Flights: When budget allows it, daily helicopter flights are available to transport personnel on day trips to the platform. Helicopters usually fly only during daylight hours with a maximum capacity of 7 or 8 passengers, depending on helicopter model. These flights are subject to good weather and heliport flight schedule. The cost of daily helicopter flights to the offshore platform is very high and a good schedule has to be prepared and maintained during execution to avoid unnecessary trips and delays in production.

For more information on scheduling shutdowns or project work on an offshore platform or vessel at sea, contact TEPCO to speak with one of our Field Consultants at (281) 428-3726.

Utilizing Different Methods to Remove Logic in Primavera P6

Jun 5, 2020 | Documentation

Utilizing Different Methods to Remove Logic in Primavera P6

There are multiple ways to remove logic from a P6 schedule. Below are four examples of how this can be accomplished.

Method #1 – Using the Relationships tab

Select the Relationships tab.
Select the Activity that needs to have a relationship removed.

In the Successor box, select the Successor to be removed – Click Remove – This will remove the relationship between the two activities.

4. Logic has been removed. The relationship line between Activity #1 and Activity #2 is no longer there and Activity #2 has been removed from the Successor box.

Method #2 – Using the cursor and delete key on your keyboard

Move the cursor under the applicable relationship line until a white arrow appears.
Left click once and the relationship line will turn blue.
Press Delete and then Enter on the keyboard and it will remove the relationship between the two activities.
By continuing to press Delete and Enter the cursor will move down to the next relationship.

Method #3 – Using Trace Logic Network

This method uses the Trace Logic Network
Click the Trace Logic Network button
Click the red relationship line between the activities.
The relationship line will turn blue.
Select the Ctrl Key and continue to hold down, drag a box around all the activities you want to remove logic from. All the relationship lines will turn blue.