Oracle Primavera FAQs

General
What is Primavera, exactly?
Primavera is not just a single product, but is now
a brand name covering a suite of products
focused exclusively on helping project-intensive
businesses manage their entire project portfolio
lifecycle, including projects of all sizes. It is
estimated that projects totalling more than US$6
trillion in value have been managed with
Primavera products. Companies turn to
Primavera project portfolio management solutions
to help them make better portfolio management
decisions, evaluate the risks and rewards
associated with projects, and determine whether
there are sufficient resources with the right skills
to accomplish the work. These best-in-class
solutions provide the project execution and
control capabilities needed to successfully deliver
projects on time, within budget and with the
intended quality and design.
Portfolio and Programme Management
What is Portfolio Management?
Portfolio management is a term used by project
management professionals to describe methods
for analyzing and collectively managing a group
of current or proposed projects based on
numerous key characteristics. The fundamental
objective is to determine the optimal mix and
sequencing of proposed projects to best achieve
the organisation's overall goals - typically
expressed in terms of hard economic measures,
business strategy goals, or technical strategy
goals - while honouring constraints imposed by
management or external real-world factors.
Typical attributes of projects being analyzed
include each project's total expected cost,
consumption of scarce resources (human or
otherwise), expected timeline and schedule of
investment, the expected nature, magnitude and
timing of benefits to be realised, and relationship
or inter-dependencies with other projects in the
portfolio.
What is Programme Management?
According to the Project Management Institute "a
programme is a group of related projects
managed in a coordinated manner to obtain
benefits and control not available from managing
them individually. Programmes may include
elements of related work outside of the scope of
the discrete projects in the programme... Some
projects within a programme can deliver useful
incremental benefits to the organisation before
the programme itself has completed."
Bearing this in mind it can be seen that
programme mananagement necessarily operates
at a level above individual projects and is focused
on coordinating and prioritising of resources
across projects, managing links between the
projects and minimising the overall costs and
risks of the programme.
Which Primavera products offer this functionality?
Both P6 PPM and P6 EPPM provide the ability to
group projects together into "portfolios", but this is
simply a mechanism for simplifying access to
specific groups of projects. In either product a
portfolio can be defined to contain projects within
a specific programme, and reports can be
produced for the portfolio/programme as a whole.
There are some basic portfolio analysis functions
in P6 EPPM, with dashboard reports that can be
configured to display and compare key project
data, but for a comprehensive portfolio
management solution that you should consider
Primavera Portfolio Management. This product
(formerly ProSight, acquired by Primavera Inc. in
2006) can operate standalone, but comes with a
direct interface to P6 EPPM that allows exchange
of data in both directions.
Project Management
Is Primavera P6 the same as Oracle Projects?
No. Oracle Projects is part of the Oracle E-
Business Suite. The Primavera Gateway can be
used with a suitable "provider" (connector) to
integrate P6 and EBS.
Integrating Oracle Projects with Primavera P6
provides a comprehensive Enterprise Project
Portfolio Management solution and performs the
following features:
o Brings together complex scheduling and industry-specific PPM processes with project financial
management, skills and inventory management, and other enterprise solutions
o Provides end-to-end visibility and control for improved decision making, coordination, and collaboration
o Provides consolidated view of enterprise and project portfolio for an accurate, up-to-date view of project,
resources, and financial performance
o Creates coherent and complete solution for Enterprise PPM with ERP, database, middleware, and
analytics
What's the difference between P3E, P5 and P6?
They are basically different versions of the same
product. When the replacement for P3 was first
released it was known as Primavera Project
Planner Enterprise, which was soon shortened to
P3E. There was a v3.5 and a v4.0 of this product,
before the name changed to P5 and then P6 in
line with the version number. When Oracle
acquired Primavera Inc. in 2008 "P6" became a
brand name rather than a product version and so
the next version (although sometimes referred to
as P7) was officially named P6 v7. The latest
products have followed normal Oracle practice in
being "releases" rather than "versions", and were
called P6 R8.0 through R8.3. The latest software
is P6 R8.3.2.
What's the difference between P6 and Primavera Contractor?
Primavera Contractor is Primavera's entry level
project management product, designed to allow
contractors to exchange planning data with
clients using P6 EPPM or PPM for their project
management. It offers a similar level of
functionality to Microsoft Project but can generate
the .xer files typically required for bid submissions
on major engineering and construction projects.
More information on Primavera Contractor is
available here. You may also find this feature
comparison chart useful.
What are the differences between P6 EPPM and P6 PPM?
The most obvious difference is the architecture.
P6 PPM is a traditional client/server Windows
application that runs on a PC (physical or virtual)
and stores its data in a relational database
(Oracle or SQL Server). P6 EPPM is a 3 tier web
application whose client runs in a web browser.
The middle tier runs on a web application server
(WebLogic or WebSphere) and communicates
with the database. Since R8.1 all administrative
tasks are managed via the web interface,
although a Windows "optional client" is also
available to allow users without web access to
work with the software. In R8.2 this desktop client
is identical for both PPM and EPPM, but when
connected to an EPPM database none of the
administrative functions are available.
There are also major differences between the
reporting capabilities of the two versions. P6 PPM
continues to run the traditional reports found in
earlier versions of the product, while P6 EPPM
also uses Oracle's BI Publisher to create web
based reports that are viewed via dashboards in
the browser. It also provides connectivity to other
reporting tools - see the Reporting and Business
Intelligence section below for more on this.
The final major difference is connectivity. P6
EPPM ships with a Java API that allows the
development of custom interfaces to other
products, and a Web Services interface layered
on top of the API. The product is also designed to
integrate with Oracle's Business Process
Management toolset. In contrast, P6 PPM only
offers the SDK, a desktop interface that exposes
the underlying database as an ODBC data
source. (Note: As of R8.3, P6 Professional ships
with a Java API as well)
You may find this feature comparison
chart useful.
Can you configure P6 PPM as a multiuser system?
Although the most common use for P6 PPM is as
a "standalone" installation (see below) on a
laptop or single PC, it is perfectly possible to
configure it so that multiple networked PCs
access a single server based database. If you do
not require the web based dashboards and
integration capabilities of P6 EPPM this may well
be your most suitable configuration.
Which project management product is right for me?
There is no easy answer to this, as a lot depends
on your current IT landscape and precisely how
you wish to make use of your planning tool. If you
wish to integrate P6 seamlessly with other
applications then it is likely that PPM will not be
able to deliver what you require due to the
withdrawal of the API in R8.1. We will happily
advise on the pros and cons of deploying either
version in your environment.
What is a "standalone" copy of P6?
This typically refers to a copy of P6 where the
database and client application are running on
the same machine - often a laptop. Prior to the
acquisition of Primavera Inc. by Oracle, this was
a standard option in the installer which performed
a hands-off installation of a database server
(originally Borland Interbase, then SQL Server
Express) on to the machine in question as part of
the process. With the release of P6 v7 the
database was changed to Oracle XE and then at
P6 R8.0 the standalone option was withdrawn. It
now exists again - from P6 R8.1 PPM onwards,
you are able to select a standalone installation
that uses Oracle 10g XE as the back end.
The advantage of this type of installation is that
you do not have to have previously installed a
database on the machine, as one is provided free
of charge. There are restrictions associated with
Oracle XE though - it is limited to 4GB of data,
will only use up to 1GB of any available memory,
and will only execute on 1 CPU core. If any of
these are likely to cause problems you should
use a full copy of Oracle or SQL Server to store
your data. Note that that P6 R8.x will not
work with SQL Server Express unless you are
upgrading an existing standalone system based
on an earlier version of P6.
Can I still purchase P3 and/or SureTrak?
Unfortunately not - they were withdrawn from sale
at the end of 2010. The nearest equivalents from
the current product range are Contractor or P6
PPM.
Business Intelligence and Reporting
What reports come with Primavera P6?
Primavera P6 PPM ships with a library of text
reports which can be scheduled to run as a
batch. You can also develop custom reports and
print out graphics such as Gantt Charts or
resource histograms from the appropriate view.
While Primavera P6 EPPM still allows you to run
traditional batch reports, it also offers an
additional library of reports designed to operate
within Oracle BI Publisher via a Restricted Usage
Licence (RUL) for BI Publisher. These can be
triggered on demand from within the web client or
scheduled to run periodically, with their results
available for view within the web client. If you
want to make any changes to these reports then
you will have to purchase a Full Usage Licence
(FUL) of BI Publisher to allow you to develop your
own reports.
What is the Primavera Reporting Database?
There is a large amount of data displayed within
P6 that is calculated on the fly and not stored in
the project management database (PPMDB or
EPPMDB). As a result Oracle introduced the
concept of a reporting database external to the
project management database. This is optimised
for reporting purposes and contains fields storing
calculated values. In versions prior to R8.1 the
creation and updating of the reporting database
required an administrator to set up several
additional databases and configure standalone
scripts to carry out the ETL (extract, transform,
load) operations. From P6 EPPM R8.1 the
reporting database schema forms part of the
standard EPPMDB database, and the scheduled
publishing of data is administered from within the
product.
Once the publishing of data to the reporting
database has been configured, any external
reporting tool (e.g. PCF's QEI Management
Reporting or Crystal Reports) can be used to
extract data from it.
What is Primavera Analytics?
Primavera Analytics is an add-on product for
Primavera P6 EPPM which consists of a star
schema data warehouse and a set of prebuilt
reports and queries that run within Oracle
Business Intelligence products. The data
warehouse is fed from the EPPM reporting
database and can be also connected to other BI
applications.
Risk Analysis
What's the difference between Primavera Risk Analysis and PertMaster?
They are both the same product. PertMaster was
acquired by Primavera Inc. in 2006 and is now
sold as Primavera Risk Analysis.
Does Primavera P6 contain any risk analysis functionality?
As of P6 EPPM R8.3, the answer is no, although
you can use P6 to develop a risk register and
associated risk scores which can be transferred
between P6 and Primavera Risk Analysis.
Contract Management
What does Primavera Contract Management do?
This product has always had a confusing name,
as the one thing it does not do is manage
contracts. It is actually a system designed for
teams managing construction projects (contracts)
which enables them to collaborate, track issues
and costs, monitor contractor performance and
manage documents.
The current version is a web application built on
top of Oracle's WebLogic application server and
Business Intelligence Publisher reporting tool. It
can be linked to external document management
systems, and can exchange cost and schedule
data with Primavera P6 EPPM and JD Edwards.
Implementation, Interfacing and Integration
Can P6 be interfaced to an ERP system?
Absolutely, this is very common. The Primavera
Gateway ships with a connector for SAP as
standard, and connectors for other ERP systems
are also available.
Can P6 be interfaced to an Asset Management system?
This is a fairly common requirement and
the Primavera Gateway can be used to deliver
this integration. Connectors are available for
common Asset Management Systems like
MAXIMO.
I need to develop a bespoke interface to P6 - what options do I have?
If you only require a desktop solution then you
can use the SDK, which exposes a proportion of
the data within the project management database
(including calculated fields) as an ODBC Data
Source. You can then write code in any
environment that supports communication via
ODBC to exchange data with P6. The SDK is
available for both PPM and EPPM systems.
More complex integrations are possible using the
API. This is a set of Java classes that expose the
business logic and objects and makes them
available for inclusion in any Java application.
From v6 to R8.0 the API was available for all
installations; as of R8.1 the API was limited to
EPPM only. This decision was reversed at R8.3
and is once again available for both variants of
P6. EPPM systems.
It is also possible to make use of the Web
Services interface to P6; this is layered on top of
the API and provides interoperability with any
other applications that make use of Web
Services. For example, the Oracle Business
Process Management suite can be used in
combination with event-driven messages from P6
to develop standard business processes for
project approval, initiation and update.
Note that use of the SDK incurs no extra
licencing costs, while the API and Web Services
require additional licences.
What professional services can PCF offer?
In addition to the supply of the product range, we
also offer a wide range of professional services to
ensure that your Primavera implementation goes
smoothly and that you rapidly gain real business
benefits. For more information on our services,
please look here.
Product Licencing, Upgrading and Support
How does Oracle's product licencing compare to Primavera's original scheme?
Primavera operated a technical solution to
licencing, whereas Oracle operates a commercial
solution.
Primavera had either Named or Concurrent
users, whereas Oracle only has "Application
Users" (see below).
Primavera issued a licence code (linked to the
Serial Number of a particular copy of the
software) that controlled the number and type of
licences allocated to each module within the
product. By contrast Oracle issues a CSI Number
associated with a particular installation of their
software. The permitted number of users is
governed solely by the number of licences
purchased - there is nothing technically in place
to prevent any company from deploying more
licences than they have purchased. However the
Oracle Licence and Services Agreement (OLSA)
includes a clause stating that the client accepts
that Oracle has a right to visit the client's site(s) at
any time to audit licence usage, and that the
client agrees to pay the licence costs associated
with any unpurchased deployed copies found,
plus penalty charges and backdated support
fees.
What is an "application user"?
The Oracle licencing model is actually fairly
simple. The Oracle Master Agreement (OMA)
states:
"Application User: is defined as an individual
authorized by you to use the applicable licenced
application programs which are installed on a
single server or on multiple servers regardless of
whether the individual is actively using the
programs at any given time."
which is a drawn out way of saying you have a
licence for a user to use the application
regardless of environment.
In practical terms this has the following
consequences:
o A single licence permits a user to use a copy of the software on multiple machines (for example a server
and a laptop) provided that the various copies are not accessed by that user at the same time. If the
laptop is also used by a different user to the server then this requires two licences.
o Use of any component within a licenced application counts as full use of that application, so for example
an environment where two people only accessed P6 EPPM via the Web while another only used the
desktop Optional Client would require three EPPM licences. This differs from the old Primavera scheme
where individual modules/components were licenced separately
o You cannot make use of generic users like "user1" or "planner", since a login has to correspond to a real
individual.

How do I import project from ms project to Primavera p6?
First, you need to have your designated file in MPX or XML format when exporting from MS Project; Click
on file import, select "Microsoft Project" and the format from the drop menu, then locate the file to start
importing; follow the import wizard steps until the program starts importing.
If you have MPP file, which is outdated after MS Project2007, you need to just import it in MS Project then
export using XML which P6 can read.

Primavera 6 Exam 1Z0-535


Q1:What are the difference between free float, total float and what is different between Float and
Slack?
This is very common question in a primavera interview, Float and slack are the two different words for the
same meaning.
Q2:What is a constraint in primavera?
Constrains in primavera is to fix the early or late start or finish date of an activity as per following options:
1) Project Must Finish by
2) Mandatory Start / Mandatory Finish
3) Start / Finish On or After
4) Start / Finish On or Before
5) Start / Finish On
6) Expected Finish

Q3:How can you define the Critical Path in primavera?
The sequence of activities which describe the longest path from the data date to the end of the project. In
a schedule without any constraints, this will be all activities with zero total float.
(if you have constrains which force negative float, simply filtering on total float equal to or less than zero
can bring up activities which are not on the critical path)
Q4:What is WBS?
WBS means Work Breakdown Structure. it represents a hierarchical breakdown of a Project into elements
and deliverables.
Q5:What is an open end activity in primavera?
The open end activity is the activity that does not have any successor. Normally open end activity is not
accepted in schedule because the total float will be calculate from the end of the project and these entire
activities late dates gather at the end of the project and can not be prepare a logical late start plan.
Q6:What is the difference between Retained Logic & Override Logic in progress update?
If a project is generally running according to plan and activities are not progressed out of sequence then
there will be virtually no difference between the two methods. BIG differences come when activities are
progressed out of sequence.
I believe in retained logic. Invariably that will produce the longest critical path but if activities have been
progressed out of sequence, there could be some resulting illogical dependencies remaining, in particular
resulting from dependencies with durations.
Progress override invariably produces a shorter critical path and again there could be some illogical lack
of dependencies resulting from activities having been progressed out of sequence.
Q7:How do u measure & compare the progress using primavera?
This is one of the Hard primavera Interview Questions, try to explain without confusion.
Progress is measured primarily against the baseline. If the baseline has been loaded with cost and/or
resources, earned value management can be used for this purpose. If not, progress is measured as
variance to baseline dates.
Budget at Completion (BAC)
Planned Value (PV) = budget at Completion (BAC) x Planned % Complete
Earned Value (EV) = budget at Completion (BAC) x Actual% Complete
Actual Cost (AC) = No formula What youve actually spent on the project
Schedule Performance Index (SPl) =Earned Value (EV) / Planned Value (PV)
Schedule Variance (SV) =Earned Value (EV) Planned Value (PV)
Cost Performance Index (CPI) =Earned Value (EV) / Actual Cost (AC)
To Complete Performance Index (TCPI) =(Budget at Completion (BAC) Earned Value (EV) ) / (Budget
at Completion (BAC) -Actual Cost (AC) )
Cost Variance (CV) = Earned Value (EV) -Actual Cost (AC)
For more information see this article:EVM earned value management
Q8:What is resource allocation and resource leveling?
Resource allocation is assigning resources to activities,determine the amount of labor, equipment and
money required for any activity.
Resource leveling is Resource requirements of all scheduled activities are compared to the maximum
quantity available at the time of leveling.An activity is delayed if too few resources are available at any
time during the activitys duration.The maximum quantity for a resource is determined through the Max
units/time for a particular resource in the Resources Tab.
Q9:What is an S Curve and how to create S Curve in primavera?
An S-curve is a graph showing cumulative cost or value (measured in terms of money or manhours)
against time. On a typical project, these graphs follow an S shape, hence the name. Typical data to be
plotted on an S-Curve includes:
Actual Cost (ACWP)
Planned Value (BCWS) Early dates
Planned Value (BCWS) Late dates
Earned Value (BCWP)
Forecast Value Early dates
Forecast value Late dates
Forecast Cost Early dates
Forecast cost Late dates

Q10:What are the difference between flag and milestone activity in primavera?
This is one of the tricky Primavera Interview questions.
Mile stone & flags both are events rather then activities. Some client likes to use flags rather than mile
stone due the following differences.
1- With the use of flags the logic of main event can be easily tracked as these can not be created without
predecessor as stand alone allocating the constraint.Where as mile stone can.
2- Flags can not update manually as Primavera automatically update the status where as milestone can
be update manually.
3- Flags can not be constraint only driven by predecessor where as milestone can.





3 Primavera Tips & Tricks - Convert to .pdf Format
Problem: The customer, vendor, contractor client need to view in .pdf format hence they dont have Primavera
software to view.
Solution:
First you need to download from www.download.com type PrimoPDF and download it
into your machine.

2. Open the page you want it to be saved as a pdf and click on the Print Preview button, at the Toolbar.

3. It also available in any directory window you open even in the reports you will find a Print Setup

4. Select printer as PrimoPDF and Click Ok.

5. Now go to the Print icon and type Printer name also as PrimoPDF. Click OK

6. This Dialog box will appear automatically. In the ellipsis icon, select a directory where you want to save the file in.,
e.g. Desktop.
After you have done this, click CreatePDF.
Now look at your Desktop, the document is saved a s a PDF format.

Exporting Projects
credit to : http://www.ims-web.com
Problem: The customer, vendor or contractor has an older version of Primavera or another project management
tool, and needs to view a schedule.
Solution: Export the project.

Open the desired project to be exported

Go to File>Export

Choose the format including desired program and version. For Primavera PM/MM and Primavera
Contractor, there are now several options for versions.

For Microsoft Project, select the file type

Export type should be Project

Click Next (These fields will show you the file to be exported)

Click Next

Do not try to save the file to your C drive or any other local drive on your computer. Try saving to a network
drive (in this example, the file is saved to the M: drive)

Click Finish


Function Keys

In both the P5/P6 client and web applications, the following function keys work:
F1 Context-Sensitive Help
F2
Toggles between Edit and Browse modes when the focus is in Description Panes in
Details Tabs for Notebooks, Steps, WPs and Docs and the Notes to Resources pane on
the Feedback Detail Tab
F3 Find Next (works after using )
F5 Refresh (from server)
F7
Spell check when in Edit mode on the above-mentioned Panes and Tabs and in a given
column currently in focus in tables
F9 Schedule
Shift+F9 Schedules with Leveled Resources
F10 Commit Changes (to server)
P6 Hierarchies

When creating hierarchies in P6 (for example, WBS), as an alternative to using the mouse, Ctrl + arrows will promote,
demote and move elements up and down.
Bring Your External Website Into Primavera Web

When customizing a portlet on a dashboard in the Primavera Web Access program, in order to bring up an external
website or URL, one tip needs to be known in case you must troubleshoot or if you are experiencing problems with
the page loading.
For example: Your personal or project workspace dashboard has a link to the weather or a link to your company
website. If the page delays in loading or has difficulty and freezes, you will need to know this tip.
If Primavera or other dashboards are working, then likely the external website is having difficulty loading, not that
Primavera is having trouble.
DO NOT exit the web browseryou will remain logged in to the Primavera tool and not be allowed to log in for 30
minutes or until your admin changes your password.
Instead, type 1=TRUE at the end of your URL in the URL field of the site and hit return.
Example: http://servername:8080/myprimavera/login_cmt/1=true
This restarts the page in safe mode and ignores external websites temporarily. Next time you logon and the
external website is working, you should not experience the problem. Now you are logged on without the use of that
external site. You can do all other work in Primavera until the external site is working again.
Copy/Paste Role of Resources

The following may already be known by all of you, but its still a pretty slick trick.
Ever wish you could just copy / paste roles or resources from one activity to another (or several others)? Heres an
alternative.
Thats it! Its still not quite as easy as Ctrl-C Ctrl-V would be, but its a decent workaround.
Project Management Hot Keys

Problem: What are the keyboard shortcuts in Project Management?
Fix: Shortcut Keys
TOOLBAR MENUS SHORTCUT

FILE MENU SHORTCUT
File Menu Alt+F

New Project Ctrl+N
Edit Menu Alt+E

Open Project Ctrl+O
View Menu Alt+V

Print Ctrl+P
Tools Menu Alt+T

Exit Alt+F4
Help Menu Alt+H

Commit F10

Refresh F5
EDIT MENU SHORTCUT

INSERT MENU SHORTCUT
Cut Activity Ctrl+X

New Activity Ins
Paste Activity Ctrl+V

Delete Activity Del

Find Ctrl+F

HELP MENU SHORTCUT

TOOLS MENU SHORTCUT
Contents and Index F1

Schedule Now F9

Automatically Calculate Percent Complete

Often managers are uncomfortable with the guesstimate given for percent complete. The Primavera steps feature
becomes very useful when they are weighted to drive the percent complete in a way that is less subjective and more
quantifiable. Generally, steps are a way to track deliverables or any sub-activity without adding activities and
complexity to your schedule. Any group of steps that is often repeated (a typical document workflow for example) can
be made into a step template for use on all such activities, too.
To have each step automatically drive physical percent complete for the activity:
1. Open the columns within the step tab by right-clicking on the last column and selecting Customize Column
Headings. Then select the Step Weight and Step Weight Percent columns and move them into the view by
clicking the right arrow button on the middle frame. Click OK. The new columns appear on the steps tab.
2. Now, define each step by importance or weight it carries toward overall completion of the activity. The
cumulative physical percent complete is automatically calculated if the setting on the calculations tab at the
project level is checked to Activities with steps drive percent complete. You may want to ensure the
Physical Percent Complete column is viewable in the activity table or that this activity is set in the general
tab to the Physical Percent Complete Activity Type. If you do not weigh them, then each step carries equal
weight, so if you have ten steps then each one counts 10 % of the total physical percent complete.
Two examples: IT and Construction
Test 2000 Code Testing Activity Weight Percent Complete After Step is Completed
Step One: Unit Test One 5 5
Step Two: Unit Test Two 5 10
Step Three: Unit Test Three 5 15
Step Four: Unit Test Four 5 20
Step Five: Integration Testing of One and Two 10 30
Step Six: Integration Testing, Add Three 10 40
Step Seven: Integration Testing, Add Four 10 50
Step Eight: System Test 15 65
Step Nine: Functionality Test 25 90
Step Ten: Move to Production 10 100
CON2000 Pre-Bid Cycle Activity for Carpentry Vendor
Selection
Weight
Percent Complete After Step is
Completed
Step One: Bid Statement of Work (SOW)Drafted 5 5
Step Two: Vendor Selection Criteria Agreed Upon 5 10
Step Three: SOW Reviewed 5 15
Step Four: SOW Approved 5 20
Step Five: Solicitation of Bids 5 25
Step Six: Bid Close, Vendor Selected 30 55
Step Seven: Vendor Notified 5 60
Step Eight: Contract Drafted 15 75
Step Nine: Contract Revisions 20 95
Step Ten: Contract Approved 5 100

Using Filters with Activity Views

In my adventures here in Indianapolis, I just came upon a feature in Primavera Web of which you need to be
aware. There are two standard filters for Activities Views, that are actually configurable:
1. Activities finishing within specified days
2. Activities occurring within specified days
If you use either of these filters, you can specify a number of days (calendar days) that you wish to use.
Instead of using a custom filter to create a lookahead report, you can just use the activities occurring within specified
days filter.
This is a viable workaround to the issue regarding only being able to filter on specific dates when using custom filters.
The primary issue is that these filters are dynamic, and use the system date, rather than a data date.
OBS and EPS Things to Keep in Mind When Creating It

The Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) is a hierarchical based structure that represents your
organization. The Enterprise Project Structure (EPS) is also a hierarchical based structure that represents how your
projects are organized.
The OBS and EPS are combined together through the responsible manager field on the EPS structure, project folder
and WBS level. The Responsible Manager field is the OBS and this determines what users can gain access to the
Project. When you create a user, you have to give them Responsible Manager assignments in order for them to see
projects.
Your EPS and your OBS need to have a one-to-one relationship. If you give a user a Responsible Manager
assignment (OBS) that is not tied to an EPS, Project or WBS level, they will not see any projects when they log into
the Primavera Client application or the Web Application.
Rate Source Override

Since v5.0, I have been under the impression that a resource was limited to 5 rate types in Primavera. Today, I was
informed of a field available in the Resource tab that allows a user to select a Rate Source. The values in the rate
source field are Role, Resource and Override. Override allows the user to plug in the custom rate for the
resource at the activity assignment level.
We therefore are no longer limited to what was essentially 10 rates (5 role, 5 resource) for a resource assignment.
Wish I could go back to several demos and change my answer ;-)
Run a Quick Pertmaster Risk Analysis

Conducting a detailed and thorough schedule or cost risk analysis can be a data intensive and time consuming effort.
Proper conduct of the assessment process requires input from multiple responsible project team members. Though
this process is necessary to provide a credible analysis there is one way to get a quick initial thumbnail sketch for any
given project plan.
From the Pertmaster menu, select Risk, Duration Quick Risk, then specify whether you want to include All tasks in
the plan, All filtered tasks, or Selected tasks only; then specify a Distribution function and standard percentages for
the Minimum, Likely and Maximum durations. Click OK and youre all set to run the risk analysis. Repeat the same
steps for resource costs.

Using Resource Codes

Just like Project Codes and Activity Codes, Primavera provides you resource codes that allow you to organize, group,
sort and filter your resource dictionary. The resource codes also allow you to group and sort in the Resource
Assignments and Resource Profile views.
Create a Resource Code
1. In Primavera, create a resource code called a Manager by doing the following:
1. Click on Enterprise in the menu bar, and choose Resource Codes.
2. Click on Modify.
3. Click on Add.
4. Type Manager as the new resource code name.
5. Click Close.
6. At the top, you will see Manager in the drop down.
7. Click on the Add button, to add names to the manager resource code.
8. After adding all of the names, click on Close in the resource code window.
2. Click on Customize and place the Manager resource code as the first option to group by.
3. Your resource dictionary is now grouped by the code.
4. To go back to how the resource dictionary was originally grouped, click the Display Option bar again and
choose Group and Sort, default.
A resource profile can also be grouped by the Manager resource code. This allows the user to click on the
managers name in the profile and see a rollup of all of the limits for the resource under that managers name. This
view makes for a great capacity planning report. To group by the Manager resource code that was created above in
the resource profile, follow the instructions below:
1. Open a project.
2. Click on the Activities button in the Directory bar.
3. Turn on the resource profile in the bottom layout.
4. In the resource list on the left side of the resource profile, choose the Directory Bar.
5. Click on the Select View and then choose Resource.
6. Click on the Group and Sort By.
7. Choose the Manager resource code as the first option to group by.
8. Click on OK.
9. In the resource list, you should now see your resources grouped by the Manager name.
10. Click on the Manager name in the list and you will see the rollup information displayed in the Profile view on the
right of the screen.
Clean Up Your Primavera Reports

When adding header and footer information to your custom printing layouts or notes fields, Primavera adds a double-
space when you hit Enter for another line by default. You can get a single space by holding down the Right Shift
key while hitting Enter to minimize the space you need and make the reports look more professional.
How to Determine Resources Needed for a Project

When using P6 for managing resources, users often want to be able to see the number of people a project will
require to complete. This can be achieved by using the Resource Allocation capabilities of P6.
Start by building your project schedule with the required roles to do the work. Next, turn on the Resource Profile in
the bottom layout view. Then go to the Role Profile options by clicking on the Display Option bar in the Resource
Profile view. Click on the Graph Tab and go to the bottom of the window and click in the check box next to Calculate
Average. In the Divide Intervals Total by section, type in the number 40 (this represents a typical work week amount
of 40 hours per week). In the Unit of Measure field type in FTE (Full Time Equivalents) or People or whatever you
want the unit of measure to be.
Click OK on the Window and your resource profile will now tell you the number of people needed.
Exporting Expense Detail in P6

Because you can export Expense information from the schedule to Excel, you can easily add, revise or delete this
information. It can then be imported back into Primavera.
The catch to this is that any column that has a column header that contains an asterisk (*) from the export is Read-
Only and you cannot modify these fields. One of these columns is the Unit / Price column, which is one that may
need revision. The Trick is that the values in the Actual Cost column will populate the Unit / Price values when
they are imported back to the Expenses in Primavera. Just place the Unit / Price value in the Actual Cost field of
the spreadsheet. Once imported, the Actual Cost field from the import will also populate the Unit / Price field and
Budgeted Cost will result from the product of Budgeted Units x Unit / Price. Zero ($0) out or re-import the true
Actual Cost values in Primavera and youre done!
Response

hello guys, i am a newbie to Primavera & hence to project management, I know litle about primavera, never worked
profesionally in it, but can define WBS, activities, relations, constraints, scheduling, cost, roles & resources definition,
and nothing more
Well, in couple of days i will be interviewed for a planning engineer job, can you people help me in this case? what
type of typical question are common in interview of planning engineers?
waiting anxiously for your reply. u may reply me at ihtxam@gmail.com
Regards, ihtsham
farestplanner, on August 12, 2008 at 6:50 pm said:
Here is my tips:
1) Get familiarize with Planning Tools i.e Microsoft Project, Primavera etc. It will help you to explain how you are
going to start your work. The most popular question is:
1. What is CRITICAL PATH METHOD?
2. Relationship between successor & predecessor
3. Different between financial & physical curve
4. WBS concept and implementation on Primavera
5. Calculation for the physical progress
2) Prepare your Planning Sheet; which is comprises with site productivity. You can organize as your construction
library. As Planner, Planning Sheet is our basis to justify duration for each activity we assign in Primavera or MS
Project.
3) Get to know with correct sequence of work. No matter either you are in construction industry or M&E system,
extensive knowledge in correct work sequence is an essential skill to develop.