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Proprietary and Confidential

Primavera: P6 Tips and Tricks

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P6 Tips and Tricks

Justin Laurie
Senior Technical Support Engineer

Overview
Common Questions
Reporting Tips
Job Services
Popular Global Changes
Top KM Solutions
Available Resources

Common Questions

How to use Hint Help

How to use Fill Down (KM 895619.1)
How is Summary Duration calculated? (KM 892655.1)
How are baseline dates calculated? (KM 893342.1)
How to update cost using percent complete (KM 904120.1)
What can be imported from Excel? (KM 897838.1)
How to troubleshoot date issues (KM 894979.1)
How to merge projects (KM 893654.1)
How to import and export layouts (KM 903492.1)

How to Use Hint Help

View, Hint Help
Displays definitions
and calculations

How to Use Fill Down

Quickly modify multiple activities or
resource assignments without using a
Global Change
Highlight using Shift+click or Ctrl+click
Right-click on last item and choose Fill
Down

How is Summary Duration

Calculated?
If all activities under a grouping are using
the same calendar, the summary band will
calculate duration based on that calendar
If activities under a grouping are using a
different calendar, the summary band will
calculate duration based on the Project
Default Calendar
In multiple projects, if activities under a
grouping are using different calendars, and
the projects have a different Project
Default Calendar, the summary band will
calculate duration based on the Global
Default Calendar (same as 6.2.1 and
earlier)

How are Baseline Dates Calculated?

If the Current Project is set
as the baseline, the baseline
Start and Finish dates are
equal to the Planned Start
and Planned Finish
With a baseline assigned,
Baseline dates are
determined by the Earned
Value Calculation option
under Admin, Admin
Preferences, Earned Value
tab

How to Cost Load and Update using

Percent Complete

In the Calculations tab, check Recalculate Actual Units and Costs

when duration % complete changes and Update units when costs
change on resource assignments
Create a new Lumpsum labor resource set to calculate costs from
units and defined the Price/Unit as $1/h
Assign the resource, then go to View, Columns and add the
Budgeted Labor Cost column and input the lump sum cost for each
activity

What can be imported from Excel?

Must use Update Existing
All fields marked with an
asterisk can not be
imported
Subject areas: Activities
(TASK), Activity
Relationships (TASKPRED),
Expenses (PROJCOST),
Resources (RSRC),
Resource Assignments
(TASKRSRC)

How to Troubleshoot Date Issues

Dates are always calculated using
Hours
The hours are then spread over the
activity calendar work time

How to Merge Projects

There are two ways to
merge projects:
1) Open both projects
and copy/paste the
WBS elements under
Project, WBS

2) Import one project

(XER) into the other
using Update Existing
during the import

How to Import and Export Layouts

Layouts do not export with projects in
XER format and must be exported
separately

To import/export a layout choose View,

Layout, Open
Project Layouts can be exported with
projects using XML format

Reporting Tips
Use Current Screen option
How to run Batch Reports (KM 899993.1)

Use Current Screen

Go to Tools, Report
Wizard and choose Use
Current Screen

The columns, grouping,

filters, spreadsheet, etc.
displayed onscreen will
automatically be added
to the report in Report
Wizard

How to Run Batch Reports

Batch reports enable users to run multiple reports at
once
Go to Tools, Reports, Batch Reports to define the batch
In Reports View (Tools, Reports, Reports) click the
double green arrow to run a batch report

Job Services
Using Job Services

Using Job Services

Job Services is an optional install
Job Services can be found under Tools, Job Services
Job Services allow for intensive tasks to be scheduled to occur
during off-peak hours (Apply Actuals, Schedule, Batch
Reports, Export, Summarize)
Ensures data security and accuracy
Quick easy project backups and restore without IT
involvement
No extra licensing costs required

Popular Global Changes

Setting Planned Dates equal to Start and Finish (KM 900195.1)
How to deprogress a project (KM 896067.1)

Setting Planned Dates equal to Start

and Finish Dates
Budgeted data is always spread over the Planned Dates,
however; these dates can differ from the Start and Finish after
the project is in progress. Some users prefer to globally set
the Planned Dates equal to the Start and Finish so that the
Budgeted Data spreads over the same dates as the Actual and
Remaining data.

How to Deprogress a Project

Progress can be removed from a
project by using a series of Global
Changes to reset the Actual Units
to 0, reset the Activity Status to
Not Started, and reset the
Remaining Duration to equal the
Original Duration.
The process requires three global
changes.
First Global Change:
Subject Area: Activity Resource
Assignments
If: Resource Type equals Material
(use Labor or Non-labor for other
resource types)

Then: Actual Material Units = 0

How to Deprogress a Project

(contd)
Second Global Change:
Subject Area: Activities
If: Where Activity Status is not equal to Not Started

Then: Activity Status equals Not Started

How to Deprogress a Project

(contd)
Third Global Change: Add duration to activities by
running Global Change for Not Started activities
Subject Area: Activities
If: Where Activity Status is equal to Not Started
Then: Remaining Duration = Original Duration

Top KM Documents

Troubleshooting AVAA0 Event Codes (KM 896644.1)

How to delete user preferences (KM 894279.1)
Security Profile Definitions (KM 897516.1)
Excel utilities used with SDK (KM 895537.1)
How to import/export activity data via Excel (KM 903308.1)
Check Project Integrity (KM 1083481.1)
Percent Complete Fields (KM 891102.1)
Guide to Future Period Bucket Planning (KM 907520.1)

Troubleshooting AVAA0 Event Codes

AVAA refers to the error Access Violation at Address followed
by a hash value for the memory address being
accessed. Access Violation errors are generated by the
operating system and they happen when an application tries
to access an area of memory that is not designated for that
application's use.
Try changing to a different layout
Try deleting User Preferences

How to Delete User Preferences

Deleting the user preferences can sometimes resolve the
following issues:
AVAA or AVAA0 exceptions in layouts after upgrading from
P6 5.0 to P6 6.0 or later
Application Login Freezes at 98% for Standalone
Environments
P6 Crashes after login
Inability to save scheduling Options
Cannot log into Project Management because projects are
being opened at the same time and login fails when
projects are being opened for various reasons

Security Profile Definitions

For a global profile, access
privileges apply to applicationwide information and settings

Each project profile is associated

with an organizational breakdown
structure (OBS) element to
determine which EPS structure
elements an individual user can
access

Excel Utilities available for use

with the Primavera SDK
There are four utilities that can be used with the SDK:
Activity.xls: Import and Export Activity Details, including
general Activity Data, Relationships, Resource
Assignments, Code Assignments, Steps, Expenses, and UDF
Assignments to/from Excel
Dictionary.xls: Import and Export all Global Dictionary data
to/from Excel
Project.xls: Import and Export the EPS Structure and
Project-level data to/from Excel
WBS.xls: Import and Export the WBS Structure data
to/from Excel

How to Import and Export Activity Data

to Excel
Use Activity.xls Utility

Check Project Integrity Utility:

Description of utility including detailed
SQL statements

Check Project Integrity is a utility used to identify and correct errors

and inconsistent information in the database or projects
There are two types of integrity checks performed:
Data Join Integrity Check - Checks the entire database for data
join inconsistency
Data Value Integrity Check - Check the data values for the
current open project(s), NOT the entire database

Percent Complete Calculations

Duration %: ((Original Duration - Remain
Duration) / Original Duration) * 100. Always
in the range 0 to 100
Schedule %: The Schedule % Complete
specifies how much of the activity's baseline
duration has been completed so far
Physical %: Physical percent complete can be
manually entered by people familiar with
the status of the activity's work products or
it can be based on the completion of
assigned Steps

Guide to Future Period Bucket Planning

Future Bucket planning is the ability for a user to edit and
store Budgeted (Planned) and Remaining values in buckets for
Resource Assignments
Future Period Buckets can be viewed or entered from the
Resource Assignments and the Resource Usage Spreadsheet
in the Activities View
Future Buckets would not be editable if:
Calendar is non-work time
The field is not Budgeted (Planned) or Remaining Units
Duration Type is not a Fixed Duration Type

Available Resources
How to download from edelivery (KM 911662.1)
P6 Documentation on edelivery
How to receive notifications about releases (KM 1174934.1)
How to contact assigned technical support engineers

How to download Primavera software

and documentation from E-Delivery
Website
http://edelivery.oracle.com
The difference between the Primavera Professional and
Primavera Enterprise Media Packs are:
Professional is the stand-alone
Enterprise is the networked version including Progress
Reporter and P6 Web Access

P6 Documentation downloadable at
htttp://edelivery.oracle.com

2010 Oracle Corporation Proprietary

and Confidential

How To Receive Proactive Notifications

For New Oracle Product Releases
http://www.oracle.com

How to Contact Assigned Technical

Support Representatives
To contact the representative assigned to an existing Service
Request by phone, call 1-800-223-1711. Enter prompt 1, then
9, then 1, and the SR number. The call will be routed directly
to the assigned representative.

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THANK YOU

2010 Oracle Corporation Proprietary and Confidential