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Dec

2014 in Review

Categories: Disney, Orion, P6 EPPM, P6 Professional, Primavera P6, Primavera Training, SPAWAR, Wrigley Field

Tags: Contractor, Disney, Orion, P6 EPPM, P6 Professional, Primavera Training, SPAWAR

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by Bill Pepoon

2014 was the best year ever for Primavera Scheduling and our parent company, Construction Science. But while higher revenues are always welcome it was really the range of clients and training experiences that made 2014 very special. Here are just a few of the highlights:

We provided Primavera P6 training to a NASA contractor working on the Orion space program. Orion is the first deep-space program initiated by NASA since Apollo. As someone who well remembers landing on the moon – I was 11 years old when it happened – the idea of going back to deep space is very exciting. No decision has been made by NASA on a destination, but Mars or an asteroid seem like distinct possibilities.
We provided Primavera P6 training to Disney’s Creative Costuming at Disneyland. Yes, Disney uses Primavera P6 to schedule the making of costumes for all of their major theme-park characters. We spent one day at Disney University (!) teaching class and another day teaching at the actual location where the costumes are made. The effort that goes into making these costumes is quite extraordinary.
We provided Primavera P6 training to the U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in San Diego. One of the interesting tidbits that came out of this training is that the Admiral of the Navy does not like red bars on the Gantt charts. He apparently believes that “red” means the project is behind schedule. And you definitely do not want to make the guy in charge of the Navy’s weaponry mad. So we showed the SPAWAR team how to make the critical path bars another color.
We provided Primavera P6 training to a general contractor in Chicago who is renovating Wrigley Field. This $575M project represents the most extensive renovations ever made to Wrigley Field, one of America’s oldest ballparks. This will be an incredibly difficult project due to the historic status of Wrigley Field – even the ivy that covers the outfield walls is a protected landmark. ESPN has posted some great high-resolution photos of what the renovated ballpark will look like.
I was selected by Lorman Seminars to be a presenter and moderator of its “Tricks, Traps and Ploys Used in Construction Scheduling” seminar in Sacramento, CA. After 31 years as a professional scheduler it was fun to talk about all the sneaky stuff that is sometimes part of CPM scheduling. An audio recording of the seminar and the training manual can be obtained at a 50% discount by using this link.
Our Primavera software sales nearly doubled compared to 2013. We have always offered very competitive pricing but we firmly believe that our personal attention to clients is really the deciding factor. With the various versions of Primavera software that are available (Contractor, P6 Professional and P6 EPPM) we try very hard to steer our clients to the right product for their needs.

On a more personal note, the partners in our firm attended Game 4 of the 2014 World Series in San Francisco. What an amazing experience! Attending a World Series game is, in my opinion, a “bucket-list” item. Winning the World Series? Priceless! Actually, this was a very special World Series for me as my first baseball love was the Kansas City Royals and now I root for the San Francisco Giants. Given how I feel about both teams maybe this should count as two bucket-list items!

To all of our clients we send our heartfelt thanks and gratitude. And we wish all of you a great 2015.

Dec

What is a “Planned” Date in P6?

Categories: Constraints, P6 EPPM, P6 Professional, Primavera P6, Schedule Options

Tags: Finish, P6, Planned Finish, Planned Start, Primavera P6, Start

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by Bill Pepoon

Primavera P6 has quite a few date fields that are often misunderstood. Perhaps no date field is stranger than the “planned” date. To begin with, there will always be a Planned Start and a Planned Finish date associated with every activity. In a schedule with no progress (or what we would traditionally call the “baseline” if P6 did not use this designation for target schedules) the following is always true:

Planned Start = Start
Planned Finish = Finish

Once progress is recorded, however, all bets are off. The planned dates will not reflect actual dates, for example. Primavera P6 shows actual dates in the Start and Finish columns, making it easy to see which activities have progress (take that, Microsoft Project!) without having to add the Actual Start and Actual Finish columns. Space is always at a premium in a printout so not having to add the actual columns is a nice benefit.

Here is where it gets interesting. Changing the Planned Start or Planned Finish date on an activity with no progress will change the Start and Finish dates and likewise move the bar in the Gantt Chart. The rules are:

Changing the Planned Start changes the Start date, even if the Planned Start is before the original Start date
Changing the Planned Finish moves the Finish date and changes the Original Duration to match
Changing the Planned Start and Planned Finish will move the Start and Finish dates accordingly
No other activities are affected by changes to the Planned dates of an activity

None of this will happen, however, if the “Schedule automatically when a change affects date” scheduling option is selected. This is because scheduling the project wipes out the changes made to the Planned dates. These are not constraints, after all. The logic was never modified. Which may seem like Planned dates are a cruel trick.

Well, we create logic for a reason. Moving bars around is not scheduling. Logic is supposed to drive dates. A few constraints are okay – although some owners are adamant about having none – as long as they do not cause an interruption to the critical path. Postponing the start of a critical activity would obviously make no sense.

Note that if you change the Planned Start or Planned Finish of an activity with progress, nothing happens at all. The Planned dates will not change.

Changing the Planned dates, really, is mostly a bad idea. But let’s say we all agree that some of the dates in a schedule are not right. So we massage the dates using the Planned columns and then create a baseline. Using the baseline as a guide, we then modify the logic and durations to achieve the new dates. Sort of like tracing a drawing with velum paper.

Comments or questions? Please feel free to contact me.

Nov

Primavera P6 R8.4 Database Options

Categories: Claim Digger, P6 EPPM, P6 Professional, P6 Web, Primavera P6

Tags: Claim Digger, P6 EPPM, P6 Professional, Primavera P6, Release 8.4, SQLite

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by Bill Pepoon

In a recent blog for Construction Science I discussed some of the new features of Release 8.4 for Primavera P6 Professional and EPPM. Today I would like to discuss the database options for a standalone installation of P6 Professional. Oracle 10g Express (Oracle XE) has been included with P6 for several years. Users could also choose from one of several versions of Microsoft’s SQL Server, but most opted for SQL Server 2005 Express Edition because it is a free program. Both of these options are still available. But Release 8.4 introduces another option, SQLite. The advantage of SQLite is that it does not have the size limitation of Oracle XE (4 GB) and is easier to manage than Oracle XE or Microsoft SQL. Backing up a database is now as easy as copying a file folder because SQLite is a serverless database engine. For users who have struggled with Oracle XE or Microsoft SQL Server, SQLite seems like a great option.

Ah, but there is a trade-off for simplicity! Oracle’s Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are not compatible with SQLite. This is something Oracle intends to fix in a future P6 release or patch. APIs are the building blocks of many software programs, and while it is not something most of us would ever realize, Oracle’s Claim Digger is an API. So Claim Digger is not accessible when using SQLite. For me, that is a deal-breaker. I use Claim Digger nearly every day to analyze files. In some situations my clients have more than one version of a baseline schedule or update on their server and they no longer remember why. If some of these files are in fact identical we can delete them without any concern. At the very least, Claim Digger will tell us what the differences are. Most owners also expect contractors to explain what changes were made during the update process, and the Claim Digger report usually suffices.

Claim Digger does have some limitations, which I will discuss in a future blog, and there are third-party programs that are more powerful. However, Claim Digger is included with P6 so it is a tool that all users have access to without spending more money. I will accept free help anytime!

Also, because SQLite is truly a single-user environment, there are several other restrictions:

There are no User or Security Profiles, as there can only be one user
All projects are opened in Shared mode; Read Only and Exclusive modes are disabled
Sending e-mail notifications of Project Issues is not supported
Advanced import options are disabled for projects in XML format
Check In and Check Out of projects are disabled
There are no options to save data for All Users or Another User (layouts, etc.)
Job Services is not supported; Jobs cannot be scheduled
Update Baseline and Risk Analysis are not supported

Oct

The Case Against “Must Finish By”

Categories: Constraints, P6 Professional

Tags: Constraints, Must Finish By, Primavera P6

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by Bill Pepoon

When setting up a new project, the user will be faced with the “Must Finish By” option. Our advice is to leave it blank. Yes, every project has a finish date. Otherwise, it does not meet the definition of a project. That is to say, a project must be: (1) unique, (2) have a specified time frame, and (3) a defined scope of work. Unfortunately, projects often end up with a longer time frame and increased scope, but that is a subject for another day.

To review, the “Must Finish By” constraint is presented while setting up a new project or by selecting the Dates tab in the Project Details Window after the project has been added to the EPS. The former situation is presented below:

Which begs the question, what is “Must Finish By”. Well, it is basically a project-level constraint that affects all activities. When this constraint is used, no activity can finish after the date selected. In theory, a date prior to project completion could be selected in order to determine how many activities have slipped past a particular date.

Without further ado, here is why we don’t use the “Must Finish By” option:

If the user selects a date beyond the latest calculated date, the critical path will have positive Total Float. Showing positive Total Float is a little like putting candy in the reception area – it tends to disappear. The owner and subcontractors are now aware that activities on the critical path are not so critical any longer. And because Total Float typically belongs to the project, any party is entitled to use the Total Float at their discretion. Without this constraint, the critical path has zero (0) Total Float, even if the project is ahead of schedule.

The Schedule Log does not show the “Must Finish By” constraint. Only activity constraints are listed in the Schedule Log, so it is easy for a user to forget (or not realize) that a project constraint has been applied. This can create confusion, especially when the “Must Finish By” constraint is generating negative Total Float. The Schedule Log will not indicate that any constraints are “unsatisfied” because, again, only activity constraints are considered.

Activity constraints are revealed in the Start or Finish column (depending on the type of constraint) with an asterisk (*). This feature dates all the way back to P3. There is one exception to this rule – the “As Late as Possible” constraint – but otherwise this is a rather obvious hint that a constraint is being used. Note that in P3, the asterisk appeared in the Early Start or Early Finish column, which is a good reason not to use those columns any longer.

The “Must Finish By” constraint does not have a calendar to calculate from so it defaults to midnight of the day before. So a “Must Finish By” date of January 12, 2016 will generate one (1) day of negative Total Float – even when the project is actually finishing on that date. Why? Because the project must finish by midnight the day before to avoid being considered behind schedule. The user must either select the day after the scheduled project finish date as the “Must Finish By” (which makes it seem like the user is unaware of the real contract end date) or choose to show activity durations in hours so that the time of day can be changed. This is illustrated in the next two screenshots.

This is a lot of extra effort just to adjust the date, and many contractors have no desire to show the time of day in their schedules. In a closed network, placing an activity constraint on the last activity is simply a better solution. An activity constraint is also easier for everyone to see and therefore monitor. Any questions or comments? Please feel free to contact me.

Aug

Another Reason for Not Using Global Calendars

Categories: P6 Calendars, P6 Professional, Uncategorized

Tags: Global Calendars, Primavera P6, Primavera P6 calendars

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by Bill Pepoon

Students who attend our Primavera P6 training classes know that we prefer to use Project Calendars rather than Global Calendars. One reason is that other users may have the ability to change Global Calendars, which means their changes are applied to any project using that Global Calendar. Obviously there are many situations where that would be a bad thing. Another reason is that when exporting a project that uses Global Calendars, those Global Calendars then wind up in the Global Calendars list of the recipient who imports the project. Frankly, the only time I want to see a project’s calendars is when I have that project open. And today’s blog deals with a very specific problem of exporting and importing schedules that use Global Calendars.

During one of our classes a student asked me to look at a schedule he had already started on a project his company was building. When I imported the schedule I ran the schedule calculation (F9) so that I could review the Schedule Log. During my review it became apparent that the project end date that I was seeing was different from what the student was seeing. My first thought was that he had forgotten to schedule the project prior to exporting the file, but even after hitting F9 the project end dates did not match. So what the heck was happening?

As it turned out, not only was my student using a Global Calendar, he was using a Global Calendar with the exact same name as a Global Calendar in my database. This rarely happens to me because even a basic 5-day calendar can be labeled so many different ways, such as:

5×8
5 x 8
5-8s
Five day calendar
5 day calendar

Anyway, I think you get the idea. My student had used one of the Global Calendars provided with the sample projects that are available when installing Primavera P6. I had the same Global Calendars in my database so, presto, it was easy for my student to pick a Global Calendar name that already existed in my database.

Primavera P6 will not overwrite Global Calendars when importing schedules. My version of the Global Calendar remained intact, which is probably a very good thing when you think about it. But as a result, my student and I had Global Calendars that were the same in name only. His actually had more holidays, so the project end date was later. That was the only reason we were getting different results.

Sharing schedules among databases always introduces concerns when global data is being used. Hopefully you will now understand why it is so important to use project-specific data as much as possible.

Jul

Export Resources without Cost Data

Categories: Primavera P6, Primavera Resources

Tags: Primavera P6, Primavera Resources, Primavera XER, XER

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by Bill Pepoon

The purpose of exporting Primavera P6 files in “XER” format is to transmit all of the project data to another database. In many cases we are not looking to exclude any data. So how do we avoid sharing sensitive cost data with other parties? Contractors may not want owners, subcontractors and other parties to have access to this proprietary information.

There are two options for not sharing cost data. One option is to delete resource assignments altogether. We do this by copying the schedule inside Primavera P6 and un-checking the “Resource & Role Assignments box, as seen below:

While this option works perfectly well, the recipient will see no resources or roles in the schedule. What if we want the recipient of this file to be able to see the resource units but not the unit prices? This requires a different approach. Option 2 involves creating a new user and associated user profile who is not allowed to view cost data. When this user exports the file the resource rates will disappear but the resource assignments and units will remain intact.

First, we create a new user and label that person in such a way that we remember why this user was created in the first place. Go to Admin → Users. Below, I have added a new user with the name “Export User”:

Note that I have given this new user access to every project in my database by assigning this user to the highest level in the Organization Breakdown Structure (OBS). This is not absolutely necessary but it does make it easier to export any project without cost data.

Second, we need to assign the new user a Project Profile that excludes the ability to “View Project Costs/Financials”. Go to Admin → Security Profiles and select Project Profiles. In the screenshot below I have added a new Project Profile, “No Costs Exported”:

Also, I gave this new user no ability to modify schedules because the only purpose of this user is to export projects sans cost data. As soon as the project has been exported I will log back in using my normal user name.

Now we are ready to export a project with cost data. Keep in mind that you will need to log in as the new user first!

Questions or comments? Please feel free to contact me.