Posts Tagged “P6 Professional”

Primavera P6 R8.4 Database Options

Coal miner at work with pick axIn 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
C. Claim Digger, P6 EPPM, P6 Professional, P6 Web, Primavera P6T. , , , , ,

Exporting Groups of Projects

Backing up a Primavera P6 database is the best option for moving the entire set of project data – schedules, resources, calendars, layouts, etc. – to another computer. But if the only goal is to move a group of projects from one database to another, there is an easy way to do this very quickly.

We all know that a project must be open in order to be exported. So the first step is to simultaneously open all of the projects that need to be exported. Caveat: you cannot open more than 100,000 activities concurrently in P6 Professional but there is otherwise no limit to how many projects can be opened at the same time. For this reason I recommend exporting groups of projects based on either a Project Portfolio or EPS node.

In the first screenshot I have selected a group of projects based on their EPS Node. I can either highlight projects individually using Shift or Ctrl on the keyboard, or simply highlight the EPS Node itself:

Exporting Multiple Projects_1

 

 

 

 

 

Now that the projects are open I can then start the normal export process, as seen in the next two screenshots. The only difference is that I am selecting a common name for all of the projects. I typically name the file after the Project Portfolio or EPS Node to avoid confusing a group of projects with a single project. In this example I have called the common file, “Manufacturing Projects”:

Exporting Multiple Projects_3Exporting Multiple Projects_2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When importing the group of projects I still have the option of importing some or all of the projects. Note that because I am importing back into the same database Primavera P6 is warning me that matches across the board were found.

Exporting Multiple Projects_4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is all it takes to move a group of projects from one database to another. When I am working on construction claims this is a great way to send the attorneys all of the project files. The size of the common file will of course be larger than normal but XER files are text-based and generally never get too large to email as an attachment.

If you have any comments or questions please feel free to contact me.

 

 

C. P6 Professional, Primavera P6T. , ,

Primavera P6 Professional Version 8.3 Released

Oracle recently released Version 8.3 for both P6 Professional (PPM) and P6 Enterprise (EPPM). Today we will be discussing changes to P6 Professional.

Visualizer

Visualizer is a new feature that supports graphical reporting via customizable Gantt charts and timescaled logic diagrams (TSLDs). The TSLD was initially introduced with Version 8.0 and is now replaced by Visualizer. One of the advantages of a TSLD is the ability to show more than one activity on the same line, which reduces the height of the logic diagram considerably.

In addition to the P6 Professional’s standard graphical features, Visualizer adds the following features:

  • Stack columns and use word wrapping in the Gantt chart
  • Use notebook topics or a list of steps as a bar label or as a field in the activity table
  • Apply various fonts to individual labels and fields
  • Color-code and apply different shapes for bars and endpoints
  • Draw bars on top of each other, for example, to show critical highlighting

Visualizer is a desktop application that can be launched either from within P6 Professional or from the computer’s start menu. It connects directly to the P6 database. This marks the first time users have been able to view project data without launching P6.

After launching Visualizer, users can choose to create or open a TSLD or Gantt chart. Users can also print and manage layouts from inside Visualizer. P6 Professional layouts or Visualizer layouts created by other users can even be imported.

The Gantt chart includes a grid and a bar chart. The grid displays activity information in a table format, similar to the Activity Table in P6 Professional. On the Chart & Grid tab in Layout Options, display the Gantt chart, the grid, or both.

The screen below shows an example of a TSLD in Visualizer with multiple bars per row and critical activities coded in red:

Visualizer TSLD

Discussion Feature

Previously we had the ability to track comments about activities using the Notebook tab in the Activity view. Version 8.3 adds a new Discussion feature that tracks these comments by team member. All comments are dated and labeled with the contributor’s name. Similar to Notebook comments, Discussions are stored electronically with the activities. This is a nice tool for encouraging dialogue and feedback on activities.

Also, we can now add a column called “Unread Comments” to the Activity Table to prompt team members to review the most recent Discussions. Notebook comments, by comparison, can only be shown as a label on an activity bar and do not appear in the Activity Table.

Visualizer Discussion Tool

XML Import/Export Enhancements

P6 Professional Version 8.3 provides a number of enhancements to its XML import/export functionality. Users can now exchange XML project files with previous versions of P6 Professional from Version 6.2 Service Pack 4 (SP4) onward. Also, all features supported by the P6 Professional XER format (constraining of external relationships during import, inclusion of Price/Unit in resource assignments, etc.) are supported in XML format as well.

P6 Professional Version 8.3 also gives users the ability to import or export multiple projects simultaneously. When exporting multiple projects, the projects are combined into a single XML file. Importing multiple projects requires the projects to be contained in a single XML file.

Visualizer Export

Bottom Line – Worth an Upgrade?

Users who have a current support agreement with Oracle can upgrade to Version 8.3 for free. Otherwise, you will have to pay full price to get the newest version. Version 8.3 does have some nice enhancements but they are not worth buying a new license. The TSLD still does not show relationship lags – only the relationship types – despite several upgrades since it was first introduced. Users have been asking for this feature for quite a while. Of course, the Gantt chart does not show the lags either so we will have to wait until, perhaps, Version 8.4 is released.

In the meantime, we will be testing Version 8.3 for bugs. Versions 8.1 and 8.2 tend to crash more often than Version 7.0 (our favorite) so reliability is always a concern. The casual user of P6 would not miss the enhancements found in Versions 8.1 and 8.2 so it once again comes down to whether a free upgrade is available. Certainly, new users should consider Version 8.3 as there is no discount for buying older versions and Version 8.3 is backwards compatible with earlier versions of P6 Professional.

 

 

 

C. Primavera P6T. , , , ,