One of the most often requested features for Primavera P6 is an Activity Change Log. Although a log of changes to your project's activities is not yet native to the software, you can hack yourself a Primavera P6 Change Log using a few simple steps.I want to first give full credit for this solution to Ronald Weaver, a master scheduler at KBR Australia who brought it to us. It's innovative
Primavera P6 Tutorials
Browse our library of Primavera P6 Tutorials for help on using Primavera P6 project management software.
How To Remove Actuals From A Primavera P6 Schedule
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Though not a widely recommended practice, there are times when one might want to de-progress or remove actuals from a Primavera P6 schedule. Some reasons for wanting to return a schedule after weeks or months of progress updates to its state at Project Start are:Baseline not being set before applying actuals Wrong or no resource assignments applied when baseline was set Wrong logic
Use Expected Finish in Primavera P6 to Speed Updates
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I'd love to see some stats on the average size of a Primavera P6 schedule. I've never come across any stats, but based on experience and lots of consulting and web-research, it's pretty clear that today's project schedules are the chunky big brother to their slim and compact sibling of 10 or 15 years ago.Schedules are becoming bloated with data. Why?We have computers & software that
Compress A Schedule Using Duration Types in Primavera P6
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Since we've been discussing schedule compression and project acceleration techniques of late in preparation for next week's webinar on Construction Project Acceleration, I wanted to share a quick Primavera P6 technique that is often applied when compressing a schedule.When I run classroom training courses on Primavera P6, one thing I like to do is a group brainstorm on ways to get a project
What is a .PLF File And How Do I Open It in Primavera P6?
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A .plf file is a Primavera Layout File that stores information about screen layouts. If you're having trouble opening a .plf file, let me show you how it's done using Primavera P6. Opening A PLF File In Primavera P6 A .plf file can't be double-clicked in your file browser in order to open it in P6. Double-clicking it doesn't work, and typically Windows will try to open it in some unrelated
Who Changed My Primavera P6 Schedule?
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Do you work in an enterprise environment where so many people have access to the same Primavera P6 database? Have you ever wanted to find out who made changes to your Primavera P6 schedule without leaving any comments in a Primavera P6 Notebook? Here is quick tip to help you track users who made changes to your Primavera P6 schedule. Add the 4 new fields (columns) to your layout by
Plan a Festive Holiday Wreath in Primavera P6
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Back by popular demand is another festorial in Primavera P6. Who says the lowly Gantt Charts can't be fun & festive?In the spirits of the holidays (and of using Project Management software in ways never intended), I'd like to present you with an Advanced-level Festorial on creating a holiday wreath.Show off your skills, impress your project controls manager (or your planners) and make
The One Indicator That Can Foil Your Excel Import into Primavera P6
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There is the temptation to think that because you can export a data field from Primavera P6 to Excel that you can import the same data field back to Primavera P6 after manipulating the field’s data in Excel.If you have ever imported data into Primavera P6 using Excel, you would have experienced instances where despite getting the familiar message of a successful import, some of the changes you
How to Print a Calendar from Primavera P6, with some help
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In this quick tutorial we show how to create a 12-month formatted calendar in Excel based on the data extracted from an xer file using the handy Xer-Reader utility.Hopefully I will soon provide a more technical explanation on how the code works in the xer reader wiki.Michael has written an excellent article about calendars go and read it. 1) Get a Copy of the Xer-Reader Utility If you
Import an XER File From a Newer Version of Primavera P6
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To import a newer version XER file to an older version of Oracle Primavera P6 installed on your computer, follow this quick fix.1) Open the XER file in any text editor like Windows Notepad. 2) On the very first line, you should see the version of Oracle Primavera P6 that this XER file was saved in. Edit the version in the file to match the version installed on your machine. You can check
The Biggest Problem with Primavera P6 Calendars, And How You Can Fix It
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As planners and schedulers, we are tasked with managing mountains of project data everyday; progress updates, scenario projects, reports, reports and more reports. Data can quickly take over your life if you're not careful. And you don't have time for that.That's why a good system for organizing aspects of your project and project data goes a long way.My biggest frustration with Primavera P6
Create A Festive Gantt Chart Xmas Tree In Primavera P6
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For all you creative types out there who love to create something awesome in a manner which is rather non-traditional....this tutorial is for you.In the spirit of the holidays, here are the steps to create a festive Gantt chart Xmas tree in Primavera P6, complete with decorations. Getting Started with the Gantt Xmas Tree's Structure 1. Create a new, empty Project plan and name it "Gantt Xmas
How to Show the Critical Path in P6
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Can't find your Critical Path in Primavera P6? Don't worry, it might be hiding. Here are 4 easy ways you can laser-in on your project's Critical Path in P6. 4 Easy Ways to Show the Critical Path in P6 1. Check the Gantt Chart By default, the P6 Gantt chart will show your project's Critical Path activities in bright red. This makes it easy to have a quick glance at the Gantt Chart et voila!,
Critical Path vs Longest Path
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When it comes to your project's Critical Path, there are few topics more important to your client. The expectation is that YOU, dear scheduler, are the expert. So YOU had better know your project's Critical Path inside and out.But wait! ......Is it the Critical Path you should be reporting on, or the Longest Path?The terms Critical Path and Longest Path are often used interchangeably when
How can I force an activity onto my project’s Critical Path?
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Last week, I taught a Primavera P6 training course to some great folks in frosty Fort McMurray.As often happens, an interesting question came up about Critical Path. And this is not the first time this question has been put to me. But this time, I thought I would write about it. "How do I put an activity on my project's Critical Path in Primavera P6?" So here's the situation. A project
Here’s A Quick Way To Keep Your Milestones in Focus in Primavera P6
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Milestone Activities in any schedule usually represent the most important deadlines, deliveries, start ups or drop-dead dates for a project. These are undeniably dates that you’ll want to stay on top of and keep close at hand in case you’re asked for a report or to check on the health of the project. But it can be difficult to search for milestones in a large schedule, and at the least it may take
Handling Out of Sequence Progress in an Updated P6 Schedule
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What is Out of Sequence Progress in Primavera P6? Out of Sequence Progress occurs from a deviation in the original planned logic that was set up in the baseline schedule. It can occur when work is executed in the field in a different order than was planned in the schedule. The result can affect your project's logic, which dictates the order of execution of activities. Checking for Out of
Graphing a P6 Resource S-Curve in Excel
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In my previous tutorial in this series, I described the procedure to export resource assignment data from P6 to Excel. Most of us have worked with Excel charts in our job or during our study in college or university. What we all know is that they are really helpful when you want to demonstrate some analytical information without technical terms. In this tutorial, I am going to tell you how to
How to Export Resource Assignment Data to Excel from P6
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Export P6 Resource Assignments to Excel As you know Primavera P6 has a lack of graphical features so often we schedulers need to export everything to other software packages (mostly Excel) to produce an understandable schedule and graphs. I always had a problem exporting resource related data to Excel with the standard exporting feature on P6 until I found this way to use the Reports feature.
How Primavera Calendars Change Durations – and what to do about it
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If you do a quick google on keywords <Primavera calendars change>, you'll end up with quite a few results that show you how to use Primavera's Fill-Down feature to change the activity calendar of all the activities in a project.But I think the fill-down piece is only the first step in changing activity calendars. What about durations? Changing an activity's calendar in Primavera can
How to clean a Primavera P6 XER file using the XER File Parser
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In the third part of our Primavera P6 databases and data cleansing series, we will show how to use the parser to clean an xer file. But if you haven't read them go back and read: XER File Parser Excel utilityPart 1: 6 Ways to Clean Up Your Primavera Database Nightmare Part 2: Understanding Primavera XER FilesCleaning an XER File for Import NOTICE: the Primavera XER File Parser is not
Create a P6 Project Dashboard in Excel
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Tutorial FilesExcel Spreadsheet (Excel 2007+): PTuts_Project_Dashboard.xlsm - 1.5MbOne of our previous site manager told us (the project control team), that if we bring to him another report that have more than 1 page, he will just throw it away (sic), actually managers care only about the big picture, and don’t bother reviewing every small details. The purpose of this tutorial is to
How To Link A P6 Schedule To The BOQ With Different Levels Of Detail
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Tutorial FilesExcel Spreadsheet (Excel 2007+): PlannerTuts_BOQ_Pay_Item.xlsxP6 Schedule and BOQ challenges A contract's Bill of Quantities is always meant to be more details then the schedule, at least in theory. In many cases, the planner and the estimator are not working in perfect coordination and you may end with two different level of details for the same project. In case you need some
How To Remove Resource Costs from XERs in Primavera P6
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This tutorial will walk you through a process to remove resource costs from XERs exported from Primavera P6. This comes in very handy if you are sending project schedules to general contractors but want to hide cost information from them (or anyone else for that matter). Tutorial Files Complete this tutorial by downloading the following files:P6xerFileParserBuilder.xls - MS Excel 2003 and
[Ask Plan Academy] How Can I Remove Resources From A Primavera P6 Project When I Send A Project To My Client?
8 Comments![[Ask Plan Academy] How Can I Remove Resources From A Primavera P6 Project When I Send A Project To My Client?](https://planacademy-nffybkc1gjvuuhit.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/ask-plannertuts-primavera-p6-help-264x200.jpg)
Plan Academy, I have to send my client a copy of my schedule every month. But the client would like me to exclude any resourcing information in the copy that I send them. How can I easily remove resources in the copy of the project I send to my client?Signed, Geoff. Geoff, it turns out that this is easily accomplished in Primavera P6 with the features included in the software's smart project
Quick Tip: Mixing AND and OR Options in Primavera P6 Filters
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Building a filter where all the conditions are either 'And' or ‘Or’ between each row is pretty straightforward. However, if you want to mix them up a little its not so obvious how you should do that in Oracle Primavera P6 Professional. This quick tip will show you how.Example: I want to find all the milestones in the project that have a date variance that is not equal to zero. In other words,
The Essential Guide to Printing Layouts in Primavera P6
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Primavera P6 provides the ability to display project schedule information using “Layouts”. Layouts are customizable views of project information and are the primary method for printing Gantt Charts, Profiles, Spreadsheets, and Trace Logic views. Schedules are tough to read and all members of the project team can benefit from an easier way to interpret their schedules. Did you know that you can
Quick Tip: Use Fill Down To Copy Data Across a P6 Schedule
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As all of you know, when you want to develop a time schedule there are many attributes that should be assigned to activities and for this purpose we use Activity Detail bottom on the Activity Toolbar. By pressing this bottom, a form will be appear below your time schedule and in this for you can assign different attributes to your activities, such as type, duration, start and finish dates,
Excel VLOOKUP Tutorial – Step by Step for Primavera P6 Users
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Primavera users are also Excel users. As many of you know, Microsoft Excel has many useful functions in different areas such as Financial, Date & Time, Math & Trig and so on. One of these areas is Look up & Reference. The functions in this area are dealt with lists, indexes and arrays and help us to find some special information in these listed data or other. This required information
Video: Import Primavera P6 Updates from Excel
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Occasionally we revisit some of our reader's favourite posts from the annals of the Plan Academy tutorial library, and today we're revisiting a topic that is always hot - importing updates from excel. Let's take a look!Often large projects demand many sub-teams or subcontractors update a portion of the master project plan on an on-going basis.If your subcontractors are not up to speed on
Quick Tip: Descrunch the P6 Gantt Timescale For Better Printing
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Have you ever printed your P6 Gantt Chart only to find that you can't quite see the first or last milestone because they fall off the page or are cutoff? I have.Here's how to avoid printing a scrunched gantt chart by easily expanding your P6 gantt timescale before you print.
[Video] Building a Stacked Histogram in Primavera P6
14 Comments![[Video] Building a Stacked Histogram in Primavera P6](https://planacademy-nffybkc1gjvuuhit.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/stacked-histogram-featured2-264x200.jpg)
A great way to see all your resource assignment levels comparatively over time is to use a Stacked Histogram in Primavera P6. It's a feature that is available in the Resource Usage Profile charting facility.The process to get this all working is a bit convoluted, so we're going to show you step-by-step the process. Stacked Histograms are common sight in project environments.