In today’s post, I want to talk about the Primavera P6 Update Baseline feature. Are you using it right? Should you be using it at all? I want to dive into that and talk about Project Change Management while we talk about the P6 Update Baseline feature. What is the Problem with Update Baseline? Okay. So number one Update Baseline; If you've done any digging, you know it's fraught with errors and
Primavera Software -Tutorials and Articles
Stay on top of Primavera and related software with these relevant posts, tutorials and articles.
Top New Features in Primavera P6 v21
4 Comments
A new version of Primavera P6 Professional has recently dropped: Primavera P6 v21, and I'm here to tell about what's new, what's great and what's not. I feel it's my heartfelt duty to schedulers everywhere to unpack these yearly updates and highlight all of the features that are changing or improving, or are still broken. I love to do it, and I've been doing it for years. Here is the yearly
Analyzing Relationships With Deltek Acumen Fuse
1 Comment
I am on a mission to learn and master Deltek Acumen Fuse software and I am bringing you along for the ride. Deltek Acumen Fuse is a powerhouse app that becomes an incredible tool in your arsenal if you’re doing P6 scheduling all the time and getting hammered by people who are analyzing it on the other end. So, I’m going to teach you how to get the best use out of Acumen Fuse. In this
How To Run a Schedule Check Using Deltek Acumen Fuse
Leave a Comment
In this post I’m going to do talk about a tool that’s new to me: Deltek Acumen Fuse. Although the tool itself has been around for a long time, many people (myself included) haven’t integrated it into their toolkits, and it’s time to change that. If your department is serious about project scheduling and you're not using Deltek Acumen Fuse, then you're missing out on some serious power-house
Primavera P6 Version 20.12 Is Out. Here’s What’s New.
14 Comments
Just before the Christmas break, Oracle quietly released Primavera P6 Professional version 20.12. I've had a few days to explore this latest version of P6. Here's what's new in Primavera P6 Professional version 20.12. In case you forgot, Oracle publishes updates to the on-premise version of Primavera P6 annually in December. So we've all had a full year to adjust to Primavera P6 version 19.12 -
Track Construction Delays with this Free Delay Log Tracker
5 Comments
Construction delays costs both Owners and Contractors millions of dollars each and every year. According to a Arcadis' 2020 Global Construction Disputes Report, the global average value of disputes was $30.7 million USD in 2019. That's a lot costs tied up in claims, legal battles and disputes. With so much importance put on managing costly construction delays, why don't we have a better
Primavera P6 Pro v19.12 is here. Here’s What’s New.
11 Comments
Primavera P6 Professional version 19.12 was released by Oracle on Dec 23rd of last year. Let me highlight some of the new features, bug fixes and enhancements that you'll want to know about. Let's go! What's new in Primavera P6 Professional version 19.12 Watch the video to see what's new. Read-on for a detailed list of ALL of the
These As-Built Drawing Software Tools Make Marking-up Changes Easy
1 Comment
As-built drawings are a critical component of every project and a valuable piece of information for future expansions or projects. Usually, as-built drawings are a project requirement and tied to contractual requirements demanding to have as-built completed prior to final acceptance or payment. The as-built drawings are recorded and prepared after the project gets completed and sometimes could
3 Top Timesheet & Time Tracking Software
2 Comments
Looking for the best timesheet and time tracking software? There are many and multiple options in the market that can be integrated with project management products. Tracking time makes you not even more efficient but also can help on maximizing the resources available for your construction projects. We have looked at a many different timesheet and time tracking software and I have compiled
5 Things ScheduleReader Does That Primavera P6 Can’t
4 Comments
I've been a fan of PrimaveraReader (or now ScheduleReader) for a quite a while. SchedulerReader is a truly great XER file viewer that fills many gaps for organizations using Primavera P6 Professional planning & scheduling software. More on that in a second. Last month, PrimaveraReader underwent a complete rebrand that had it move away from referencing the name "Primavera". Not surprisingly,
17 Construction Mobile Apps Every Contractor Should Know About
18 Comments
We’ve all become accustomed to using our smartphones for vital things like banking and email, but did you ever think you would be using it to track where you last left your tools? Mobile apps are helping to speed up business processes and make it easier to access and record information. And new innovative apps are helping construction professionals get results too. In 2014, 36% of construction
These 4 Project Controls Software Trends Will Make Waves in 2018
2 Comments
In 2018, schedulers, planners & cost controllers will continue to deal with the pressures of managing complex projects amidst scarce resources, limited budgets and tight deadlines. And while most project controllers will spend their time in front of a piece of software, our project controls software is changing and evolving in our connected world. Project controls software tools play a
Review of ScheduleReader – the P6 XER File Viewer You Didn’t Know You Needed
10 Comments
In this post, I'm doing a complete review of ScheduleReader. When it first launched, ScheduleReader was formerly known as PrimaveraReader an XER viewer that was an intriguing alternative to importing .xer files in your database to view the contents. But the tool was a bit too new to do a deep dive. Now, having a few releases under its belt (currently version 6.1), I'm convinced ScheduleReader
How To Preview A Primavera P6 XER File’s Global Data
1 Comment
This post is part 2 of our Scheduler's Guide to Primavera P6 Global Data and Project Data. If you have't read part 1 yet, go have a read. In this post, I'll show you how to preview Global Data coming from a Primavera P6 xer file. The concept of Global and Project Data in Primavera P6 is important to understand; not so much from a planning & CPM scheduling perspective, but from the view of
A Guide to Primavera P6 Global & Project Data
11 Comments
I've always had difficulty explaining the concept of global and project data to new users of Primavera P6 in my training courses. It's a bit too much for some, and why should you even care? You seem to be able to use Primavera P6 just fine without any knowledge of Global or Project Data. You can, but you can also get into trouble once you start moving data around, especially back and forth
5 Ways to Prevent Your Primavera P6 Install From Getting Hacked
2 Comments
Just over a week ago, the city of San Francisco lost millions in revenue as a hacker's attack left the city's MUNI municipal transportation kiosk system completely inoperable. The trains and buses were running, but everyone was rode for free for 2 days as IT experts struggled with a ransomware demand. All MUNI computer terminals displayed the “hacked” message: “Contact for key
5 Free BIM Tools That Can Help You Get Started
6 Comments
Why aren't you using BIM yet? The impact of BIM (Building Information Modelling) on construction projects has increased over time and now there are more BIM software tools than ever before. The use of BIM virtual reality, 3D modelling software and 4D imaging is starting to revolutionize the builder's lifecycle. It allows contractors to make better design decisions, reduce waste, and perhaps
What’s the difference between Primavera P6 Professional and EPPM?
118 Comments
Which Primavera P6 program should you purchase? Primavera P6 EPPM or Primavera P6 Professional? If you need to purchase the software, you had better understand which Primavera P6 is best for you. Primavera P6 software is costly, and you don't want to make the wrong choice. Navigating the Primavera suite of applications isn't exactly straightforward. So I thought I should clear up what Primavera
Oracle Releases Primavera P6 16.2 – Java Moving Out, Performance Moving Up
35 Comments
Oracle is doing their round of webinars after the latest release of Primavera P6, version 16.2. I logged in to get the skinny on what we can expect in terms of new features and functions in Primavera P6 16.2. Starting from release 15 of Primavera P6, the Oracle Primavera business unit has committed to 2 releases every year. A new major version is released in the spring (xx.1) with the major
Construction Scheduling Software – How To Get The Most Out Of Your Solution
6 Comments
As a leader in your organization, one of the biggest mistakes that you can make in terms of construction scheduling software is focusing on a tool as JUST a time management solution. While having the right solution at your side can certainly help you make sure that a project finishes on time and on budget, the overall functionality of today's construction scheduling software runs a great deal
POBS Data Bug Fixed in Oracle Primavera P6 16.1
4 Comments
By now, if you're an Oracle Primavera P6 user you've probably heard about the problems with large XER files, slow XER import processes and the problems with POBS data in the Primavera P6 database. We showed you how to circumvent those POBS issues either by cleaning up your XER file before import or by cleaning Primavera P6's POBS tables from the database itself. Oracle Support has confirmed
Primavera P6 16.1 Is Released! Everything You Need To Know
48 Comments
This month marked Oracle's latest release of Primavera P6 16.1, their flagship project management software. There are some new features to discuss and some changes. If you're on an a single-digit version (version 6, 7 or 8) don't forget about Oracle's new versioning approach - version 16.1 isn't truly 8 releases ahead of v8. You can get the low-down on all versions from our version history
36 Productivity AutoCAD Hacks for Engineers [SlideShare]
2 Comments![36 Productivity AutoCAD Hacks for Engineers [SlideShare]](https://cdn.planacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2280515388_7a41ea7e62_z-264x200.jpg)
Technology is the future, the now. No kidding around, it makes our job much easier in all fields. When it comes to engineering and designing of architecture, technology assists in providing the highest standards of 2D or 3D models. AutoCAD is an essential part of this development. It is used to create these models, blueprints, professional sketches and much more in the planning stages of building
Location Based Management System: Better Than CPM?
7 Comments
A location based management system (LBMS) might not be something that is on your radar as a project planner or scheduler -- but it likely will be soon. The concept has deep roots in the United States. The Empire State Building is one of the most well-known examples of using a LBMS, and its use is considered a key factor in the building's rapid completion. While this method of tracking construction
Primavera P6 Cloud Offers P6 EPPM As A Service
4 Comments
The Primavera P6 Cloud is here. Are you ready for it? A while back, I explained that the Primavera Cloud offers most of Oracle's Primavera applications in the Software-as-a-Service model. That means companies can pay Oracle to spin-up a hosted implementation of say Primavera Unifer and be up and running in hours. It also means no fiddling with servers or the tear-inducing WebLogic backend
Primavera Cloud: What Is It & What Will It Do For Me?
7 Comments
It wasn't that long ago that Oracle released the Oracle Primavera Cloud, a cloud-based offering for Oracle's popular project management software packages. If you've been following the news, you might know that Oracle was a bit late to the cloud-party. Nonetheless, if you work in an enterprise with large Primavera installations, you'll be happy they finally showed up - fashionably late
How the Planning Community is Hacking Primavera P6
Leave a Comment
The best thing about being part of a community is that members help each other out. And the planning and scheduling community is one of those that really likes to help each other out. You only need to poke around the many Project Controls and Primavera P6 Groups on LinkedIn to find a myriad of helpful advice on topics ranging from how to name your milestones to avoiding construction delay
P6 EPPM Is Not A Replacement For Primavera P6 Professional
14 Comments
Everyone assumes P6 EPPM is a web-based replacement for P6 Professional. And perhaps that's what they were told by marketing, but since P6 EPPM's release, it's been pretty clear to some that P6 EPPM cannot do what Primavera P6 Professional can do. And vice versa - P6 EPPM excels at some processes that P6 Professional can't dream of doing. P6 Professional users who have experimented with
How To Print To PDF in Primavera P6 Professional
27 Comments
Primavera P6 Professional is no doubt a great tool for managing large-scale construction and engineering projects. One of P6's crowning glories is that it can handle huge schedules ( up to 100,000 Activities) with ease. Yes, working with loads of project data works great, but many find that getting the data in and out is not always a piece of cake. Printing to a printer is mostly easy enough
How to Clean Your P6 POBS Table On MSSQL & Oracle DB
19 Comments
In my last post I went deep on how to quickly clean POBS data from a Primavera P6 XER file using a simple text editor. And we discovered that removing POBS data from an XER file greatly improved the import time for large XER files. A big thanks to readers who left comments on that post letting me and you know that there are some 3rd party tools (free and paid) that handle this in a more automated
XER File Slow To Import to P6? Try Cleaning POBS Data
48 Comments
The other day one of our Plan Academy members called our support line with an unusual P6 problem. I'm always happy to help out our members solve P6 problems, even when it's 4:30pm on the Friday afternoon before I'm off on a full week of vacation.... OK. Full disclosure here. I had already powered down my laptop for the weekend and was just about to grab something ice-cold and carbonated when the
What’s Fixed In Primavera P6 Professional & EPPM 15.1.1
3 Comments
Are you experiencing issues with Primavera P6 version 15.1 already? Recently Primavera P6 version 15.1 was released and although it brought some new features to the table there seemed to be some glitches hanging around also. Are you wondering why the jump from 8.3 to 15.1? Find out why all Primavera P6 products made the jump to 15.1 and check out what's new in Primavera P6 15.1. Listed
