Primavera P6

Primavera P6

In this Primavera P6, you will learn the below topics.

1. What is Primavera P6?

2. Primavera P6 Project Management
3. Why Primavera Project Management?
4. P6 Core Concept
5. Project Management Life Cycle
6. New Features in Primavera P6 Version 8
7. Additional Features in Primavera P6 Version 8.2

What is Primavera P6?

The official name of P6 is Oracle Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management

(EPPM), which accurately reflects the software’s scope and purpose.

Primavera Eppm products along with Oracle’s project financials, supply chain management,
business intelligence, product lifecycle management, and infrastructure software are expected to
provide comprehensive and best Project Portfolio Management solutions for Enterprises.

The solutions help companies optimize resources and the supply chain, manage changes, reduce
costs, make better decisions, and meet delivery dates using real-time data. Primavera directly
reflects the organization with its International project management standards in meeting and
deadlines and managing budget and step towards its performance and success.

Project planning is essential to value as many business opportunities as possible at low costs
during a shorter period, considering 4P- Predicting, Planning, Progress, and Performance output
including, which has a direct impact upon the recommended Primavera success and durability of
the organization. Primavera is exclusively designed to work with one organization at a time.

Primavera P6 Project Management

Predicting project management support is one of the crucial factors that condition the project
success and forecasting all the complex investments. Thus the situation could interfere with its
execution and change the desired flow becoming an international one.

Primavera provides advanced planning and forecasting preferably for managing this activity.
Primavera considers standardization needs using templates organization’s templates and
collaborates, analysis with distinct reference projects, supported by a Methodology Manager.
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Why Primavera Project Management?

Primavera helps organizations minimize risks identified providing a chance to learn both from
the project’s successes and mistakes of each project with perfect planning. So that, it is clear for
the project managers to predict based on analysis, cost forecasting, and previous experiences.

Primavera allows project management regardless of their complexity, coordination between

designers, contractors, and beneficiaries. Primavera enables viewing the execution stages of the
ongoing projects and the system cases, project comparison with charts, forecasted project data,
and facilitating quick and documented decision implementation.

With its user-friendly interface, Primavera provides the best planning and controlling solutions
for even the most complex projects. It features a Gantt in the case of charts, resources, cost
histograms, PERT network charts, and predefined refinery. The project duration filters specific
to each field and presets the report formats for providing involving operation downtime with
clear insight on each project.

Primavera’s Project Management Consists of:

 An Enterprise Structure (includes managers at the highest levels to individuals at the

primary level of an organization. Multiple users can concurrently access the same
projects).
 Centralized Resource Management
 Integrated Risk Management
 Threshold Management
 Issue Management
 Tracking feature to enable dynamic cross-project roll-ups of earned value, cost, and
schedule
 Report Wizard

Major Difference between Primavera and MS Project

Primavera and MS Project are the most widely used Softwares used for scheduling, planning,
tracking, and reporting. The major differences between these two software are discussed below in
detail.

#1. User Interface

Oracle Primavera has an excellent user interface, including graphs, but Primavera P6 Professional
and other versions have a weaker User Interface. In contrast, MS Project is a powerful Graphical
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User Interface with captivating progress graphs, resources graphs, and histograms in MS Project
and other packages.

#2. Architecture

Primavera has Professional and web-based architecture. In comparison, MS Project has three
versions, such as Standard, Web-based, and Professional.

#3. Multiple User Access

Primavera enables multiple user access and offers users to specify the feature of Primavera a user
is required to use. Whereas MS Project does not allow multiple user access, the server supports
several projects simultaneously, but the user lacks a project when it is in use.

#4. Multiple Activity Relationships

Primavera can establish more than one relationship between activities. We can have Start-to-Start
(SS) and Finish-to-Finish (FF) between the same two activities. In comparison, MS Project can
establish only one relationship between two activities.

#5. Web Support

Primavera documents, plans, and other project information can be converted to HTML directly
from the software. In comparison, MS Project does not have such options.

#6. Baselines

In Primavera, users can display and assign unlimited Baselines to a schedule used for analysis.
Whereas, in MS Project, the Baselines are limited to 11 for assigning tasks.

#7. Hint Help

Primavera offers a Hint Help feature that defines the column's calculations and values whenever
the cursor is placed on the field. Whereas in MS Project, there is no such feature called Hint Help.

#8. Database Connection

Primavera supports SQL or Oracle databases, and it allows users to install the database as
standalone or a part of a server. At the same time, MS Project supports both Stand-alone and as a
part of EPM. In Stand-alone, project details are saved in the .mpp format. In EPM, it works with
the combination of MS SharePoint Server or Project Server. Project details are saved in the SQL
database.

#9. Custom Fields

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Primavera allows users to build a blank custom field without setting any formulas in the columns.
In comparison, MS Project allows creating custom fields from various project categories such as
tasks, projects, or resources.

#10. WBS

In Primavera, WBS is created separately from activities. Once WBS has been created, then we can
add activities for each element. Whereas, in MS Project, activities are indented to make them look
like a WBS.

#11. Issues and Risks

Primavera allows users to record issues and risks. Whereas, in MS Project, the feature of tracking
project issues and risks is lacking.

#12. Columns

Primavera offers several useful columns, around 200 that are installed, and each column represents
information. It defines each category, such as budgeting, dates, variances, relationships, costs, etc.
In comparison, MS Project supports over 500 default columns for resources and tasks.

#13. Import/Export Function

In Primavera, the import/export function allows users to communicate the project data with other
applications. It also allows exporting the data in various formats such as HTML, XLS, XER, XML,
etc. The importing function enables to creation of a new project from scratch by updating the
existing project plan or XLS file. On the other hand, MS Project has a similar import and export
logic function.

#14. Reports

Primavera allows users to create sheet-like reports with default formats that can be customized
easily. The reports are created in a tabular form only without having dashboards and graphical
charts. In comparison, the graphical reports can be customized in any format and allow to insert of
chart elements, and allows users to create dashboards and charts.

#15. Expenses Field

In Primavera, users can add indirect expenses such as travel and training. It allows them to choose
from assignment options such as the task's start, distribution, and finish date. At the same time,
MS Project allows users to define fixed costs for tasks, material resources, and rate-based resources
costs. It also enables adding from the resource sheet and assigned tasks.

Primavera Features

The key features of Primavera Software are discussed below:

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 Multiple Project Management

 Portfolio and Program Management
 Business Process Automation
 Multi-user Access
 Project Status Email Updates
 Configurable forms
 Gantt Charts
 Role-Based User Functions
 Graphical Workflow Modelling
 Resource Analysis and Allocation
 Risk Management
 Real-Time Analysis and Reporting
 Information Dashboard
 Resource Allocation and Analysis
 Calendar and Activity Views

Pros and Cons of Primavera

Advantages of Primavera

The main benefits of using Oracle Primavera are discussed as follows:

 Reduces Risks: Primavera is great at signaling and identifying the risks of overrun issues,
schedule inconsistencies, or eros that might immensely increase the project's cost.
 Easy to create forecasts: It allows project managers to easily create accurate forecasts for
the project and share them with business executives or stakeholders.
 Access and Responsibility: It allows workers to create schedules, request, and submit
timesheets wherever possible.
 Great Visibility: It enables users to analyze the data in a single location to ensure that the
project does not violate any regulations or rules.
 Good communication: It provides C-level staff access to all the project areas to
communicate with the workers wherever they are. Project Reader helps to enhance
communication and reduces the need for a constant internet connection.
 Breaks down the complex project: It enables users to break down the huge project into
smaller ones to achieve activities and tasks.
 Easy to use: Primavera is an easy learning curve tool for planning and scheduling the
project. It can handle complex data and generate analysis and reports quickly. Even a junior
project manager can work efficiently with all the basics.

Disadvantages of Primavera

The following are the limitations of using Primavera:

 Primavera lacks advanced UI and organized options. Also, the tools are not arranged
properly.
 It is an expensive tool than other Project Management applications.
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 Printing PDF Project Reports is the most challenging task using Primavera.

Features of MS Project

The following are the features of MS Projects.

 Project Portfolio Management

 Access from anywhere virtually
 Communicate in real-time
 Simplify IT Management
 Anticipate changes
 Deliver projects
 Improves collaboration
 Effective Presentations
 Discover and share information
 Organized
 Work seamlessly across tools
 Select optimal portfolios

Advantages and Disadvantages of MS Project

Advantages of MS Project

The following are the MS Project Pros:

 Intuitive Interface: MS Project is a highly intuitive tool that provides the best features and
functions. It helps users with new tasks or project revisions anytime without any
disruptions.
 High Visibility: It gives a 360-degree view of project details with scheduling tools like
Gantt charts and adaptable menus for quick project planning.
 Customized templates: It offers Pre-installed templates as per user requirements to help
users create a project plan very quickly.
 Integration: MS Project can integrate with other Microsoft applications like Word,
PowerPoint, and Excel. To improve communication, project managers are using Skype
effectively. Also, It can integrate with Power BI Pro to achieve business intelligence
analytics.
 Flexibility: It provides access to both Desktop and mobile devices that enables users to
view the project data.

Disadvantages of MS Project

The following are the MS Project Cons:

 MS Project is an expensive tool. Because of the high price, many users can only purchase
a few licenses, resulting in low productivity.
 It includes a lot of advanced features or new features that might cause the high price.
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 MS Projects does not provide real-time updates without integration.

Primavera vs MS project Comparison Table

S.No. Primavera MS Project

1. Primavera is a database-based project MS Project software is a file-based project

management software. management software.
2. It supports unique ID features and helps It does not support unique ID features, and
projects using ID systems. activity ID is based on the positions of the
activity.

3. It enables multiple users to work on a It does not enable multiple user access to
project and specify the features required work on a single project.
to use
4. It supports creating multiple activity It does not support such a feature, but it can
relationships where more than one type establish one type of relationship between
of relationship can be made between the activities.
activities.
5. It enables users to create sub-activities It does not allow such a function of creating
by breaking down the main activity into sub-activities.
several steps, including start and finish
dates.
6. It supports unlimited baselines. It is restricted to 11 baselines.
7. It allows issue and risk recording. It lacks this feature of recording issues and
risks of a project.
8. It allows activity sorting through It allows flexible activity control in which
various fields such as activity ID, date, the individual activities can be moved from
etc. the position to positions to display.
9. It supports around 200 columns along It supports around 40 columns only on the
with custom columns; each column contrary part.
provides useful information.
10. It allows users to create a Work In MS Project, activities are made to appear
Breakdown Structure (WBS) to add the like WBS.
activities.

11. It is best suited for developed countries. It is best suited for developing countries.

12. It supports the Progress spotlight It does not support any such feature; rather,
feature to highlight table rows in a it allows creating filters for the same.
specific color.

Conclusion
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While concluding, both Oracle Primavera and Microsoft Project are well-known project
management tools that assist project goals and organizational requirements. It’s not easy to pick
one tool from another, as they both have their strategies and features. Based on the project
requirements, we should determine which software helps meet the specific project services to
provide a high-quality CPM schedule. Each tool has unique features, and both aim for one goal to
achieve Professional construction management services.

Enterprise

P3 being a standalone application designed for a single-end user on a dedicated machine while
P6 is a multi-tier system intended to work with multiple users at a time with a backend database
and a web server in the front-end with an application layer in the middle. The web server enables
the system to connect with users via a web interface like Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer.
The system is very scalable and supports millions of activities, allowing companies that are
diversely and geologically spread and workforce across the globe.

Project

P6 supports Projects. In the body of knowledge, a project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to

create a service or a product in a unique way. It means different things in distinct industries and
comprises a large part of the commercial world surprisingly. For instance, Project is not only
related to construction but making a movie is also a project, creating entertainment is also a
project in the present-day scenario. A large number of people are involved in creating a movie or
a television show or an album.

Developing a drug also comes under a project. Primary research, clinic trials, government
approval, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution are the parts involved in that particular
project of Drug manufacturing.

A Project consists of

 Work scope
 Resources and
 Timeline

All these constraints are measured within the project boundaries. P6 allows the users to make
these measurements and provides the ability to react to these measurements to ensure that each
of these goals is accomplished in the project.

Portfolio

 A project cannot be standalone with few exceptions.

 Employing the entire EPS system is a massive task as it contains data from multiple
systems on your computer memory. The portfolio feature of Primavera enables users to
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focus only on the working projects and helps free up computer memory. The other vital
function of the Primavera portfolio is whenever you insert a new project or copy any
other project, P6 will automatically insert the particular one into the existing portfolio
that making it easy to search and find instead of seeking every single project.
 For example, if you have a portfolio called Project drug, P6 will automatically include the
new projects to the drug projects portfolio whenever you add a new project.
 The users can use the group to sort by options to remove unnecessary clutter. Primavera
inserts new files automatically into the current portfolio, regardless of the same EPS node
when you add a file, which appears in both the current and non-current portfolios. “All
Projects” contains the portfolio of every project in the EPS.

Management

Oracle Primavera P6 Professional Project Management provides control, which today’s project
managers and schedulers value most. Primavera P6 is designed to handle large-scale,
multifaceted, and sophisticated projects, and is on tools to provide distinct ways to organize
which are capable of handling 100,000 activities. It gives unlimited target plans with unlimited
resources. In short, Primavera P6 is designed to help organizations maintain their coherent
manner, offering them the power to focus on better strategies and to make better decisions.

P6 Core Concept

As we have discussed earlier, P6 is a scheduling application which means varies greatly. Each
project shares some common characteristics through the output changes. Here is the list of P6
Core Concepts:

 Deliverables
 Work Scope
 Time Management
 Cost Management
 Resources including People, equipment, and Materials
 Project team communication
 Purchases

Project Management Life Cycle

Primavera P6 Project Management includes planning, securing, organizing, and managing the
resources which are required to complete the project on time within the budget. The primary
purpose of project management is to achieve all the project goals considering the constraints.

The external goal of project management is project management streamline the process to ensure
whether appropriate resources are allocated and processes are streamlined to make sure that the
project is completed on time within the budget.
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The five phases of Primavera’s Project Management Life Cycle(PMLC)

 Initiation
 Planning
 Execution
 Controlling
 Closing

Stage 1: Initiation

Primavera PMLC’s initial step involves the initial start-up project processes. The project’s scope
and purpose are defined, justified, and implemented in this phase.

 Appointing Managers and Team members

 Studying Project Feasibility
 Documentation Collection
 Setting up the Project Office

Primavera’s software helps streamline the initial phase by offering the ability to store documents,
configure the member’s access, and provide an overall phase review before beginning the
planning phase.

Phase 2: Planning

Planning is the critical phase in the entire PMLC. Here, the documents are finalized in Primavera
P6 software and are provided to the project team to complete the project. The project planning
involves the creation of five smaller plans as follows:

 The project plan

 Resource plan
 Financial plan
 Quality plan
 Acceptance and communications plan

The planning phase in Primavera P6 is started by creating a work breakdown structure,

designing a schedule for cost load, assigning project resources, and basement establishment.

Phase 3: Execution

The execution phase is where the work is started and completed in PMLC. After setting project
plans, construction beings, and the process compared against the baseline throughout the project
building. The Primavera P6 software is used in the sequences as follows:
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 To report work in process

 To schedule the status
 To compare between projected and actual cost
 To distinguish between expected resource usage and actual resource usage

Phase 4: Control

The control phase in PMLC is where the project team members look at the results and decide
whether it is on the proper track or behind. After this, project team members use a management
tool like Primavera P6 software, to schedule, analyze, and project evaluation.

The project members will compare baseline schedules and actual plans and then make a
recommendation to improve the project’s health. If the project is behind schedule, team members
will go into the Primavera software application, modify the project data, and then re-forecast the
plan.

The team members then go into Primavera P6 software and utilize Clamdigger functionality to
outline the modifications made between the two scheduled updates.

Phase 5: Closing

The Closing is the final phase in PMLC, the primary functions in this phase are

 Learning project team members document lessons

 Determine whether the project is a baseline for other projects
 Deliver the end product to the stakeholders

It is a known fact that effective project management is essential for an accurate outcome. Any
problem that exists in the schedule could through the entire project off track and cost your
organization millions of dollars. Primavera software is for solving all the project management
problems and keeps you on track within the budget.

Activities

After creating a work breakdown structure (WBS) in Primavera P6 EPPM, defining events will
take place. An activity is a logical element that can occur independently or depend on others. The
core strength of Primavera P6 is managing operations.

Primavera P6 provides six types of activities and is very important to understand. They help to
calculate and determine the start and finish of the activity. They are listed as follows:

 Task-Dependent
 Resource Dependent
 Start Milestone
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 Finish Milestone
 Level of Effort
 WBS Summary

Describing activities is a significant step in Primavera’s project scheduling process as they

deliver WBS deliverables. An experienced primavera scheduler is essential to define a successful
activity. Identifying an activity accurately and estimating the corresponding planned duration is
very important for schedule development.

Resources

Resources are the primary requirements for any activity. Workforce, equipment, and other
materials that are necessary to complete the task. Material resources in P6 require the definition
of a unit of measure in addition to a standard rate. Labor resources may be trade-specific
individuals or skills. Until the resource manager assigns each to a task, the trade skill will insert
as a placeholder.

Resources can also have calendars. For people, the calendar will be the task assigned to a
particular point in time. For equipment, there are some limitations or measures where it can be
used based on whether or schedule is maintained.

For instance, let’s consider that you are sending a group of people to East Alaska to assemble a
new telescope, the logistics can be daunting, with an available number of trips available in a
particular season.

Some mundane calendars also exist in this regard like minimizing the time spent on an overpaid
job, some religious holidays for the employees working that affect the work schedule. Primavera
P6 places resources in the first place and treats them as first-class citizens of project scheduling.
It offers resource management ability and high-level decision-making power.

New Features in Primavera P6 Version 8

Primavera versions 7 and 8 have several changes. Some of the highlights are as follows:

 Oracle BI is the reporting engine of the P6 enterprise, which also reports the full range of
Oracle products.
 Using IBM WebSphere, Weblogic, and JBoss for supporting P6 version 7, which is an
open-source application server. JBoss is unable to help Version 8 and WebLogic is a
standardized product for Oracle.
 Unlike prior versions, Version 8 consists of templates as a part of the central P6 database.
One can manage and secure them through a web interface. (Professional P6 does not
support templates).
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 Oracle’s Business Process Management Suite allows a set of tools that enable product
communication. The development of customized workflows to interact with distinct
productions is one of the functionalities of this suite. BPM is a well-documented
technology explained on several websites and books like Getting Started with BPM Suite
11gR1- A Hands-On, Packt Publishing.
 P6 Version 8 comes with enhanced risk management tools. For monitoring and tracking
risks, included a risk register and risk scoring matrix.
 EPPM version is ultimately a web-based interface. Users can quickly create and manage
their project schedules through the web, using Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Internet
Explorer.
 It is a customized version with Tabbed views and configurable toolbars for easy
navigation.
 To emphasize logical connections between project activities, version 8 is Time-scaled
with logical diagrams for viewing schedules.

Additional Features in Primavera P6 Version 8.2

There are several new features that have been added to release 8.2

 It is a challenge to find a particular column or customize layouts in P6 as it consists of

several fields (probably dozens). Version 8.2 comes up with a new feature called “Search
Columns,” each column screen includes a search text box to make search easy.
 The installer in 8.2 has made it more accessible. The installer can walk through setting up
P6 and several other applications, which is the primary drawback in earlier versions. It
includes UPK, P6 Help, OCM, Integration API, Progress Reporter, Team Member, and
Web Services.
 Creating a new resource directly from a user account is easy in version 8.2. Unlike
previous versions, 8.2 is enabled with a new user management feature to copy all their
current toolbars and preferences with standard settings.
 The older version of 8.2 is not capable of checking out a project in P6 Web. 8.2, had an
additional feature called exclusive mode, which enables users to check out a new project
that tags with a lock icon providing access to only the user who locked it.
 P6 Version 8.2 has “Under filter” which is a new property to filter data by item location
within a hierarchy.
 Version 8.2 supports Microsoft 2010 to update P6, and the user can manage the enterprise
data in P6.
 Still, now we have two windows desktop clients 8.1 and P6 professionals, which are alike
but with specific administrative features stripped away. Now there is one and only one
P6B Unified version that supports stand-alone as well as running connected to the
enterprise system.
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 Line numbering is another essential feature added to 8.2. With this, we can choose line
numbers to display on the P6 professional screen. These numbers are helpful to create
your project screenshots and while talking about specific lines.
 P6 Version 8.2 provides advanced Mobile Support with Progress reporter to optimize to
perform this on tablets. Even iPhone applications have gotten new features and email-
based status.
 Still, there are several features in 8.2 such as group data ability by UDF and others. To
take e use of these features, using 8.2 is an easy decision.

Primavera P6 Content

Primavera P6 content includes all the core concepts and advanced usages of Primavera P6
products with a hands-on approach, making you an expert at building efficient Primavera P6
applications.

 Basics of Project Planning and Management

 Architecture of Primavera P6
 Primavera GUI & Understanding P6 Data
 Scope Management
 Work Breakdown Structure
 Activities in P6
 Creating Relationships
 Scheduling
 Codes and Constraints
 Roles and Resources
 Resource Analysis (Profile and spreadsheets views)
 Optimising Project Plan
 Baseline Project Schedule / Plan
 Project Execution and Control
 Project monitoring and controlling
 Performance Reports
 Miscellaneous (Global change, Visualizer etc)

Primavera P6 Environmental Setup Download and Install:

Step 1: Downloading Primavera P6

In order to download P6 for free, you will need to first create or log in to an Oracle account. This
can be done from Oracle’s e-delivery cloud website here.
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If you already have an Oracle account, you can select Sign In on the home page and enter your
credentials. Select Sign In again to log in.
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If you do not have an Oracle account, you can quickly create one for free by selecting Create
Account. Simply enter in your credentials and select Create Account to create a free account.

Once logged in, you’ll be taken to the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud home. In the search bar,
type in Primavera P6 Professional and select Search.
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Several items will appear in the list. Select the latest version of Primavera P6 Professional
Project Management – this will generally appear at the top of the list. At the time this article was
written, the newest version was Primavera P6 Professional Project Management 20.12.0.0.0.
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The program that you select will be added to your delivery queue. Near the top of the screen, you
can select View Items to make sure you selected the correct program. Then, select Continue.
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The next screen will display the Download Queue. Here, you can view the items that you’ll be
downloading along with their sizes. You can check/deselect items to customize the installation,
but I recommend keeping everything here as it is. Once again, select Continue.

The Oracle Standard Terms and Restrictions will open. You will want to read the full license
agreement, and then check the box acknowledging that you have reviewed and accepted the
Oracle License Agreement.

Then, select Continue.

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The next screen will open the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud Survey. You can choose to fill
this out if you wish, but this is not mandatory. To exit out of the survey, press the Feedback
button.
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You’ll be able to see all of the files that will be included in the Primavera P6 Professional
application download. This includes the application itself, the database setup tool, the integration
API tool, and the documentation for the program.

Keep all of these folders selected. Select Download, and the files will automatically download to
your computer.
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At the bottom of your browser, a .exe file will have been downloaded to your computer. You can
also find this file in your Downloads folder. Again, this file name will vary depending on the
version of P6 downloaded, but for me this file was called Oracle_SSN_DLM_11042111.exe.
Open this file by either double clicking on it in the Downloads section of your browser or your
Downloads folder.
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The Oracle Download Manager will open. First, you’ll choose a location to save the application
files to. By default, your downloads folder will be listed, but you can change this location by
selecting Browse. Once you have a location selected, press Next.
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All of the downloaded folders will appear in the Download Manager, along with their progress.
Leave this window open until all of the folders are completely downloaded.
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Once complete, select the folder button at the bottom of the Download Manager. This will
automatically open the folder that you had saved the files to.

Step 2: Extracting the Application Folders

The next step is to extract the application folders. Four folders will have been downloaded during
the installation process, you will then export two of them: the application folder and the database
setup folder. To find these folders, you will need to double click each zipped folder — this will
let you view their contents.

First, I’ll look for the database setup folder. This folder will contain another folder within it
named P6_R2012_Database (the numbers may vary depending on the version you downloaded).
Once you identify the zipped folder that contains that folder, right click on it and select Extract
All.
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In the Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders window, choose a destination to extract the folder
to. By default, it will be the location that the zipped folders were originally saved to. Then, press
Extract.
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Next, we will do the same thing for the zipped application folder. The application folder will
contain a folder within it called P6_Pro_RD2012 (again, these numbers may vary). Once that
folder is located, right click on it and select Extract All.

This time, when choosing a destination to save the files, check the box to Show extracted files
when complete. Then, select Extract.
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The extracted folder will automatically open.

Step 3: Installing Primavera P6

With the extracted folder open, double click on the P6_Pro folder within it. Within that folder,
there will be another named P6ProfessionalSetup. Double click on that folder as well.
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Lastly, double click on the P6ProfessionalSetup.exe file.

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The P6 Professional Setup window will open to help walk you through the installation process.

First, you can choose how to install the program. To use the default installation settings, keep
Typical selected and press OK.
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Then, in the next window, select Install.

After the installation is complete, you’ll be prompted to choose what to do next. You will now
need to set up the SQLite database, so keep Run Database Configuration selected and press OK.
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Step 4: Setting Up the P6 Database

The Database Configuration window will open. A default database named PMDB will be
created. Here, you can choose what database type you’ll be setting up.

Select the Driver Type dropdown and select P6 Pro Standalone (SQLite).
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In the next screen, select Add a new standalone database and connection.

Then, press Next.

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The next screen will allow you to adjust the login credentials for your database. By default, the
Login Name will be set to admin and your Personal Name will be set to your PC’s user name.
Both of these can be adjusted as desired.

You’ll also need to set a password – it is important to remember this password, because if you
forget it, you could lose all the data you created and will need to create a new SQLite database.

Lastly, choose a Name, Symbol, and Abbreviation for the Base currency that you’ll be using in
the database. If this ever needs to be changed, it can be done inside the program later on.

With all of this information entered, select Next.

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The last screen will allow you to adjust the Database Location, which is the location on your
computer that the database will be saved. If you need to adjust this, select the ellipses to browse
for a new location.

There is also the option to Load sample data. With this option checked, P6 will be preloaded
with sample projects, resources, calendars, and other global and project-specific data. I find this
data to be very useful, especially for new users of P6, so I recommend keeping this option
checked.

Select Save to save your database settings.

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A popup will appear to let you know that the database alias was saved successfully.

You can now close the Database Configuration window.

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You can now open up Primavera P6 Professional. The program should be available from your
Windows toolbar. If you have trouble finding the program, you can use the Search in the
Windows toolbar to search for P6.

The P6 Professional login screen will open. Enter in your login information and select Connect.
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Congratulations! You have successfully downloaded a free trial version of Primavera P6 and
installed the program with a standalone SQLite database.
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What is a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)?

In project management, the work breakdown structure (WBS) is a hierarchical breakdown of a
project’s deliverables or phases. A WBS allows project managers to organize their project‘s
activities into different categories in their project plan.

Each layer of the WBS represents an increasingly detailed definition of the stages of the project.
The WBS is often displayed as a diagram. This helps project managers break down the project’s
work and better visualize the project’s timeline. Creating a work breakdown structure makes it
easier to identify tasks that are required for the project. The WBS provides a quick visualization
of the project’s requirements.

For most organizations, the work breakdown structure is a required step during the planning
phase of the project. Luckily, most project management software programs, like Primavera P6,
make it easy to create a WBS.

Why is a WBS important for project management?

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Even if a WBS is not required for a project, it can be an extremely useful project management
tool for several reasons, including:

Breaks down complex projects

When working with a large, complex project with thousands of tasks, project management can
seem overwhelming. Work breakdown structures allow you to break projects down into smaller,
more manageable tasks.

Provides clarity for project teams

Most projects involve many people and teams working together to meet deliverables. With a
work breakdown structure, you can clearly visualize responsibilities. This ensures that every
team member knows what work they need to do to keep the project running.

Helps avoids project management issues

With a large project, it is common to run into issues like missed deadlines, increased scope, or an
overrun budget. Tracking these deliverables at the WBS level can help you make sure that no
deadline or budget constraint falls through the cracks and that your project stays on track.

Assists with measuring project performance

You can measure project performance by analyzing whether activities have finished on time and
within budget. For individual tasks, you would need to run through each activity’s dates and
costs individually. This will help you get a better understanding of your project’s status.

WBS Components

Before we dive too much deeper into work breakdown structures, we should first go over the
definitions of some key components that make up a WBS.

WBS Levels

A work breakdown structure breaks down a project’s work into hierarchical levels, or layers.
WBS levels make up the overall breakdown structure. The WBS can have as many levels as
needed, but most structures have at least 3 levels.

Scope

Project scope is all work that needs to be done in order to complete the project. This is generally
a detailed description of the work which includes important details like time and budget
constraints.

Deliverables
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Project deliverables are the end result of work performed in a project. This is the product,
service, or goal that you can achieve through work performance. Projects often have deliverables
for different stages. A deliverable-based WBS focuses on each of the project’s deliverables to
create a project plan.

Phases

Project phases are the stages that you need to complete in order to complete your project. For
example, a construction project could have the basic phases: Mobilization, Procurement, and
Grading. A process-based WBS focuses on the specific project phases required to complete your
project.

Tasks

Tasks, also known as activities, are the items you need to complete your project. Tasks are
generally given a duration, start and finish date, and dependencies with other activities. While
the WBS breaks the project down into smaller pieces, the WBS layer breaks those pieces down
further into tasks. Creating a WBS before defining tasks is useful because it provides an overall
roadmap to project completion.

Types of Work Breakdown Structures

Work breakdown structures can be created in several different ways. In project management,
there are two types of WBSs’ that are generally used. A process-based WBS and a deliverable-
based WBS. Project managers can choose to use either one or the other, or both together, to
define the project’s scope.

Process-Based Work Breakdown Structure

A process-based WBS divides the project into different phases. A process-based WBS has the
project or deliverables at the top, with different layers that break the project into phases of work.
Some phases may include Pre-construction, Construction, and Project Completion. Phases can be
broken down into sub-phases to create a hierarchical outline of the work that needs to be
completed.
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Deliverable-Based Work Breakdown Structure

Deliverable-based Work Breakdown Structures break the project into different areas of project
scope. For example, deliverables and work packages. This type of WBS defines the project by
the individual deliverables, rather than phases, needed to complete the project. A deliverable-
based WBS can be useful to help project team members understand how each deliverable
contributes to the project’s scope.

It is ultimately up to the organization to determine which WBS type to use for their project.
Different projects may require different types of work breakdowns. It is also possible to create a
WBS that combines both process and scope. This can track both the project’s phases of work and
the specific deliverables needed.
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Work Breakdown Structure Displays

The Work Breakdown Structure types can be displayed in various ways. This depends on the
type of project management software that you are using. Most project management software
programs also allow you to switch between different WBS displays as needed.

WBS List

A work breakdown structure list is an outline of each WBS layer. In most project management
applications, like Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project, this is the WBSs’ default view.

WBS Examples

Now that we’ve gone over the basics of what a work breakdown structure is, let’s take a look at a
basic WBS example. This project involves the construction of an addition to a commercial office
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building. Because this project features a variety of phases and tasks, creating a WBS will help
break down the project into more manageable chunks of work.

The top layer of the WBS is the overall deliverable. The overall deliverable is the construction
of the office building addition. There are 6 sub layers to this project. Each layer represents the
main phases of work involved: Design & Engineering, Foundation, Structure, Mechanicals,
Exterior Finishes, and Interior Finishes. Some of the phases are broken up to better describe the
work performed. For example, Exterior Finsides is broken down into sub layers of Brick, Roof,
and Doors & Windows. This gives us a WBS with 3 hierarchical levels.

Finally, you can begin to construct your WBS by creating WBS levels. The top level of the WBS
should be the final project deliverable. You should add additional sub-levels to define structure.
You can create these levels differently depending on the type of WBS you’re aiming to create.
For deliverable-based WBS, you can base your levels off of the project’s deliverable. A process-
based WBS’s levels should be based off of the project’s phases. You can add as many WBS
levels as needed to reach the project’s completion.We could continue to come through and break
these layers down further as needed. With this work breakdown structure, we now have a guide
to better understand the steps involved to complete this project.

How to Create a Work Breakdown Structure

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Let’s go over the steps to create a work breakdown structure. It’s important to note that most
program management applications ease the process of creating a WBS, so all of the following
steps may not be necessary.

On a basic level, there are 7 steps required to create a successful work breakdown structure:

1. Define the Project Scope

The first step in creating a work breakdown structure is to have a clearly defined project scope.
You will want to know what the end goal is for the project and what needs to be accomplished to
get there. It may be useful to define further project details here as well. This can include the
estimated start and finish dates, duration, budget, and project team.

2. Identify Project Deliverables

Next you will want to identify and list all the project deliverables. Deliverables are the End-
product of the work performed during the project. A project will have several deliverables. For
example, construction projects often require deliverables, such as submittals, proposals, and
reports. If you plan on creating a deliverable-based WBS, you will want this list to be fully
defined. However, it’s often useful for process-based work breakdown structures to have the
deliverables identified beforehand.

3. Identify Project Phases

Along with deliverables, you will also want to identify the phases of the project. You will want
to think about what types of work are required for project completion. For example, a
construction project will generally have phases of Procurement, Earthwork, and Structure. Often,
these phases can also be broken down into sub-phases – such as Earthwork being broken down
into Grading and Utilities. If you plan on creating a process-based WBS, this step will be
necessary to create the WBS levels.=

4. Create WBS levels

Finally, you can begin to construct your WBS by creating WBS levels. The top level of the WBS
should be the final project deliverable. You should add additional sub-levels to define structure.
You can create these levels differently depending on the type of WBS you’re aiming to create.
For deliverable-based WBS, you can base your levels off of the project’s deliverable. A process-
based WBS’s levels should be based off of the project’s phases. You can add as many WBS
levels as needed to reach the project’s completion.

5. Assign tasks to WBS levels

With the work breakdown structure created, you can now use the WBS by creating and assigning
activities to it. You can do this by taking the defined deliverable and breaking them down into
every activity necessary to complete them. After you have created these tasks you can add them
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to the different WBS levels. This will give you a project plan. The project plan will show you
work that needs to be completed and the order in which tasks should be performed.

6. Assign Responsibility

When working with your project team, you will want to assign different WBS levels and/or tasks
to different team members. This will allow each team member to know exactly what their role is
within the project. With clear understanding of their role, team members can work to ensure that
each required task is completed in time and within budget.

7. Create a visual display*

Finally, you will want to create a visual presentation of the WBS to easily refer back to as
needed. This could either be a simple hierarchical list, a tree diagram, or a Gantt Chart display,
as covered earlier. A Gantt Chart display can be especially useful, as it will quickly show when
each WBS layer is set to begin and end and how long they will take to complete.

What is a CPM Schedule?

The critical path, also called the longest path, is a sequence of tasks that directly affect the
project’s finish date. Each of the tasks along the critical path are called critical activities. If any
of these activities are delayed, the whole project will be delayed. Critical activities must be
completed by their planned finish date in order to be sure that the project will finish on time. The
critical path is composed of the project activities with the least amount of float.

A CPM schedule is a project management activity schedule that uses the critical path method of
scheduling. A CPM schedule shows the specific activities that make up the larger project, usually
in graphic form. This includes the durations, sequential relationships, and any associated costs.
CPM schedules provide the schedule with the least amount of time necessary to complete the
project. This is done through calculations of activity and project data, including optimal start and
finish dates for each activity.

What is the Critical Path Method?

The critical path method (CPM), also referred to as critical path analysis (CPA) is a scheduling
algorithm that was developed in the late 1950s. CPM is a method of mathematical analysis that
can be used by any project that has a sequence of activities. The critical path method is
commonly used in construction, development, engineering, and research projects.

The critical path method works by using network diagrams. Network diagrams display the
activities needed to complete your project in a certain sequence. The CPM calculates the
project’s critical path, which is the least amount of time it will take to complete the project. It
does this by using the activities’ durations, sequences, and the relationships between each one.
This determines the duration of the project. The critical path also identifies the project’s critical
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activities. Critical activities are those that need to be completed at a certain time to ensure that
the project is completed on time.

In the past, the critical path method was often applied to projects by hand. Today, however, most
scheduling softwares, such as Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project, can perform CPM scheduling
automatically.

Why is CPM Scheduling Important for Project Management?

Using the Critical Path Method on your project’s schedule can provide valuable insight into the
planning process. It also ensures that the schedule sticks to the necessary timeline. CPM
Schedules will help you to identify all the tasks needed for the project and how long each task
will take. Through the calculation of float, CPM can also show you which activities can be
delayed, if needed.

Critical Path Analysis can benefit project management and planning for the following reasons:

 Helps you to identify important task details

 This includes dependencies, risks, constraints, and duration estimates.
 Allows you to prioritize activities based on their float periods

This can give you a clearer insight into which activities are critical and must be completed on
time, and which have float and can be delayed.

Facilitates in resource planning

Critical activities can be prioritized with assigned resources to ensure that they are finished on
time, rather than non-critical activities that have some leeway.

Eases project monitoring

The CPM schedule can show whether an activity is on time or late according to the original
schedule. It will provide you with planned early and late dates for each activity. When the project
actually starts, these planned dates can be compared with actual dates. This can show you
whether the schedule is ahead or behind the baseline you created.

Improves future project planning

Project managers can analyze variance data found between actual and planned dates to create
more accurate estimates for future project plans.

Helps avoid potential project delays and ease project efficiency

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It can help improve future project planning. You can use the CPM network diagram to get a
better idea of which activities have dependencies, which can be run in parallel, and which need
to be performed sequentially.

How Does the Critical Path Method of Scheduling Work?

CPM scheduling works by running through the sequence of activities twice. During this time, it
assigns early and late start dates for each activity. Although most scheduling software programs
perform the critical path automatically, you can also do it manually.

To perform the critical path method for your project, you will first need a list of defined tasks
with durations and relationships. Tying together activities and relationships will give you a
sequential order of completion. Let’s look at the following project example:

In this example, the sequence of activities begins with activity A, which has a duration of 2
days. When activity A finishes, activity B and D will begin. Activity B has a duration of 3 days,
and activity D has a duration of 10 days. When activity B finishes, activity C, with a 1 day
duration, will begin. After D and C have completed, activity E will begin. Activity E has a
duration of 5 days.

The Critical Path Method will run through these activities twice to assign each activity early
dates and late dates.

Forward Pass

First, the CPM algorithm will run a forward pass through the schedule. It will start with the first
activity and then move forward to assign each activity an early start and finish date. These early
dates are the most optimistic start and finish dates for your project. Early dates can be calculated
manually using the following calculation:

Early Start Date + Activity Duration – 1 = Early Finish Date

In the following example, let’s say that the project is planned to begin on January 1st. This will
act as the early start date for the first activity, activity A.

According to the CPM algorithm calculation, activity A will have a duration of 2 days. If it
starts on January 1st, it will have an early finish date of January 2nd. This means that activities B
and D can begin the following day. This gives them both an early start date of January 3rd.
Activity B has an early finish date of January 5th, which allows activity C to have an early start
date of January 6th. Finally, Activity E can start once C and D have finished. Although activity C
is set to finish on January 6th, activity D will not finish until January 12th. This means that E’s
early start date is January 13th.
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This is how the critical path method of scheduling works to assign early start and early finish
dates to each activity in the schedule.

Backward Pass

Next, the CPM algorithm will do a backward pass through the schedule. It will start with the last
activity and move backward through each activity. Along the way, it will assign each activity
with a late start and finish date. These will be the latest dates that the activities can occur. Late
dates can be calculated using the following formula:

Late Finish Date – Activity Duration + 1 = Late Start Date

In the following example, we will use the early finish date for the last activity in the project as
the late finish date.

The CPM calculation will start with the last activity, activity E. Activity E has a finish date of
January 17th and a late start date of January 13th. The previous activities, C and D, would have
been completed on January 12th.

The critical path method algorithm will assign each of these activities with a late start and finish
date.

Total Float & the Critical Path

Early and late dates are both required to identify the project’s critical path. To find this path, the
CPM algorithm calculates Total Float for each activity in the project. The Total Float value
shows the amount of time that an activity can be delayed without delaying the entire project. The
critical path is composed only of critical activities. Critical activities are activities without float.
Because of this, it is important to identify which activities have float and which do not.

Total Float is calculated as the difference between an activity’s late and early dates. Total Float
can be calculated using either of the following formulas:

Late Finish Date – Early Finish Date = Total Float

Late Start Date – Early Start Date = Total Float

In the following example, we will use the calculated late and early finish dates to calculate the
total float for each activity:

Activities A, D, and E have the same early finish date as their late finish date. This gives each
activity a 0 float. This means that the activities are critical activities. Activity C’s late finish date
was January 12th and its early finish date was January 6th. There is a difference of 6 days. This
means that activity C has 6 days of float. The same is true for activity B.
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The CPM scheduling method uses the calculated early and late dates to determine which
activities have float(non-critical) and which do not (critical). We are able to identify the critical
path following the sequence of activities without float.

How to Build a CPM Schedule

Now that we’ve gone over how the critical path method of scheduling works, let’s go over the
basic steps required to create a CPM schedule. Please note that many project management
softwares, such as Primavera P6, will walk you through these initial steps. Once completed, the
application uses the CPM algorithm to schedule dates and total float— as seen in the examples
above.

Building a CPM schedule requires the following steps:

Identify the Activities

First, you will need to break the project’s work into identifiable activities. You can create these
activities from the project’s scope, or through a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). It is often
useful to associate specific activities with unique details to differentiate them. For example,
unique names, IDs, and categorical codes.

Identify Dependencies and Create Relationship Ties

Next, you will need to sequence and connect activities. You can do this by identifying
dependencies and creating relationship ties. Using the activities you created, you can determine
which activity will start the project and which will follow. Activities can have more than one
relationship tie and you will need to determine which activities have dependencies and which can
be performed in parallel.

Different relationships can connect activities in different ways. For example, you can tie two
activities together in a start-to-start relationship. This means that the start of one activity is
dependent on the start of another. Other activities can be tied together in a Finish-to-Start
relationship. This means that the start of one activity is dependent on the completion of another
activity.

There are four different relationship types that you should consider when tying activities
together— depending on whether the start or finish date of one activity is driving the start or
finish of another.

Finish to Start (FS)

When one activity finishes, the following activity will start. These activities will be performed
sequentially – one after the other.
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Start to Start (SS)

When one activity starts, the following activity will also start. This does not mean that the
activities will finish at the same time, but just that they will be performed in parallel.

Finish to Finish (FF)

When one activity finishes, the following activity will also finish. The start of the activities do
not have to be the same. At least part of these activities will be performed in parallel.

Start to Finish (SF)

When one activity starts, the following will finish. This activity type is uncommon, but is used
when the start of one activity drives the finish of another.

The Critical Path Method will only work if the project’s activities are tied together logically. A
perfect CPM schedule requires every activity to have both a predecessor (an activity that
precedes it) and a successor (an activity that follows it). The only exceptions are the first and last
activities in the schedule. The first activity will only need a successor and the last activity will
only need a predecessor.