Tips and Tricks in Primavera - 6

NO 1 TRICK :Use of CTRL-E to Fill down a set of comman activity codes / dates / calender in the
Columns.

NO 2 TRICK :Ctrl+w for closing all opened projects

Tip # 03

Resource Scheduling

Activity will be scheduled as per the resource Calendar, only if Activity Type is set to Resource
Dependent, OR otherwise it will be scheduled according to the project/Global calendar.

Tip # 04

Layout

When entering text in the print pre-view option in P6 the software defaults to double space when
entering text. If you want to single space a footer for example just use SHIFT+ENTER to single
space.

Tip # 05

Drive Activity Dates

Always make sure that u have checked the DRIVE ACTIVITY DATES box.

Go to resource tab --> Customise --> Add DRIVE ACTIVITY DATES column (General).

If it is not checked, then it might be possible that activity duration is less and resources are assigned
for more days, and so, it may show overloaded resources.

Tip # 06

Updating basaelines for Large Projects

For large projects, you may need to increase the Java VM memory size to successfully update the
projects baselines.

To increase the Java VM memory size on a Windows operating system, click Start, Run.

Type regedit, then click OK.

Navigate to the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Primavera/Shared/Update Baseline.

Double-click PARAMETERS. At the beginning of the Value Data field, enter -Xmx512m.

Be sure to leave a space AFTER the last m. Click OK.

Tip # 07
When entering percent complete, make sure you selected the appropriate percent complete type for
each activity. Unlike P3, P6 has three percent complete types that do not match unless an activity is
complete.

USE TOOLS CLAIM DIGGER.

FOR GETING SOME GOOD RESULTS OF PROJECT INTEGRITY.

AS HOW MANY ACTIVITIES ARE HAVING NO LINKS.

HOW MANY NO RESOURCES.
HOW MANY R MILE STONES .
HOW MANY HAVE CHANGED THERE CODES .

ETC

Tip # 08

If u get P3 file in prx format, then change extension to exe and then extract and then convert to get
it imported into P6 . When scheduling, click the "scheduling options" button. Some useful options
are selected: Progress override vs. retained logic.

Tip # 09

Press F9 --->push "View Log" to view the shedule/levelling reports, settings, statistics and errors of
currently opened project. Usually Im using this in tracking errors like out of sequence activities and
activities with constraints which affects the resulting critical path of the project. Press shift and F9
for levelling resources.

Tip # 10

To assign same resources to many activiies, select first activity, select resource from resouce
assignment window and assign. then select other activities (contr+select) and click assign from
reoure window

Tip # 11

To import an XER file to a different version of Primavera Project Manager than it was exported
from Open the XER file using Word Pad and simply change the version number on the top line to
the version you are importing the file to and save and close the file. To find out what version you
are running open Primavera and Select HELP > ABOUT PRIMAVERA and view the SYSTEM tab.
Include and services packs (SP) if applicable.

This works extremely well for going backwards in release versions (i.e. - From P6 to P5).

Tip # 12
if youre opening more than one project and you want to schedule to a different data date you wont
be able to change DD from the schedule dialoge box.
Go to projects window, insert Data Date column, change one DD to the desired date and FILL
DOWN.
then back to activities and F9
Tip # 13
Assign Activity ID #s to a UDF field in the Resource Assignments View, so that you can filter by it.
(Dont know why... but Primavera doesnt include activity ID # as a parameter in the filter dialog
box for the Resource Assignments view)

Tip # 14
Set and use the Project Phase WBS codes in the Admin Categories (Going forward hopefully
Primavera makes these hierarchical like all other codes)

Tip # 15
Set-up your report Headers & Footers in the Admin Preferences to standardise your layouts &
reports (I believe that you should always include a time stamp where possible)

Tip # 16
If required, store period performance to get the correct spread of time distributed actual data.

Tip # 17
Use notebook topics for all changes to the forecast plan. If it ever gets legal, at least you will then
have a change log. (I cant stress how important I believe this one is)

Tip # 18
If you want to know something 1st select the Hint Help in the view window then hover over the
field to get a explanation from the Primavera Application.

Tip # 19
Find & Replace rocks

Tip # 20
Always create an activity Name that defines an action to achieve an outcome & is unique, i.e. Do
Something to Something! If the Activity Name is unique when you code your schedule & then
group & sort by code, the descriptions will still have some meaning to you

Tip # 21
Get buy in Make sure that the people that are responsible for executing the work help to create &
more importantly manage the schedule.

Tip # 22
If you are using roles as place holders, ensure that the Rate Source is correctly set in the Resource
Assignments View so that the correct price/unit is used to calculate the costs for the assignment
when both a resource and role are assigned to an activity.