Activity Types in Project Management

This reference document describes the activity types available Project Management.

Task Dependent

Resources assigned to a Task Dependent activity schedule according to the activity’s calendar rather
than according to their designated resource calendars. Use task dependent activities when multiple
resources assigned to the same activity need to work together.

This is the default activity type in P2 for activities that have resources.

Resource Dependent

Resources assigned to a Resource Dependent activity are scheduled to work according to the

resources’ calendars rather than the activity’s calendar.  The activity’s duration is determined by the
availability of resources to work on the activity.  Use resource dependent activities when multiple
resources assigned to the same activity can work independently.

WBS Summary

A WBS Summary activity’s duration is dependent on the earliest start date and latest finish date of all
activities under the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) node to which it is assigned.  Unlike the Level of
Effort activity, WBS Summary activities’ durations are not dependent on predecessor and successor
activity relationships. 

Summary activities allow for the roll-up of information across a specific node of the WBS.  In addition to
the automatic roll-up to the WBS element, this activity type allows for the assignment of resources and
the collection of actuals at the WBS level.”

Level of Effort

A level of effort activity’s duration is dependent on its predecessor and/or successor activities. Level of
effort activities cannot have constraints assigned to them.  Level of effort activities are not included
when leveling resources.  Use level of effort activities for on-going tasks that depend on other activities.
For example, you could assign level of effort activities for clerical work, a security guard, or even some
aspects of project management. 

Finish Milestone

A Finish Milestone activity marks the end of a major stage in the project.  Since a finish milestone
activity does not have duration, it is sometimes referred to as a “zero duration activity.” A finish
milestone may have a primary resource and expenses associated with it, but cannot have resource
assignments, role assignments, or time-based costs such as labor. You can assign work products and
documents to a finish milestone.

Start Milestone

A Start Milestone activity marks the beginning of a major stage in the project. Since a start milestone
activity does not have duration, it is sometimes referred to as a “zero duration activity."  A start
milestone may have a primary resource and expenses associated with it, but cannot have resource
assignments, role assignments, or time-based costs such as labor. You can assign work products or
documents to a start milestone.
 Statusing Activities in Project Management

Business Process, Project Execution & Control - requires that projects are statused on a regular basis
by the Project Delivery Team (PDT) and/or Project Manager (PM).  This Navigation does not cover how
to update a project under construction. 

1. Login to Project Management and open your project.

2. Navigate to the window in Project Management and display the tab under Activity Details.  Refer
to Statusing Projects in Project Management for further discussion on the purpose of statusing your
project.

3. Collect project status information using the turnaround reports method.

4. Import Actual Costs into Project Management.

5. Enter the activity status information into Project Management.

Refer to Statusing Projects in myPrimavera if your PDT is using myPrimavera to enter activity
status information.

6. Click on the Progress Spotlight (  ) icon to highlight the next reporting period and any activities that
should have progressed.

When you turn on Progress Spotlight, Primavera assumes the next reporting period is the
next minor time division in the Gantt chart.  To change this, simply drag the vertical line
representing the Data Date in the Gantt chart.

7. Update In-Progress Activities in Project Management.

8. Update Completed Activities in Project   Management.

9. Update Remaining Units in Project Management.

10.    Schedule the project per Scheduling a Project in Project Management.

Even though a schedule step has occurred above, the Update Actuals process will reset the
project Data Date to the date the interface is run. The project Data Date shouldALWAYS be
after the latest Activity Actual Start and/or Finish Date.

Best Practice: Schedule the project ({F9}, {Enter}) after making any changes to dates,
durations, or costs and before executing the Update Project or Update Budgetroutines and
 WI/PRAC interface.  This ensures the changes you made propagate through the schedule and
coherent data is provided to Oracle Projects and CEFMS.

11.    Validate Updated Schedule Data by performing Project Status Quality Checks for checks you can
make to assure the validity of your project data.

12.    Synchronize Primavera, OP and CEFMS databases

If the project schedule has changed:

 Run Update Project and Update Budget

The Update Project process will transfer activity updates (e.g. dates, descriptions, Type of
Funds) to Oracle Projects.

If the project budget has changed:

 Run Update Budget in Oracle Projects per Running Update Project and Update Budget

The Update Budget process will transfer budget data to Oracle Projects.

 Approve the revised budget or updated PMP/PgMP  - if applicable

Refer to Submitting the Budget for Approval

If any or all of the above has changed:

 Run the WI/PRAC Interface

The P2: CEFMS WI/PRAC interface will transfer budgets and dates to CEFMS.

13.    Review and update the project plan.

Review the PMP, including Change Management, Safety, Communications, Quality, Risk,
Acquisition, and Closeout Plans.  The PMP will be the document of record for measuring the
quality of a project.  Evaluation of quality objectives within the PMP is a continuous activity
during project execution.

If issues are added to the activities, an e-mail notification can be sent to the appropriate party, if
required.

If the project update is not satisfactory, you may need to make adjustments and repeat this process
again.
 Updating In-Progress Activities in Project Management

1. Login to Project Management and open your project.

2. Click on the Activities button   to open the Activities window and highlight the activity
you wish to update.

3. Click on the Status tab   of the Activity Details window to display the status details for the
activity you highlighted.

4. With the Status window displayed, review the activity’s started date, finished date, remaining
duration and the physical % information for the updates you want to make.

5. To update the Started date, check the box   and type in the actual date the activity started

or click on the button   to open the calendar for you to select the date.

NOTE:  If you enter a date before checking the Started box, Primavera will think you are trying
to enter a Planned Start date. 

Once you check the box for Started, then the Physical % box becomes available for you to
enter the amount the activity is physically

complete. 
6. Enter the % amount that the activity is complete in the box  .

7. If Activity Steps were used (otherwise skip this navigation step), click on the Steps tab    to
open the Steps page to update step data.  The following screenshot shows several steps associated
with Activity A1260.  Step Predesign Charrette has been checked Complete and the Step %
Complete of Step Three Alt… has been entered as33%.  During planning, the PDT assigned a
different Step Weight to each step, depending on its relative importance to completing the scope of the
activity.

Primavera calculates a Step Weight Percent for each step by dividing each step’s Weight by
the sum of the weights for all steps.  When you check a step Completed, Primavera sets
the Step % Complete to 100%.  When you change a Step % Complete, Primavera calculates
the Activity Physical Percent Complete as the sum of the (Step % Complete) * (Step
Weight Percent) for all steps. 

In the example above, this PDT has renamed user defined fields to contain additional
information about each activity step.

8. Enter the duration of days remaining in the Remaining duration box; or alternatively, enter a date for
the Expected Finish in the Exp Finish box and allow Project Management to calculate Remaining
Duration after the project is re-scheduled.
10.    If work on an in-progress activity has been suspended, enter
the Suspend date.    and then enter the anticipated date when work

willResume.  .

Primavera will not count the time between the Suspend and Resume dates as working time.  It
will treat it as non-working time, similar to Saturdays and Sundays on a 5-Day workweek.

Routine status updates will produce progressively better estimates of the effort, & cost and time required
to complete the project.  You must run the Update Project/Update Budget interfaces and approve the
revised plan to incorporate changes into resource utilization and workload forecasts in Oracle Projects. 
You must also run the WI/PRAC interface to update the schedule and budget estimates on
corresponding Work Items in CEFMS.
 Updating Remaining Units in Project Management

1. Login to Project Management and open your project.

2. Navigate to the Activities window in Project Management and display the Resources tab under the

Activity   Details.

3. Review Remaining Units or Remaining Costs for each resource assignment at the Resources tab or

in the Resource Assignments Window and make any adjustments as necessary.

Warning:  When you update Remaining Costs on a resource assignment with Rate Source = “Override”,

Primavera will preserve the Remaining Units per Time and adjust the Remaining Duration.  This can
bubble up to the activity level and cause changes to your schedule.  It can also interfere with proper
operation of the Update Actuals routine.
NOTE:  P2 always sends the At Completion Cost to CEFMS.  Before an activity is started, Primavera sets
the At Completion Cost and the Budgeted Cost and theRemaining Cost equal.  When the activity is In
Progress (i.e. “Started”), Primavera calculates the At Completion Cost as the Actual Cost plus
the Remaining Cost and ignores the Budgeted Cost in the calculation.  When an activity is Completed,
Primavera sets the Remaining Cost equal to zero and the At Completion Cost equal to theActual Cost. 

When Actual Costs are transferred to Primavera, it will compute remaining costs by subtracting Actual
Costs from the At Completion Cost, thereby initially preserving theAt Completion Cost.  Primavera will
calculate Actual Units and Remaining Units from Actual Costs and Remaining Costs.  However, you can
(and should) adjust theRemaining Units to produce your best estimate of At Completion Units or At
Completion Cost.

Warning:  When you import Actual Cost, Primavera will calculate Actual Units based on the

resource Price/Unit.  It will then recalculate the Actual Costs based upon the calculated Actual Units for
each period that a Price/Unit is in effect.    This is true regardless of Rate Source, but this double
calculation results in errors when the Rate Source is set to “Resource”, the Rate Type is set to
“Price/Unit” and the activity straddles a rate change (an asterisk “*” displays in the Price/Unit column). 
To prevent inaccurate recalculation of actual costs, change the Rate Source to “Override” and enter a
reasonable Price/Unit before importing actual costs.

Routine status updates will produce progressively better estimates of the effort and, cost and time
required to complete the project.  You must run the Update Project/Update Budget interfaces and approve
the revised plan to incorporate changes into resource utilization and workload forecasts in Oracle
Projects.  You must also run the WI/PRAC interface to update the schedule and budget estimates on
corresponding Work Items in CEFMS.