Free Project Management Tools - Tutorials,Ebooks and Setups

In this tutorial, let us learn How to use the Expected Finish Date feature in Primavera P6 or How To Apply Deadlines To Your Project This is the sample schedule. If you go to the Status tab in the activity details, you can see the expected finish field below the Finish date. So what is this expected finish date and how do we use it? Now, go to the scheduling option and find that the "Use Expected Finish Dates" option is switched on to enable the Expected finish date act as a constraint. You should be using the expected finish constraint when you do not know the duration but sure about the finish date. so, when this constraint is applied, every time you schedule the project, the P6 will calculate the new remaining duration based on the expected finish date constraint. For example, in this sample schedule. For Activity C, let us set the Expected finish date as 30th Apr'19. Now, while updating the project, you will update the finish date of Activity A by 6 days d...

In this tutorial, let us learn how to Color WBS levels after Primavera P6 Export To Excel. After exporting activity table from Primavera P6 to Excel, it’s very hard to tell which activity belong to which WBS. So in this tutorial, let us see how to color WBS levels automatically so we can have a report like in Primavera P6. This is my sample schedule in primavera, 1. I press Ctrl+A to select entire data and copy the data and then go to Excel sheet and paste it. 2. Add a column left to Activity Id i.e column A and name it as WBS level to show the WBS level for each activity. 3. enter the formula in Cell A2 as = =((FIND(TRIM(B2),B2))-1)/2 4. Hit enter and then apply the same formula to all the cells in column A to see WBS level for each activity. 5. See now, you can view the WBS level for each activity this way easily in Excel after exporting the Primavera P6 Schedule. And Now let us color the WBS levels. 1. Select the entire Data range. 2. Go to Conditional F...

In this tutorial, let us learn how to identify WBS level for activity after Primavera P6 Export To Excel. After exporting activity table from Primavera P6 to Excel, it’s very hard to tell which activity belongs to which WBS. So in this tutorial, let us see this with an example. This is my sample schedule in primavera, 1. I press Ctrl+A to select entire data and copy the data and then go to Excel sheet and paste it. 2. Add a column left to Activity Id i.e column A and name it as WBS level to show the WBS level for each activity. 3. enter the formula in Cell A2 as =((FIND(TRIM(B2),B2))-1)/2 4. Hit enter and then apply the same formula to all the cells in column A to see WBS level for each activity. 5. See now, you can view the WBS level for each activity this way easily in Excel after exporting the Primavera P6 Schedule. So, friends, this is all about this trick If you have enjoyed this tutorial, please give me a like, share and comment. For further more interest...

In this tutorial, let us learn how to Merge two separate schedules into One Master schedule in Primavera P6. In this example, I am considering two separate projects which are these two, One is master schedule and one is the subproject. First, let us open the subproject and export this schedule as a .XER file onto Desktop. and now let us start the exact process of merging two separate schedules. 1. As a first step, We need to open the project schedule into which we want to insert the other project as a sub-project. So, let us open the Master schedule here. 2. Go to Import, select XER format, Click Next 3. Select Project and click Next 4. Now select the Subproject .xer file from the Desktop and click Next 5. Under Import action, select the option as “Update Existing Project” and under import to section, select the Master schedule which is already open. Click Next and Finally Click on Finish. 6. Please note and make sure that your WBS and activity IDs should not confl...

In this tutorial, let us learn how to show only some WBS in the Gantt Chart in Primavera P6 Generally, Gantt chart will show bars for each activity and If your Schedule is too big, sometimes you may feel it is distracting a lot. and you may sometimes like to present a report to show and focus only some of the WBS, rather than distracting with all bars. So let us see how we can do this in Primavera P6. This is my sample schedule with around approximate 1500 activities. and you can see the cluttering in the Gantt chart with all relationships So, to do the trick, right click on the Gantt chart portion, click on Bars,  you select the bar which is being shown in the Gantt chart. Go to bar settings, by default the "show bar when the collapsed" option is checked. Now you need to uncheck them all. Then you can see clean Gantt charts like this whenever you collapse and expand any particular WBS element in Primavera P6. So, friends, this is all about this trick for no...

In this tutorial, let us understand how to export primavera schedule to show only lowest summary data Generally, to show summaries of the Primavera Schedule, we right-click on the Activity table and click on Group & Sort and then tick the checkbox "Show Summaries Only" and click Ok The problem with this is you will get to view summaries at all levels. But we want to view only the lowest level summaries only and with the high-level summaries as Zero. Here is the solution, watch this completely. Right-click and select Group & sort and deselect the option "Indent" and Click OK. Now you can view only the summary data at the lowest level with the higher level summaries showing zeroes in the duration column. so, friends, this is the trick to export primavera schedule to show only lowest summary data. For Personalized detail learning, write to dptutorials15@gmail.com If you found this video valuable, give it a like. If you know someone who needs to ...

In this video, let us learn about Resources, Resource Codes, Roles in Primavera P6. This chapter describes how to use the Resources, Resource codes, and Roles in the Primavera P6. For Personalized detail learning, write to dptutorials15@gmail.com If you found this video valuable, give it a like. If you know someone who needs to see it, share it. Leave a comment below with your thoughts. Add it to a playlist if you want to watch it later. *************************************************************** Read my full article on this:  http://ift.tt/2kB14dh *************************************************************** Subscribe for more Awesome Tutorials:  goo.gl/4T8ePc *************************************************************** Support The Channel via shopping:  http://ift.tt/2jH38PR ************************************************************** You Can Connect With Me at G+ :  http://ift.tt/2kAOpa6 Twitter :  https://twitter...

In this tutorial, let us see how we can open a .plf format file into Primavera P6. A .plf file is a Primavera Layout File which stores information about screen layouts. Kindly make a note that there are 5 types of layouts in primavera, viz., Activities layout, Projects, WBS, Resources, Tracking Layouts. If you want to import any .plf file, first you need to be on the same screen on primavera matching with that of .plf layout. So, if you are importing an activities .plf layout, you need to be on the activities screen in your primavera. Now, let us see how to open a .plf file format. First be there on the activities screen on Primavera 1.Go to View tab, click on Layout submenu and click on Open layout. 2. Click on the Import button, browse the .plf file and click on open. 3. Give a name to your layout. I am keeping it as it is. 4. And choose to whom it will be available, whether to a current user/project or make it as global. 5. Click on Save button to save t...

How To Use Level Of Effort Activity In Primavera P6 To Summarize Schedules || LOE Definition Level of Effort activities are an essential component in building complete schedules, for displaying and representing supportive, non-discrete work. Examples of Level of Effort activities include:  Customer Meetings, Project Management, Site Management tasks, Maintenance of equipment Clerical work, In this tutorial, let us consider a small sample project with 7 activities from Start to Finish and with 5 more activities In this example, let us add an activity called as Project Management and put the type of activity as Level of Effort in the activity details. And then link it with the predecessor as Start activity with Start-Start relationship and successor as Finish activity with the Finish-Finish relationship. When you schedule by pressing F9, you will notice that the LOE activity's duration and dates change accordingly with the relationships given. Observe one more point...

1. How to Increase the size of icons in Primavera P6?  If you find that the menu bar and command icons are of less visibility, there is a way to increase the size of icons in Primavera P6. Let us see how to do this in this tutorial now. Go to the menu bar and under the view tab, select Toolbars and click on customize. Now a window gets opened like this, go to options tab and tick the checkbox "Large Icons". Click on the Close button and you can see that all your icons now increased in size. 2. How to Animate your Menu Bars in Primavera P6? You know that we have got the option to animate menu bars in Primavera P6. There are 4 animation options in Primavera P6, These are None  Random  Unfold Slide  Fade  You can try any of these if you want a new feel. Follow this steps to Animate Menu Bars. Click on View, go to toolbars, select Customize. Now a customize window will pop up. Go to the options tab, at Menu Animat...

In this tutorial, let us learn about the Best way to show all your milestones in Primavera P6.  A Smart layout is the one which shows all of your project milestones together in a single WBS element right at the top of the project. This will enable your top management to view the main part of your schedule clearly. So, you should add a WBS element called "Milestones" at the top of the project. Either cut and paste or move all your project milestones into the WBS element. If your schedule is of bigger size, it would be a tedious job to move all your milestones. So, now let us do this in a simple way by using Global Logic. 1. Let us open the fresh schedule, before doing anything make a copy of this project. 2. Go to Menu bar, Go to tools, select Global Logic. 3. Click on the New button, to create a new Global Change and name it as Move Milestones. 4. In the IF box, select Any of the following. Under parameter, select Activity Type and under value, select ...

In this tutorial let us learn how to create Relationships Lag Report in Primavera P6. What is Lag and Lead in Primavera P6? Lag is the duration that is added to a relationship as a waiting time to Start Successor Activity. If the lag is positive, it will have a wait time and if lag is negative, the successor will overlap with predecessor activity. According to the Scheduling Standards, Using Lags in a schedule is a risk. Because No one will ever understand the exact reason behind the lag except the scheduler who has prepared it and sometimes even the scheduler may forget the exact reason. So, let us learn how to create a relationship lag report in Primavera P6 now. first open the Primavera P6 1. Go to Menu bar, Tools, select Reports and click on Reports. 2. Click on Add button to add a new report 3. click Next to add a new report. 4. Select the subject area as "Activity Relationships" 5. Click Next 6. Choose columns in this dialog box as Predecessor Id,...

One of our subscribers has asked me to explain how to remove redundant relationships in Primavera P6 Schedule. So friends, I will be explaining in detail in this video tutorial. This is a sample simple project with 3 activities A,B,C. Here Activity B's predecessor is A and Activity C's predecessor is B and as well Activity A. Actually A is not exactly required. Because A is followed by B and B is followed by C, so indirectly A is linked with C So here, Activity relationship between A and C is redundant relationship. Now, let us see how we remove this redundant relationship. First, let us export this schedule from P6 to Excel. Follow the steps like this 1. Go to file, click on Export 2. In Export Format, select Spreadsheet-XLSX format and click next. 3. In Export Type dialog box, select Activity Relationships, Click Next 4. In Project to Exports dialog box, select the project by ticking the checkbox , click Next. 5. Select a template in the select template...

In this tutorial, let us learn how to change the calendar from 5-day workweek to 7-day work week but keeping the project finish Date unchanged in Primavera P6. After working for so many hours to complete the project schedule, you might be getting to know that you should be using the 7-day calendar instead of the 5-day calendar. Changing Activity calendar will change everything. Normally, if we change the calendar to 7 Day Workweek, all the activity finish dates will change. Now the sample project in this video is having the finish date as 21st Oct’19 And now, if you change the calendar to the 7-day workweek, the Project finish date will be changing to 03rd Jul’19. So, in this tutorial, I will show you How to Change Calendar from 5 Day Workweek to 7 Day Workweek but keeping Project Finish Date unchanged. In the original schedule Step 1: Go to menu bar and under Enterprise tab, choose User Defined Fields Create a field with the title “Finish 5D” and Data Type as Finish Date...

In this tutorials, let us learn how we can quickly identify behind schedule activities with user-defined indicators in Primavera P6. Let us consider a sample project which is having a baseline. After updating the schedule, we can show these 2 additional columns to see whether an activity is behind schedule or not: • BL Project Finish  Variance – BL Project Finish: which is duration between BL Project Finish date and current Finish date. i.e., L Project Finish – Finish Now let us create an Indicator. Go to menu bar and under Enterprise, Click on User Defined Fields. Click Add button to create new. Enter Title as ‘On Schedule Indicator’ and Select Data Type: Indicator from the drop down menu. Close the dialog box. Now Go to menu bar again and under Tools, select Global Change. Click New. Enter data as: Where Variance-BL Project Finish Date is greater than or equals 0d then, On Schedule Indicator = Green else On Schedule Indicator = Red Click on Change button, to vie...

In this tutorial, let us learn how to apply filter based on WBS dates in Primavera P6. In Primavera P6, we generally can apply filter only for the activities and there is no specific function to filter WBS. Let us understand this with an example now. Let us consider a simple project which is containing 3 Cities like this as shown. Now, if we need to filter which City will start in next 2 month (Nov, Dec). Usually, we create a filter based on Activity as Start or Finish is within range of 1st Nov’18 to 31st Dec’18. And when you click OK, P6 will show this result like this as City 1 and City 2 will start, as these are the only two cities having activities which are either starting or finishing in next two months. However, the Finish date of City 1 and City 2 WBS is wrong. Because P6 only show the WBS dates based on filtered activities, so that summarize information in WBS is wrong. Now how can we show right start and finish date for the WBS. P6 does not provide any fe...

How to update Baseline in Primavera P6 || Primavera Scheduling || dptutorials As per the schedule management philosophy, the schedule has to be baselined once it has been agreed by all the stakeholders. Baseline is something that we usually do not change. But in some cases, we require to change it. In this video tutorial, let us see how we can update baseline in Primavera P6. Let us consider a simple project which is having an assigned baseline. After some weeks, after updating schedule, the project is delayed from the baseline.  After discussing with stakeholder and specific owner, we need to get permission to update our baseline so as to make it identical to the current schedule. In this tutorial, we will see two ways to update baseline. Method 1:  We need to copy paste our current schedule to make as a new baseline B2 and assign the new baseline to our project. Before that, we need to make an important configuration. Go to menu Admin, select Admin P...

How To Display Only One Critical Path With Multiple Projects Opened In Primavera P6 || dptutorials You know that in Primavera we can work with multiple projects simultaneously at the same time. when we open 2 projects, by default Primavera show 2 critical paths, as each project will have its own critical path. What if? we want to show only 1 critical path for the program consisting of two projects. Let us see this in detail in this tutorial. Click F9 or schedule icon and click on Options In general tab, under “Calculate float based on finish date of”. Check on “Opened projects” rather than each project Click Close and click on schedule button to run Schedule. Now we can see Primavera display only 1 critical path, you can see the bars in red. This critical path is being calculated based on the Finish date of Project 2 to calculate the Total Float. So friends, in this way you can display only one critical path with multiple projects opened in Primavera P6. For Persona...

How To Use The Progress Line In Primavera P6 || Primavera Tips || dptutorials You know that the Primavera has got the feature called Progress Line, which can be used to compare Actual Progress with the Baseline on Gantt chart. Today, in this tutorial, let us learn how to do this. 1. Let us consider a simple sample project like this and then maintain the baseline as the same current project and let us assign it as a Project Baseline. 2. Then let us update the project. I will be updating the schedule randomly say like. Activity A finish 2 days late so Activity B start late, which is behind the schedule. Activity C finish 2 days early so Activity D start early, which is ahead of schedule. Schedule the project and let us compare the current progress with baseline. 3. Right click on Gantt chart and select Bar chart option. 4. Go to Progress Line tab, Select the option called “By connecting progress points based on activity’s” and from the drop-down menu select the “Percent C...

In Primavera, when we click on filter called critical path, it only show 1 critical path by default. But, in some complex projects, we might need to show some more critical paths like “near critical” path. In this video, I will show you how to do display multiple critical paths in primavera P6. Let us consider a simple project like this: Press F9 to schedule In the Schedule dialog box, Click on Options Click on “Advanced” tab, tick the Checkbox “Calculate multiple float paths”. Under “Display multiple float paths ending with activity”, select the last activity i.e J Under Specify the number of paths to calculate: type the number, for example: 2 as we wanted to show 2 paths. Click Close and Now, click on Schedule. Right click on activity table, click on Group & Sort Under Group By, choose “Float path” and click OK Now Primavera will display 2 critical paths like this. For Personalized detail learning, write to dptutorials15@gmail.com If you found this vid...