Activity Codes

Oracle Primavera P6 provides the capability to setup and assign Activity Codes to activities in
your projects. Activity Codes are used to classify, categorize, and organize activities based on
your organization’s reporting needs. Activity Codes are usually created and assigned at the
beginning of the project. For example, if you subcontract the majority of your project activities,
you may want to setup an activity code entitled “Subcontractor”. You can then establish the set of
all Subcontractors that might be used (ie. activity code values). The Activity Codes can be assigned
to activities and used to categorize, organize, group and sort, and filter activities to support your
reporting needs.

Activity Codes can be used for the following:

 Group and sort activities into specific categories in the activity table & layouts
 View summary bars on the Gantt Chart based on activity code values
 View and roll up activities in the activity table
 Summarize activities
 Filter activities
 Build reports in the wizard or editor
 Examples of activity codes include Phase, Location, Responsibility, Subcontractor

Activity codes can be setup at three levels:

1. Global – Users can create an unlimited number of global activity codes, which
are available to all activities in your P6 database. This level enables you to organize
activities within a single project or across the entire enterprise project structure (EPS).
2. EPS – These codes are available to activities within an EPS node. Users are able to create
an unlimited number of EPS level codes. Activities can be organized within a single project
or across all projects sharing a common EPS node.
3. Project – Codes are available to activities in the project in which the codes are created.
Users can create up to 500 project-level activity codes. Project codes allow you to organize
and filter activities based on unique project reporting requirements.

Cost Accounts:
In most of the projects, cost will be segregated in to Material Cost, Labor Salary / Wages &
Overheads. Already cost is divided in to Labor cost, Non-Labor Cost, Material Cost & Expense in
Primavera 5.0 and above versions. This is not the dead end of decomposing costs. Further it can
be decomposed and grouped by ‘cost accounts’ method.
If the user wants to fine tune his project cost and assign the costing by functional group.
Ho to do that?

The project involves so many functional resources that are manpower from Sub-Contractors,
Permanent workers, Temporary Workers, Design, Planning, Procurement, Execution, QA/QC &
HSE.

Materials can be divided as Civil (Basic & Specialized Materials), MEP (Basic & Specialized
Materials).

Equipment & Machineries as Owned & Hired.

In Primavera, through Enterprise –Cost Accounts --- ADD the user has to create tree structure as
per his available data.

Then the user can denote the cost accounts name or id during or after the resource assignment,
(Activity Detail – Resources --- Cost Accounts / Cost Accounts IDs)

Finally the user will cloy with the output results during reporting (Budgeted Costs by Cost
Account, Resource & Expense Costs by Cost Account).
In the type of work I have been involved in Costs Accounts are assigned to Resources so they may
be summerised by Accounting Cost Codes. These would typically be the same as Costs Accounts
that are set up in the accounting systems and allows the accountants to set up the budget in their
own way, which is often different to Cost Engineers and Estimators. Cost Account would often
represent items such as:
*TemporaryMaterials

*PermanentMaterials

*Subcontract

*HiredEquipment

*OwnedEquipment

*InhouseLabour

*HiredLabour

*Overheads
You could ask your accounts department for a list of their Costs Accounts.

It would be best if these Cost Account were set up and assigned to resources and when the
resources are assigned to tasks they have their Cost Account assigned and it is simple to obtain a
report by Cost Account.

Unfortunately in P6 the Costs Account is assigned to the project and all resources are assigned the
same Cost Account when they are assigned to tasks which is not very useful unless every task in
a project has the same Cost Account..

A Resource Code should be set up in P6 to represent the required Cost Accounts so when a
Resource is assigned to an activity it has the Cost Account assigned to it. A report may then be run
to extract the costs by Cost Account and the inbuilt P6 Code Account should not be used.

Of course the down side of this is that the P6 Resource Codes are not shared with Expenses, so if
you are using Resources and Expenses this will not work and you are left with the option of
manually assigning the correct Cost Account as you assign resources and expenses or with a Global
Change or Excel import etc. Cost Accounts are, I think, the only Code shared between Resources
and Expenses in P6, making it quite a valuable Code for creating an alternative view of resources
and expensesagainst costs and cashflows.

Predecessor:

It is an activity which comes before another activity. Consider the following example,
in which two activities are linked together with the help of a logical relationship;

Difference between Predecessors and Successors in P6

In the above example, “Excavation for Foundation” is the predecessor of “Concrete Pouring in
Foundation”. Similarly, “Concrete Pouring in Foundation” is the predecessor of “Construction
of Plinth Beam”.
Successor:

It is an activity that must occur after another activity.

In the above example, “Concrete Pouring in Foundation” is the successor for “Excavation for
Foundation”. Similarly, “Construction of Plinth Beam” is the successor of “Concrete Pouring in
Foundation”

In P6, the activities which have no predecessor will be considered as the first activity of the Project
and the activities which have no successor will be considered as the last activity of the Project. If
by mistake one forgets to assign successor to an activity, the result will be a high value in total
float and if a predecessor is not signed to an activity, the activity start date will become equal to
the project start date.

About Progress Spotlight

Progress Spotlight highlights the activities that should have progressed during a specific time
period. A yellow curtain is dropped behind the activities to enable quick navigation to the activities
in this time period. Use the Progress Spotlight feature (View, Progress Spotlight) to highlight
activities in the layout that have started, progressed, or finished between the previous data date and
the new data date.

The S Curves Made easy with Oracle Primavera P6

The first time most project managers become aware of the existence of S Curves is when
they are requested by the client or senior management to include one in their next progress report.
These S Curve are made just clicks away for Oracle Primavera P6 users.
Before getting into implementing such S Curves in Primavera P6 Lets get to know what a S Curve
is?
A S Curve is defined as "a display of cumulative costs, labor hours or other quantities plotted
against time. The name derives from the S-like shape of the curve, flatter at the beginning and end
and steeper in the middle, which is typical of most projects. The beginning represents as low,
deliberate but accelerating start, while the end represents a deceleration as the work runs out.

Defining Resource Curves

Define resource curves to specify how you want resource units or costs spread over the duration
of an activity. There are twelve default resource curves defined in the application. You can add a
new curve, which is based on the default linear curve, or copy and modify one of the default
resource curves or an existing Global curve to create a custom global resource curve.
Resource/cost distribution curves enable you to specify how you want resource units or costs
spread over the duration of an activity. Resource units and costs are distributed evenly during an
activity unless you specify nonlinear distribution using curves. The Resource Usage Profile and
Resource Usage Spreadsheet reflect resource curves. Resource curves are not used when leveling

Schedule updating and progress reporting (Tracking in P6)

As and when a schedule has been completed, approved and the baseline has been set and assigned
shall the schedule be update at periodic intervals to verify whether the project is running on
schedule. The basic concept is that the activities in the schedule are updated and that these are set-
off against the planned dates in the schedule do you know how to track schedule costs in Primavera
P6? Most of us are familiar with the process of updating and tracking schedule activity progress
from a time standpoint, but what about the cost of those activities? Well, Primavera P6 has features
available for keeping track of the cost of labor, equipment, and material resources. It is also
possible to track the cost of project specific expenses.

This article describes the process of tracking the cost of labor resources on a project. It considers
a schedule where all activities are on the critical path, so a delay in any activity will result both an
increased activity cost and project management cost. It also assumes you want to track the actual
project labor cost incurred on a weekly basis. This includes the addition of project management
costs to the weekly update.

Leveling Resources Level resources in your projects to ensure that resource demand does
not exceed resource availability. Re source leveling is an automated process that changes the start
of certain activities. During leveling, the resource requirements of all scheduled activities are
compared to the maximum quantity available at the time of leveling. An activity is delayed if too
few resources are available at any time during the activity’s duration. You can select the resources
to be leveled, and you can add leveling priorities that specify which project or activity is leveled
first when a conflict occurs.

Organizational Breakdown Structure - defining the owners of work packages...

An Organizational Breakdown Structure, OBS, compliments the Work Breakdown Structure

and Resource Breakdown Structure for your project. Its main intent is to communicate how those
tasked with delivering the project will be organized and structured as a Project Team. It's without
a doubt the simplest of the three structures in terms of understanding, yet performs a great role in
communicating the hierarchy of the team and consequently the reporting lines within a project.
The more observant will see how closely it can resemble the 'people' element of the Resource
Breakdown Structure , but also the other organisations needed to deliver aspects of the project.

Each element (node) of the Organisational Breakdown Structure is assigned a unique code.
Furthermore, by using a hierarchical coding structure, members of the organisation can be logically
associated with Groups and Sub Groups within the wider Project Team.

Ultimately, there is no reason why an Organisational Breakdown Structure cannot be developed

to a level of detail where all individuals within the project are represented. It's a good way to show
team members where they reside within the project team. A project organisation chart!

The nearer the top of the OBS you are, the more likely the nodes will reflect organisations and not
individuals, though it's a good idea to identify the responsible lead person within each organisation.

When is it Used?
An Organizational Breakdown Structure is used in complex projects and in conjunction with the
Work Breakdown Structure. It is used whenever a WBS would be helpful. It allows an at-a-glance
look at the organizational resources structured in a hierarchical manner. An OBS is helpful in:
· Project Management
· Workforce Management
· Work Breakdown Strucutres
· Having a visual reference of the resources for any project
· Viewing costs by resource
· Viewing responsibilities by resource
An OBS is not task-focused. For visual representation of tasks within a project, a Work Breakdown
Structure would be used.

About the Enterprise Project Structure (EPS)

The enterprise project structure (EPS) represents the hierarchical structure of all projects in the
database. The EPS can be subdivided into as many levels or nodes as needed to represent work at
your organization. Nodes at the highest, or root, level might represent divisions within your
company, project phases, site locations, or other major groupings that meet the needs of your
organization; projects always represent the lowest level of the hierarchy. Every project must be
included in an EPS node.

The number of EPS levels and their structure depend on the scope of your projects and how you
want to summarize data. For example, you might want to define increasingly lower levels of EPS
nodes, similar to an outline, to represent broad areas of work that expand into more detailed
projects. Specify as many projects as needed to fulfill the requirements of your operations
executives and program managers.

Multiple levels enable you to manage projects separately while retaining the ability to roll up and
summarize data to higher levels. For example, you can summarize information for each node in
the EPS. Conversely, you can use top-down budgeting from higher-level EPS nodes down through
their lower-level projects for cost control.

User access and privileges to nodes within the EPS hierarchy are implemented through a global
organizational breakdown structure (OBS) that represents the management responsible for the
projects in the EPS. Each manager in the OBS is associated with an area of the EPS, either by node
or by project, and the WBS of the particular level of the hierarchy.

Once you have added users and associated them with OBS elements and project profiles, you can
define the EPS and assign a responsible manager (OBS element) to each level. You must specify
a responsible manager for each node of the EPS.

Working with Activity Codes

About Cost Accounts

Cost accounts enable you to monitor project expenses, activity costs, and earned value throughout
the project life cycle. Costs are attached to activities and resources so you can track the amount of
work accomplished against the amount of money spent. You can assign default or created cost
accounts to any project.

Cost accounts are established in a hierarchy. For example, if you created a cost account for a
project component such as hardware, you would create other cost accounts beneath this component
to show its parts such as coding and installation.

Primavera P6 Vs. Microsoft Project

Often folks are asking about the differences between Microsoft Project and Oracle Primavera P6.
While coming up with a definitive list is more than challenging, below highlights some of the
detailed feature differences between Primavera P6 over Microsoft Project.

It’s All About The Enterprise

It’s clear that Primavera P6 was designed for the enterprise from the start, while Microsoft Project
migrated from a desktop application and added enterprise capabilities with Project Server. Now
that Oracle owns Primavera P6, this gap is accentuated with the introduction of other heavy weight
Oracle applications that support Primavera P6. Examples of these include Primavera P6 Analytics,
Business Intelligence Publisher, Workflow and Primavera Gateway. These tools allow for
integration with other enterprise applications marrying project information with other corporate
data, applications and dashboards. Microsoft has not stood still either, with additional
offerings such as SharePoint and Dynamics.

With all these true enterprise capabilities in mind, below are some of the more detailed features
differences listed by real users. This list is not meant to be exhaustive. It is also important to note
that we’re not recommending one product over the other.

Multiple User Access

Microsoft Project doesn’t allow multiple users to work on a single project at the same time,
Primavera P6 does. In Primavera P6 you can specify what features of Primavera a particular user
is permitted to use. Microsoft Project Server supports many projects at the same time, but a user
locks a project when it’s in use.

Baselines

In Microsoft Project, 11 baselines can be created for a project. In Primavera P6, unlimited baselines
can be created and as many as four of these baselines can be assigned at any one time to a schedule.

Progress and Status

Primavera P6 offers a feature called Progress Spotlight. This Progress Spotlight highlights activity
table rows in yellow if they are due any status in the next period (day, week, month, quarter or
year). Microsoft Project requires the development of filters to allow for the selection of activities
requiring status.

Issues & Risk

Microsoft Project lacks a feature for tracking project issues or risks. Primavera P6 can record
issues and risks against a project, WBS element or activity.

Web Support

Primavera P6 plans, documents and other information can be converted to HTML directly from
the software. Microsoft Project doesn’t have such options.

Steps

The Steps feature in Primavera P6 allows you to create sub-activities (steps) of an activity;
effectively a to-do list for discrete progressing. Each step has a weighting that can be used to drive
% complete for an activity as the steps are marked off as completed. The additional P6 Step
Template allow this feature to be used for common processes that appear often among
projects. This capability is not available in Microsoft Project.

Expenses

In addition to resource costs, Primavera P6 allows planned, remaining and actual project expenses
(training, travel, ODC) to be entered at the activity level. Microsoft Project doesn’t have this
capability.

Custom Fields

Both Microsoft Project and Primavera P6 allow you to create custom fields. Microsoft Project also
allows you to define formula for custom fields and add additional values to it. In Primavera P6 you
can create a blank custom field, but you cannot set formulas to it, so users have to manually enter
values in each field, for each column. You can use Activity Codes in P6 to create a column that
has values that can be picked from a list similar to the Lookup feature in Microsoft Project’s
custom fields.

Columns

Primavera P6 is has many columns. It comes installed with over 200 columns, each giving you
different information. Column categories include EVM, Budgeting, Costs, etc. In Microsoft
Project, there are only around 40 columns.

Multiple Activity Relationships

In Primavera P6, more than one type of relationship can be established between activities, e.g. we
can have FF and SS between the same two activities. In Microsoft Project only one relationship
can be made between two activities.

External Relationships

In Primavera P6, multiple projects can be opened at one time for editing. This allows for
relationships to be established between activities in different projects when inter-dependencies
exist using identical techniques to assign the relationships. Microsoft Project uses a special feature
called Links Between Projects to achieve inter-project dependency modeling.
Project Website

Primavera P6 can create a comprehensive website comprising of all the project details including
activities, resources, reports, risks, issues, WBS, and anything else that a user can define. This
website feature is not present in Microsoft Project.

Multiple Project Creation and Tracking

Both Microsoft Project and Primavera P6 allow for multiple projects to be created and viewed.
However, Primavera P6 capabilities extend beyond this to include multiple project tracking,
multiple project or WBS comparisons, cost and units calculations.

Discussions

Primavera P6 has the ability to have threaded discussions with other team members from within
the tool.

Hint Help

To help new and experienced users alike, P6 Professional offers a Hint Help toggle feature that
explains the values and calculations for a column when the cursor is placed on the field. No
equivalent feature exists in Microsoft Project.

Summary

There are many more minor differences between Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project but above
list attempts to highlight seem of the more commonly referred differences between the two tools.
We are well aware of folks that favor one system over the other and I’m sure this list will spark
much conversation, debate and disagreement.

Using this list to support a decision to buy one product over the other would not be a wise idea.
Choosing an enterprise project management system should be based on your organizational
requirements which would be at a much higher level than a few detailed features listed here.

Finally, enterprise deployments often involve integration and information sharing with other
corporate applications, must run on a particular IT infrastructure and support existing processes.
All of these requirements can have an effect on your decision which way to go.