Normally a project is updated once a week, bi-weekly, or monthly. Very short projects could be updated daily or even by the shift or hour.
As a guide, a project would typically be updated between 12 and 20 times in its lifetime. A high risk project should be updated more often than a low risk project. Progress is recorded on or just after the Data Date and the scheduler updates the schedule upon the receipt of the information.
The following information is typically recorded for each activity when updating a project:
The activity start date and time if required,
The number of days/hours the activity has remaining or the date and time the activity is expected to finish,
The percentage complete, and
lf complete, the activity finish date and time.
There are several methods of collecting data for the project status:
By sending a printed sheet to each responsible person to mark up by hand and return to the scheduler.
By cutting and pasting the data from Primavera into another document, such as Excel, and emailing the document to them as an attachment.
By giving the responsible party direct access to the schedule software to update it. This approach is not recommended, unless the project is broken into subprojects. By using the multiple projects with one scheduler accessing each project or assigning assess through WBS Nodes, thus only one person updates each part of the schedule.
When the Primavera timesheets have been implemented this process may be used to update the activities.
Understanding the updates Concepts
There are some terms and concepts used in scheduling and some that are specific to Primavera that must be understood before updating a project schedule:
Activity Lifecycle
There are three stages of an activity lifecycle:
Not Started - The Early Start and Early Finish dates are calculated from the Predecessors, Constraints and Activity Duration.
In-Progress - The activity has an Actual Start date but is not complete.
Assigning an Actual Start date overrides the Start Constraints and Start Relationships which are used to calculate the Early Start.
The end date may be calculated from the Remaining Duration or a Finish Constraint or a Finish Relationship.
Complete - The activity is in the past, the Actual Start and Actual Finish dates have been entered into Primavera, and they override all logic and constraints.
Actual Start Date Assignment of an In-Progress Activity
This section will explain how Primavera assigns the Actual Start of an In-Progress activity. These activities have been started but not completed since the last update.
When an Actual Start date is assigned in the Actual Start field by checking the Started check box, or entering a date in the Actual Start column, this date overrides the Early Start date.
The activity Actual Start date is set to equal the Early Start date when this box is checked.
The Actual Start date calendar is opened by clicking on the D button to the right of the Started check box and a different start date may be assigned. This date should not be in the future of the project Data Date. lt would not be logical to have an activity start in the future.
Percent Complete
The Percent Complete type should be understood if it is intended to be used to update (status or progress) the schedule. in Primavera this option may be set for each activity individually and the default for new activities is set in the Percent Complete Type drop down box. Primavera has many Activity Percent Complete fields that may be displayed in columns and we will discuss four of them now:
Activity% Complete, which is displayed on the % Complete Bar, may be linked to one only of the three % Complete fields following:
Physical % Complete
Duration %Complete
Units % Complete
Updating Activities Using the Status Tab of the Details Form Open the Status tab in Activity Details form:
Updating a Complete activity:
Check the Started box and enter the actual Start Date and Time if different from the displayed date.
Check the Finished box and enter the actual Finish Date and Time if different from the displayed date.
Updating an In-progress activity:
Check the Started box and enter the actual Start Date and Time if different from the displayed date.
When the Duration Type is % Duration the % Duration Complete and Remaining Duration are linked, either:
o The Remaining Duration is edited and the % Complete is calculated, or
o The % Complete is entered and the software calculates the Remaining Duration, or o A Remaining Duration greater than the Original Duration may be entered and the
% Duration will remain at zero, until the Remaining Duration is less than the Original Duration.
Irrespective of the method used to calculate the Remaining Duration, after the schedule is
Recalculated the end date of the activity is calculated from the Current Data Date plus the Remaining Duration over the Activity Calendar.
Updating an activity that has not started:
The Original Duration, Relationships and Constraints of an un-started activity should be reviewed.
Progress Spotlight and Update Progress
It is a function for highlighting the activities that should have progressed in the update period. The user then has the option of selecting some or all of the activities that should be updated and updating them as if they progressed exactly as they were Planned.
lt is sometimes easier to Automatically update a project with functions like Progress Spotlight and then adjust the Actual dates and Remaining Durations as a second step in the updating process, especially if the project is going to plan.
The Spotlight may be moved to reflect the new Data Date by either:
• Dragging the Data Date, or
• Using the Spotlight Button
Lesson 4: CONSTRAINTS
Dependency Determination Overview
There are two types of dependencies that are discussed in scheduling:
Mandatory dependencies (Hard Logic): They are those that are legally or contractually required or inherent in the nature of the work. They often involve physical limitations.
Discretionary dependencies (Soft Logic): They are established based on knowledge of best practices within a particular application area or some unusual aspect of the project where a specific sequence is desired, even though there may be other acceptable sequences.
Constraints in P6
They are used to impose logic on activities that may not be realistically scheduled with logic links. This lesson will deal with the following constraints in detail:
Start On or After
Finish On or Before
These are the minimum number of constraints that are required to effectively schedule a project.
Start On or After (also known as an "Early Start" or "Start No Earlier Than" constraint as it only affects the Early dates calculation) is used when the start date of an activity is known and does not have a predecessor. Primavera will not calculate the activity early start date prior to this date.
Finish On or Before (also known as "Late Finish" or "Finish No Later Than" constraint as it only affects the Late dates calculation) is used when the latest finish date is stipulated. Primavera will not
calculate the activity's late finish date after this date.
The following table summarizes the methods used to assign Constraints to Activities or how to add notes to activities:
Setting a Primary and Secondary constraint with the Activity Details : Open the Status tab on the Activity Details form.
Setting Constraints using columns The following columns may be displayed and the constraints assigned or edited:
Full lists of constraints available in Primavera are:
<None>:
This is the default for a new activity. An activity by default is scheduled to occur As Soon As Possible and does not have a Constraint.
Start On:
Also known as Must Start On and sets a date on which the activity will start. Therefore, the activity has no float. The early start and the late start dates are set to be the same as the Constraint Date.
Start On or Before:
Also known as Start No Later Than or Late Start, this constraint sets the late date after which the activity will not start.
Start On or After:
Also known as Start No Earlier Than or Early Start, this constraint sets the early date before which the activity will not start.
Finish On:
Also known as Must Finish On, this constraint sets a date on which the activity will finish and therefore has no float. The early finish and the late finish dates are set to be the same as the Constraint Date.
Finish On or Before:
Also known as Finish No Later Than or Late Finish, this sets the late date after which the activity will not finish.
Finish On or After:
Also known as Finish No Earlier Than or Early Finish, this sets the early date before which the activity will not finish.
As Late As Possible:
Also known as Zero Free Float. An activity will be scheduled to occur as late as possible and does not have any particular Constraint Date. The Early and Late dates have the same date.
Mandatory Start:
This relationship prevents float being calculated through this activity and effectively breaks a
Mandatory Finish:
This relationship prevents float being calculated through this activity and effectively breaks a schedule into two parts.
Expected Finish:
An Expected Finish sets the Early Start to equal the Expected Finish constraint date and calculates the Remaining Duration from the Early Start date for an un-started activity, or Data Date if the activity is in-progress, and the assigned Expected Finish date.
Earlier Than constraints operate on the Early Dates, and Later Than constraints operate on Late Dates.
Assigning Constraints
Number of Constraints per Activity
Two constraints are permitted against each activity. They are titled Primary and Secondary Constraint.
After the Primary has been set, a Secondary may be set when the combination is logical and therefore a reduced Iist of constraints is available from the Secondary Constraint Iist after the Primary has been set.
Setting a Primary Constraint Using the Activity Details Form To assign a constraint using the Activity Details form:
• Select the activity requiring a constraint,
• Open the Status tab on the Activity Details form,
• Select the Primary Constraint type from the Date drop down Iist under Primary:
Setting a Secondary Constraint Using the Activity Details Form To assign a constraint using the Activity Details form:
• Select the activity requiring a constraint,
• Open the Status tab on the Activity Details form,
• Select the Secondary Constraint type from the Date drop down Iist under Secondary:
Expected Finish Constraint
This constraint is set in the dates Status area above the Constraints area and will only work if the Tools > Schedule Then Press on Use Expected Finish dates check box is checked .
Setting Constraints Using Columns
The following constraint columns may be displayed and the Constraints edited or assigned using these columns:
Primary Constraint
Primary Constraint Date
Secondary Constraint
Secondary Constraint Date
Expected Finish
Expected Finish Date
This constraint is set in Status section of the Activity Details, Details tab, not as one would expect under constraints:
Project Must Finish By Date
An absolute finish date may be imposed on the project using the Project Window, Dates tab:
Imposing a Must Finish By date makes Primavera calculate the late dates from the Must Finish By date rather than the calculated early finish date. This will introduce positive float to activities when the calculated Early finish date is prior to the Must Finish By date.
This will also create negative float when the activity's calculated early finish date is after to the must finish by date, but it is not obvious where the negative float is being driven from as there are no constraints assigned to activities:
Note: lt is not obvious where the float is being generated after a Must finish by date is imposed on a project. This is often confusing to people new to scheduling and it is recommended that you do not use a Must finish by date. Instead tie all activities to a Finish milestone which has a Late finish constraint.
Understanding Layouts
A standard Load of Primavera is supplied with a number of predefined Layouts for some of the Windows which are defined by default as Global Layouts and any user on the system may apply these.
These Layouts may be copied and shared with other users or be available to the current user in a similar way as filters. Primavera Version 6.0 introduced Project Layouts for the Activity Window.
Project Layouts are only available when a project is open and may be exported with a project and therefore minimizes the need for Global Layouts.
Applying an Existing Layout
Layouts may be applied from the Open Layout form by:
Selecting the Open option from the Layout Options bar:
Or, by selecting View > Layout, Open
When a Layout has been edited by changing any parameter, such as column formatting, a form will be displayed allowing the confirmation of the changes that have been made to the Iayout.
The Open Layout form will be displayed and an alternative Iayout may be selected from the Iist. The Iist will has three headings after a project Iayout has been created, Global, User and Project:
Creating a New Layout
A new Iayout may be created by saving an existing Iayout with a new name and editing it. To create a new Layout:
Apply the Iayout that closely matches the requirements of the new Iayout and apply.
Select either:
From the menu View> Layout then Select Save As or
From the Layout Options bar Layout, Save As.
Type in a new Layout Name and select who you wish the Iayout to be available.
All Users will make the Layout Global and therefore available to all users and you will need the appropriate security access to be able to create a Global Layout.
Another User will make the Iayout available to a nominated user.
Current User will make a copy for your own use.
Project will make the Iayout available to anyone who has the project open. This option is useful to reduce the number of Global Layouts in a database with a number of projects requiring a number of layouts each.
Click on the Save button.
This Iayout may now be edited and the edits saved by selecting:
From the menu View > Layout, Save, or
From the Layout bar Layout, Save.
Changing Activity Layout Types in Panes
To change a Layout Type in a pane select from the menu:
View, Show on Top, or
View, Show on Bottom.
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