Primavera P6 Tips and Tricks

Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
Oracle Advisor Webcast
P6 Tips and Tricks
Matt Candela
Team Lead, Oracle Primavera Support
January 21, 2015
1

Safe Harbor Statement
The following is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for
information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a
commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon
in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or
functionality described for Oracle’s products remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.
2

Objectives
• Top Issues Logged by P6 Customers
• Avoid Reoccuring Issues
• Understand how to Troubleshoot
3

Agenda
1
2
3
P6 Functional Areas
4
P6 Release 8 Client Issues
P6 Release 8 Web Issues

• Project privileges
• Import considerations
• Percent complete fields
• Baseline dates, budgeted units, and planned dates
• Longest Path
• Out of sequence activities
P6 Functional Areas
5

• Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) – hierarchy of responsible
managers
How Are Project Privileges Applied?
6

• Enterprise Project Structure (EPS) – hierarchy for organizing projects
7

• An OBS/Responsible Manager is assigned to an EPS
8

• Make OBS and EPS Identical
₋ EPS can have multiple top level nodes, OBS can only have one
• Privileges flow down through EPS hierarchy, but not OBS
• Less restrictive access overrides more restrictive
• Changes are processed by background job
₋ Document 907869.1 – “How to Manually Run Background Jobs for a P6
Database”
9

• Microsoft Project (MSP)
– To import .mpp files into P6 client, MSP 2003 or earlier must be installed
– MSP 2007 and 2010 (P6 8.2 and later) use XML import, no installation required
• P3
– P3 must be installed with P6 client (not possible on 64-bit OS)
– Converter can be run from PC with P3 installed
– Document 910992.1 - “Unable to Import P3 Project Directly into P6”
Import Considerations
10

• Excel
₋ P6 Web import can only add new activities
₋ Fields marked with an asterisk (*) can not be updated via import
Import and Export Considerations
11

• Current project is being used as baseline
– Baseline dates are taken from planned dates
• Baseline project is used as baseline
– Check Earned Value Calculation setting
How are Baseline Dates Calculated?
12

• Planned/budgeted units are spread according to the planned dates
Planned/Budgeted Units and Planned Dates
13

• Activity has not started
₋ Equal to the start and finish date
₋ Can be changed manually, but will be set back when scheduling
• Activity has started
₋ No longer updated by scheduler
₋ Can be changed manually and will no longer be set back when scheduling
How are Planned Dates Determined?
14

Percent Complete Fields
• Activity percent complete fields • Duration % complete
₋ Planned duration – actual duration /
planned duration
• Schedule % complete
₋ Based on data date, baseline start,
and baseline finish
• Physical % complete
₋ Entered manually or uses steps
• Units % complete
₋ Actual units / at complete units
15

• Activity % complete – based on physical, duration, or units % complete
16

• Activity % complete and physical % complete do not roll up
17

How is Longest Path Calculated?
• Criticality based on float • Criticality based on longest path
18

• Driving relationships, starts at the end of the project and works
backwards
• Ends when activity has positive float (based on successor calendar)
• May not lead back to project start
How is Longest Path Calculated?
19

• Activity starts before predecessor
Out of Sequence Activities
20

• Retained logic – relationship honored as best possible
21

• Progress override – relationship is ignored
22

• Actual dates – actual dates override the logic
23

• ORACLE_HOME environment variable
• JAVA_HOME environment variable
• HTML files
• Troubleshooting other client issues
P6 R8 Client Issues
24

• P6 R8 Professional running Oracle XE database
₋ PRINTER SELECTED IS NOT VALID
₋ There was a problem communicating to the printer...
₋ Page setup hangs/freezes
₋ Event Code: tnpwn-2614-a
₋ Event Code: NESIA-1377-F
₋ The network path was not found error when attempting to export to Excel
₋ AVAAO errors attempting to view/run reports
ORACLE_HOME Environment Variable
25

• Document 1381261.1 - “Event Codes, Printing Errors, and Import Issues
Using An Oracle XE Database”
• P6 R8 Professional running Oracle XE database
26

• Advanced System
Properties
• Environment
Variables
• ORACLE_HOME
System Variable
27

• Affects API functionality in P6 R8 Client
₋ Import/export, update baseline, claim digger, etc.
• Event Code: CNFF-3348-2
• The selected application <path>java.exe cannot be found
• Example – C:Program Files (x86)Javajre6
JAVA_HOME Environment Variable
28

• Unable to type the letter ‘s’ or save in header/footer
• Event Code: NSIS-2739-6 accessing Page Setup or Print Preview
• Unable to add text to header/footer
• Event Code: FPDBZ-3853-D modifying notebook topic
• Document 1362694.1 - “Headers & Footers Do Not Allow Typing The
Letter ‘S’ or Saving”
₋ Download and register dhtmled.ocx and triedit.dll
HTML Files
29

• Event Codes, AVAAO errors, Access Violation errors
• Check “More…” information
• Process of elimination – specific to project, user, layout, workstation, etc.
₋ Document 894279.1 – “How To Delete A User's Application User Preference
Settings (Edit, User Preferences) If The Account Has Become Corrupted In Project
Management Or Web Access”
₋ Document 1083481.1 – “Check Project Integrity Utility: Description of Utility
Including Detailed SQL Statements Executed”
Other P6 Client Issues
30

• Java issues
₋ Display issues
₋ Java errors
₋ Java prompts
• Web Access Log
₋ Other errors or problems
P6 R8 Web Issues
31

• Display issues
 Browser hangs, page does not load
 Page is blank
 Red ‘X’ in upper left corner
• Check version in Java Control Panel
 Should match Tested Configurations
Document
Java Issues
32

• Clear the Java cache
₋ Java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetEx
ception
₋ Java.lang.NullPointerException
₋ Useful after making a change, such
as downgrading Java version
Java Issues
33

• Disable automatic updates
₋ Prevent new, incompatible version
₋ Avoid prompts
• “Java was blocked because it is out
of date...” in Internet Explorer, add
P6 as trusted site
Java Issues
34

• Java and browser should match – 64-bit or 32-bit
₋ Firefox is 32-bit
• Multiple Java Runtime Environments (JRE) should be uninstalled
₋ Document 898373.1 – “How To Fully Uninstall Java Runtime Environments (JRE)
To Prevent Conflicts with Other Versions”
• JAVA_HOME should point to appropriate Java location
• Java must match value specified in P6 Configuration
– Document 899568.1 – “How To Hardcode P6 Web Access To Use A Specific Java
Runtime Environment (JRE) Version When Running Applets”
Java Issues
35

• Document 1575379.1 - “SRDC – Process to set the Web Access HTML log
file logging level”
• Log file locations:
₋ WebLogic on Windows – webaccesshomeWebAccessLogs
₋ WebSphere on Windows – webaccesshomeWebAccessLogs
₋ WebLogic on Linux - :/webaccesshome/WebAccessLogs
₋ WebSphere on Oracle Enterprise Linux-
:/mount_point/WebSphere/AppServer/WebAccessLogs
Web Access Log
36

• Error attempting to copy and paste project
Web Access Log
37

Web Access Log
38

Summary
• What we covered today
• Top issues logged by P6 customers
₋ P6 functional areas
₋ Release 8 Client Issues
₋ Release 8 Web issues
• How to troubleshoot
39

Top Articles and Community Links
• Document ID 1353831.2 – Information
Center: Primavera P6 EPPM and PPM
• Document ID 1292929.1 – Master Note for
Primavera P6 Common Application
Questions or Issues
• The following thread will have a copy of the
presentation and can be used for additional
questions or discussions on this topic.”
https://community.oracle.com/thread/365
0484
40

Learn More
• Available References and Resources to Get Proactive
• My Oracle Support Essentials Webcast Series
https://support. oracle.com | Doc ID: 553747.1
• My Oracle Support Blog
https://blogs.oracle.com/supportportal/
• Get Proactive in My Oracle Support
https://support. oracle.com | Doc ID: 432.1
• Ask the Get Proactive Team
get-proactive_ww@oracle.com
41

Accessing My Oracle Support Community
1. Via My Oracle Support -> Community Tab 2. Directly – https://communities.oracle.com
42

Session Related Community Links
• https://community.oracle.com/docs/
DOC-894765
• https://community.oracle.com/thread
/3650484
43

Where Can I Get The Slides From This Session?
1. PDF link from Doc ID 740966.1 (within 48 hours)
2. Primavera - PRIM Community >Content Tab > Documents (within 24 hours)
44

Oracle Advisor Webcast Program
• Locating Current Schedule & Archived Recordings
• From Note ID : 740966.1 drill
down to your area of interest
• Select your Product Area
45

Primavera P6 Tips and Tricks

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Primavera P6 Tips and Tricks (20)

More from p6academy (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Primavera P6 Tips and Tricks