Exploring the Business Intelligence (BI) Publisher Reports in the P6 EPPM Reports Tab
Unless your organization has made the investment to integrate Oracle’s Business Intelligence (BI) Publisher with your Primavera P6 EPPM system, you probably haven’t seen the additional Reports tab at the top of the P6 page. So what does it look like, how does it work and what standard reports does it offer?
This article provides an overview of the Primavera P6 EPPM Reports tab. We’ve also provided you with some examples of the report output to download and a Video that let’s you see the tab in action.
Click here to download a PDF of sample standard reports produced from the P6 EPPM Reports tab.
Inside The P6 EPPM Reports tab
Out of the box, the P6 Reports tab provides a hierarchical list of 31 standard reports, grouped into five categories.
Available Reports
You can drill down into each of the categories to access the reports below using the + button to the left of each category item.
Reporting Tools
The Reports toolbar provides the following options from left to right: Run Reports, Columns, Find (Ctrl + F), Find Next (F3), Export to Excel, Print (Ctrl + P), Print Preview and Page Setup.
Running Reports
To run a report, there are two options. Click to select the report you wish to run and then click the Run Reports tool on the toolbar, or you can right click on the report and select the Run Report option.
Whichever option you choose will open the Report Settings dialog. From here you have several options:
File Name – enter the name of the file you wish to create when the report is run.
Template – select the template to use for the report. This defaults to the standard template for the selected report.
Format – the options here can include HTML, PDF, EXCEL, RTF, PPTX or XML depending on the report selected.
Delivery Type – File or E-mail
Notification – if you choose E-mail you are offered Report Completed, Report Complete with warnings and report failed.
The Report Parameters option allows you to choose the project or projects you wish to report on and other variables depending on the report you have selected. In this example the Activity Look Ahead report was selected, allowing you to choose the project ID and the number of weeks ahead you wish to view.
Once all your settings are selected, you can click the Run button.
If you selected the File option in the Delivery Type dialog, your browser will then offer the option to Save or Open the file containing the report. In this example, the PDF option has been selected.
Configuration for Publication
There are some configuration steps required to get the project data ready for the Reports tab and these are handled by your P6 administrator. This includes the configuration of the Global Scheduled Services dialog, used to schedule the updating of the BI Publisher extension schema. This step is used to keep the report data as up-to-date as possible on a timed schedule for updates.
You also need to make sure that new projects in the system are configured for publication using the Set Project Preferences option and choosing Enable Publication in the Services page.
You can also Publish projects on demand using the Publish Projects option in the drop down menu of the Projects tab.
Summary
The Reports tab is easy to use and can quickly produce the reports you need for the project or projects you are interested in. However, if you’re looking to create custom reports, you will need to develop these in the BI Publisher tool.
BI Publisher report development requires a strong technical aptitude and specialized training. Ten Six Consulting offers a unique and comprehensive BI Publisher training class, delivered by our experienced BI Publisher experts who will deliver the knowledge and expertise you’ll need to become a professional BI Publisher report developer. If you don’t have the time to develop your own BI Publisher reports, Ten Six also offer BI Publisher report customization services that will develop the project reports you need in P6 without the costly overhead and learning curve required to do it yourself.
Contact Ten Six for more information on our Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher training and development services.
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