After a confusing release number change that saw Primavera P6 Professional jump from 8.4 to 15.1, Oracle has now released 15.2. Both Primavera P6 Professional and Primavera P6 EPPM enjoy this point release and this article will focus on the client version, Primavera P6 Professional. You can also read all about the new release of Primavera P6 EPPM 15.2 here.
So let’s roll up our sleeves and take a look at what’s in 15.2.
First Up – More Filter Criteria For Codes
I always tell students in my Primavera P6 Professional Fundamentals course when it comes to codes you are only limited by your imagination. Well, that is only partly true. The reality is you are limited by P6 Professional’s filter criteria. P6 Professional release 15.2 adds two new filter criteria: “Contains” and “Does Not Contain”. The new criteria enable you to filter codes based on characters included or not included in the parameter of interest. These filter enhancements add functionality that brings you one step closer to the limits of your imagination, and are a pretty good reason to upgrade.
Selecting Language At Login
Ten Six deals with clients across the globe. I have even had jobs, which have required me to convert schedules written in Spanish, which is not my native language. Well, this new ability to select your language of choice at login will come as welcome news to those who do not intend to use English as the basis of their schedule. It also allows those multi-lingual folks out there to change languages for their clients at each log in. While not as exciting as the new filter criteria and certainly a little more fringe, it’s useful in the right situation and I know someone who would be welcoming this feature very much.
Microsoft Project 2013 XML Support
Two years is an eternity in the tech world, so providing export/import functionality for Microsoft Project 2013 is long awaited news. Before this improvement you would have to go all the way back to Project 2010, which takes you back five years past. This new release helps you stay current. Yes, Microsoft is releasing Project 2016, but you will want to wait for them to work out the bugs before attempting any exports/imports with Microsoft 2016.
At Last – 64-Bit Installations
P6 Professional can now harness the power of the latest computer processors. The need for speed is always a requirement, so 64-bit compatibility is a significant positive step forward. This faster processor capability and memory addressing should result in improved performance and less crashes due to memory issues.
Saving Selection in the Resource Spreadsheet and Histogram
If you analyze your resource allocations using resource histograms or resource spreadsheets it may come as a minor, but repeated, annoyance that P6 Professional does not remember the resources you were last working with even if you logout. Well P6 Professional now remembers, and you can save the state of your resources histogram or spreadsheet as part of your layout.
Job Services
If you use Primavera P6 Professional as a client to EPPM, then you may be interested in the Job services, which have been enhanced to now include:
- Copy projects or EPS nodes as a job service
- Exporting XML as a job service
As with other job services, these are performed in the background so you can keep working while they complete their task. You get a notification when the service is completed and you can view the status in the Job Status dialog box.
Summary
Primavera P6 Professional 15.2 is a very mature product and this point release, to some extent, demonstrates that with improvements that are definitely in the ‘enhancements category’. That said, some folks will be celebrating some of these features and installing this latest version before you can finish reading this article.
As for me, I’ve already installed it and are already enjoying this latest release!
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See what’s in the new release of Primavera P6 EPPM 15.2 here.