Do you have a particular parameter that you want to monitor in one or multiple projects? If so, than Primavera P6’s thresholds feature can help you.
Primavera P6 Professional enables you to monitor a parameter within a specified Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) element. If you want to check the status of a parameter across multiple projects this can be done by creating multiple monitor threshold routines, each specifying a WBS element in a different project. Note that all projects you want to monitor must be currently open to be included in the monitor thresholds routines.
This article on Primavera P6 Professional describes the process of using the thresholds feature to monitor activity parameters.
Using Primavera P6 Monitoring Thresholds
The first step to being able to monitor parameters is to include the Thresholds feature in the Project tool-group on the left. Click Add or Remove Buttons in the Project tool-group, Figure 1, and select Thresholds.
Figure 1
Note that the Thresholds feature will be dimmed out and inactive if no projects are open. Go ahead and open the project that has a parameter you want to monitor. In our demonstration example we open Wellmont-22. Select + Add in the edit tool-group on the right or select + Add from the Edit drop down menu at the top of the screen. A new Threshold monitoring routine is generated, Figure 2.
Figure 2
Double click on the routine’s respective Threshold Parameter, Figure 3, and select the parameter you would like to monitor.
Figure 3
As you can see from Figure 3 there are numerous parameters you can monitor, including Start Date Variance and Finish Date Variance. In our demonstration we want to monitor total float, so we select Total Float (days) in the Select Threshold Parameter dialog. In the WBS column we select the WBS element to monitor. We want to monitor the entire project so we select the highest WBS element in the Wellmont-22 project. Verify that the status is set to enabled, and change the priority, as desired, Figure 4.
Figure 4
We now select the General tab in the bottom frame, Figure 5.
Figure 5
Note here that in the Threshold Parameter cell you can also select a threshold parameter to watch, Figure 5. Again, we want to monitor the total float of activities. Set the Lower Threshold to -1.0d and Upper Threshold to 5.0d. Issues will thus be generated in the WBS we are monitoring for all activities that have total float equal to or less than -1 days or equal to or greater than 5 days.
In the ‘WBS to Monitor’ you can also select ‘Wellmont-22’ element to monitor total float in all WBS elements of project Wellmont-22. In ‘Detail to Monitor’ select Activity in the drop down menu. Our thresholds routine will now summarize issues at the activity level. Had we selected WBS the thresholds routine would summarize issues at the WBS level.
The Responsible Manager of the threshold issue will be the same as the responsible manager of the WBS element you are monitoring. Depending on what parameter you are monitoring you can select a suitable Tracking Layout or none. You can also change the Status and Issue Priority in the bottom details General tab.
Next select the Details tab in the bottom frame. Set the From Date to PS for project start and the To Date to PF for project finish, Figure 6.
Figure 6
All dates earlier than the From Date or later than the To Date will be excluded from the issues search. We are now ready to monitor our project for threshold preceding or exceeding parameters.
Select Tools and Monitor Thresholds. In the resulting Monitor Thresholds dialog, Figure 7, click Monitor.
Figure 7
Issues related to your selected threshold parameter will be listed in the bottom Details tab, Figure 8.
Figure 8
You can also select Project and then Issues to display the project issues, Figure 9.
Figure 9
Primavera P6 will list all activities or issues that have parameters that do not fall within the threshold limits. For each Primavera P6 lists the issue, associated WBS, status, priority, associated activity ID, and associated activity name, Figure 10.
Summary
Primavera P6 enables you to monitor the thresholds of parameters in one or more open projects at the WBS level. As mentioned, the project must be open for monitoring to take place. This feature is particularly handy for tracking parameters in large projects.
You can create and activate several similar threshold routines to track a single parameter in numerous projects.
Primavera P6 thresholds feature enables easy tracking of parameters where either the size of projects or number of projects to review makes tracking a cumbersome prospect. Primavera P6 can also be set up to generate and send issue emails to responsible managers.