Following on from our previous announcement of What We Can Expect in Primavera P6 16.1, Oracle has now released 16.1. We’re pleased to say that we were spot on with our predictions for the Primavera P6 16.1 release and now we can take a look in more detail at what’s it.
Applet Removal
Let’s start with the good news. In 16.1 Oracle continues the process of removing Java-based applets from Primavera P6 EPPM in exchange for pages written in HTML5. The even better news is that these pages load faster and do not require additional plug-ins (Java). The HTML-based EPS and Activties pages are now referred to as Standard view. The HTML-based Resource Assignments page is referred to as Basic View with the existing Applet-based pages being called Classic View.
The following pages have been updated in P6 16.1:
- Functionality is added to the Standard View Activities page.
- Run several services, including Apply Actuals and Summarize Projects.
- Customize the appearance of the Activities page — apply filters, configure grouping options, sort by activity columns and then save as a view.
- In the Activity Table, use the Row Actions icon to cut, copy, and paste activities or WBS nodes. You can also delete a WBS or merge the node’s activities with the parent WBS.
- The Details Pane includes additional tabs:
- Activity Details: Codes, Discussion, Documents, Expenses, Notebooks, Relationships, Risks, Steps
- WBS Details: General, Documents, Earned Value, Notebooks
- The EPS and Resource Assignment pages can be switched to the HTML-based view for streamlined functionality or to the Classic view (applet-based) for more complex tasks.
- The View Service Status dialog box is now launched from the Administer menu, allowing you to access the dialog box from any page in Primavera P6.
You can enable Classic View or Standard View on the User Interface Views page, and then choose one as the default EPS page view.
Global Search and Replace Improvements
The Global Search and Replace feature has some welcome new additions including:
- Groupings have been added to differentiate between Global and User templates on the Select Template screen in the Global Search and Replace dialog box. Global templates are available to all users with the user templates only available to the current user. You can also cut and paste between groupings, or click the Make Global button to move a User template to the Global grouping.
- On the Global Search and Replace Criteria screen, search criteria can now be nested, allowing you to search on any or all additional fields.
- You can modify fields at the Resource Assignment level including Resource Name, Resource ID, Role Name or Role ID. On the Review Changes screen, you can choose which columns to display.
View Team Usage at the Daily Level
Primavera P6 16.1 now allows you to view team usage and cost information on a daily timescale which allows you to see if any resources or roles are over-allocated at a daily level.
Additional Copy Project Options
There are some new copy project options. You can now select Risks, WP and Docs, and ‘Only’ between copied Activities as Activity Data options. You simply select the new check-boxes to copy activity risk assignments. work product or document assignments.
Select Only between copied Activities if you want to preserve relationships between copied activities, but not relationships to other activities that are not being copied e.g. external relationships.
Show Lag and Relationship Type in the Activity Table
You can now view lag and relationship type data in the Activity Table on the Activities page. This feature allows you to select two new read only columns, Predecessor Details and Successor Details.
Eventing in Application Settings
In 16.1, eventing has been added to the Application Settings page in P6 16.1. This feature is especially useful for cloud customers, who may lack access to P6 Administrator.
On the Application Settings page, configure Eventing options such as message intervals, JMS connection settings, and Directory Services. On the Configuration tab, determine what types of events are enabled:
- Business Objects: Triggered when P6, P6 EPPM Web Services, or the P6 Integration API is used to update or create objects in the P6 database — for example, activities, EPS, or resources.
- Special Operations: Triggered when a supported operation or job service is invoked — for example, scheduling, summarization, apply actuals, or publishing.
P6 Team Member
P6 Team Member 16.1 gets a few new features including:
- Edit task dates in timesheets
- Sort tasks in the Timesheets view
- QR configuration for P6 mobile users
- Show Primary Resource in tasks
- Show Planned Units in tasks and timesheets
P6 Mobile
P6 Mobile 16.1 provides several usability enhancements for both iOS and Android devices. New features include:
- Configure Login Information Using QR Codes
- View Details and Delete Pending Changes
- Show Planned Units on Tasks and Timesheets
- Split-screen Multitasking Support for iPad Devices
Primavera P6 16.1
Primavera P6 Professional is hugely popular and a more mature product, so the list of enhancements here is a little shorter. Here’s what’s in this version of Primavera P6 16.1:
Show lag and relationship type in Activity Table
As with Primavera P6 EPPM, you can now display lag and relationship type by using two additional columns in the Activity Table. These two columns are Predecessor Details and Successor Details.
Primavera P6 16.1 Schedule Comparison in P6 Visualizer
Primavera P6 Professional 16.1, the Claim Digger reporting feature is now launched in P6 Visualizer as Schedule Comparison. Schedule Comparison enables you to generate a report that compares selected data fields in a revised project and its corresponding original project or a revised project and a corresponding baseline.
Summary
For most IT departments, the removing of Java based applets and replacing them with pages written in HTML5 will save a lot of headaches and supports calls. Enterprises currently wrestle with different versions of Java being compatible with different internal systems, so removing Primavera P6 from that will be most welcome. There is still more work to be done, but we are heading in the right direction.
There will be many users warmly welcoming the other features mentioned above with, no doubt, the displaying of lags and relationships in the Activity Table being one of them. All in all, another solid release of Primavera P6 by Oracle giving a little something to everyone.