How to use a UDF indicator data type to list the on budget status of each schedule activity. There are more than one way to track a schedule’s budget. Here we look at a way to list each activities on budget status.
Primavera P6 Professional’s User Defined Fields (UDFs) are data fields that users customize to any one of several data types. Available data types are as follows: cost, finish date, indicator, integer, number, start date, and text.
Note in particular the indicator data type that returns blue, yellow, green, or red icons based on the associated global change routine. The global change tool is a feature in Primavera P6 for defining automated procedures based on filters. When the global change feature is employed in conjunction with a UDF it is possible to more efficiently analyze a schedule’s budget.
This article demonstrates a global change routine that uses a UDF indicator data type to list the on budget status of each schedule activity.
Let’s start by creating an activity associated UDF that has data type indicator to list the on budget status of each activity, Figure 1.
Figure 1
We continue by creating an activities associated global change routine, Figure 2.
Figure 2
Note that the filter parameter is Variance – BL Project Total Cost. The Variance – BL Total Cost is calculated as the Baseline Project Total Cost minus the At Completion Total Cost. In this filter each activity total cost is inspected against the baseline activity total cost. When the Variance – BL Project Total Cost parameter is zero or positive the activity on budget status is on target and the on budget indicator set to green. When the Variance – BL Project Total Cost is negative the on budget status is flagged, as over budget, and the indicator sets to red. When the On Budget routine is run the global change routine produces a report similar to Figure 3.
Figure 3
Notice that there is no old value as this was the first time the On Budget global change routine was run. Review the report and, if appropriate, commit the changes. Figure 4 displays our demonstration schedule with a Variance – BL Project Cost data column and an On Budget Status UDF indicator column.
Figure 4
Note that zero and positive values of Variance – BL Project Total Cost have green indicators. The scheduler may inspect the cost variance values of each activity or quickly note on budget, green, or over budget, red, task indicators.
Summary
Primavera P6 Professional has many variables for measuring project implementation against the baseline. Understanding the values assigned to each variable may become tedious. It is noted, in particular, that the variable Variance – BL Project Total Cost in Primavera P6 Professional better reads Variance BL Project – Total Cost in Primavera P6 EPPM.
The variance in both software programs is the Baseline Project Total Cost minus the At Completion Total Cost. In these situations, where the variable nomenclature is not very clear, you will want a quick indicator to label on budget and over budget tasks. Use the indicator data type UDF in combination with an appropriate global change routine to generate a list specifying on budget and over budget tasks.