Have you ever wondered what the user start date and user finish date columns or fields in the bars dialog are all about? You are not alone. Let’s explain these fields with a demonstration.
In Primavera P6, the Gantt chart’s appearance is determined by a range of settings and options in the Bars dialog. Refer to the following diagram and list for a brief introduction to each column in the bars dialog.
Figure 1
- The Display column determines if a particular bar is displayed on the Gantt chart.
- The Name column describes the purpose of the bar.
- The Timescale column which tells P6 what type of bar it is.
- The User Start Date and User Finish Date columns used by user defined start and finish dates to put passive date based bars on the Gantt chart. Passive meaning bars or milestone objects that are not part of the critical path or network logic – rather just a static image of a bar or milestone.
- The Filter column tells P6 what filter conditions must be met in order that this particular bar style appears on the Gantt chart” i.e. the activity must be critical to see a red bar.
- Preview gives you a heads-up of the final appearance of the activity.
The user start date and user finish date columns require further explanation. In a nutshell the user start and finish date columns can be used with user defined fields (UDFs) to place passive bars on the Gantt chart that are not part of the network. Note that the user start date and user finish date fields are only active when the respective bars timescale is set to user dates. Thus, the timescale column informs Primavera P6 that the bar type is user dates.
This article provides a demonstration to explain the purpose of the user start date and user finish date columns in the bars dialog.
We have in Figure 2 our demonstration project.
Figure 2
This project has been progressed through the first full week of February. We want to insert passive due date markers on the Gantt chart for activities: install fence, substantial completion, and project complete. We begin by creating three UDFs. Select Enterprise | User Defined Fields…, Figure 3.
Figure 3
As per Figure 4, we create three UDFs: ‘deadline’ data type text, ‘deadline finish’ data type finish date, and ‘deadline start’ data type start date.
Figure 4
Now we go to the activities table and populate the values of our UDFs, Figure 5.
Figure 5
We enter the text ‘Due’ and associated deadline start and deadline finish dates for activities project complete, install fence, and substantial completion.
We continue and create a deadline bars definition, Figure 6.
Figure 6
The timescale is user dates, user start date is the deadline start UDF, and user finish date is the deadline finish UDF. The filter is all activities, and the shape and color is as per Figure 6. Because the start and finish dates are the same we only need one triangular shape to configure our bar style.
When you select OK in the bars dialog a project deadline marker appears similar to Figure 7.
Figure 7
This is fine, but the arrow is pointing to the wrong bar. We want it to point to the finish milestone. This situation is rectified in the bars dialog. The problem is our deadline marker bars definition is too high in the stack of bars, Figure 6. Where your bars definition is in the bars stack affects how arrows connect to activities on the Gantt chart. Use the bars dialog shift down arrows, Figure 8, to move the deadline bars definition below the milestone and baseline milestone bars.
Primavera P6 connects arrows to bars higher in the stack, which is what we want. The arrow should now connect to the project complete milestone.
Figure 8
Last note the bars labels associated with the deadline bars definition, Figure 9.
Figure 9
The result is the schedule, including deadlines, displayed in Figure 10.
Figure 10
Now our Gantt chart arrows are correct. Observe the passive magenta triangular markers and labels: Project Complete Due 08-May-2018, Install Fence Due 05-Mar-2018, and Substantial Completion Due 02-May-2018. Great! Now we have all our project deadlines front, center, and viewable directly on the Gantt chart.
Summary
So, in Primavera P6, the user start date and user finish date bars columns serve a useful function: to support insertion of passive markers on the Gantt chart. Our demonstration markers were single triangles for simple deadline markers, but we could have also defined passive rectangular bars indicating an ideal date range window of opportunity.
The following blog, Displaying a Prime Period Gantt Chart Bar in Primavera P6, demonstrates how to specify rectangular user defined date bars to highlight a preferred workable date range.