We recently published an article showing two options on adding activities in Primavera P6 Professional.
For the visual learners among you, we have also produced a short video on this subject, where we started a new project and added the Start Milestones as well as adding activities in Primavera P6. Watch the video and get a real feel for the functionality of these features.
Short Summary
Following the creation of your Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) in Primavera P6, the next step is adding activities in Primavera P6 to the different levels of the WBS. Activities can be defined as a task, item, or event. These activities are divided into logical steps and, in some cases, have estimated resources and costs. The exception to this rule is the milestone activities.
Developing a realistic schedule is a skilled job, and often involves the whole project team. Expert advice is often counted on, depending on the complexity of the project. Project knowledge of similar activities successfully completed, also helps to define the new project activities as accurately as possible. Estimating activity durations is a critical step in producing a schedule that is comprehensive and robust.
When commencing a new schedule, typically the first activity is often described as a Start Milestone e.g. ‘Notice to Proceed’, which indicates the start of the project. This ‘Notice to Proceed’ Start Milestone is graphically displayed in the Gantt chart as a black diamond. Subsequently, activities are logically added to the different color-coded WBS, until the schedule is complete. Primavera P6 color codes the WBS so that the different levels can easily be seen.
Primavera P6 offers a couple of options for adding activities to the schedule; in our example, you can add them directly into the activity table or follow a wizard. Following the wizard is fairly straightforward and is useful for novice schedulers, where they can be guided through the whole process.
The wizard begins by selecting an Activity ID for your activity, Primavera P6 will automatically numerically select an Activity ID (although you can change this to a numerical sequence of your choice) and maintains this logical numerical sequence as you add more activities to your schedule.
The name of your activity can be added by typing in the box provided. When presented with the Activity Type there is a drop-down box where you can select from Finish Milestone, Level of Effort, Resource Dependent, Start Milestone, Task Dependent, or WBS Summary.
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