Quite a few folks have been asking about how and when to use the Primavera P6 Level Of Effort activities, so we though we would make a short movie explaining how they work. This video takes you through what Level Of Effort type activities are and how to use them in Primavera P6. These activities […]
The Value of Milestones in Project Scheduling
Let’s assume you have your project mapped out! You have your list of deliverables and you know the activities required to produce those deliverables. Is there something missing? Like a hiking trail with markers telling you definitively where you are on the trail wouldn’t it be helpful to have markers in your project schedule telling […]
Questions You Should Ask When Implementing A PMO
Implementing a Project Management Office (PMO) is often not as simple as it might seem. As noted in this article, politics, organizational dynamics, history, personalities, etc. often come into play. When a client asks us to help “right the ship” of a struggling PMO implementation, one of the first things we want to understand, is […]
Inserting an Activity in a Primavera P6 Schedule
It’s almost inevitable! You have just added all your activities, the backbone of your schedule, and all are in order and numbered sequentially. Then it happens. Your upper level manager or program sponsor asks you to insert another activity right into the heart of your schedule. Are you prepared to respond to this contingency? It […]
Finding the Longest Critical Schedule Tasks Using Microsoft Project
Schedule optimization requires investigation of critical tasks to see whether fast tracking or “crashing” of these tasks will materially shorten the schedule. You also may want to perform a more accurate bottom-up estimate of these tasks to confirm their duration estimates. If you are looking for a way to help focus in on those tasks […]
Primavera P6 Portfolios
Primavera P6’s Enterprise Project Structure (EPS) organizes the entire database of projects into a manageable system reminiscent of a file structure. It also allows the administrator to control who sees what projects and what permissions they have when accessing those various projects. Even so, the list of projects can become quite considerable and you may […]
Deltek Cobra Version 5.1.4
In late June Deltek released Cobra version 5.1.4 (5.01.4700.0565). This version offers a few new features and enhancements that will improve usability and convenience in some areas of the tool. In this article we take a brief look at some of the highlights of this new version and explore a couple of the new features. Note: […]
Estimating Management Reserve (MR)
This is the second in a series of three articles about Management Reserve written by EVM SME Mark Infanti. You can read the first article Management Reserve Defined here. FAR 31.205-7 (c), defines contingency as a possible future event or condition arising from presently known or unknown causes, the outcome of which is indeterminable at […]
Primavera P6 Displaying Two Baselines on the Gantt Chart
Suppose you wanted to display two baselines on the Gantt chart: one baseline for measuring progress since the commencement of the project and another baseline for measuring the current month’s progress. You can do this in Primavera P6.
Comparison of Top-down and Bottom-up Estimates in Microsoft Project
Looking for a way to compare bottom-up Estimates with top-down estimates? Look no further than Microsoft Project. Yes, in Microsoft Project you can display a comparison of bottom-up estimates and top-down estimates right on the Gantt chart.