Unfortunately most projects come with deadlines, a fact that is a challenge when building schedule to meet them. Finish No Later Than constraint (FNLT) are helpful in Microsoft Project to stress the importance of meeting a deadline date. Constraints express the importance of a particular date in the life of the project. So when network […]
Primavera P6 Professional and Apply Actuals
If your Primavera P6 schedule executes according to plan then apply actuals may be quick way for you to update the schedule. The apply actuals feature applies actuals entered in the Primavera timesheet system. If the timesheet system is not active, then the apply actuals feature statuses activities with resources as if they proceeded according […]
NAVFAC IPS Checklist and Longest Path Considerations
The Naval Facilities Engineering Command’s (NAVFAC) Initial Project Schedule (IPS) checklist has a number of items to consider in relation to the NAVFAC IPS longest path. Scheduling guidelines are worth studying to increase ones knowledge of scheduling principles, which results in higher quality project schedules. Several notable rules in the NAVFAC IPS checklist were explained […]
Monitor Critical Paths to Any Activity in Primavera P6
The Primavera P6 Professional critical path filter displays the critical path through the end of the project. But how do you monitor critical paths into any activity in the schedule? It is readily possible to display the critical path through the last activity in the project. You may, however, have a situation where you want […]
Guidelines for Insertion of Schedule Constraints
Wide usage of schedule constraints is generally discouraged. But what are specific situations when schedule constraints should be avoided and others when constraints are suitable? Schedule constraints describe important dates in the life of the project that network logic alone does not capture. But constraints both hard and soft should be limited in the schedule, […]
5 Pitfalls of Managing Large Portfolios And How To Manage Them
Managing a large portfolio of projects and programs comes with its own challenges. PMO leaders working with large corporate portfolios face a number of pitfalls. This is especially where the project management maturity has grown over time and the portfolio has evolved and scaled almost organically. There comes a tipping point where it’s important to […]
Primavera P6 Professional New Column Type
Primavera introduces a new column type in the lists category. These days, new releases of Primavera P6 largely focus the development efforts on the Primavera P6 EPPM suite (the web version). This is not surprising; Primavera P6 professional is a very mature piece of software and pretty much everything that could be done to it […]
A Brief Introduction to EVM
A Brief Introduction to EVM Earned Value Management is the key to unlocking the door to a plethora of project status metrics is earned value, which is a way of placing a value on the progress of work achieved. But how is earned value specified? Much in Earned Value Management (EVM) hinges on the monetized […]
WBS Schedule Pro Software and WBS Charts
It is possible to print a nice hierarchical Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) chart of your Microsoft Project schedule by using Critical Tools, Inc. WBS Schedule Pro software. The WBS is an important project management tool. The WBS is a hierarchical breakdown of all project deliverables. The WBS also displays the entire scope of the project. […]
Primavera P6 EPPM WBS Summary Activity Type & Top-Down Estimates
Using WBS summary activity type & top-down estimates in Primavera P6. It is possible in Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM) to compare top down estimates beside bottom up estimates. Determining accurate project costs is one of the more challenging efforts in the project management and scheduling process. Top down cost estimates are usually […]