Integrating Primavera P6 R8.2 with Deltek Cobra 5.1
This one is big news for Deltek Cobra 5.1 users who’ve been looking to integrate with the newer releases of Oracle Primavera P6. This HotFix #11 boasts Integration API support for Primavera P6 release 8.n versions, including the brand new P6 R8.2.
We were so excited by this news, that we forewent the morning coffee and doughnuts, booted up our Primavera P6 R8.2 test environment and promptly integrated a P6 R8.2 schedule into the belly of Cobra 5.1 (HotFix #11). All without incident I might add.
For the first test, we took a simple project in Primavera P6. We then mapped it for Cobra integration using UDFs and Activity Codes. Next we used Cobra’s Integration Wizard, configured for API integration to load it into a new Cobra project. We then reconciled the time-phased hours received in Cobra with those in the P6 schedule and found it to be 100% correct. Take a peek at the following two reports. Because they’re different systems and I’m so excited to get this blog out, I’ve not had time to get them grouped quite the same; but you can see the numbers reconcile.
Primavera P6 Resource Assignments Spreadsheet View
Deltek Cobra 5.1 Time Phased Report by CA, WP, Resource Hours
This release is tremendous news. Deltek has been working hard to bring all the versions of Primavera P6 into Cobra and this HotFix is an excellent conclusion to that effort. We will continue to test these versions with varying project data types and volumes. I’ll keep you posted on what interesting things we uncover, or not as the case may be.
The beauty of all this is that Deltek/Primavera customers now have complete flexibility in how and when they upgrade their scheduling systems. It also keeps Deltek Cobra comfortably out in front of its competitors with still the best EVM tool and the most comprehensive integration system available.
As for those who are for some reason utterly disinterested in the mating habits of Primavera P6 and Cobra, please remember to login to your Deltek Download Manager and furnish yourself with this latest HotFix all the same. It provides another healthy list of improvements and fixes that all add up to more mature and robust software on your desktop.
Personally, I keep my standalone copy bang up-to-date with every release I possibly can. I then pound the stuffing out of it with all manner of test projects and data loads between updates, and so far have never regretted making the monthly leap of faith. Now granted, mine is largely a test system and not housing 3 years of data points for a $1.4 billion dollar government missile contract or anything, so please don’t think I’m suggesting an end run around the virtues of a QA environment. I’m just thinking Deltek must test this stuff pretty extensively. How else could I get away with such ‘update’ hubris for so long. But enough of this, let’s go to press…