Using Fill Down and Refresh in P6
A recent inquiry asked how to modify the task calendars in P6 Professional efficiently. Two operations together can be utilized to achieve this. Let’s take a look.
The Fill Down feature is relatively well known, but two operations are required to Fill down a task calendar appropriately: Fill down and Refresh data.
The refresh tool can be added to the standard toolbar for quick access. A word of caution if you are filling down a 10-hour day workweek calendar to replace an 8-hour day workweek calendar: confirm the proper Time Period settings for that 10-hour calendar.
This article demonstrates a quick tip for an efficient Fill-down of a task calendar in P6 Professional.
Our demonstration project is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1
This schedule has a ‘Corporate—Standard Full Time’ calendar, which we want to replace with a ‘4×10’ calendar. In our scenario, we already have a 4×10 calendar defined in our Enterprise | Calendar feature, so we do not need to create a new calendar. So, we begin by modifying the Activity ID A1000 Contract Award Date calendar by Left-double-clicking on its field in the calendar column (Figure 2).
Figure 2
Then, in the Select Activity Calendar, again, in Figure 2, we choose our predefined ‘4×10’ global calendar and click Select. Figure 3 displays the resulting task table.
Figure 3
The task A1000 with a 4×10 calendar appears in Figure 3. We need to highlight all the task rows from the A1000 Contract Award to the A1140 Final Quality Assurance Inspection for our Fill-down. Hold the shift key down with the A1000 task selected (1) and click the last row in the Calendar column (2), Figure 4.
Figure 4
You should see an orange outline cell. Ensure this is at the intersection of the calendar column and activity A1110 row, Figure 5.
Figure 5
Right-click in the highlighted region and choose Fill Down from the popup menu (Figure 5). The resulting task table is in Figure 6.
Figure 6
The task table looks great except for the deliverables, which still indicate a Corporate—Standard Full Time calendar (Figure 6). We need to refresh the screen so that all these appear as 4×10 calendars. Let us add the refresh button to the standard tool group, which is the top vertical tool group on the upper left of the screen, Figure 7.
Figure 7
At the bottom of the Standard tool group is a black triangular icon pointing left; we call that a carat, and if you hover the mouse over this carat, a dialogue appears that says More Buttons, Figure 8.
Figure 8
Left-click on the carat, then click the Add or Remove Buttons drop-down menu, Figure 9.
Figure 9
Toggle or check to include the Refresh Data (F5) button, and while you are at it, check to include the Commit Changes (F10) button as well, which is good to have handy, Figure 10.
Figure 10
Now, simply click the Refresh Data button, Figure 11.
Figure 11
The activity table then appears in Figure 12.
Figure 12
Our schedule looks good! However, we want to set our project to use the 4×10 calendar for additional tasks. In the EPS, Figure 13, we select our project, click the bottom details Default tab, and click the Calendar field.
Figure 13
In the Select Default Project Calendar, we choose 4×10 and click select Figure 14.
Figure 14
In Figure 15, our schedule default calendar is set to 4×10.
Figure 15
Now confirm the proper Time Period settings for our 4×10 calendar. Click the Activities tab and choose Enterprise | Calendars, as shown in Figure 16.
Figure 16
In the Calendars dialog box, select the 4×10 calendar and choose the modify button, Figure 17.
Figure 17
Then, click Time Periods in the Global Calendar: 4×10 dialog, and in the Hours per Time Period dialog box, confirm that the Hours/Day is set to ten, Figure 18.
Figure 18
It should be set to ten so that each 10-hour period is one day. If this were set to eight for our 10-hour per-day workweek, then, e.g., when we work 10 hours on Monday, it would say that we worked 1.25 days on Monday, which is not what we want. When we work 10 hours on a 4×10 workweek, we want the Original Duration to indicate we worked one day and not 1.25 days. Click OK and OK to exit the calendar modify dialog.
Note the check mark next to the Corporate – Standard Full Time calendar, Figure 19.
Figure 19
The Corporate—Standard Full-Time is the database’s default calendar. Currently, 4×10 is set to the default calendar for our Pipe Repairs & Improvement project but not the database. The database’s default calendar determines the calendar’s nonwork day shading on the Gantt chart.
We want Friday through Sunday to shade as nonwork days. We check 4×10 as the database’s default calendar (Figure 20).
Figure 20
Observe now on the Gantt chart that each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday period is shaded to indicate nonwork days, Figure 21.
Figure 21
Note that in Figure 21, we changed the Gantt chart timescale to Week/Day 1 Date Interval.
Summary
Changing the calendar assigned to tasks requires several steps but two primary operations: Fill-down and Refresh Data.
After you fill down and refresh, confirm or reset the default calendar for the project and the database. Adding the Refresh Data and Commit Changes to the standard tool group makes them handy for repeated utility of the save and refresh data operations.