Primavera P6 EPPM 21.12 is Here!
Primavera P6 EPPM 21.12 for on premise installations has been released by Oracle. We’ve already mentioned the release of Primavera P6 Professional 21.12 here which was timed with this Primavera P6 EPPM 21.12 release. We will follow this blog with a more detailed review of specific features, but for now, here’s what’s in Primavera P6 EPPM 21.12.
General
Prevent Automatic Reordering of Lists and Regrouping of Tables When Items Change
Automatic reorganization of data in your views can slow you down when you are changing a large amount of data. You can switch off automatic reorganization from the Actions menu in the Activities, EPS and Assignments Pages and the Resources and Roles tabs of the Administration Page of the Resources section.
Select the Financial Period Calendar to Assign When Importing a New Project
When you import projects from a Primavera XML file, you can select the financial period calendar to assign to any projects you choose to import with the Create New import action.
Quickly and Easily Unlink Activities
You can unlink activities from their successors and predecessors using the Unlink Activities option in the Row Actions menu in the grid view of the Activities page.
Changes to Views
You can specify that read-only cells in the view should be highlighted with a gray background. Also, the column selector, available from the column headings area, enables you to add and hide columns in the view quickly and simply.
Quickly and Easily Renumber Activities
You can renumber a selection of activities, using the Renumber Activity IDs option in the Row Actions menu in the grid view of the Activities page.
New Features Description Dialog
When a user logs into P6 for the first time after an upgrade to the system, they can view a description of the new features in that release. This can be switched off for all users in the General page of Application Settings.
Choose How to Number Activities When You Copy and Paste
When you paste a group of copied activities, you can choose to renumber the newly created activities automatically, based on the selected activities, or by providing a prefix, starting number, and increment value. You can also choose to replace a number of characters at the start of the activity ID.
Preview Changes Before Updating Baselines
To help protect the integrity, veracity, and credibility of your organization’s baselines, you can preview the changes that would result from your selected baseline update options before committing to making the update.
Maintain Relationships With External Projects When Importing From Primavera XML Files
When you import projects from a Primavera XML file, you can choose whether to retain relationships between activities in the project and those in external projects.
Export Projects in IPMDAR Format
You can export projects and their associated activities and resource assignments in IPMDAR format. IMPDAR is a project export format required by the US Department of Defense. The IPMDAR export generates a zip file containing a collection of JSON files which constitute the IPMDAR data.
Improved Accuracy for Identifying Baseline Activities
An administrative setting determines whether P6 matches activities in the project with their corresponding activities in the baseline using the Activity ID/Code or the internal GUID (Globally Unique ID) of the activity. The default is to use the Activity ID/Code.
Sharing Filters with Other Users
If more than one user needs to use the same filter, you can create multiple user filters in the Activities, EPS, and Assignment pages. Only the user who created a shared filter can modify or delete the filter. Any user who has access to the filter can copy and paste it to create a new version for which they are the owner.
Print Gantt Charts from Project Start to Project Finish
In the Print Options window, click Edit Content and in the Settings panel, select Timescale. On the Start list, select Project Start and on the End list, select Project Finish.
Type Ahead Search in the Views List
You can click the Views list and start typing the name of a view to filter the views list as you type.
Choose Import Options for Responsible Manager and Separate Import Options for Global and EPS Activity Codes
When importing projects, you can select the import action to use for the Responsible Manager assigned to the project, and you can select different import actions for importing Global Activity Codes from the import action for importing EPS Activity Codes.
View Financial Period and Stored Period Data on the Activities Page
You can add Financial Period and Stored Period columns to the Activities Page. Columns in the Financial Period Values group show the Actual Expense Cost, Actual Labor Cost, Actual Material Cost, Actual Nonlabor Cost, Earned Value Cost, Planned Value Cost, Actual Labor Units, Actual Nonlabor Units, Earned Value Labor Units and Planned Value Labor Units per period of the Financial Period Calendar.
Columns in the Financial Period Values Total group show the Stored Period Total Nonlabor Cost, Stored Period Total Planned Value Cost, Stored Period Total, Nonlabor Units and Stored Period Total Planned Value Labor Units.
A setting in the Display Format section of the Global tab of the My Preferences page determines whether a user can add Financial Period columns to their view and the earliest and latest financial period columns they can add. If a user adds Financial Period columns to their view, they should make sure that the view is using the appropriate financial period calendar for those columns.
To set the financial period calendar for a view, select Customize View, select the Gantt tab, then choose the appropriate financial period calendar on the Financial Period list.
Compare More Baselines
As well as comparing the project with a Project Baseline and User’s Primary Baseline, you can configure and compare against the User’s Secondary Baseline and User’s Tertiary Baseline
Import Template Enhancement
On the Primavera XML Import Template page, you can now manage how Resource Calendars are handled when importing them, separate from Global calendars.
Earned Value Management (EVM) fields displayed at the assignment level
Calculated Assignment level EVM fields are now displayed in the Assignment Details tab of the Activities page, and on the Earned Value details tab of the Assignment page.
Additional Filtering Options for the Status Updates Page
As well as Project ID, you can now filter the Grid View of the Status Updates Page by Activity ID, Activity Name, Status, Step Name, Type, WBS Code, or WBS Name.
Select a View Before the Page Loads Data
A setting has been added to the My Preferences page to allow the user to specify that they want to be able to select which view to use when they switch to the page. This option overrides the selection of a default view for the page. The page will not display any data until the user selects a view. This option is available for the EPS, Activities, and Assignments pages of the Projects section and the Assignments page of the Resources section.
Improved Efficiency when Integrating P6 EPPM with Primavera Cloud and Primavera Unifier via Primavera Gateway
When you use Primavera Gateway to integrate P6 EPPM with Primavera Cloud and Primavera Unifier, sending data between the applications only sends the projects that have changed since the last time time you exchanged data with the integrated product. This functionality uses the fields Updated Since Objects – EPS, Project, WBS and Update Since Date.
Unused or Unwanted Global Data Enhancements
You can now manage assignment codes, role codes, resource codes, issue codes, and global and resource calendars. You can also manage resources, roles, and Organization Breakdown Structure (OBS) data using the Get Usage Data option on the Actions menu on the Resources, Roles, and OBS pages.
Resource & Roles
Resource and Role Cost Spreads Consider Rate Changes Over Time
An application setting allows P6 to reflect changing resource and role rates in cost spreads in the resource analysis, capacity planning, team usage, and assignments pages as well as the usage chart in the resource and role assignment pickers.
Other affected areas of the software are publishing, summarizing, live assignment spreads, integration with Primavera Unifier, reports, and Analytics. Total costs have always been calculated to consider changes in resource and role rates, however until this release, costs spreads were linear.
The setting on the General Page of Application Settings defaults to spreading cost based on a Linear Spread, but can be changed to Units Spread to allow actual cost, actual overtime cost, actual regular cost, at completion costs, period actual cost, period at completion cost, planned cost, remaining early cost, remaining late cost, staffed remaining early cost, staffed remaining late cost, unstaffed remaining early cost, and unstaffed remaining late cost spreads to account for changes in resource and role rates.
If you select to change from Linear Spread to Units Spread, you must run Recalculate Assignment Costs for all projects.
When P6 Professional is connected to an EPPM database, changing resource and role rates in cost spreads are reflected in the Resource Usage Spreadsheet and Profile, Activity Usage Spreadsheet and Profile, Tracking View, Resource Assignments window, and Activity Usage Spreadsheets and Profiles. Other affected areas of the software are publishing and reports.
Enhanced Resource and Role Search Functionality
You can now use an enhanced resource and role search functionality to search for roles and resources. The improved search functionality lets you specify an operator in addition to the search scope and search criteria. It ensures you can search using broader search criteria.
Role-based Filter to Assign Activities
P6 EPPM now provides options to Project Managers to set project preferences so that Team Member Web users can assign themselves to activity assignments. In P6 EPPM, a new section called Activity Assignments is added to the Team Member tab of the Project Preferences dialog box of the EPS page. In this section, the Project Managers can select several preferences that enable team members to assign themselves to activities with role assignments that match their roles. In Team Member Web, users can select Staff Role Assignments on My Activities and Timesheets pages to view the role assignment details and assign themselves to a particular assignment.
Role and Resource Picker Enhancements
You can now assign roles and resources to activities using an enhanced picker. The new picker does not close after each assignment, and therefore, you do not need to select the same roles or resources again to assign them to another activity. Also, improved search capabilities in the resource picker allow you to narrow your search results to specific criteria using new operators such as ‘Does not contain’, ‘Starts with’ and ‘Ends with’.
Resource Planning
The Planning page is available in the Resources section. It is a valuable tool to establish resource demand on a proposed project without detailed activity creation. You can filter the view to see the assignments for a single project, a group of projects assigned to a portfolio or project code, a single resource or role, a group of resources or roles assigned to a code, or a resource team. Use this page to specify, review, or modify project-level and WBS-level allocation data for individual resources and roles.
This high-level allocation data can be maintained through the life of the project and referenced when planning resources at a more detailed level. Although resources might not be assigned to specific activities early in the project lifecycle, the Planning page enables you to plan a time commitment for a resource against a project. Assigning resources to projects in the early stages of project development can help to prevent resource over-allocation.
On the Planning page of the Resources section:
- Changes to the spreadsheet cells or total units cells of assignments are implemented immediately, without the need to save the page.
- You can show other assignments to a project or WBS when your view is filtered to a specific resource, role, resource team, role team, or resource code. The view will still be grouped by the original data type but will also show other assignments that exist for that project or WBS. This feature is available on the Actions menu.
- You can cut, copy, and paste an assignment from one project or WBS element into another.
Enhanced Customize View Options on Resource Analysis Page
You can now view actual units and remaining units for a resource on the Analysis spreadsheet. Select the appropriate options on the Customize View dialog box of the Analysis page to view the desired data on the spreadsheet.
Grid View for Approvals Status Updates Page
You can review status updates your team members made to their assigned activities in a grid format by clicking Switch to Grid View on the Status Updates page. The grid view provides options to print and export the data. You can also use the customize view options for filtering, grouping, and sorting the columns on the grid.
Synchronize Planning Assignment Dates with Project Dates
On the Planning Page, you can select the Synchronize Resource Dates item on the Actions menu to synchronize the assignment’s start and finish dates with those of the project. When you synchronize resources, if you select the Life or Project assignments to Project dates option, the start and finish dates for all assignments with the Life of Project option selected, will be changed to match the planned start and finish dates of the project. If you select the All resource planning assignments to Forecast dates option, the start and finish dates for all assignments will be changed to match the forecast start and finish of the project.
Split Planning Assignments
During your planning, you might find that some resources become overloaded with work. One way to resolve overallocation of units to a resource is to assign some of its total units to another resource using the Split Resource Assignments feature.
View the List of Projects Using an Enterprise Data Item During Usage Analysis
When you analyze enterprise data usage on the Resource Tab of the Administration Page, the Roles Tab of the Administration Page, or the OBS Page, the Inactive Project Count and Active Project Count columns show the number of each type of project using each enterprise data item in the list. Where there are one or more projects using a data item, you can click on the number of projects to see a list of the projects using that data item. This list is filtered to show only the projects to which you have access.
Team Member
Allow Team Members to See Suspend and Resume Dates in P6 Team Member
Project managers can configure the visible activity fields in a project’s preferences to allow team members access to suspend and resume dates for activities in P6 Team Member Web, P6 for Android, P6 for iOS, and Email Statusing Service. The project manager can also specify whether team members can update the suspend and resume dates.
Greater Control Over the Number of Activities in the Timesheets Page of P6 Team Member Web
Timesheets can become overwhelming when they include too many activities. New defaults for options on the Open Timesheet Settings dialog box encourage users to add only the activities they need to update. To reduce the number of visible activities, new standard filters on the Timesheets page allow users to filter their view by activity status.
Reset Own Password and Unlock Account for P6 Web or P6 Team Member Web
On-premises P6 Web or Team Member Web users can now reset their password and unlock their account if they get locked out. Click the Forgot Password/Unlock Account link and follow the on-screen instructions to reset your password or unlock your account. This option is available only when the mail server has been configured.
Preventing Users from Rejecting Approved Timesheets
A setting on the Timesheets page of Application Settings can be configured to prevent users from rejecting approved timesheets. The setting can be configured to prevent any rejection of approved timesheets, or to prevent approved timesheets from being rejected if they were submitted before the current timesheet period, or before the current calendar month.
Team Members Can Easily Identify Critical Activities
Critical activities are indicated with a warning icon in P6 for Android, P6 for iOS, and P6 Team Member Web. The icon is an exclamation point inside a triangle.
Define Which Activities Show as Due or Overdue to Team Members
In P6 Team Member Web Application Settings, you can configure definitions for due and overdue. These definitions are used to determine which activities and assignment show in the Due and Overdue filters My Activities pages in P6 for Android, P6 for iOS, and P6 Team Member Web.
Reorganization of Data in the Progress Panel in P6 Team Member Web
The progress panel in P6 Team Member Web shows the most important information about the activity on the Status tab. Steps, Codes and User Defined Fields are shown on the Activity Details tab.
Team Members Can View and Update Primary Constraint Dates
You can edit project preferences to allow team members to view the Primary Constraint field in P6 Team Member Web and P6 for Android. You can also choose to allow team members to update the field.
Let Team Members Know When You Change Details of Their Status Update
When you change data for a status update in the Override Updates for Activity dialog box, you can select to notify the team member by email so they know which data you changed before you approved their status update.
In P6 for Android and P6 for iOS:
– You can sort your activity list by any visible column.
– When you filter your activity list by Project and then by WBS, you see a count of the number of activities of each status that will be shown when you apply the filter.
Administration
Make Multiple User Accounts Inactive Quickly and Easily
You can select one or more user accounts in the User Administration table and make them inactive. An inactive user cannot log into any P6 EPPM application, including P6 Team Member Web, P6 for Android, P6 for iOS, and P6 EPPM Web Services.
To re-activate a user, assign access to any module on the module access detail window for the user.
Resolve User Lock-Out for P6 Professional Cloud Connect
When a user has become locked out of P6 Professional Cloud Connect, the cause is sometimes that the record in the database which stores their user preferences has become corrupt. Administrators can delete user preferences on the User Administration page for those users to allow them back into P6 Professional Cloud Connect. When you delete a user’s preferences, that user’s preferences will be reset to the defaults so they might choose to re-configure their preferences when they are able to log back into P6 Professional Cloud Connect. If the user has access to P6, they can delete their preferences themselves on the My Preferences page.
Change to De-provisioning P6 User Accounts in Primavera Administration
De-provisioning User Accounts in Primavera Administration no longer deletes the user from the P6 database. When you de-provision a user from access to P6 EPPM, all module access will be removed from that user in P6 EPPM. The user account and all its associated data will remain in the database, however the user will no longer have access to the application.
Manage Unused or Unwanted Global Data
You can easily view all unused or unwanted Project, Activities, Assignment, Role, Resource, Risk, Issues, Document UDF data, and as an administrator, delete any unwanted data from your database. This can improve performance and reduce your database size.
Unused or Unwanted Global Data Enhancements
You can now manage risk categories, project codes, and activity codes.
REST API Available
Introducing the P6 EPPM REST API, a flexible interface to P6 EPPM functionality based on the Representational State Transfer (REST) architectural style.
Delete Obsolete Enterprise Data Items on the Basis of Usage Analysis
During Enterprise Data Usage Analysis, P6 marks the data items matching all of the conditions you specified in the Display Usage Data dialog box. You can also manually clear or mark the Select Column option for individual data items. To delete the marked data permanently from your database, you can select Delete Data from the Actions menu.
Version and Database Name Available in P6 and Team Member Web
In P6 go to the My Preferences Page to see the version of P6 you are using and the name of the database to which your instance is connected.
In P6 Team Member Web, you can see the version of P6 Team Member Web you are using and the name of the database to which your instance is connected on any page.
Documentation and Help
Resource Overallocation Clarified in P6 Help
Information has been added to the P6 Help to explain how to identify overallocated resources in the Resource View of the Analysis page and the Assign Resource dialog box.
Manage Enterprise Data Documentation Revised
The description of the process of managing enterprise data has been clarified. The process is described at a high level in the About Managing Data Enterprise Data topic, while detailed steps are supplied in two new topics called Analyzing Enterprise Data Usage and Deleting Obsolete Enterprise Data. Descriptions of the columns added to a view when you get usage data for enterprise data items have been included in the Help topics for each of the affected pages.
Oracle Primavera Cloud Lean App Renamed Tasks App
In Oracle Primavera Cloud, the Lean App was renamed the Tasks App. P6 EPPM documentation has been updated to reflect the change.
Show Hint Help in P6 Web
Show Hint Help in P6 Web to provide a full description of columns when you hover over the column heading. You can switch on Show Hint Help using the icon of a question mark in a circle. Alternatively, you can use the shortcut Alt+F1. Show Hint Help is available in the EPS, Activities, and both Assignments pages of P6.
Summary
You can see the result of Oracles development efforts in Primavera P6 EPPM 21.12. The march towards the cloud continues apace.
If you use Oracle’s hosting instead of an on-premise installation, you would have seen these features released on a monthly basis throughout 2021. Oracle updates their hosting platform every month with new features, enhancements and bug fixes. For those with on-premise installations, you have to wait for what is now becoming an annual release of the combined monthly releases that Oracle hosting users enjoy. That said, on-premise installations do get security patches, etc. throughout the year.