Resetting Activity ID Numbering in Primavera P6 Professional
Often during the process of adding activities, the scheduler is left with a list of activities whose activity ID numbering scheme has a nonuniform increment. This may be a problem when trying to make a clear and organized presentation of a project schedule.
The numbering ID of activities in Primavera P6 behaves differently from Microsoft Project. Tasks in Microsoft Project automatically renumber whenever a new task is inserted. Primavera P6, however, does not do this and renumber activity IDs whenever additional activities are inserted into a schedule. Renumbering P6 activity IDs is a little more involved. The following blog Renumbering Activity IDs in Primavera P6 Professional provides a primer on inserting and renumbering activity IDs in P6 Professional.
One issue this blog addresses, is the problem of duplicate IDs when the scheduler resets the numbering scheme of activity ID’s using the same Activity ID Prefix, Activity ID Suffix, and increment. P6 Professional will not allow the scheduler to reassign an activity ID that already exists in the project.
The most obvious work around to this restriction is to define a new Activity ID Prefix for the numbering scheme of activity ID’s. This works, but folks have inquired how to reset the numbering of activity IDs while maintaining the original schedule Activity ID Prefix.
This article provides a quick tip on resetting Activity ID numbering in a P6 Professional schedule’s activity list in a way that retains the original Activity ID Prefix, Activity ID Suffix, and increment for the list.
We have below in Figure 1, a sample project to demonstrate how to reset the numbering of activity IDs while keeping the original Activity ID Prefix, Activity ID Suffix, and increment settings.
Note in Figure 1 how between activities W1050 and W1080 the increment goes from 10 to 5 and back to 10 again. We want to renumber the activity IDs so that the increment is 10 throughout the entire schedule. To do this we follow the below steps:
- Renumber Activity IDs with a new Prefix.
- Log out of Primavera P6.
- Log back into the same P6 database.
- Renumber Activity IDs using the original Prefix.
Our demonstration begins by selecting all the activities in the schedule and choosing Edit | Renumber Activity IDs, Figure 2.
In the Renumber Activity IDs dialogue note the original Auto-Number Prefix, Suffix, and Increment Value, Figure 3.
Enter a new Prefix to reset the activity ID numbering without generating any duplicate activity ID assignments. In our demonstration we change the Prefix to the letter A, Figure 4.
The schedule has the same Suffix and Increment Value, but the updated Prefix, again, the letter A. In Figure 5 we see the Below Grade deliverable with reset and uniform Activity ID numbering.
Now we want to revert to our original Prefix, the letter W. Continue and exit P6. Then log back into the same P6 database. Select all schedule activities and choose Edit | Renumber Activity IDs. Finally, update the Prefix again to the original letter W and click OK, Figure 6.
The schedule with original Activity ID Prefix, the letter W, and uniform numbering (constant increment) displays in Figure 7.
Summary
Invariably after you have entered your list of activities into the schedule, you need to add more activities or a manager comes by and requests the insertion of additional activities. This is possible, but in P6 results in a nonuniform Activity ID numbering scheme.
Again, Primavera P6 does not presume to automatically renumber Activity IDs when activities are added to the original plan. The process of resetting the numbering of activity ID’s is a four-step process.
- Copy the activities to an intermediary list that has a different Prefix.
- Exit Primavera P6.
- Log back into the same P6 database
- Reset the activity ID numbering using the preferred original Prefix.
So, after a slight detour, you have arrived. And you are done!