Notebook topics in Primavera P6 are used to assign specific narratives to an activity. Notebook topics are available at the EPS level, Project level, WBS level as well as the Activity level. They are an excellent way to record events encountered during the lifecycle of the project. As inevitable scope changes, design changes and workflows occur, notebooks can be used to keep records associated with the affected activity.
The following article discusses the use and benefits of notebooks. We have also produced a short video where viewers can familiarize themselves with the functionality of notebook topics.
Notebooks are accessed in the bottom details section, under the notebooks tab. The notebook area is divided into two sections; the Notebook Topic list area to the right and the corresponding information about the Notebook topic on the left. The two areas are divided by a moveable vertical bar as shown in Figure 1.
To view the available notebook topics, click on the Add button located bottom left of the screen. In the dialog, we can scroll down and see all the Notebook topics that have been created in the system. Notebook topics can be thought of as subject headings. There can be as many Notebook topics as the scheduler likes that are associated with any or all activities within the schedule, as shown in Figure 2.
If we wanted to make changes to an activity, we could select Changes as our notebook topic and enter our explanation for those changes. Having selected our Notebook topic, we click on the modify button, on the right-hand side and enter our information using the text editor. We can adjust our font, make bullet points, or lists as well as using hyperlinks and tables. We can also copy and paste information into our notebook narrative.
However, as some documents contain complex formatting or large volumes of data and images, this can cause performance issues when we open the project. It is advisable to always keep things simple in the notebook area, as shown in Figure 3.
If we can’t find a notebook topic that has the appropriate title for our subject, we can add topics using the notebooks tab located in the Admins menu at the top of the screen under Admin Categories.
In this dialog we can add notebook topics using the Add button, selecting the topic in the EPS, Project, WBS, or Activities view, as shown in Figure 4.
Notebooks can provide an excellent historic record of the projects’ progress. They are a good way to capture:
drawings, memos, emails, adverse weather reports, bills of sale, and other evidence of the projects’ overall performance.
Depending on your industry, this type of detailed document tracking can be used for possible future mediation or even litigation, should things go awry during the project lifecycle.
Summary
Notebook topics in Primavera P6 offer the scheduler the ability to track their project concerns by storing additional information related to an activity. Often situations arise during the lifecycle of a project and being able to document and store these changes in notebooks, and communicate these concerns to the project team can be invaluable.
Sometimes Notebook topics can highlight concerns that may not routinely show up in the scheduled activities. Issues can be associated with the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), project activities, or even resources. Primavera P6 provides a set of standard notebook topics, but schedulers can also add topics if they require.