WBS band themes are very useful if your eyes are straining on the activity table trying to separate the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) element bands from the associated activities. WBS band themes help by adding a little color. This makes it much easier view data in the activity table.
The Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM) has both an Enterprise Project Structure (EPS) data structure for organizing projects and a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for arranging deliverables and associated activities. The EPS view supports organizing projects in folders called nodes. In a previous blog Node Band Themes in Primavera P6 EPPM, we discussed setting the node band themes in the EPS view to help better organize the projects.
Well, the WBS view also has WBS band themes to help group the WBS and activities table. These themes assist by highlighting the project deliverables, which are the whole purpose of the project.
WBS Band Themes In Action
This article has a quick tip to show how to color code WBS element bands in the schedule activity table in Primavera P6 EPPM.
Below, in Figure 1, is the WBS activity table and Gantt chart of a demonstration schedule.
Figure 1
The Gantt chart looks rather colorful and easy to distinguish WBS elements, actuals, remaining work, and the baseline. It’s a little more difficult to separate the WBS elements from the activities in the activity table.
Fortunately Primavera P6 EPPM provides several themes to help better view the activities table. We want to update the WBS theme to better highlight deliverables from the associated work efforts. Proceeding we select the customize view feature, while displaying the activities page, Figure 2.
Figure 2
We continue and choose grouping in the customize view dialog, Figure 3.
Figure 3
Proceeding onward we choose the theme option, Figure 4, to access a variety of style and color themes.
Figure 4
Horizontal bands do a better job highlighting the WBS elements, so let’s select horizontal band for our WBS elements, Figure 5.
Figure 5
We then come to several color themes to choose from, Figure 6.
Figure 6
We select a suitable color theme. We then preview the style and color theme, Figure 7.
Figure 7
Finally, we have our final activity table and Gantt chart view in Figure 8.
Figure 8
Now we have a color coded WBS, which makes for more efficient analysis of the schedule.
Summary
The default WBS style and color scheme in Primavera P6 EPPM is not very conducive to distinguishing the deliverables from the associated efforts. But P6 supports a number of style and color themes to personalize the WBS view and make it easier on the eyes.
Save the style and color theme as part of a project, global, or user view for repeated use. In this way you may produce colorful reports for upper level managers and other stakeholders.