P6 Implementation

Most of the changes are in the web module which in my experience is not popular with engineering and construction companies as they tend to use Citrix or terminal server to port apps out.

There are a few useful improvements.

One issue is the hardware requirements, look at page 16 of the Admin manual and make sure your gear will run it, you may wish to do some trials but I have not yet seen any one say they are having problems running it on low spec machines.

The main issues are that they are asking for 1mb of free Ram which I understand means you need 2 installed by the time you run up XP, Outlook, Excel and a few other things and a 2.8GHz or higher Intel processor. Most laptops are 1.8 GHz or so twins and not much around over 2.

I run P6 on a high end desk top so I have had no issues but I have left P5 on my Laptop.

Paul E Harris
Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia
Planning and Scheduling Training Manual & Book Publishers & Consulting
www.eh.com.au

Thank you for the reply. The company will be purchasing P6 in January, I am currently preparing a presentation for what they are to expect in the change (they use Microsoft Project). As I am going to be the main user of the program I am asking for some IT upgrades to the system they provided to me.

Most of the employees will be utilizing the Web based system and only 5 will be in the core of the system.

Paul A. Torretta
Project Coordinator
SNF-Floquip

If you will be transitioning from MS Project to P6, then the real ‘problem’ that your company will be experiencing is the “Why can’t you make it look ‘clean’ like before when we had MS Project?” issue. MS Project users are used to seeing everything neat and in a row, even when the project is running behind or work is being performed out of sequence. Project accomplishes this by simply ignoring the data date and leaving all tasks in the original Baseline Schedule order (and uncompleted activities in the past.)

Primavera schedules (P3, SureTrak, P6, Contractor) strangely insist in moving uncompleted work forward and delaying upcoming work when the predecessors are still incomplete. This ‘ruins’ the Baseline Schedule look. Paul, your biggest task will be to organize the update print-outs to be as readable as possible. If you ignore the presentation aspect of your job, others will strongly resist P6 and want to return to MS Project.

Good luck!

That is what actually concerns me, is that this company uses MS Project for date tracking only. I have customized templates in P5 at my last company to reflect a Baseline date showing the delays in the bar readings commenting on what is causing the issue.

I do appreciate the responses, as this implementation is on a hurry schedule as the parent company is already using P6 in France and requires us to be fully implemented by February First, 2008.

Paul A. Torretta
SNF Floquip

Hi Paul
And you should have a look at P6 Tested configuration before implementing.
It can be found in POINT.
Thanks

Paul,

I have recently been tasked with doing the same thing for an engineering company.

If you can work with a ’named license’ methodology as opposed to using ’pooled licenses’ then do so, as they are much cheaper. As others mention you need to check the spec of the desktop you are using, including monitor sizes, as using anything less than 19inch gets really annoying.
You are best checking with your IT department that there is sufficient space on the current servers and SQL databases.
We have chosen to have a seperate Primavera server and use Citrix to run a thin-client.

It is also good practice to have a few stand-alone licenses just in-case your server goes down.

HTH

Oliver

Thank you all for the advise in this as the endeavor is very ambitious by us. I am going to be meeting with the IT guy this week to pound out what I need in a system upgrade to run. When i used P5, i was on a laptop with a 15.4 wide screen (was small but i could do it all). When i started here I requested a Wide Screen Monitor to hook up to the portable.

The First thing I am doing is organizing the WBS and RBS to establish how they want things organized. I am also bringing in the Sales Rep to do a true demonstration of the program on the 8th of January. I want my supervisors and coworkers fully involved in the implementation process. I know Primavera is not a clean cute program like Project but Project is a date tool for them, they do not track if the job made a profit or not.

Thank you again for all your assistance.

Hi Paul
I just got an information, that 6.1 is ready for being issued. There seem to be major modifications to P6. So you’ll better wait for 6.1. The sales rep should have more detailed infomation.
If you’ll organize EPS, OBS, RBS and the other structures in P5 already there will be sql skripts to transform the database. The RBS you can export --> Import by XER-file.
Regards
Dieter

Hi Dieter.
I’ve just checked on POINT but there is no sign of P6.1. Is this a service pack which will be launched in POINT or a new CD package?
It’ll be great if someone can give us the date and form of launching P6.1.
THanks

Hi
I don’t have more detailed information about the date, but it seems to be more than just a service pack.
Sorry
Dieter