Importance of Primavera P6 in Construction

The construction industry around the world is moving towards more advanced tools and techniques to handle the ever-growing demands, tackle the increase in workload, and efficiently manage resources. With that in mind, one of these sophisticated and essential tools is Primavera P6.

Primavera P6 is software owned by Oracle and used by Project Management Professionals. It is used for handling multiple projects and can store up to 100,000 activities with countless resources and target plans.

Areas of application

A project’s lifecycle consists of 5 steps: Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Control, and Closing. Each step is crucial for project success and to achieve the goal of the project scope. However, a planning engineer mainly uses Primavera P6 for Planning, Monitoring, and Controlling project schedules and resources.

Planning and Scheduling

An ideal project plan or baseline is always constructed at the start of the project, for which Primavera P6 can be used. This program helps in finding the actual relationship and sequence between activities to be executed on-site. This is vital information for fast-track projects to start activities in parallel and avoid delays. Furthermore, the program allows the user to load resources into the activities, which allows the user to get a clearer image of the resource allocation.

Monitoring

Once the initial project plan is created in Primavera P6, it can then be set and maintained as a project baseline and then progressed & monitored regularly. On-site progress is compared with the baseline project. Additionally, a feature unique to this software is that multiple baselines can be set and maintained on the program.

Controlling

The user of the Oracle Primavera P6 management tool can easily identify and analyze the performance status of driving activities, milestones, longest path, 2nd longest path, other float paths, earned value indices, and more with the use of advanced reporting features of Primavera P6. Furthermore, the Team Member tool of Primavera P6 is a built-in tool that allows the site team to easily report work progress daily with the use of a computer, a phone, or an iPad. In conclusion, all the project team members can see and track live schedule activities on a daily basis and provide feedback to the power user and project scheduler for improvement.

Uses

Primavera P6 offers the user multiple uses such as:

Time Management

Activities in a construction project can be planned based on the human and non-human resources available. As a result, increasing or optimizing these resources can reduce delays and reduce activity duration.

Resource Planning

When you allocate resources to activities in Primavera P6, it shows a resource histogram, with the help of which you can level resources and avoid uneven distribution of resources.

Cost Planning

Every activity and resource has a cost associated with it. In conclusion, budget variations can be easily identified throughout the project with the help of Primavera P6.

Critical Path

The software can identify critical activities and automatically form a critical path of the project. As a result, controlling the project can become quite easy by identifying the critical path. In addition, Primavera P6 can generate multiple float paths to the project end, allowing the project management to Longest Path, 2nd Longest Path, and 3rd Longest Path, and other driving factors of project milestones. You can contact us for Construction Scheduling Services.

Team Member

As mentioned before, Team Member is a built-in tool on top of Primavera P6. It allows all project team members to be able to track live-schedule and provide progress information and feedback on a daily basis to improve the schedule.

For a deeper understanding of managing your project timelines when unforeseen circumstances arise, check out our guide on Suspending Project Work in Primavera P6.

Project Structure in Primavera P6

The basic structure of a project created on Primavera P6 is as follows:

Enterprise Project Structure

At first, the EPS is created, which means the structure of the company that is executing the project.

Organizational Breakdown Structure

Secondly, the OBS is formed. This includes the company hierarchy and the people responsible for the projects in the EPS.

Project

The project is the collection of all activities and information linked to it that constitutes a plan for the completion of the construction project. The project is added under the respective division in the EPS. After that, a person from the OBS is assigned to the project along with a calendar.

Work Breakdown Structure

The WBS is a hierarchical structure of all the work to be done in the project. It consists of levels to further break down activities into smaller units.

Activities

They are the most fundamental part of the project and are the smallest part of the project. Different details associated with an activity are activity ID, start date, end date, activity type, constraints, predecessor, successor, and expense.

While understanding the importance of Primavera P6 in construction is crucial, it’s equally important to have a solid grasp on project planning techniques. Learn more about our approach to three-point estimation in project planning here.

Contact Consult Leopard for owner’s rep for construction projects now.