Tips, Trap, Tricks – Page 2 – The Official Site for Zümmer

Streamlining the Printing Process with Adobe Acrobat

Since Zümmer is a “report intensive application”, printing using Adobe Acrobat is an excellent way to process all Zümmer reports. However, the default Printing Preferences may slow down the process especially when printing multiple reports.

Changing the settings as noted below will vastly improve your experience when using Zümmer.

The instructions below work for Adobe Acrobat 9 Standard Version and Microsoft Windows 10. The procedure may vary with other Versions.

1) Create a New Folder on your desktop named Adobe PDF Output. (Fig. 1)

2) Click on the Windows Start button and select Devices and Printers.

3) Right-Click on the Printer Icon used for Adobe Acrobat. (Fig. 2)

a. Set as the Default Printer. A green check-mark appears on the bottom-left corner of the Icon.

4) Right-Click again and select Printing Preferences: (Fig. 3)

a. Uncheck View Adobe PDF results.

b. Click on the “Browse…” button to change the Adobe PDF Output Folder setting.

c. Select Adobe PDF Output the click OK. Then click OK in the Adobe Acrobat PDF Printing Preferences window. (Fig. 4)

In Zümmer, when the Print command button is clicked, all the selected reports will then be immediately routed to the folder “Adobe PDF Output”. Later, you can view all the PDF files when the print job is complete. A typical Zümmer output run will take just a few (2 or 3) minutes to process.

The smallest PDF files by file size are usually blank (about 5-6K indicating that there were no results for that report), therefore, they can be sorted and deleted all at one time.

The instructions above apply to your computer’s user setting. Therefore, this will affect all applications. If you don’t want our printer settings to change then disregard these instructions.

Stressed vs Relaxed CPM Networks

Use the Total Float Distribution Curve to evaluate the condition of a CPM Network.

Analyzing and understanding the distribution of Total Float (TF) values in a CPM network can be a very revealing and useful indicator. In general, CPM networks with a more “Stressed” Distribution tend to be more sensitive to Project delays as compared to networks with a more “Relaxed” Distribution.

Zümmer’s Float Distribution Curve analysis report provides a graphical chart that can help you quickly determine the condition of the CPM Network. The generated graph plots the Total Float Values along the X-Axis, while the Y-Axis plots a Percentile value indicating the percentage of Tasks that have the X-Axis Float Value or less.

In the illustration below, for the “Stressed” Distribution graph, the range of Total Float Values is from 0 to about 1,210 (along the X-Axis) for the 2,243 Tasks distributed. However, at the 50% Percentile point (along the Y-Axis); the Total Float Value is about 50. In other words, about half of all the Tasks (approximately 1,121 Tasks) in this Project have a Total Float Value of 50 or less.

Similarly, in the illustration below, for the “Relaxed” Distribution graph, the range of Total Float Values is from 0 to about 870 (along the X-Axis) for the 2,725 Tasks distributed. However, at the 50% Percentile point (along the Y-Axis); the Total Float Value is about 175. In other words, about half of all the Tasks (approximately 1,362 Tasks) in this Project have a Total Float Value of 175 or less.

In comparison, and all else being equal, Projects with “Stressed” distribution are more likely to experience delays as compared to Projects with “Relaxed” distribution.

Determining a “Rule-of-Thumb” is subject to debate, however, by observation, Float Distribution Curves that are steep on the left side and flat on the right side, generally fall in the “Stressed” category. Whereas, Float Distribution Curves that are smooth from beginning to end generally fall in the “Relaxed” category.

Very Stressed distributions could be a cause for alarm since this may indicate a Project schedule that is “Claims oriented”. In these cases, you may want to consider reviewing the Project’s overall logic schema to determine where relationships can be removed or revised thereby increasing overall Total Float values.

Very Relaxed distributions could also be a cause for alarm since this may indicate a Project schedule that is insufficiently developed. In these cases, you may want to consider reviewing the Project’s overall logic schema to determine where relationships can be added or revised thereby decreasing overall Total Float values.

Trap: “Must Finish By” constraint at 00H: 00M

If in the User Preference window, the Dates-> Time option is set to “Do not show time”, then P6’s schedule calculation of Total Float values could be incorrectly calculated when a date is entered in the Project –> Schedule Date –> Must Finish By textbox.

When time is not shown and a date is entered in the Must Finish by textbox, the time stored by default is: 00H: 00M. This means that the date shown will not be considered during P6’s schedule calculations during the backward pass. This oversight causes every Total Float value to be 1 day less than the correct Total Float value.

In the illustration below, the “Analysis Charts 1 of 2” reports 4 activities with negative float even though the “Must Finish By” date matches the Contract Completion Milestone in the schedule.

Zümmer’s Analysis Charts, Analysis Statistics and Project Settings reports provide the red alert message “Possible Bad Planned End Date – Check Planned End Date Hours” under the Planned End box when the “Must Finish By” constraint date contains “00H: 00M” as the time value.

When this situation occurs, first return to the User Preferences window then change the Time option setting to either “12 Hour (1:30 PM)” or “24 Hour (13:30)”.

Second, return to the Projects-> Dates option. the “Must Finish By” option will now show with the Hours, Minutes as “00:00”.

Then change the hours and minutes setting to reflect the ending hour and minutes settings for the Project (typically 17:00/5:00 PM or 16:00/4:00 PM) as shown below.

Lastly, recalculate the Project as normal. The resulting Total Float values will now correctly include the Finish date during the backward pass process.

How to end up with Negative Float without any constraints

Negative Total Float typically means that the Project is not meeting completion requirements (usually represented by a Constraint) and therefore efforts must be initiated in order to recover from the realized impacts.

However, Negative Total Float can occur even if the Project has no constraints whatsoever. In the illustration above, the Data Date is Monday, June 6 and Task C is assigned to a 7 Day Calendar with an Original Duration of 3 Days. Finish Milestone D is assigned to a 5 Day Calendar. Therefore, the Early Finish for “C” is Saturday, June 11. Since “D” is assigned to a 5 Day Calendar, it cannot end on Saturday, therefore, P6 calculates the Early Start as Monday, June 13 at 08:00 AM.

On the Backward Pass, the Late Finish for “D” and “C” are calculated as Friday, June 10 at 05:00 PM but that is 1 Day earlier than the Early Finish for “C”. Therefore the calculated Total Float for “C” is -1. The Backward Pass propagates that result back through the CPM network to “A”.

In a CPM network with many activities, and multiple calendars, it’s possible that this effect could accumulate resulting in “False Negative” Total Float values.

The solution in this illustration is to reassign “D” to the 7 Day Calendar. Then recalculate the schedule.

Retained Logic, Progress Override and Actual Dates

Retained Logic, Progress Override and Actual Dates

There are many of articles regarding this topic on the internet. If you’re still not clear about the difference, below is an explanation presented as simply as possible.

In the illustration above, Activity B is assigned an Actual Start and Actual Finish date LATER than the Data Date. This condition is not considered “best practice” since there should be no Actual Dates later than the Data Date; however, this assignment is necessary to illustrate the difference between Actual Dates and Retained Logic. When there are no Actual Dates later than the Data Date, then Actual Dates and Retained Logic generally behave the same. The difference among the 3 options is reflected in the different Start and Finish dates for Activity C.

In Figure 1, using ACTUAL DATES, Activity C starts after the Actual Finish date for Activity B.

In Figure 2, using RETAINED LOGIC, Activity C ignores the Actual Dates of Activity B and starts after the Finish Date from Activity A.

In Figure 3, using PROGRESS OVERRIDE, since Activity B is “progressed” with Actual Dates, Activity’s C logic is “overridden” and therefore starts on the Data Date.

In summary, the method used to schedule the CPM network could have significant differences in determining the Start and Finish dates. Most contract specifications require the use of Retained Logic. There are many articles that can be found on the internet that cover this issue in greater detail to include effects on earned value and other properties.