The Filters Module in P6 is a very powerful tool, and arguably regarded as a “Scheduler’s Best Friend”. However, when using – the “Activity Name equals/contains” option, incorrect results could arise when Activity Names contain embedded double spaces. An embedded double space is defined as double blank spaces contained anywhere within an Activity Name. Blank spaces at the beginning of the Activity Name is not considered since the P6 ‘contains’ or ‘Equals’ Filter option can trap this anomaly.
In the illustration below, there are 6 ‘Review Bids’ activities comprised of 4 Tasks and 2 Milestones. Of course, this small set could be a subset of a large CPM Network comprising of thousands of activities.
For this exercise, suppose the Scheduler is required to produce a report or layout identifying all the “Review Bids” activities for Bidding Review Team. The natural approach would be to create a filter as shown below:
Type: (All of the following)
Where Parameter: Activity Name
Is: contains
Value: Review Bids
However, when the Filter is activated, P6 returns the following results:
Unbeknownst to the Scheduler, only 4 out of the 6 activities appear. What happened? Activities EDS1020 and EDS1040 were excluded from the filter results.
Unfortunately, a common and
simple typographical error placed double blank spaces between the words “Review”
and “Bid”. Not only is this error easy to make, but is nearly impossible to detect
especially when you’re dealing with a CPM network consisting of thousands of
activities and where activity copy/pasting is used extensively.
In Zümmer Analysis Report: “[02] Activity Names with Embedded Double Space“, shown below, not only lists all instances, but the ‘Set Group’ column even shows you where to look. The report also tracks the Count Per Set and the Activity Count for each Set Group. Additional information on this report includes the Original Duration, Remaining Duration, and Total Float.
Since this is such an easy mistake to make, possibly resulting in erroneous reports, this issue must be checked and resolved by the Submitting or Reviewing Scheduler.
Using Zümmer concurrently with P6 helps identify and eliminate embedded double spaces.
Embedded Double Spaces can be resolved using the following Steps:
Open the CPM Network as shown below, with the P6 Filter set to “All Activities”.
2. Click on the first Activity Name cell so that the Select Marquee is shown around the Activity Name. If the Select Marquee is not highlighted around the Activity Name cell, the solution will not work.
3. Press “CTRL-R” to activate P6’s Replace Window as shown below:
4. In the “Find what:” textbox, enter 2 blank spaces. The 2 blank spaces will not show. The illustration above represents the 2 blank spaces with the gray rectangles.
5. In the “Replace with:” textbox, enter 1 blank space. The single blank space entry will cause the blinking cursor to shift 1 space to the right.
6. Finally, click “Replace All”. The “Replace All” option will scan through all Activity Names replacing every embedded double space with a single space.
7. If an Activity Name contains multiple embedded double spaces, the Find/Replace procedure will pause and redisplay the Replace window. Click “Replace All” to continue the process until all double spaces have been removed.
At the completion of the scanning process, all embedded double spaces have been replace by a single space as shown below. The highlight bar stops at the last replaced Activity Name.
How to Compare the Finish Profile between a baseline and update schedule.
A “Cash-flow S-Curve” is a very valuable tool that reveals much information about the characteristics of the scheduled Project. However, you may often come upon schedule updates that are not Cost or Expense loaded. You can still produce an “S-Type Curve” comparison by accumulating the Actual, Early, Late (and Mid) Finish Dates of the Tasks and Resource Dependent activities for both project updates.
Although this method may be a rough simulation of an actual Cost Load distribution, the resulting curves, in most cases can surprisingly provide a reasonable model of the Cash-flow as if the schedules were cost loaded. In the resulting curves, instead of defining the Y-Axis as Cumulative Cost, the Y-Axis is defined as the Cumulative Finish Date count.
Astute Zümmer user, Stephen Paterson, notes that these curves can be useful on types of projects where the client does not want it’s costs published out to all and sundry.
Zümmer’s Finish Comparison Profile Report (See illustration below) completes this task by:
1) Generating and Early, Late, Mid and Actual Finish Curves comparing between 2 Projects.
a. The Early Finish Curves distributes the Remaining Early Finish date of each Task or Resource Dependent activity between the Data Dates and the latest Finish dates in the 2 selected Projects. b. The Late Curves distributes the Remaining Late Finish dates of each Task or Resource Dependent activity between the Data Dates and the latest Finish dates in the 2 selected Projects. c. The Mid Finish Curves calculates the midpoint daily value between the distributed Early and Late Finish Dates. d. The Actual Finish Curves distributes the Actual Finish date of each Task or Resource Dependent between the Start of the Projects up to the Data Dates respectively.
2) Storing the graph and distribution data into a spreadsheet.
a. In addition to generating the Finish Comparison Profile report, Zümmer also generates an editable spreadsheet containing the actual chart appearing in the report along with the supporting daily and cumulative Early, Late, Mid and Actual Finish distribution calculations for the 2 selected Projects.
Finish Comparison Profile – Spreadsheet Output
When the Finish Comparison
Profile Curve is selected for previewing or printing, in addition to the
printed/previewable report, Zümmer generates a spreadsheet supplemental file
for the curve produced in the report.
The spreadsheet output file is stored in the Zummer/Output folder. In the illustration below, the Project TST-BL1-UP02 and TST-BL1-UP14 was selected for printing with the file listed. Note the file structure prefix consists of “FCP” then the next filename segment consists of the Project ID, “TST-BL1-UP14” (the selected Modified Project’s ID). The final filename segment is a 5-digit computer system generate suffix.
The “FCP” file in the “Chart1” Tab contains the “Finish Comparison Profile” Curves shown as below:
Since the file above is generated by a spreadsheet, the visual content
can be customized by the user and/or Cut/Copy & Pasted into another
document.
In the “FCP” file above, below is a partial section of the ChartData tab and the raw data used to plot the curve shown above: (Some Rows are hidden for instructional purposes).
Column A – “Profile
Date” contains the series of dates from the earliest date in the selected 2
Projects listing daily down to the latest date in the selected 2 Projects.
Columns B, C and D
contain the cumulative Early, Late and Mid Finish Date Count Series respectively
for the Control Project’s Finish Profile curve on the graph displayed in the
Chart1 tab.
Column E contains
the cumulative Actual Finish Date Series for the Control Project’s Finish
Profile curve on the graph displayed in the Chart1 tab.
Column F contains
the Total number of Tasks and Resource Dependent activities used to generate
the vertical Data Date line in the graph for the Control Project.
Columns G, H and I
contain the cumulative Early, Late and Mid Finish Date Count Series
respectively for the Modified Project’s Finish Profile curve on the graph
displayed in the Chart1 tab.
Column J contains
the cumulative Actual Finish Date Series for the Modified Project’s Finish
Profile curve on the graph displayed in the Chart1 tab.
Column K contains the Total number of Tasks and Resource Dependent activities used to generate the vertical Data Date line in the graph for the Modified Project.
Columns L, M, N and
O contain the daily Control Project’s total Early, Late, Mid and Actual Count
Series respectively used to calculate the cumulative values shown in Columns B,
C, D and E respectively.
Columns P, Q, R and S contain the daily Modified Project’s total Early, Late, Mid and Actual Count Series respectively used to calculate the cumulative values shown in Columns F, G, H and I respectively.
How to produce an “S-Curve” type graph when a schedule is not cost loaded.
A “Cash-flow S-Curve” is a very valuable tool that reveals much information about the characteristics of the scheduled Project. However, you may often come upon a schedule that is not Cost or Expense loaded. You can still produce an “S-Type Curve” by accumulating the Actual, Early, Late (and Mid) Finish Dates of the Tasks and Resource Dependent activities.
Although this method may be a rough simulation of an actual Cost Load distribution, the resulting curve, in most cases can surprisingly provide a reasonable model of the Cash-flow as if the schedule was cost loaded. In the resulting curve, instead of defining the Y-Axis as Cumulative Cost, the Y-Axis is defined as the Cumulative Finish Date count.
Astute Zümmer user, Stephen Paterson, notes that these curves can be useful on types of projects where the client does not want it’s costs published out to all and sundry.
Generating and Actual, Early, Late, and Mid Cumulative Finish Curves.
a. The Actual Finish Curve distributes the Actual Finish date of each completed Task or Resource Dependent between the Start of the Project up to the Data Date.
b. The Early Finish Curve distributes the Remaining Early Finish date of each Task or Resource Dependent activity between the Data Date and the latest Finish date in the Project.
c. The Late Curve distributes the Remaining Late Finish date of each Task or Resource Dependent activity between the Data Date and the latest Finish date in the Project.
d. The Mid Finish Curve calculates the midpoint daily value between the distributed Early and Late Finish Dates.
e. The height of the Vertical Data Date line is defined by the Total Count of Tasks & Resource Dependent activities in the Project.
f. The X Axis displays the Profile Date in which the range is bounded from the Earliest Project Start Date to the Latest Project Finish Date.
g. The Y Axis displays to Cumulative Finish Count which is bounded from 0 to the Total Count of Tasks and Resource Dependent activities. This means that Level of Effort, WBS Summary, and Milestone activities are not included in the graph.
h. The Total Task + Resource Dependent count is also displayed in the bottom of the report.
2. Storing the graph and distribution data into a spreadsheet.
a. In addition to generating a Finish Analysis Profile report, Zümmer also generates an editable spreadsheet containing the actual chart appearing in the report along with the supporting daily and cumulative Actual, Early, Late, and Mid Finish distribution calculations.
When the Finish Analysis Profile Curve is selected for previewing or printing, in addition to the printed/preview-able report, Zümmer generates a spreadsheet supplemental file for the curve produced in the report.
The spreadsheet output file is stored in the Zummer/Output folder. In the illustration below, the Project TST-BL1-UP02 was selected for printing with the file listed. Note the file structure prefix consists of “FAP” then the next filename segment consists of the Project ID, “TST-BL1-UP02”. The final filename segment, [97LLK], is a random computer system generated 5-digit suffix.
The “FAP” file in the “Chart1” Tab
contains the “Finish Analysis Profile” Curves shown as below:
Since the file above is a generated spreadsheet, the visual content can be customized by the user and/or Cut/Copy & Pasted into another document.
In the “FAP” file chart view above, shown below is a partial section of the ChartData tab and the raw data used to plot the curve shown above: (Note: Rows 3 thru 61 and 66 thru 404 are hidden for instructional purposes).
Column A – “Profile
Date” contains the series of dates from the earliest date in the selected
Project listing daily down to the latest date in the selected Project.
Columns B, C and D
contain the cumulative Early, Late and Mid Finish Date Count Series
respectively for the Finish Analysis Profile curve on the graph displayed in
the Chart1 tab.
Column E contains
the cumulative Actual Finish Date Series for the Finish Analysis Profile curve
on the graph displayed in the Chart1 tab.
Column F contains
the Total number of Tasks and Resource Dependent activities used to generate
the vertical Data Date line in the graph.
Columns G, H, I and J contain the daily total Early, Late, Mid and Actual Count Series respectively used to calculate the cumulative values shown in Columns B, C, D and E respectively.
Your Schedule Comparison Summary results are saved for future recall and variance analysis.
Whenever the Comparison – Include Summary option is checked, a 2-Page Summary Report is printed along with all the selected Comparison reports. In addition, the Summary Report containing the resulting totals of each individual numbered Comparison report is saved for later recall.
The Schedule Comparison Summary Module is accessible by clicking on the Toolbar Command Button Shown below:
Each individual Comparison
Summary is identified by a unique 6 digit “Series ID”. The prefix “SC” is used
to designate a series run for Schedule Comparison. The remaining 4 digits is a
unique name created from the system date and system time.
Every Schedule Comparison series run can be accessed from the Schedule Comparison Summary Module.
In the illustration above, a series run for Project ID MST-BL1 comparison to MST-BL1-UP01 designated ‘SCV802’ was created on 27-Jun-16 at 08:48. From the History Tab, the Schedule Comparison Summary Report can be reprinted containing the totals for each Comparison report printed for that Series.
Selecting the Excel Export option prints a spreadsheet format of the Series information. The Variance Tab allows any 2 Comparison series to be compared. The Item History Tab allows individual reports to be printed. The Item History Tab allows a more detailed trend analysis by grouping comparison line items across multiple Comparison Series runs.
Your Schedule Analysis Summary results are saved for future recall and variance analysis.
The Schedule Analysis Summary Module is useful in determining how analysis results are trending through the life of a Project. Whenever the Analysis – Include Summary option is checked, a 2-Page Summary Report is printed along with all the selected analysis reports. In addition, the Summary Report containing the resulting totals of each individual numbered analysis report is saved for later recall.
The Schedule Analysis Summary Module is accessible by clicking on the Toolbar Command Button Shown below:
Each individual Analysis Summary is identified by a unique 6 digit “Series ID”. The prefix “SA” is used to designate a series run for Schedule Analysis. The remaining 4 digits is a unique name created from the system date and system time. Every Schedule Analysis series run can be accessed from the Schedule Analysis Summary Module.
In the illustration above, a series run for Project ID: MST-BL1-UP06 designated ‘SAEII3’ was created on 27-Jun-16 at 09:31.
From the History Tab, the Schedule Summary Report can be reprinted containing the totals for each analysis report printed for that Series.
Selecting the Excel Export option prints a spreadsheet format of the Series information. The Variance Tab allows any 2 analysis series to be compared.
The Item History Tab allows individual reports to be printed. The Item History Tab allows a more detailed trend analysis by grouping analysis line items across multiple Analysis Series runs.
The Analysis Statistics Report is the next level of detail from the Analysis Charts. The second of 2 reports neatly display 4 key Project elements on 1 page. The Analysis Statistic Report is easy to produce and ideal for Schedule Manager reporting.
The illustration above is a sample output of a typical Analysis Statistics Report (2 of 2).
Duration Type: Details the Duration Type of every activity categorized by Activity Type.
Percent (%) Complete Type: Details the Criticality of every activity categorized by Activity Type.
Duration Threshold: Details all Non-Milestone activities and categorizes Activity Type.
Free Float activities count with distribution by Activity Type.
The Original Duration Threshold limits are User defined. The values are entered in the Criticality/Duration Assignment Module found under the Settings menu.
Maintaining Enterprise Level Data can be just as important as maintaining Project level Data.
The Enterprise Reports Module
contains a collection of reports that analyze, monitor and report system wide
and Global related issues within your P6 environment.
In this module, there are multiple reports covering different Enterprise Level issues. This article provides a brief overview of each topic and report so that you can understand how each item individually helps to maintain a “clean, lean & mean” Enterprise Level environment. This module will also help those that need to keep the overall database environment under a certain file size limit.
Whether you’re a Zümmer user or not, this article is a must read to understand some of the necessary maintenance techniques and issues that must be implemented in order to keep a healthy Enterprise Level system in P6.
In Zümmer, the Enterprise Reports Module is accessed by clicking on the Enterprise Module toolbar button as shown below:
The Enterprise Reports Module
contains a collection of reports that analyze, monitor and report system wide
and Global related issues within your P6 environment.
In this module, there are 14
different reports covering 12 different Enterprise Level issues. This article
provides a brief overview of each topic and report so that you can understand
how each item individually helps to maintain a “clean, lean & mean”
Enterprise Level environment. This module will also help those that need to
keep the overall database environment under a certain file size limit.
Whether you’re a Zümmer user or
not, this article is a must read to understand some of the necessary
maintenance techniques and issues that must be implemented in order to keep a
healthy Enterprise Level system in P6.
Global Activity Code Usage
The Global Activity Code Usage by Code and Usage by Project reports ensure that Global Activity Codes are not propagating or inheriting down to the Project level. Most construction specifications categorically state that Global Activity Codes are not included as part of any Project CPM submittals.
2. Global Calendar Usage
The Global Calendar Usage by Calendar and Usage by Project reports ensure that Global Calendars are not propagating or inheriting down to the Project level. Most construction specifications categorically state that Global Calendars are not included as part of any Project CPM submittals.
3. Orphaned Baseline Projects
When a Project is assigned or Maintained as a Baseline
Project, and later, the Original Project is deleted, the P6 database does not
always trigger the deletion of the associated Maintained/Assigned Projects. These
Projects become orphaned and are not easily detectable and cannot easily be
deleted. The Orphaned Baseline Projects reports those Projects that are not
assigned to any Project viewable in the EPS module.
To delete Orphaned Baseline Project, follow the procedures detailed in P6 Oracle Doc ID 2216405.1 – “How to Delete Baseline in PROJECT Table When the Original Project Has Been Deleted.”
4. POBS Record Count
The POBS Record Count report
checks for an anomaly within the P6 database systems where the POBS table is
populated with possibly thousands of unusable or useless records.
This anomaly appears to have be resolved in recent P6 releases. However, it is possible to inadvertently import an .XER containing thousands of useless POBS records. It’s important to resolve this issue within your P6 database. Especially if you submit .XER to outside entities. The POBS Record count anomaly acts like a virus possibly depositing itself into other unsuspecting P6 Users.
5. Project Calendars Inheriting from Global
Whenever you create a Project
Calendar, P6 displays a dialog box asking you to “Select a Calendar To Copy
From”. By default, a list of Global Calendars is displayed. When the Global
Calendar is selected, P6 automatically assigns that Global Calendar as the
Calendar to inherit holidays and exceptions from. In other words, the Work,
Nonwork and Standards days for the new Project Calendar are the same as the
selected Global Calendar.
Since the new Project Calendar is now inheriting holidays and exceptions from an assigned Global Calendar, changes to that Global Calendar will automatically be reflected in the Project Calendar. This may have unintended consequences since recalculating a previous schedule update may yield different dates if the inherited Global Calendar is later changed.
In general, Project Calendars should not be inheriting from Global Calendars. To change this, open the Project Calendar and change the “inheriting” option to “<none>“.
This report lists all Projects that have Project Calendar that is inheriting information from a Global Calendar.
6. Project Templates
When P6 is installed, it usually
populates the data tables with default settings, records and other information.
Some of this data relate to Project Templates for various industries.
Therefore, there are records that exist in multiple tables across the P6 database
that are never used and cannot be deleted or seen directly from P6. These
additional records only take up space and should be deleted especially where
database space is limited.
To delete Project Templates, apply the same procedures detailed in P6 Oracle Doc ID 2216405.1 – “How to Delete Baseline in PROJECT Table When the Original Project Has Been Deleted.” To remove Project Templates.
7. Projects with Baselines
After a Project that is existing in the
EPS has been assigned as a baseline to another Project, the assigned Project
disappears from the EPS list. Therefore, you must remember where the assigned
Project is maintained if you decide to restore the original Project.
Since P6 allows Projects to be copied
along with their assigned baselines, database file size can increase
exponentially as update are routinely copied repeatedly. The result is multiple
versions of the same Project in the P6 database.
For these reasons and others, many P6
professionals prefer to minimize Project Baselines. In other words, the
preferred procedure is to “Restore” an assigned Baseline to the EPS immediately
after the variance analysis complete.
This report finds Projects embedded as a Baseline, then later, you can restore or delete as necessary.
8. Projects with Global Default Calendar
Every Project has an assigned Default Calendar. The setting for the Default Calendar for a Project, can be seen in the Project’s Default Page in the Project’s Details window as shown below.
The Default Calendar for any Project should be a Project Calendar, not a Global Calendar. To make this change, first Open the Project, then change the Default Calendar to one of the Project Calendars.
This report lists all Project with a Global Calendar assigned as its Default Calendar. The report is sorted by Project ID and displays the Project ID, Project Name, Data Date, Default Calendar Name and Default Calendar Type.
9. Projects with No Tasks
In P6, adding a new project for
the first time is typically performed via a P6 wizard. However, at the
completion of the wizard process, no tasks are automatically added to the newly
created project. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the P6 immediately proceed to
opening the new project and inserting tasks.
If adding tasks to new projects
is overlooked, the EPS could contain multiple instance of Projects with No
Tasks. Finding project with no tasks using P6 alone is a difficult tasks especially
if there are scores of Project in the EPS module.
This report lists all Project with a that have no Tasks assigned. The report is sorted by Project ID and displays the Project ID, Project Name, Data Date, Default Calendar Name and Default Calendar Type.
10.Resources with Global Calendar
When Global Calendars are assigned to Resources and those Resources are
assigned to activities, then sending or receiving a Schedule will cause the second
party to inherit that Global Calendar into their P6 System. To avoid this
issue, Personal (or Resource) calendars should be created for each Resource.
This report list Projects that are using Resources assigned to a Global Calendar.
11. Risk Categories Record Count
The Risk Categories Record Count
report checks for an anomaly within the P6 database systems where the Risk
Categories table is populated with possibly hundreds or even thousands of
unusable and useless records.
For large .XER files, it is
strongly recommended to open the file using a text editor such as Notepad to
browse and inspect the file for any possible Risk Categories records. Look of
an entry line starting with %T Risk Category then multiple entry lines
beginning with %R.
This report displays the Risk
Categories Record Count indicating that the P6 Database contains multiple Risk
Categories Records.
If you encounter this issue, contact your Database Administrator to remove all records from the Risk Categories table. There are third-party tools that will also assist in removing Risk Categories records from any .XER file.
12. Suspect Project ID’s
In general, Project ID’s should use generic filename characters.
Characters like: “\ / : * ? < > |#” or blank spaces should not
be used.
The Project ID name is often used in “behind the scenes” SQL
queries and in some isolated instances, the SQL Query can fail if they contain
blank spaces or the special characters mention above.
The Suspect Project ID report list possible offending Project ID’s sorted by Project ID and list the Project ID, Project Name and Data Date. For each suspect offending Project ID, a comment is provided to explain the offending issue.
Substantiate your monthly update narrative with these Zümmer Comparison Reports.
Most contract specifications
require the submittal of a narrative along with the standard Schedule Reports and
electronic file. Part of the narrative typically includes a section that
describes work accomplished during the previous reporting period.
Zümmer’s Comparison Reports:
1. [27] – Started Activities This Period; 2. [28] – Completed Activities This Period; 3. [31] – Actualization Report and; 4. [35] – Progress Data
…neatly provides documentation to develop and support the narrative.
In the illustration below, activities “D”, “E” and “F” started during the reporting period.
In the illustration below, activities “B”, “C” and “D” complete during the reporting period.
Zümmer’s Comparison Report [31] – combines started and completed activities. Since Activity “D” started and completed during the same update period, the Actualization Report contains only 5 entries.
Zümmer’s Comparison Report [35] – Progress Data – is used to identify those activities that have “Progressed” in the “Modified” Project when compared to the “Control” Project. In Zümmer, activities are said to have “Progressed” when any the following events occur:
1. An Actual Start is achieved; 2. An Actual Finish is achieved; 3. The Remaining duration of an ‘In Progress’ activity is reduced; 4. The Remaining duration of an ‘In Progress’ activity remains the same and the Percent Complete is increased.
It is important to note that
other sources, experts, or organizations may define “Progress” based on varying
criteria, however, in general, the above 4 conditions cover the vast share of
events.
The Progress Data report does not include activities that
are considered “non-progressive” revisions. In general, these
include:
1. Added or Deleted Activities; 2. Changes to Original Duration without a reduction to Remaining Duration; 3. Increases to Remaining Duration; 4. Unchanged Remaining Duration without an increase to Percent Complete.
This report is particularly
useful in documenting the Progress Only activities when creating or
investigating “Half Step” schedule updates.
The Progress Data report combines the following Zümmer comparison reports: [15] – In-Progress Tasks With Reduced Remaining Duration [31] – Actualization Report (except for added activities) [33] – Increased Percent Complete (where the Modified Remaining Duration is equaled to or greater than the Control Remaining Duration).
In the illustration below, activities shown are considered
“Progressed” because:
Line Item #1: Activity’s remaining duration decreased.
Line Item #2: Activity has completed.
Line Item #3: Activity has started.
Line Item #4: Activity’s remaining duration has remained the same, yet the % Complete has increased.
Add an elegant and professional grade touch to your Zümmer report deliverables.
Since Zümmer is a report intensive application, using a PDF output device is probably the best option for printing. Of the many PDF options available, Adobe Acrobat PDF provides the best printer preference features.
The post: Streamlining the Printing Process with Adobe Acrobatdetails the procedures for setting up the best printing configuration found to work with Zümmer by assigning 1) an Output folder and 2) disabling the ability to view Adobe PDF results.
To date, another PDF Printer device with these features has not been found. In addition to the Printing Preference options, Adobe Acrobat allows for combining multiple PDFs into one PDF file with multiple options including bookmarking. The following steps for report combination assume:
1) Adobe Acrobat PDF is the default printer and;
2) the Adobe Acrobat PDF Printing Preferences are in accordance the topic detailing the streamlining the printing process.
Step 1: Select the Zümmer Reports to print.
In the figure below, Zümmer Analysis Reports:
a) #01 thru #47; b) Analysis Charts 1 & 2; c) Analysis Statistics 1 & 2; d) Predecessor Successor Report and; e) Project Settings
…are selected to Print for Project ID: VS2-BL4-UP13.
For this exercise, the “Include Summary” option is checked which adds the Analysis Summary Schedule report to the list. A total of 54 reports will be printed for this series.
Step 2: View the resulting output PDF files
and remove all blank reports.
In the illustration below, all reports have been printed and are display by “Date Modified” in the PDF Port folder view. For this illustration, only the last 16 Analysis Reports are displayed, however, all 54 reports are contained in the PDF Port Folder.
Note: During the printing process for this exercise, the total time to print all 54 reports was under 3 minutes. Of course, results will vary depending on many factors, however, the results achieved is typical for a standard Zümmer report series.
Next, click on the “Size” column header so that the smallest reports are on the top as shown below.
In the illustration above, an additional 6 reports not shown are reporting at 6 KB in size. Most likely, the smallest PDF file sizes indicates that there were no results that satisfied the Report’s criteria. Depending on your PC and software application configuration, zero result reports may have a different size. You can verify empty reports, by opening the first report and observing if any results are displayed.
In this configuration, a 6 KB file size indicates zero results. Therefore, all reports with a file size of 6 KB can be safely deleted. Since the file size of the remaining reports (shown below) are greater than 6 KB, they contain data and therefore will be combined into the final report.
Step 3: Combine the remaining Analysis
Reports.
Next, Select All (Ctrl-A) highlights the remaining Analysis Reports, then Right-Click to display the “Combine supported files in Acrobat…” option.
In the Adobe Acrobat Combine Files window shown below, all the Analysis Reports default to sorting alphabetically by name. Note that in this exercise, report “00 summary schedule analysis” is at the top. Each of the named reports in the combined list will become a Bookmark Panel in the combined PDF file.
Next, click on the “Combine Files” shown above. The result is a combined PDF file named “Binder1.pdf” as shown below:
Step 4: Setting Properties and renaming the Binder1.pdf file.
From the File option above, select Properties to display the Document Properties window. Then select the Page layout: option – Bookmarks Panel and Page as shown below.
Since this is schedule analysis for Project “TS2-BL4-UP13″, select File, Save As, then enter a File name such as:
VS2-BL4-UP13 – Thyme Street Building 2 – Schedule
Analysis – DD 01-May19.pdf
Finally close the file, then re-open the file to display the combined PDF file in the format shown below.
The left column displays the automated named Bookmarks while the right panel displays Page 1. Clicking on the Bookmark line item causes the right panel to display the first page of the selected report.
A combined and bookmarked PDF file in this format adds an elegant and professional grade touch to your Zümmer report deliverables.
Total Float Consumption (TFC) generally
applies to Projects that have a fixed end date. For these Projects, consumption
of Total Float (TF) is a real commodity that should be monitored just as
zealously as the Critical Path. Most Project Specifications classify TF as a
“shared resource”.
However, if the TF of an early
activity is consumed, the TF values of its successor activities can be consumed
accordingly. This effect can result in placing a disproportionate burden upon
other later activities along a common TF path. In addition, TFC can also
increase the risk of completing the Project on time.
In the illustration below, the overall Project is completing “On Schedule”. However, activity “PR1150 – Roadway Design 90% – Prepare & Submit” is completing later when compared to the baseline schedule causing its TF value to decrease from 35 to 25 days.
This causes a cascading effect
where other activities along the same TF path have decreasing TF values as
well. For Example, activity “PR1100 – Area Roadway Construction” which happens
to be the last activity along the same TF path experiences an equal reduction
in TF value.
Zümmer’s Comparison Report, shown below, “Total Float Consumption” calculates the Gross TF between the Control and Modified selected Projects. In addition, the net Gained/Loss Gross TF is calculated along with the Gained/Loss TF Percentage.
