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The Enterprise Reports Module

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.

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.

Document Recently Started and Completed Work

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.

Combining Zümmer Reports with Adobe Acrobat

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 Acrobat details 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.

Calculating Total Float Consumption

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.

Download & Install 30 Day Free Trial for SQLite Configuration.

Follow these Steps to Download, Install and configure Zümmer for an SQLite data source.

Step 0: SQLite Installation Prerequisite

Before installing Zümmer for an SQLite configuration, download and install the 32 bit SQLite ODBC Driver.

Go to:

http://www.ch-werner.de/sqliteodbc/

…then download the file “sqliteodbc.exe” for 32 Bit and perform the installation procedures.

Verify that the SQLite ODBC Driver installation completed properly by accessing the ODBC Data Source Administrator (32-bit), then clicking on “Drivers” tab as shown below:

The SQLite ODBC drivers are shown above demonstrating a correct installation.

Step 1: Access the Zümmer download files here

From the Website sample download screen shown below, select the Download option, then select the save option to download the files. The files will be downloaded to your “Downloads” folder or to your configured downloads location.

Click OK to continue with the download procedures.

Next, navigate to the Downloads folder, then look for the Zummer – 30 Day – SQL.zip file.

Step 2: Unzip the Zummer files and copy files to a local drive & folder:

Double-click on the Zummer – 30 Day – SQL.zip file to display the Zummer folder as shown below:

Copy the Zummer folder shown below to an appropriate place on your Personal Computer or local drive.

It is highly recommended that the Zümmer be placed somewhere in the “Documents” or “My Documents” folder.

Open the Zümmer folder, then verify that the download has completed successfully. The Zummer folder consists of 16 files and 4 subfolder as shown below:

Next, open the Data folder, then verify that the folder consists of 25 files as shown below:

Next, return to the Zummer folder to create a “shortcut” to zummer.exe. Right-click on the zummer.exe file, the select “Create Shortcut”. A shortcut file will be created as shown below:

Next, Drag/Drop the shortcut to your desktop. You are now ready to run Zümmer from your desktop for the first time. The shortcut file on your desktop should appear as shown below:

Zümmer Shortcut Icon

Double-click on the Zümmer Shortcut, to run Zümmer for the first time.

Note: If you have Windows Defender, Norton Download Insight, or some other protection software, a warning message may appear since these Programs do not have conclusive information regarding zummer.exe. Whatever software is present, select the “Run Anyway” option.

Step 3: Running Zümmer for the first time

The Zümmer application will open as shown below:

Next, from the Main Menu, select “Help” -> “About Zümmer” to display the About Zümmer window displayed below:

The “About Zümmer” window shown above, contains some very important information about your application.

1) Circled in Blue is the date of your license expiration date. If you have purchased a full license, the expiration date will be some time in 2044 or even later. If your full license expiration date arrives and you are still using Zümmer, first congratulate yourself, and then contact FoxQuest Systems, Inc. for instructions for extending your license.

2) Circled in Red is the current Release date of the version you are currently using. If some time has elapsed between the current date and the Release date, follow the instructions below to upgrade your Zümmer application.

3) Circled in Orange is the name of the Registered Owner of the Zümmer. FoxQuest Systems Inc., reminds you that this is a copyright protected application and therefore insists that you refrain from making unauthorized copies of this application.

4) The System Info… commandbutton provides valuable information about your computer’s configuration.

Click on OK to proceed to Step 4.

Step 4: Connecting your Schedule Data to the Zümmer Application with SQLite.

From the Main Menu, Select “Settings”->”SQL Connection”, then click on the “SQLite” tab.

In the editbox above, type in the path to the “PPMDBSQLITE.DB” containing your Schedule Data. Alternatively, click on the “Browse…” commandbutton to navigate to the file you are using to store your Schedule Data.

If you’re not sure of the location of the SQLite file containing your Schedule Data, then open the P6 Application. In the Login to P6 screen as shown below, click on the Database ellipse commandbutton:

The Edit Database Connections windows is then displayed as shown below:

The path and filename to your Schedule Data is displayed to the right of the “Details:” label.

When the path and filename to your Schedule Data is displayed in the Zümmer SQL Connection Settings window, click on “SQL Connect” commandbutton. A correct connection will display the following SQL Connect Message as shown below:

Finally verify the connection by clicking on the Schedule Analysis & Comparison commandbutton to display the Projects in your Schedule Data.

Your connection is successful. Congratulations, You are ready to use and experience the Zümmer application!

Click here to learn how to perform a Schedule Analysis.

Click here to learn how to perform a Schedule Comparison.

Download & Install 30 Day Free Trial for MS-SQL Configuration.

Follow these Steps to Download, Install and configure Zümmer for an MS-SQL (not SQLite) data source.

Step 1:
Access the Zümmer download files from here:

Click OK to continue with the download procedures.

Next, navigate to the Downloads folder, then look for the Zummer – 30 Day – SQL.zip file.

Step 2: Unzip the Zummer files and copy files to a local drive & folder:

Double-click on the Zummer – 30 Day – SQL.zip file to display the Zummer folder as shown below:

Copy the Zummer folder shown below to an appropriate place on your Personal Computer or local drive. It is highly recommended that the Zümmer be placed somewhere in the “Documents” or “My Documents” folder.

Open the Zummer folder, then verify that the download has completed successfully. The Zummer folder consists of 16 files and 4 subfolder as shown below:

Next, open the Data folder, then verify that the folder consists of 25 files as shown below:

Next, return to the Zummer folder to create a “shortcut” to zummer.exe.

Right-click on the zummer.exe file, the select “Create Shortcut”. A shortcut file will be created as shown below:

Next, Drag/Drop the shortcut to your desktop. You are now ready to run Zümmer from your desktop for the first time.

The shortcut file on your desktop should appear as shown below:

Step 3: Running Zümmer for the first time

Double-click on the Zümmer Shortcut, to run Zümmer for the first time.

The Zümmer application will open as shown below:

Next, from the Main Menu, select “Help” -> “About Zümmer” to display the About Zümmer window displayed below:

The “About Zümmer” window shown above, contains some very important information about your application.

Circled in Blue is the date of your license expiration date. If you have purchased a full license, the expiration date will be some time in 2044 or even later. If your full license expiration date arrives and you are still using Zümmer, first congratulate yourself, and then contact FoxQuest Systems, Inc. for instructions for extending your license.

Circled in Red is the current Release date of the version you are currently using. If some time has elapsed between the current date and the Release date, follow the instructions below to upgrade your Zümmer application.

Circled in Orange is the name of the Registered Owner of the Zümmer. FoxQuest Systems Inc., reminds you that this is a copyright protected application and therefore insists that you refrain from making unauthorized copies of this application.

The System Info… commandbox provides valuable information about your computer’s configuration.

Click on OK to proceed to Step 4.

Step 4: Connecting your Schedule Data to the Zümmer Application with MS-SQL.

From the Main Menu, Select “Settings”->”SQL Connection”, then click on the “MS SQL” tab.

In the “SQL Driver” textbox, enter the name of SQL Driver used for this connection. “SQL Server” is the default driver for an MS-SQL and probably require no revisions.
In the “Server” textbox, enter the name of the server where the data is located. This can also be an IP address in the form “100.100.100.100”.
In the “Database” textbox, enter the name of P6 Database containing your Schedule Data.
Enter the “login ID” and “Password” for this connection. This entry is probably not the same as your username and password to access P6. Contact your Database Administrator for this information.
Enter the Work Station ID. The default is 1 and probably requires no revision.

If you’re not sure of the location of the MS-SQL Server or Database names containing your Schedule Data, then open the P6 Application. In the Login to P6 screen as shown below, click on the Database ellipse commandbutton:

The Edit Database Connections windows is then displayed as shown below:

The Server name and Database name are displayed on the right of the “Details:” text. The Server name is displayed to the left of the “:”; the Database name is displayed to the right of the “:”.

When the MS-SQL connection parameters to your Schedule Data is entered in the Zümmer SQL Connection Settings window, click on the “SQL Connect” commandbutton. A correct connection will display the following SQL Connect Message as shown below:

Finally verify the connection by clicking on the Schedule Analysis & Comparison commandbutton to display the Projects in your Schedule Data.

Your connection is successful. Congratulations, You are ready to use and experience the Zümmer application!

Click here to learn how to perform a Schedule Analysis.

Click here to learn how to perform a Schedule Comparison.

Download, Install 30 Day Free Trial for Oracle Configuration.

Follow these Steps to Download, Install and configure Zümmer for an Oracle data source.

Step 1:

Access the Zümmer download files from here:

Click OK to continue with the download procedures.

Next, navigate to the Downloads folder, then look for the Zummer – 30 Day – Oracle.zip file.

A screenshot of a cell phone

Description automatically generated

Step 2: Unzip the Zummer files and copy files to a local drive & folder:

Double-click on the Zummer – 30 Day – Oracle.zip file to display the Zummer folder as shown below:

Copy the Zummer folder shown below to an appropriate place on your Personal Computer or local drive. It is highly recommended that the Zümmer be placed somewhere in the “Documents” or “My Documents” folder.

Open the Zummer folder, then verify that the download has completed successfully. The Zummer folder consists of 16 files and 4 subfolder as shown below:

Next, open the Data folder, then verify that the folder consists of 25 files as shown below:

Next, return to the Zummer folder to create a “shortcut” to zummer.exe.

Right-click on the zummer.exe file, the select “Create Shortcut”. A shortcut file will be created as shown below:

Next, Drag/Drop the shortcut to your desktop. You are now ready to run Zümmer from your desktop for the first time.

The shortcut file on your desktop should appear as shown below:

Step 3: Running Zümmer for the first time

Double-click on the Zümmer Shortcut, to run Zümmer for the first time.

The Zümmer application will open as shown below:

Next, from the Main Menu, select “Help” -> “About Zümmer” to display the About Zümmer window displayed below:

The “About Zümmer” window shown above, contains some very important information about your application.

Circled in Blue is the date of your license
expiration date. If you have purchased a full license, the expiration date will
be some time in 2044 or even later. If your full license expiration date
arrives and you are still using Zümmer, first congratulate yourself, and then
contact FoxQuest Systems, Inc. for instructions for extending your license.

Circled in Red is the current Release date of the
version you are currently using. If some time has elapsed between the current
date and the Release date, follow the instructions below to upgrade your Zümmer
application.

Circled in Orange is the name of the Registered
Owner of the Zümmer. FoxQuest Systems Inc., reminds you that this is a
copyright protected application and therefore insists that you refrain from
making unauthorized copies of this application.

The System Info… commandbox provides valuable
information about your computer’s configuration.

Click on OK to proceed to Step 4.

Step 4: Connecting your Schedule Data to the Zümmer Application with ORACLE.

From the Main Menu, Select “Settings”->”SQL Connection”, then click on the “Oracle” tab.

In
the “SQL Driver” textbox, enter the name of the Oracle SQL Driver used for this
connection. “{Oracle in XE}” is the
default driver for an Oracle Express configuration and probably require no
revisions if the Oracle Express installation was initially performed.
In
the “Server” textbox, enter the name of the server where the data is located.
The Server name for an Oracle Express installation is “XE”.
Enter
the “login ID” and “Password” for this connection that was entered during the
Oracle Express Edition installation procedure as shown below. This entry is
probably not the same as your username and password to access P6. Contact your
Database Administrator for this information. The “Login ID” for an Oracle
Express installation is typically “System”.

If you’re not sure of the name of the ORACLE Server containing your Schedule Data, then open the P6 Application. In the Login to P6 screen as shown below, click on the Database ellipse commandbutton:

The Edit Database Connections windows is then displayed as shown below:

Highlight the Database name containing the Schedule Data, then the Server name is displayed on the right of the “Details:” text.

When the Oracle connection parameters to your Schedule Data is entered in the Zümmer SQL Connection Settings window, click on the “SQL Connect” commandbutton. A correct connection will display the following SQL Connect Message as shown below:

Finally verify the connection by clicking on the Schedule Analysis & Comparison commandbutton to display the Projects in your Schedule Data.

Your connection is successful. Congratulations, You are ready to use and experience the Zümmer application!

Click here to learn how to perform a Schedule Analysis.

Click here to learn how to perform a Schedule Comparison.

Keep Global Calendars to Yourself!

Stop the Proliferation of Global Calendars – a Step-by-Step Guide

Many construction project specifications state that Global Calendars and Global Activity Codes (Global Activity Codes will be discussed in a separate article) are not to be included in the Project Schedule. The reason is that the Owner or Agency wants to control the number of Global Calendars in their P6 Schedule Network.

Imagine a large agency such as a State Department of Transportation that receives Project schedules from scores of Contractors. If the Global Calendars are not properly managed, the Department can easily wind up with literally hundreds of Global Calendars of which many may not be easily attributable to a source Project or Contractor. Also, imported Global Calendars probably do not have a typical convention structure or time configuration which may inadvertently be used as the source of another Project Calendar. Additionally, existing Global Calendars could be overwritten if Global Calendars are imported with the same Calendar name.

In general, Global Calendars are intended to be used only for creating Project or Resource Calendars. Therefore, Global Calendars should never be transferred from one party to another.

For those submitting Project Schedules to other parties, the submitter should make sure that Global Calendars are not included in the export file (typically the .XER file). Submitting Global Calendars to other parties not only populates other P6 Users with superfluous Global Calendars but is bad form and should be avoided.

For those who receive Project Schedule from other parties, the recipient should make sure that the import file (typically the .XER file) does not contain Global Calendar. Otherwise, before long, the recipient’s Global Calendar list will contain scores of unrecognized, duplicate and unassigned Global Calendars.

At this point, you may consider attempting to purge and delete unused Global Calendars. However, this task can be more difficult than what may appear at first.

The following step-by-step procedure provides a guideline for cleaning up the Global Calendars List.

1. Create a Global Calendar naming convention that clearly distinguishes your Global Calendars from all other Global Calendars.

In the illustration below, the 8 highlighted Global Calendars names are preceded by a “*” then coded by “GC” prefix and a unique 2 digit number.

The “*” prefix helps to make sure that when sorting by Calendar Name, the Global Calendars to keep are sorted to the top of the grouping. The “GC” prefix identifies the Calendar as a Global Calendar.

Using this type of convention allows P6 Users to easily spot authentic Global Calendar usage within a P6 Project and to identify those Global Calendars that are candidates for deletion. In addition, clearly identified Global Calendars facilitates stepping through the remaining checks & procedures.

2. Create a Global Calendar naming convention that clearly distinguishes other Global Calendars, from Project and Resource Calendars. These Global Calendars are candidates for deletion.

In the illustration below, note that the other listed Global Calendar names are preceded by a “GC” then coded with a unique 2 digit number and continue with a Calendar Name.

3. Attempt to remove all Global Calendars that are candidates for deletion.

Starting with the first Global Calendar candidate for deletion, click on the Delete button shown above.

Case 1: Confirmation with “Are you sure…” window.

If the confirmation window appears above and you are sure the Global Calendar can be deleted, the select “Yes” and proceed to the next Global Calendar candidate for deletion.

Case 2: Error Message appears – Calendar [Calendar Name] cannot be deleted because it is used by activities in other projects.

If the error message window above appears above, then click OK. Proceed through the next steps to be able to delete the selected Global Calendar.

Click on the Used By… command button to display the Projects and/or Resources that are using the selected Global Calendar.

For each listed Project ID, open the Project ID, then filter the Project to display all activities.

If the Project ID is not listed in the EPS nodes, then the Project ID is embedded as Baseline in one of the Projects residing at the EPS Level. This may be a time consuming effort is the EPS Level Project ID is not immediately known. Once found, restore the Project ID, then follow the Steps above to remove Global Calendars embedded in a Baseline Project.

Next, Group and Sort the activity list by Calendar with the Indent Checkbox selected as shown below.

Next, collapse the list so that all the activities are not shown as shown below:

Collapse the activity list so that only the Groups appear. In the illustration below, the activities are collapsed. Note that Project Activity ST03 – 6 Day Standard Workweek, is indented under “*GC-06 – 6 Day Standard – no Holidays”.

If a Calendar Level 2 exists, then the Project contains Project Calendars that are inheriting from Global Calendars. Follow Step 5 to change the Inherited Global Calendar setting to <none>.

Continue assigning re-activities from a Global Calendar to a Project Calendar. If a Project Calendar does not exist for the activity, then create a new Project Calendar from a Global Calendar (making sure that inheritance is set to <none>. Complete this process until all activities are assigned to a Project Calendar.

Next Group by Resource, then follow Step 7 to assign Resource Calendar to the Resources used in the Project. Complete this process until all activities are assigned to Resources that are assigned to a Resource Calendar.

Finally, close the Project then delete the unwanted Global Calendar. Continue this process until all unwanted Global Calendar candidates are deleted. The remaining Global Calendars are valid and should remaining in the Project Network.

4. Unassign all remaining valid Global Calendars.

Next, for each valid Global Calendar attempt to the delete the specific Calendar. Since the Default Global Calendar cannot be deleted, temporarily assign another Global Calendar as the Default. If the confirmation textbox appears to delete the Calendar, select No, then continue to the next Global Calendar.

If P6 cannot delete the selected Global Calendar, then follow the instructions found in Step 3, Case 2 above.

Continue this process until all valid Global Calendars are not assigned to P6 Projects.

The next steps below ensure that exported Project files do not contain any Global Calendars. Even though Projects do not contain activities or resources assigned to Global Calendars, you can still wind up with Global Calendars contained in the export Project file.

5. Ensure that no Project Calendars are inheriting from Global Calendars.

When a Project Calendar is created from a Global Calendar, the Project Calendar automatically inherits its properties from the selected Global Calendar. In the sample below, the Project Calendar “PC-01 – 7 Day WrkWk – No Holidays” is inheriting from the Global Calendar “*GC-01 – 7 Day WrkWk – No Holidays ”.

Left this way, the inherited Global Calendar is automatically brought in when an .XER file is created.

For each Project Calendar ensure that the Project Calendars are not inheriting from a Global Calendar by selecting the Modify… command button as shown below.

Next scroll through the Global Calendar list, then select <none> from the pull-down menu as shown below.

To prevent a Global Calendar from making its way into the .XER as a result of Inheritance, set all Project Calendar’s inheritance to “<none>”. In the illustration above, the pull-down menu is expanded to display the “<none>” option from the list of Global Calendars.

6. Ensure that Projects do not Default to a Global 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 Detail window as shown below.

When a new Project is created from scratch, P6’s designated Default Project Calendar is automatically assigned as the Default Calendar for the Project. When a Project has a Global Calendar as the Default Project Calendar, then that Global Calendar will be saved in the exported .XER file.

To prevent a Global Calendar from making its way into the .XER as a result of Default Calendar settings, first, open the Project, then select a Project Calendar as the Default Calendar.

7. Ensure that Resources assigned to activities do not have a Calendar Profile referencing to a Global Calendar.

All Resources are assigned a Calendar which can be viewed in the Details ->Profile selection window. When a new Resource is created from scratch, P6’s designated Default Project Global Calendar is automatically assigned as the Default Calendar for the Resource. In the illustration below, the Carpenter resource Calendar Profile is assigned to a Global Calendar.

Resources can either be assigned to a Personal Calendar or be assigned to a previously created Shared Resource Calendar.

To prevent a Global Calendar from making its way into the .XER file, all Resources that are assigned to the Project’s activities must be assigned to either a Shared Resource Calendar or a Personal Calendar. Furthermore, whether a Shared Resource or Personal Calendar is used, the assigned Calendar must not be inheriting from a Global Calendar (See Step 5 above).

8. Final QA/QC .XER visual inspection.

Checking an .XER for Global Calendars is easy. Simply open the file using a text editor such as Notepad then scroll down to the Calendar Table (%T) section as shown below:

Below that line, now look for a Record line starting with (%R). Reading to the right, the 7^th field, which displays the Record value for field name (%F) “clndr_type” is displayed. The three possible Record values for the Field “clndr_type” (Calendar Type) is:

CA_Base: Identifying a Global Calendar;
CA_Project: Identifying a Project Calendar;
CA_Rsrc: Identifying a Resource Calendar.

If “CA_Base” exists as a Calendar Type, then a Global Calendar exist for the Project contained in the .XER File.

If you submit schedules in .XER format and “CA_Base” is contained in the .XER file, then go back and follow the steps above to remove any reference to a Global Calendar.

If you receive schedules in .XER format and “CA_Base” is contained in the .XER file, then return the .XER file to the submitting party for correction.

Keeping a “Lean & Mean” Global Calendar list helps stop the proliferation of redundant and superfluous Global Calendars.

Activities with No Finish Side Successors

The Precedence Diagram Method (PDM) of defining relationships between activities is a powerful tool. Often, however, Schedulers, sometimes unknowingly, misuse the options available when defining relationships between activities.

In the illustration below, Activity “E” is assigned to “B” as a predecessor with relationship Finish-to-Start (FS) and is assigned to “F” with relationship Start-to-Start (SS).

Since “F” has a predecessor and a successor activity, it does not violate the “No Open Ends” rule. In fact, running the P6 Global filters, “Activities without Predecessors” and “Activities without Successors” will display no results.

However, since “E” is related to its only successor, “F” using SS, “E” does not effectively contribute to the CPM network. In fact, when “E’s” status is updated to “In Progress”, it essentially behaves like an “open ended” activity yet still complies with the “No Open Ends” rule.

Unfortunately, in P6, there is no Filter that can be constructed to check for “no finish side successors”. However, Zümmer checks this anomaly with Report #14 – “Activities With No Finish Side Successor”.

The converse to this issue is “Activities with No Start Side Predecessors”

Expense Profile Data – Output to Excel

Improve your Expense Profile presentations through Zümmer’s Excel output feature

When the “Expense Profile With Actuals” Curve is selected for previewing or printing, in addition to the printed/previewable report, Zümmer generates an Excel 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 MH-BL1-UP33 was selected for printing with the file listed. Note the file structure prefix consists of “EXP” then the next filename segment consists of the Project ID, “MH-BL1-UP33”. The final filename segment is a 5-digit computer system generate suffix.

Zümmer automatically saves the Expense Profile Data to an Excel File in the Output folder

The “EXP” file in the “Chart1” Tab contains the “Expense Profile With Actuals” Curves shown as below:

Chart1 display

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 “EXP” file above, shown below is a partial section of the ChartData tab and the raw data used to plot the curve shown above: (Rows 6 thru 241 and 247 thru 1076 are hidden for instructional purposes).

ChartData display

Column A 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 Average Expense Series respectively for the Expense Profile curve on the graph displayed in the Chart1 tab.

Column E contains the cumulative Actual Expense Series for the Expense Profile curve on the graph displayed in the Chart1 tab.

Column F contains the Total Budgeted Expense amount used to generate the vertical Data Date line in the graph.

Columns G, H, I and J contain the daily total Early, Late, Average and Actual Expense Series respectively used to calculate the cumulative values shown in Columns B, C, D and E respectively.