Structuring Projects

You can define the maximum number of levels in an activity code hierarchy on the Data Limits tab of the Admin Preferences dialog box when P6 Professional is connected to a P6 Professional database and from the P6, Application Settings when connected to a P6 EPPM database.

You can also create a new activity code value when assigning an activity code value to an activity.

Promote EPS-level activity codes and values

You can promote, or change, an EPS-level activity code and its values to a global activity code with global values.

1)Choose Enterprise, Activity Codes.

2)Choose EPS, then click Modify.

3)Select the code you want to promote, then click Make Global.

4)Click Yes, then click Close.

Tip

If you promote an EPS-level activity code and its values, your change applies to all activity assignments.

Defining Custom Fields

User-defined fields

User-defined fields enable you to add your own custom fields and values to the project database. For example, you can track additional activity data, such as delivery dates and purchase order numbers, or resource and cost-related data, such as profit, variances, and revised budgets.

To create user-defined fields, choose Enterprise, User Defined Fields. Once you create user-defined fields, you can perform all of the following tasks:

Display user-defined fields in columns of table views, then enter or select data in the columns. For example, if you add a user-defined field in the Activities subject area, you can display that user-defined field as a column in the Activity Table (Activities window).

Note: You can only create columns for a UDF in the layout of the subject area in which you created the UDF. For example, if you create a UDF called Purchase Order Number in the Project Expenses subject area, the Purchase Order Number UDF can only be viewed in the Expenses layout.

View user-defined fields on a detail tab.

Group, sort, and filter data by user-defined fields. To group and sort based on UDFs, click View, Group and Sort. To filter data based on a UDF, select View, Filters.

Add user-defined fields to reports you create or modify existing reports to include user-defined fields.

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P6 Professional User Guide

Use Global Change to assign values to Activity, Activity Resource Assignments, and Expenses user-defined fields. To assign a global change click Tools, Global Change.

Note: You must create UDFs in the User Defined Fields dialog before you can assign and populate UDFs using Global Change. There are no pre-existing UDFs available in the database.

Create bars for user-defined date fields and view them in the Gantt chart. Click View, Bars. In the Bars dialog, click Add. Enter a name in the Name field. In the Timescale field, select User Dates (the User Start Date and User Finish Date fields will become enabled. Select the user-defined start and finish date values in the User Start Date and User Finish Date fields.

Notes:

You must create user-defined start date and finish date fields in the User Defined Fields dialog before you can create bars for these fields in the Gantt chart. Also, the User Finish Date and User Start Date columns are only editable when you select User Dates in the Timescale column.

If you select a User Finish Date that is earlier than the User Start Date, or if there is no value associated with those fields, the bar will not be displayed.

Define custom user fields

1)Choose Enterprise, User Defined Fields.

2)Select the subject area of the product where you would like to add the new field, such as Activities, Activity Steps, Activity Resource Assignments, Projects, Resources, WBS, Expenses, Issues, and Work Products & Documents.

3)Click Add.

4)Enter a user-defined title for the new field and select a data type.

For example, you could enter Purchase Order Number as the title and select Integer as the data type.

To assign values to custom user fields

1)In the appropriate window, add a column for the custom user field code.

For example, if you created a UDF in the Activities subject area named Work Order Number, you can display a Work Order Number column in the Activity Table of the Activities window.

2)In the custom field column you added, type a value.

Notes

If you intend to use Oracle Analytics Publisher (formerly BI Publisher), avoid using commas when creating data other than Project names. The way that data other than Project names is passed to BI Publisher can cause a comma to be interpreted as a delimiter between data items.

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Structuring Projects

You can also create new user-defined fields in the UDFs detail tab of your chosen subject area.

If the Data Type is an Indicator, in the custom field column you must select a value of red, yellow, green, or blue. You cannot enter any other value.

Only users with global security privileges to edit user-defined fields (UDFs) can add, modify, or delete UDFs. Users that do not have access rights to edit UDFs can still view them in the User Defined Fields dialog box.

Only users with project security privileges to view project cost data can view UDF values with a Data Type of Cost.

Choosing data types for user-defined fields

A user-defined field’s data type determines the kind of data you can enter in the field, such as text, numbers, or dates. The following table summarizes the data types available for user-defined fields.

Indicator user-defined fields

Indicators are a special type of user-defined field (UDF) that enable you to select color-coded icons as values for display in columns and reports.

Indicator UDFs can be used to highlight Activities, Activity Steps, Activity Resource Assignments, Projects, Resources, WBS, Expenses, Issues and Work Products & Documents. For example, you could group activities based on priority or status using Indicator UDFs.

Like all other UDFs, you can perform the following functions using Indicator UDFs:

Display in columns

View on detail tabs

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