Managing Projects

If you update activity progress by modifying the Actual Units on the activity or assignment, manual future period planned or budgeted and remaining unit values are not updated when you apply actuals.

Progress Spotlight

The Progress Spotlight feature highlights the activities that should have started or finished during a specified timeperiod. To access this feature, choose View, Progress Spotlight, or click on the Tools toolbar. You can also drag the data date line until you reach the new date you want. P6 Professional highlights the activities that fall between the last data date and the new data date. If you have multiple projects open, P6 Professional uses the data date of the default project (Project, Set Default Project) as the start of the highlighted timeperiod. P6 Professional automatically uses the date interval you are showing for the timescale to select the new data

date. For example, if the minimum date interval for the timescale is set to Day, the new data date will be the next day. Once you spotlight activities, you can automatically status them or manually update them.

To make it easier to use Progress Spotlight, set up your timescale so that the smallest increment is equal to your update periods. That way, when you turn this feature on, the highlighted curtain will indicate the update period immediately and eliminate the necessity of adjusting the data date. For example, if you update weekly, set the timescale to weekly increments; right-click on the Gantt Chart and select Timescale, and select a weekly Date Interval.

When you spotlight activities by dragging the data date line or by using the Progress Spotlight feature, P6 Professional turns off automatic scheduling. Choose Tools, Schedule, or press F9 to reschedule after you finish updating; P6 Professional recalculates the schedule and turns automatic scheduling back on.

Update progress for spotlighted activities

Use the Progress Spotlight feature (View, Progress Spotlight) to highlight activities in the layout that have started, progressed, or finished between the previous data date and the new data date. If you have the project privileges required to schedule projects, level resources, and apply actuals, you can status the activities that have been highlighted. To update the progress of these activities:

1)Choose Tools, Update Progress.

2)If you do not want to use the current data date to update progress, select a new data date.

3)Choose to update all highlighted activities in the Gantt Chart, or to update the activities that have been selected.

4)When actuals are applied from timesheets, choose to recalculate the remaining duration based on the activity duration type or to always recalculate it. If you choose to always recalculate, all activities are treated as Fixed Units and Fixed Units/Time.

5)Click Apply.

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Note

If you manually plan future period resource/role distribution, updating progress for spotlighted activities can affect remaining unit values in manual future period buckets.

How? If you use Progress Spotlight to update activity progress, actuals are applied using the specified manual planned or budgeted unit distribution; the manual remaining unit distribution is not considered, even if no manual. planned or budgeted unit data exists for an assignment. When the planned or budgeted and remaining unit values are different for an assignment, the planned or budgeted unit values overwrite the existing remaining unit values when you apply actuals.

Estimate progress automatically

If you want to estimate progress as if activities are proceeding on schedule, you can automatically calculate actual data based on activity, resource, and/or expense data.

Estimating activity progress is a quick and convenient way to update your project. The module estimates progress only for those activities that were supposed to take place. Since progress can occur out of sequence, you may need to update additional activities.

Set Auto Compute Actuals by activity

1)Choose Project, Activities.

2)Open a layout that contains the activities you want to automatically update.

3)Add a column for the Auto Compute Actuals option.

4)Mark the checkbox next to each activity.

Note: When connected to a P6 EPPM database, you should not automatically compute actuals for those activities from which you are collecting timesheet data from the Progress Reporter modules; otherwise, your timesheet data are overwritten when you apply actuals.

Set Auto Compute Actuals by resource

1)Choose Enterprise, Resources.

2)Select the resource that you want to automatically update when actuals are applied.

3)Click the Details tab and mark Auto Compute Actuals.

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Note: When connected to a P6 EPPM database, you cannot automatically computer actuals for those resources from which you are collecting timesheet data from the Progress Reporter module. If you choose to disable the timesheet usage, your timesheet data are overwritten when you apply actuals.

Tip

Setting the Auto Compute Actuals option to ON for an activity automatically updates actual and remaining units/costs for all resources/expenses assigned to the activity, regardless of whether the individual resources/expenses have the Auto Compute Actuals options set to ON. If you don't want to update all assignments, turn OFF the activity's Auto Compute Actuals option and turn it ON only for those resources/expenses you want updated automatically. For example, you may be collecting actual data from some, but not all, resources through the Progress Reporter module. For those resources from which you are collecting actual data, turn OFF the activityand resource-level Auto Computer Actuals option, and turn it ON for those resources not reporting data through the Progress Reporter module.

Highlight activities for updating

You can highlight activities in the layout that are scheduled to occur during a specific timeperiod. Then, you can choose to manually or automatically update the activities.

1)With the Activities window active, choose View, Progress Spotlight, or click on the Tools toolbar to add a timeperiod equal to the smallest increment of the displayed timescale from the previous data date.

P6 Professional spotlights activities that should have started, progressed, or finished between the previous data date and the new data date in the Gantt Chart.

To increase/decrease the area between the previous data date and the new date by one or more timescale increments, drag the data date line in the Gantt Chart.

2)Automatically or manually update the highlighted activities, or immediately reschedule the project according to the new data date by pressing F9.

Notes

If multiple projects are open, P6 Professional will highlight activities from the data date of the default project (Project, Set Default Project).

Unlike selected activities, when Progress Spotlight is active, activities remain spotlighted even when you click in another area of the layout.

Update progress for the project

1)Choose Tools, Apply Actuals.

2)Make sure the projects you want to update appear in the Project(s) to be Updated list.

3)Specify whether to use the data date for each project, or assign a new data date to all the projects you are updating.

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4)In the New Data Date field, specify a new data date for the projects, then click Apply.

5)Choose Project, Activities, then select the activity you want to update.

6)Display Activity Details, then click the Status tab.

7)Mark the Started checkbox to indicate that the activity started early or mark the Finished checkbox to indicate that the activity completed early.

If the activity was supposed to start during the update period but did not, clear the Started checkbox.

If the activity was supposed to finish during the update period but did not, clear the Finished checkbox.

8)In Activity Details, adjust any activity information, such as Expected Finish or Remaining Duration, that did not progress according to plan.

When you add an Expected Finish date, the calendar defaults to the date and time of the activity's Early Finish date.

When you edit an Expected Finish date, the calendar defaults to the date and time that is currently in the Exp Finish field.

Remove progress from an activity

1)Choose Project, Activities, then select the activity.

2)Display Activity Details, then click the Status tab.

3)Clear the Started and/or Finished checkboxes.

Notes

P6 Professional will calculate the durations and remaining units based on the Link Budget and At Completion for Not Started Activities setting in the Project Details, Calculations tab.

If you remove progress from an activity by clearing the Started checkbox, all past period actual data stored for that activity is deleted (except earned value units and cost and planned value units and cost).

In the Activities window, you can also display the Activity Status column in which you can edit activity status.

Suspend or resume an activity's progress

At some point in the project, you may need to stop work on an activity for a period of time. Indicate this interruption by specifying suspend and resume dates in the Status tab of Activity Details.

1)Display Activity Details.

2)Click the Status tab.

3)In the Activities window, select the activity you want to suspend.

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