P6 Professional User Guide

6)When connected to a P6 EPPM database: When the job completes successfully, press F5 to refresh open windows with the latest data.

Tips

To calculate activity, resource, and expense actuals according to the project plan, rather than hours, units, and completion percentages reported by resources, mark the Auto Compute Actuals checkbox for each resource (in the Details tab of Resource Details) or nonresource cost (in the Expenses tab of Activity Details).

To use resource curves or manual future period values when applying actuals, mark the Auto Compute Actuals checkbox for each resource (on the Details tab of Resource Details). See the Updating projects section of the Future period bucket planning FAQ for detailed information to consider when applying actuals for assignments with manual future period values.

When connected to a P6 Professional database: You can set up a job service to apply actuals to your projects at a specified time.

When connected to a P6 EPPM database: You can use P6 to apply actuals to your projects as a recurring job that runs at a specified time.

If submitted or resubmitted timesheets exist that have not been approved when you apply actuals for a project, you are prompted to review the timesheets. Click Yes if you want to review the timesheets; click No if you want to skip the unapproved timesheets and apply actuals.

When connected to a P6 EPPM database: The Last Job Request field in the status bar of your screen displays the status of the last job request that you submitted during this work session. So if you submit two jobs, only the status of the last request appears.

Earned Value

Earned value is a technique for measuring project performance according to both project cost and schedule. This technique compares budgeted or planned cost of the work to the actual cost. While earned value analysis are typically performed for WBS elements, you can also perform an earned value analysis for activities and groups of activities.

In order to perform an earned value analysis, you must specify two calculation techniques. These techniques apply to activities that are currently in progress. The first technique is used to calculate an activity's percent complete. The second technique is used to calculate an activity's Estimate to Complete (ETC). A set of options is provided for both of these techniques, and you can set these options for each WBS element.

The fundamental earned value parameters used to calculate an activity's Estimate to Complete are: Earned Value Cost; Budget At Completion (BAC); Planned Value Cost; and, Actual Cost. You can derive an activity's Estimate to Complete and other earned value indexes from these parameters.

If you are the administrator for your organization, you can specify default earned value techniques for WBS elements.

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