P6 Professional User Guide

Store Period Performance

Store Period Performance

Using the Store Period Performance feature, you can track actual units and costs to date. For example, if you increase the actual this period by 50, P6 Professional increases the Actual to Date by the same amount. At the end of each financial period, reset the Actual This Period values of all activities and assignments to zero by choosing Tools, Store Period Performance. Resetting the Actual This Period values does not affect Actual to Date values; rather, it prepares you to begin tracking new use for the current period.

Storing period performance records actuals for the selected financial period along with earned value and planned value, so you can track previous periods and compare current and future trends. If past period data changes after you store period performance, you can edit the data in financial period columns of the Activity Table, Resource Assignments window, and the Resources tab of Activity Details.

Your projects may be scheduled to update every two weeks, monthly, or even quarterly. To track actual costs and progress recorded, update your schedule at the times established in the financial period calendar assigned to the project, then store period performance at the end of the update period and before the start of the next schedule update.

When P6 Professional is connected to a P6 EPPM database, you can only store period performance if financial period calendars have been defined in P6.

Link actual to date and actual this period units and costs

To store period performance or edit past period actuals for a project, the actual and actual this period units and cost must be linked. If you want to recalculate actual or actual this period units and costs when one of these values is updated, this option must be marked.

1)Choose Enterprise, Projects.

2)Click the Layout Options bar and choose Show On Bottom, Project Details.

3)In the Project Details, Calculations tab, mark the Link actual to date and actual this period units and costs option.

Post actual amounts for a period

1)Choose Tools, Store Period Performance.

The Store Period Performance dialog box lists all open projects.

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Managing Projects

2)Determine the projects you want to post actual amounts for, then double-click in the Financial Period column to select a financial period for each applicable project.

When connected to a P6 Professional database: The Select Financial Period dialog box lists all financial periods defined in the financial period calendar assigned to the project.

When connected to a P6 EPPM database: The Select Financial Period dialog box lists all financial periods defined for the financial period calendar in P6.

3)Determine the projects you do not want to post actual amounts for, then clear the corresponding checkbox in the Selected column for each applicable project.

4)Click Store Now.

P6 Professional stores the Actual This Period values in the selected financial period for each project (regardless of the data date or Actual Start dates), then sets Actual This Period values to zero in anticipation of the next schedule update period.

Tips

To store period performance on a project, the actual and actual this period units and cost must be linked. Before storing period performance on a project, verify that the Link actual to date and actual this period units and costs option is selected in the Project Details, Calculations tab.

You can store period performance for the same financial period for a project more than once. When you store period performance after it has already been stored for a period, P6 Professional overwrites any existing values with the new values for the existing period.

You can customize the Resource Usage and Activity Usage spreadsheets to display Financial Period Value fields. When displaying Financial Period Value fields, past period actuals stored per financial period are distributed evenly from the start date to the finish date defined for a financial period and earned value calculations are based on these stored period quantities. Financial Period Value fields are only available for display if you define the range of financial periods that are available for display as columns in User Preferences.

Notes

When connected to a P6 Professional database: To store period performance, you must be assigned the Store Period Performance and Add/Edit Activities Except Relationships project privileges.

When connected to a P6 EPPM database: To store period performance, you must have the appropriate project privileges as defined in P6.

If any open project is read only or checked out, the Store Period Performance menu option is disabled.

You do not have to store period performance sequentially (that is, you can skip periods).

Earned value cost and units, as well as planned value cost and units, are calculated as follows (using Earned Value Units as an example): Actual Earned Value Units = This Period Earned Value Units - total Earned Value Units for all stored periods in the database.

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P6 Professional User Guide

Edit past period actual data

You can view and edit past period actual data for any financial period in the Activity Table and the Resources tab of Activity Details. The available financial period columns are listed in the Financial Period Value group of columns in the Columns dialog box.

You can display Activity Table columns for all of the following financial period fields:

(Period Name): Actual Expense Cost

(Period Name): Actual Labor Cost

(Period Name): Actual Labor Units

(Period Name): Actual Material Cost

(Period Name): Actual Nonlabor Cost

(Period Name): Actual Nonlabor Units

(Period Name): Earned Value Cost

(Period Name): Earned Value Labor Units

(Period Name): Planned Value Cost

(Period Name): Planned Value Labor Units

You can change the Resources tab columns of Activity Details to display Actual Cost and Actual Units columns for any financial period.

After you expose the columns you want, you can edit any value by clicking in the field.

Tips

There might be several financial periods specified in the financial period calendar assigned to the project. The Columns dialog box lists all the fields listed above for the range of financial periods you select in the User Preferences, Application tab. You must define a range of financial periods to display; otherwise, financial period columns are not available.

To edit past period actual data, the actual and actual this period units and cost must be linked in the project. Before editing past period actual data, verify that the Link actual to date and actual this period units and costs option is selected on the Project Details,

Calculations tab.

Notes

You cannot edit past period actual data for activities that do not have an actual start date. You can edit past period actual data for activities that have resource assignments in the

Resource Assignments window or in the Resources tab of Activity Details.

You cannot edit past period actual data if the project is read only or checked out.

For milestone activities, you can only edit past period expense costs.

When connected to a P6 Professional database: You must be assigned the Edit Period Performance, View Project Cost/Financials, Edit WBS Costs/Financials, and Add/Edit Activities Except Relationships project privileges to edit past period actual data.

When connected to a P6 EPPM database: You must be assigned the appropriate project privileges as defined in P6 to edit past period actual data.

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