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Differences Between Primavera P6 and MS Project

The document compares Oracle Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project software for project planning. It outlines 15 key differences between the two programs, including that P6 allows unlimited baselines, different milestone types, and multiple users to work on a project simultaneously, while MS Project is limited to 11 baselines and does not allow multiple simultaneous users. The document recommends P6 for large, complex projects and MS Project for smaller, simpler projects.

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Mahomed Faraz Abdul Majid
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379 views5 pages

Differences Between Primavera P6 and MS Project

The document compares Oracle Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project software for project planning. It outlines 15 key differences between the two programs, including that P6 allows unlimited baselines, different milestone types, and multiple users to work on a project simultaneously, while MS Project is limited to 11 baselines and does not allow multiple simultaneous users. The document recommends P6 for large, complex projects and MS Project for smaller, simpler projects.

Uploaded by

Mahomed Faraz Abdul Majid
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Planning Engineer FZE Project Management & Planning Services and Training

‫بالنينغ إنجينير م م ح‬ ‫خدمات وتدريب إدارة المشروعات والتخطيط‬

Differences Between Primavera P6 and MS Project in Planning


Oracle Primavera P6 and MS Project:
They are the most popular software for project planning, reporting, progress updating, and
tracking. Both the software are used worldwide and they have their benefits. There are
several differences between them. The following are the differences between Primavera
Software and Microsoft Project

1. Unique ID:
• Microsoft Project, Hard to organize a large number of activities, the first line is
assigned as ID 1, the second line as ID 2, and so on. If you insert a new activity
between 1 and 2, the new activity becomes ID 2. Thus an activity’s ID is determined
by its position among the others.
• P6 is characterized by a unique ID. For example, you can set the project to start from
1000 and increment by 10, so that the first activity entered will be assigned as ID
1000, the second as ID 1010, and so on. The activities keep their ID regardless of
changes in position (unless you decide to physically change them).
If you are working on a big project and using an activity ID system/ Identification then
Microsoft Project will not be the correct choice.

2. Activity Sorting:
• In Primavera P6, you can tell how to sort the activities. Sorting by date order, sorting
by Activity ID, or any other factor makes sorting very durable and easy.
• Microsoft Project offers a bit more flexible control in that you can just move
individual activities into the position you want them to appear in.

3. Baselines:
• In MS Project only 11 baselines can be created.
• In Primavera, unlimited baselines can be created.

4. Start and Finish Milestones:


• In Microsoft Project, you can not define a milestone as either
a start or finish milestone.
• In Primavera P6, you have plenty of milestone types.

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Planning Engineer FZE Project Management & Planning Services and Training
‫بالنينغ إنجينير م م ح‬ ‫خدمات وتدريب إدارة المشروعات والتخطيط‬

5. Multiple User Access


• MS Project doesn’t allow multiple users to work on a single project at the same time.
• In Primavera, you can even specify what features of Primavera a particular user can
use, and which he can not.

6. Issues & Risks


• MS Project lacks the feature of tracking project issues or risks. No Risk-Issue
recording or analysis.
• In Primavera, we can record issues and risks.

7. Web Support
• Primavera plans, documents, and other information can be converted to HTML
directly from the software.
• MS Project doesn’t have such an option.

8. Steps
• Steps in Primavera allow you to create sub-activities (steps) of an activity. Each step
can have its own start and finish date, and a completed step can be marked as
completed.
• This useful feature is missing in MS Project.

9. Expenses
• Besides costs, in the Primavera project expenses e.g. training, travel, etc. can also be
added.
• In MS Project we can not do all of these options. You can only add one type of cost
(Project Expenses).

10. Custom Fields


Both MS Project and Primavera allow us to create custom fields.

• But MS Project even allows us to set complex formulas or use fields and add
additional values to them, to use in the custom field.
• In Primavera, we can create a blank custom field, but can not set formulas to it, so
users have to manually enter values in each field, for each column.

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Page 2 of 5
Planning Engineer FZE Project Management & Planning Services and Training
‫بالنينغ إنجينير م م ح‬ ‫خدمات وتدريب إدارة المشروعات والتخطيط‬

11. Columns
• Primavera P6 has many useful columns. It comes installed with over 200 columns,
each giving you different information. Some column category names include EVM,
Budgeting, Costs, etc.
• On the other hand in MS Project, there are only around 40 columns. User-defined
columns can be added easily which you can customize with functions.

12. Multiple Activity Relationships


• In Primavera P6, more than one type of relationship can be established between
activities e.g. we can have FF and SS between the same two activities.
• In MS Project only one relationship can be made between two activities.

13. Project Website


• The Primavera P6 software can create a comprehensive website comprising
complete project details including activities, resources, reports, risks, issues, WBS,
and everything that has been entered into the software.
• This website is a very valuable feature and is not present in MS Project.

14. Multiple Project Creation, View, and Tracking


• In Primavera, multiple projects can be created and viewed. This can be done in MS
Project too but since MS Project is not intended for multiple-project use, it doesn’t
allow us to do things like the things we can do in Primavera like multiple project
tracking, multiple projects, or WBS comparisons, cost, and unit calculations.

There are many more minor differences between Primavera P6 and MS Project but the
above list is of major and prominent differences between the two software.

15. WBS
• In Primavera P6, WBS is created separately from activities. Once WBS has been
created, then we can add activities with each WBS element. Whereas in MS Project,
activities are indented to make them look like WBS.
• The benefit of MS Project is that the work breakdown structure is generally
implemented through the use of summaries. You can create a new WBS level by
indenting from the line above. This method allows you to create a system on the
same screen where you enter activities. No single screen for adding WBS.

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Planning Engineer FZE Project Management & Planning Services and Training
‫بالنينغ إنجينير م م ح‬ ‫خدمات وتدريب إدارة المشروعات والتخطيط‬

Which one You Should Learn, Primavera P6 or MS Project?


If you are heavily involved in a project or multiple projects, and you are required to
computerize every detail of your project, you should go for Primavera P6 Professional
Project Management. Or if you are working on a single project that doesn’t require you to
record details other than activity schedule, resource list, and assignment details, use MS
Project as it is simpler.
• Small Simple Project.
• Your team and stakeholders are not P6 users.
• Fast Learning Curve.
• If you’re not a P6 user and want to start creating now.
• Limited Resources.
• Limited Cost accounts.
• Projects with Mixed OS Environments.

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planning/

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