CHAPTER 3: Defining Calendars and Work Break down

Structure

3.1. Introduction to P6 Calendars

 A calendar in Primavera P6 enables us to define:
 available workdays
 work hours in a workday
 public holidays
 Week off of the organizations, and
 project specific working and non-working days
 We can create different types of calendars and assign them to
specific resources and activities to determine the time constraints
in a uniform way
 By using calendars, we can do activity scheduling, tracking, and
resource leveling
 Primavera P6 consists of three types of calendars:
Global, Resource, and Project calendars
 The global and resource calendars can be accessed
and modified even when no project is opened
whereas the project calendar can be modified only
when a project has been opened
 Calendars can be Copy, delete, modify, convert
3.2. Creating and Assigning Calendar

Creating Calendar: Menu bar> Enterprise > Calendars

option - Calendars dialog box will be displayed

3.2.1. Global calendar

 In this dialog box, select the Global radio button if not selected by
default; a list of all the available global calendars will be displayed
in the Calendar Name area. To create a new global calendar,
choose the Add button from the right pane of the Calendars
dialog box; the Select Calendar To Copy From dialog
box will be displayed
 Next, select the required calendar and then choose the Select
button; a new calendar will be added and the Calendar To
Copy From dialog box will be closed

3.2.2. Project Calendar

 Project calendars are calendars which can be assigned to some
specific project
 Calendars under this category cannot be assigned to any resources
such as labor, non-labor, and material
 If we link a project calendar to a global calendar then all the
holidays and the exceptions specified in the global calendar will
reflect in the project calendar also but the changes made in the
project calendar will not reflect in the global calendar
  We can copy a calendar from one project to another. To copy the
project calendar of a project to any other project, the project
calendar is to be converted into a global calendar

3.2.3. Resource Calendar

 The resource calendars are those calendars that are defined for
resources only
 The calendars defined under this category can only be assigned to
specific resources and cannot be assigned to a project or its activities
 If the resource calendar is linked to a global calendar than any
change made in the global calendar will replace in the resource
calendar but not vice-versa

3.2.4. Creating a project or Resource Calendar

 In the Calendars dialog box select the Project or
Resource
radio button depending upon the type of calendar to be created; a
list of all the available calendars will be displayed under the
Calendar Name area. Next, choose the Add button from
the right pane of the Calendars dialog box; the Select
Calendar To Copy From dialog box will be displayed
 In this dialog box, select the global calendar that you want to copy
as the new calendar and choose the Select button. On doing so,
the Calendar To Copy From dialog box will be closed and
the newly created calendar will be added to the Calendar section
 of the desired calendar type. Assign a name to the newly created
calendar
 A project or resource calendar can also be converted into a global
calendar. To do so, select the required project or resource calendar
in the Calendars dialog box. Next, choose the To Global
button; the selected calendar will be converted into a global
calendar

3.2.5. Modifying Calendars

 To modify the working days:
 In the Calendar dialog box, select the calendar type (Global,
Project, or Resource) and then select the calendar that you
want to modify. Next, choose the Modify button; the dialog box
corresponding to the selected options will be displayed. In this
dialog box, we can change: the month name, the calendar into a
monthly calendar, working days to nonworking days and vice versa.
 When we are creating a new project or resource calendar, we also
get an option to copy the calendar holidays of the global calendar to
our new calendar. To do so, select the required calendar from the
Global calendar list. The newly created project or resource calendar
will remain linked to the global calendar from
which the holidays are inherited. So any change made in the global
calendar holidays will also be reflected in the linked project or
resource Calendar
3.3. Work Break down Structure (WBS)
 A method of dividing a complex project into simpler and
manageable tasks or activities
 So, WBS is the hierarchical arrangement of the activities or steps
to be followed

3.3.1. Working with WBS

 In Primavera P6, the WBS Structure consists of levels representing

the elements or the tasks needed to be accomplished for the
completion of a project
 The default process followed by Primavera for
creating WBS

 Viewing WBS
  Open the required project, >WBS option from
Project Menu or
 Directory bar: WBS button
 In Primavera P6, the WBS for a project is divided into many
sublevels known as WBS nodes, also known as WBS codes
 WBS nodes are also further divided into WBS subnodes
 Each WBS node is a single entity in a project structure to
which activities are attached
 Each WBS node and sub node should have a unique and
informative WBS name which will be displayed in the WBS
Code column.
 In a WBS node, we can store various types of data such as
anticipated dates, budget plan for the project, and monthly
expenditure for the project
 The financial information is also shared between projects and
their WBS elements
 We can view the WBS for a project either as a chart or a table: To
view in the chart view, choose the Chart View button from the
WBS toolbar in the WBS window; the WBS will be displayed in a
chart form
 We can choose Gantt Chart button to view Gantt chart in the
Work Breakdown Structure window along with the WBS
table or chart
 We can show/ hide or set up: bars, Columns and time scales
3.3.2. Creating a WBS and Adding WBS element
 When a project is created, Primavera P6 automatically creates a root
WBS element with the same name, EPS, and Project ID as that of
the project
 All the further WBS elements will be added under this root WBS
element
 Use the WBS window to view all the WBS elements related to the
required project
 Also in this window, all the activities required to complete the
project are added to the WBS elements
 Typically on creating a project, the project manager first develops
the WBS, assigns documents to each WBS element, and then
defines the activities for performing the element’s work
 In addition to the activities and assignments, each WBS element is
assigned a specific calendar and specific OBS element responsible
for all the work included in the WBS element

i. Adding a WBS element

o Before adding the WBS elements, we must be working
in the Activities window that is organized based on
all levels of WBS hierarchy, it is necessary that either
we are working on a single project or working on a
group of projects
o Open the WBS window by choosing the WBS
button from the Directory bar. In this window, select the
 WBS element immediately above and under which we
want to add the new element and then choose the Add
button from the right side of the WBS window; a new
WBS element will be added and indented one level
under the selected WBS element
o We can also edit an existing WBS element by double-
clicking on the required WBS element and then rename
it as desired
o To outdent and indent an element’s position in the WBS,
we use the arrow keys from the Command bar

ii. Assigning WBS categories to the WBS element

o The WBS categories for the WBS elements are same as the
activity codes for activities. WBS categories help the WBS
elements of a project to be grouped and sorted.
o We can create WBS categories by using the Admin
Categories dialog box: Menu bar> Admin menu
>Admin Categories option - Admin
Categories dialog box will be displayed
o In dialogue box, > the WBS categories tab; the
WBS Categories page will be displayed
o In this page, several WBS categories will be displayed and
also you can create a new WBS category. After creating
and editing, you can assign these values to WBS
elements
 o We can create a new WBS category. After creating and
editing, we can assign these values to WBS elements
o In Primavera P6, the Project Phase is the default WBS
category value
o WBS category values can be assigned to the WBS elements
in the Project Phase column of the WBS window.
o To show/hide the Project Phase column, you can use
the
Columns dialog box. To invoke the dialog box, choose
the Columns button from the WBS
toolbar; the Columns dialog box will be displayed, refer
to Figure 3-13. In this dialog box, add
the desired column to the Work Breakdown
Structure window. Now, select the WBS element to
which you want to assign a category and then choose the
Browse button in the Project Phase
column

iii. Defining Earned Value settings for WBS elements

o Earned value is a technique for monitoring the project

performance according to both the project costs and
schedule
o It informs us about what we have actually earned against
what you spent
o This technique compares the budgeted cost of the work to
the actual cost
o The general formula for computing the earned value is
given below:
Earned Value (EV) = Budget at
Completion (BAC) x Performance
%Complete
o The earned value analysis is typically performed for WBS
elements and to perform the analysis we first need to define
earned value settings for the WBS element: WBS
Details table > Earned Value tab - the options
under the Earned Value tab will be displayed:
 Technique for computing performance percent
complete
