Activity Duration Types in Primavera P6

In P6, there are four duration types for an activity out of which one should be selected for each activity.
This can be accessed under General Tab in Activity Details.

Fixed Duration and Units

Fixed Duration and Units per Time

Fixed Units

Fixed Units/Time

Activity Duration Types in P6

It is very important to understand and select the right duration type for an activity. Let us understand
these using examples;

1. Fixed Duration and Units:

This type is mostly used when we deal with Task Dependent Activities. It is the default duration type in
P6. This duration type is used for which the duration and total resources (for the activity) are fixed. Take
n example of an activity, Excavation for Foundations; let us assume that this activity needs 10 days to
complete and the total resources required are 60 labor units. What we do in P6, is that we define the
said activity, assign the duration type, add its duration and then add resource, labor; P6 automatically
calculates Units/Time for this (i.e. 60/10 = 6 labor units/day). Now let us assume that during Schedule
Optimization, we need to reduce these 10 days to finish the project in time. Let us decrease the duration
from 10 days to 5 days. We can see that the total units i.e. 60 labors will remain the same but the
units/time will increase to 12units/day and this is what mostly happens in field i.e. to speed up the job,
we increase the usage of resources per time period, keeping the overall resources consumption
constant and thus saving the time.

2. Fixed Duration and Units per Time:

This type of duration type is used when a minimum number of resources are required per time period
for an activity. This can better be understood if we take an example of a crane for which, say, two
operators are required to operate. Now, no matter for how many days a crane is operating, same two
number operators will be required. Even if the numbers of operators are increased, the work or job will
not be finished before time unless an additional crane is added to the resources. This type of duration is
also used for Task Dependent Activities.

To differentiate between the Fixed Duration and Units and Fixed Duration and Units per Time, we
have to again discuss the Excavation for Foundation example. If the same scenario is kept as
discussed in Fixed Duration and Units, the decrease in the original duration will cause the total
resource units to reduce (i.e. Resource Units per time period is kept constant).

3. Fixed Units:

This type is mostly used for Resource Dependent Activities. This type should be assigned for
activities in which the total amount of work is constant. Let us take the example of Excavation for
Foundation. Assume that 60 cubic meters excavation needs to be done for which 10 days are required
(assumed duration) i.e. we need to excavate 6 cubic meters per day. Now if we want to speed up the
job, we have to increase the per day work done. Let us increase the per day excavation from 6 to 12
cubic meters (per day). We will see that the activity duration will become 5 days and the total
excavation i.e. 60 cubic meters will remain the same. This example is fairly similar to that of Fixed
Duration and Units; the difference between the two is that if Units/Time is increased or decreased in
Fixed Duration and Units, the duration will remain constant and total units of work will change. And if
Units/Time is changed in Fixed Units, the duration will change and the total units of work will remain
constant. (It is important to understand what to change and what to keep constant and this
understanding will come from experience and discussion with experienced people.)

4. Fixed Units per Time:

This is somewhat similar to Fixed Duration and Unite per Time (not exactly similar!). It is also
used for Resource Dependent Activities. The same crane example is also applicable here. For Instance,
two operators are required to operate the crane; to speed up the job; the increase in number of
operators will have no effect unless the numbers of cranes are increased.