Primavera Project Management - P6

1 OBS - Organizational Breakdown Structure

To define the team involved with primavera
software or you may define the conventional
Origination Structure (you need special
permission to define the OBS)
Enterprise > OBS
Select the parent node and click "Add"
To change the level of the hierarchy, select the
node and use the appropriate arrow key icons
(arrow keys are on the right side)

To change from "list view" to "chart view" or

vice versa
Click on the dropdown list (triangle on left top
corner) and select Chart view

If all entities are not shown (tree view not available)

Set the filter to "All OBS elements" by clicking on dropdown > Filter by > All OBS elements

2 EPS - Enterprise Project Structure

To group the projects ( you need special
permission to define the EPS)
Enterprise > Enterprise Project Structure

To add a new node, select the parent category

and click "add"
Set the EPS ID and Name and also add the
Responsible manager. (From the OBS list)

3 WBS - Work Breakdown Structure

WBS is used to define the project deliverables.
The project should be opened in order to define
its Work Breakdown Structure.

Prepared by: Erwin Barthelot Page |1

Primavera Project Management - P6

To define a WBS
Create a Project (if not already created) and go to
Project > WBS
Select the parent node level and click "Add"
To change the level of the hierarchy, select the WBS node and use the appropriate arrow key icons
(arrow keys are on the right side).
The WBS ID numbering will be done automatically accordingly to the level of the structure. If any
alphanumerical value is entered then the sub elements will be numbered accordingly). The ID number
will be preceded with the Project ID.

4 To add activities below the WBS levels

(From the WBS view go to the Activity View by Project > Activities)
Then the WBS levels will be shown in colored bands.
Select a WBS level and press Insert key to add a new Activity to the WBS.

By default, the activity view is set to show the WBS layout. If this does not appear, you can set it by
View > group and Sort
Under "Group By" select WBS and click OK

The activity list can be sorted by clicking on the appropriate column headings.
Activity ID can be edited as well. This is useful for sorting the activity list based on the Activity ID.

In general, activity filters may be activated. This may hide some of the activities that you have
entered. Therefore to see all activities go to
View > Filters
Enable "All activities" and OK

5 To enter Activity Duration

Enter the duration in the "Original duration" column. By default it’s assumed to be in "days"

5.1 To set the duration units and the format

Edit > user Preferences > Time units
under "Duration Format"

6 Activity Relationships (Activity dependencies)

P6 supports Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) and hence the following types of activity
relationships can be assigned.
FS- Finish to Start
SS- Start to Start
FF – Finish to Finish
SF – Star to Finish

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Primavera Project Management - P6

In addition, lag times can be added to the relationship links.

6.1 To Assign Activity Relationships

Quick Method
To add a Finish to Start link with zero lag
Select predecessor and Hold "Ctrl" Key and select Successor
Edit > Link Activities
To edit activity links
Hover over the activity link, when the "Up-arrow" appears double click and do the
modification

Formal Method
Load the Activity Details Palette by
View > Show on Bottom > Activity Details

Select the Successor activity and go to the "Relationship" tab

Click "Assign" and from the list select the successor Activity and click on the "Assign" icon (
+ mark)

To edit the relationship,

For the selected Activity, in the Relationship Tab, on the
Predecessor Panel, under the Relationship type column does the changes.

7 To schedule the project

By default p6 does not automatically schedule the project because automatic scheduling can cause an
additional burden to the SQL/Oracle server and also on the bandwidth of the network connection.

Tools > Schedule

Click Schedule
(Ensure that the “data date" is the same as the "project start date" and click Schedule)

8 How to save the Project

The information is always saved into the SQL/Oracle database upon data entry
To save the project information into an external file you have to Export it.

Prepared by: Erwin Barthelot Page |3