Making Multi-Project Charts for Oracle Primavera P6 for Version 7.1

Overview

One of OnePager's strength is its ability to create compact visual representations of multiple projects. These can be several projects that belong to one program or they can be several projects and programs in an organization’s portfolio. Oracle Primavera P6 supports the management of multiple projects within the application and provides the capabilities to export multiple-project XML and XER files. The OnePager application can import these multi-project Oracle Primavera P6 files and produce multi-project charts.

Additionally, OnePager has the capability to build multi-project charts from individual Oracle Primavera P6 exported XML and/or XER files.

Preparing Oracle Primavera P6 Export Files for OnePager

Exporting from Oracle Primavera P6

Oracle Primavera P6 has the capability to have controlled export of multiple-project files in a single XML or XER formatted file. To illustrate this, suppose we have the multi-project source plan shown below for Project A and B:

The export process in Oracle Primavera P6 starts with clicking on the Export command in the File tab shown above and selecting either to export either an XML or an XER file. After this step, Oracle Primavera P6 displays the Project to Export form shown below where we have checked both Project and Project B for export:

With the two Export checkboxes checked ON, Oracle Primavera P6 exports the resulting XML file which is named Project A-B.xml and can then be imported by OnePager.

Importing a Multi-Project Oracle Primavera P6 XML or XER File

It is recommended that you use the multi-project Template Properties forms as the basis for creating a multi-project chart from multi-project Oracle Primavera P6 source plans. The short discussion below covers preparing OnePager to work with a multi-project Template Properties form.

The OnePager Multi-Project Template Properties Form

1) Creating a One Pager multi-project chart is a matter of launching OnePager Bundle Standalone and using a different OnePager Template Properties form to import data and create a new chart.

2) To change to a different Templates Properties form, follow the NEW chart workflow until you get to the second page of the OnePager choices form. Once there, click the Edit current template... button to access the Template Properties form.

3) Then, click the File button as shown below:

4) If there is an appropriate Template Properties form in the RECENT list, select it and click the Use button on the Template Properties form. Clicking the BROWSE FILES… option accesses the Windows Open form where OnePager stores your Templates as shown below:

5) The default OnePager out-of-the-box Template Properties form is Single Project Gantt View – Detailed as shown above.

6) Instead, choose the Template Properties form named Multi-Project Gantt Chart - Detailed as shown above.

7) OnePager assumes that when the Multi-Project Gantt Chart - Detailed Template Properties form is in use, that you are using a multi-project file Master Project as the source plan.

8) Making this choice changes the Template Properties form to have the multi-project Template Properties form name in the title bar, as is shown below:

9) You now have OnePager ready to use the multi-project Template Properties form.

Importing Single-Project Oracle Primavera P6 XML or XER Files

Referencing the previous sub-section, the method for exporting individual, single Oracle Primavera P6 XML or XER formatted files is a matter of checking only one of the Export checkboxes in the Oracle Primavera P6 Export form. When multiple OnePager Bundle Standalone charts are to be created from single Oracle Primavera P6 XML or XER files, these files must be available to OnePager either on the local computer on through some online access mechanism.

The workflow for creating a multi-project chart from two or more single Oracle Primavera P6 XML or XER formatted source plans is discussed below at this link: Creating a Multi-Project Chart from Individual Single-Project Oracle Primavera P6 XML or XER Files

Creating a Multi-Project Chart from a Multi-Project Oracle Primavera P6 XML or XER File

This sub-section covers the method for creating a single One Pager multi-project chart from a single Oracle Primavera P6 exported file itself containing multi-project data in either XML or XER format.

1) The actions required to create a new chart from this point are as described elsewhere depending on whether you are creating a NEW chart, UPDATING an existing chart, or OPENING an existing chart.

2) For more information on workflow options, please see the articles at: Basic Workflows (Portal)

Making the New Multi-Project Chart

3) Creating a NEW multi-project chart follows these steps:

a) Create the new multi-project Oracle Primavera P6 XML or XER file where it is accessible to OnePager.

b) Launch OnePager and select the NEW button OnePager Bundle Start form.

c) Fill in the OnePager choices form with the New chart title and make your task selection option choice.

d) Either click the Create new chart button on the first page of the OnePager choices form or go to the second page and make any changes you require there.

e) OnePager Bundle Standalone uses the accessible Oracle Primavera P6 multi-project source plan under control of the Multi-Project Gantt Chart – Detailed Template Properties form to create your new chart as shown below:

4) In the example above, the chart is organized with two swimlane levels representing the two projects and the phases within those projects.

5) Rows are used to represent WBS Structure as shown in the Text Column to the right of the swimlane level cells.

6) Colors are assigned randomly in a round-robin fashion based on Activity Name as well.

Changing Task Bar Shape Representation

7) We now can change the representation of some of the task bars from task bar shapes to milestone symbols by right-clicking them and clicking the As milestone at finish option as shown below:

8) The chart below was produced by representing the actual activity task bar shapes as milestone symbols at their finish dates:

9) It is also possible to represent the tasks below the longest project level task bar as milestone symbols positioned at the start date using the same technique used in the previous illustration as shown below:

10) These charts can now be copied into Microsoft PowerPoint for delivery to your audience.

Creating a Multi-Project Chart from Individual Single-Project Oracle Primavera P6 XML or XER Files

This sub-section covers the method for making a single One Pager multi-project chart from multiple Oracle Primavera P6 exported files each containing single-project data in either XML or XER format.

For the purpose of this example, assume that there are two Oracle Primavera P6 projects called Project A and Project B and each was exported from Oracle Primavera P6 as separate XML formatted files. The steps for making a single OnePager Bundle chart from these two combined XML formatted files is discussed below.

Modifying the OnePager Template Properties Form for Creating Multi-Project Charts

OnePager depends on the OnePager created field called Object ID, calculated from fields in the XML or XER formatted source plan, to keep Activities coming from different source plan files from getting mixed up during subsequent updates of the multi-project source plan file produced from the separate Oracle Primavera P6 files imported to OnePager. This feature is controlled by a checkbox in the Advanced tab of the Template Properties and Chart Properties forms for Oracle Primavera P6. It is important to make sure this checkbox is checked ON before creating the multi-project chart or updating it. This part of the workflow is described here.

1) During the creation of the multi-project chart from the OnePager choices form, access the Template Properties form and navigate to the Advanced tab.

2) Assure that the Template Properties form type is Single Project Gantt Chart - Detailed or a Template Properties form of your own that is equivalent as used in this example shown below:

3) At the Advanced tab, check the Safely combine tasks from different files checkbox ON as shown above.

4) This setting allows you to import multiple individual Oracle Primavera P6 formatted source plans.

5) If you do not check this checkbox ON, OnePager may confuse activities from one Oracle Primavera P6 source plan with activities from another when the activities have the same Object ID.

Making a Single Chart from Multiple Oracle Primavera P6 Single XML or XER Source Plans

6) Launch OnePager and click the NEW button on the OnePager Bundle Start form to access the OnePager choices form in its abbreviated form. Use the top Select button on the OnePager choices form to access and select Project A as shown below:

7) At the end of this action the OnePager choices form looks like this with the Template Properties form set for the Single Project Gantt View – Detailed for Primavera and the name of the chart inserted into the Title of New Chart sub-control group of the form:

8) The next step is to add the second project, Project B, to the source packet. This is done by clicking the Add/Remove button in the Selected File(s) sub-control group of the form above which accesses the Data source selection form shown below:

9) To add the second project to the source packet, click the Add button on the Data source selection form which enables you to access other files that are either in the RECENT list or available through the BROWSE Primavera P6 Files … option as shown here:

10) Clicking the BROWSE Primavera P6 Files … command accesses the Open folder where you can select Project B as shown here:

11) Upon completion of the above action, Project B is added to the next row in the Data source selection form as shown below:

12) After you click OK on the Data source selection form, the OnePager choices form looks like this with both Project A and Project B shown in the Select File(s) sub-control group:

13) Finishing the workflow by clicking the Create new chart produces the following OnePager Bundle chart from Project A and Project B as shown here:

14) After the chart above is made, it can be edited to fit the needs of the schedule discussion and copied to Microsoft PowerPoint or transferred to another applications as needed.

Do Not Mix XML and XER Source Plan Files When Making Multiple-Project Charts

OnePager does not support the mixing of XML formatted source plans with XER formatted source plans when constructing multi-project source plan packets for import to OnePager. For example, if you attempt the steps outlined in the illustration below, OnePager show an error message and upon clicking OK on the OnePager Message form you are returned to the Data source selection form as shown here:

Creating and Managing Project Summary Tasks in Oracle Primavera P6 for Version 7.1

OnePager supports the representation of Project Summary Tasks for Oracle Primavera P6 source plans by providing a virtual task bar which spans the duration and computes the percent complete for the entire project. These Project Summary Tasks can be found by looking at a OnePager field called Project Summary, which is set to True/Yes for any activity that summarize at the project level.

If the Outline Level for an imported activity is equal to zero (0), the corresponding Project Summary value is set to True/Yes indicating that the imported activity is a Project Summary type activity. If the Outline Level for an imported activity is greater than zero (0), the corresponding Project Summary value is set to False/No, meaning that the activity is either a lower-level summary task, or simply an individual activity.

The Project Summary field is also available to use when making task selections when creating a NEW chart or when performing an UPDATE of an existing chart. Used this way, the Project Summary field can be used to control the import of just Outline Level zero (0) activity or activities whose Outline Level is greater than zero (0).

This sub-section provides an example of how the Project Summary field in OnePager can be used to create and manage OnePager charts that represent the highest summary level for multi-project source plans managed by Oracle Primavera P6.

Multi-Project Oracle Primavera P6 Example

Consider the Oracle Primavera P6 source plan shown below as a multi-project source plan which is used as the example source plan in this article:

The illustration shown above is a multi-project source plan made up of Project A and Project B each with multiple phases and activities. Creating a detailed OnePager chart from this source plan is described elsewhere. For our purpose here, the requirement is to create a chart that has a task bar for each of the two projects represented above.

Selecting Activities to Represent Project Summaries

Creating a NEW chart in OnePager requires launching OnePager Bundle Standalone from your desktop and selecting the NEW option from the OnePager Bundle Start form shown below:

Clicking the NEW button accesses the abbreviated OnePager choices form where you select the source plan for import to OnePager and other selections and options as discussed further below. The abbreviated OnePager choices form is shown below:

Selecting the Oracle Primavera P6 Source Plan

Going forward and selecting the Oracle Primavera P6 multi-project source plan using the Select… button shown above, expands the OnePager Choices form to look like this:

Selecting the Multi-Project Template Properties Form

As shown above, we need to access a multi-project Template Properties form since our intent is to produce a multi-project Summary chart. To do this, click on the Change… button in the Starting Template sub-control group which accesses a list of Template Properties form as shown below:

Naming the Multi-Project Chart

Upon completing the Template Properties form selection, continue on and enter the chart’s title in the Title of New Chart sub-control group’s text window. When that is done, the OnePager choices form looks like this:

Selecting Project Summary Tasks Using the Project Summary Field

At this point you are ready to make task selections using the one of the three options in the Task Selection sub-control group. The easiest way to do this is to click the Select task with ‘YES’ in field: radio button and click in the window to access the dropdown list as shown here:

Creating the Chart

Once you’ve selected the Project Summary option, you may change the snapshot date, if desired, and go ahead and click the Create new chart button. When this button is clicked, OnePager creates the multi-project chart that looks like this:

In the chart shown above, created from an XML formatted import from Oracle Primavera P6, OnePager has used the Project Summary field to create a task bar shape that covers the start to finish dates for Project A and Project B. OnePager also made the color selections based on the different project names. Additionally, using the XML formatted import’s data, OnePager calculated the Percent Complete value for each project.

To see this information in text form, adding text columns for Start Date, Finish Date, Percent Complete, provides visual conformation of this information in the chart as shown below:

Alternative Method for Selecting Project Summary Tasks

As an alternative means of selecting Project Summary Tasks for display in your OnePager chart, you can use the Conditional Import Rules feature. This can be done by using the Select task by custom filter radio button to access the Conditional Import Rules form as shown below:

Using the Conditional Import Rules form, create a rule using the Project Summary field in the Field column of the form and True/Yes in the Operator field as shown below:

Clicking the OK button on the Conditional Import Rules form and the Create new chart on the OnePager choices form creates the same chart as shown above.

For more detailed information on conditional import rules, please see the article at: Conditional Import Filters (Portal)

Related Links

How to Use Master MS Project Files and OnePager to Create Visuals of Separate MS Project Files

Making Multi-Project Graphs from Separate Microsoft project Plans

Using Oracle Primavera P6 Source Plans with OnePager

Basic Workflows (Portal)

Creating a NEW Chart via Pull Operation Feature

REPLACING a Snapshot via Pull Operation

ADDING a Snapshot via Pull Operation

Custom Update (Replacing) of a Snapshot via Pull Operation

Using the OnePager "Data" Tab's "Selected file(s)" Button

Conditional Import Filters (Portal)

Unlimited Field Mapping

Creating Various Multi-Project Charts with OnePager (Portal)

Managing Templates (Portal)

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