Post on 12-Oct-2018
Mass Migration: Moving from Primavera P3
to Primavera P6 in Record Time
Mike Tecza, WTP-Manager of Scheduling, Bechtel National, Inc.
Steve Mauss, President & CEO, Knowledge Relay
• P3 is going away – It’s time to migrate – Technology issue AND a mindset issue
– Enterprises see huge value in data migration and business
intelligence (BI)
– Migrating from P3 to P6 (and beyond) is a natural progression.
• No man is an island… – Variety of applications and
processes to sync up
• Vendor-supplied
• Home-grown
The Case:
• People aren’t perfect… Neither is data – Lots of users… Data entered over time
becomes complex
– Isolated P3 projects need to be migrated into
one nice, neat EPS in P6
– Data quality matters more than…
• How good the user interface is
• How powerful the reporting engine is, etc.
• Ever!
– Many companies have several versions of the same project that
must not only be migrated, but maintained and synced
The Case:
• The right information into the right hands (in the
right format) at the right time is key – P3 has a great reporting engine… Functionality must be
maintained
– In an enterprise environment, there are more sources of data
than just project-related information
• Cost/earned-value
• Home-grown
• ERP
– Synchronized, correlated, and
automatically distributed data is vital
to making timely, accurate decisions. ($$$)
The Case:
• Get the right people in the room – and
brainstorm – Mix of in-house specialists, consultants, and vendors. You need:
• Project Manager
• Data migration/ETL specialist
• P3 user(s)
• P6 expert
• Programmer(s)
• Application specialists (home-grown, ERP, etc.)
• DBA(s)
– Never underestimate the power of a whiteboard
– Don’t be afraid of competing ideas, or the evolution of ideas
The Approach:
• One example – How we did it
– Needs
• Move a single P3 Master Project into multiple P6 Projects
• Readjust/reassign complex hierarchical codes during
migration, and do so while maintaining them between the
cost processor and each P6 project
• Since P6 Import creates multiple Global and Resource
calendars, assign correct calendars to Activities and
Resources, and remove duplicates
• Correct activity relationships according to Best PM practices
The Resolution:
• One Example – How we did it (cont.)
– Needs
• Create update process to maintain P3 and P6 data during
validation transition period (Parallel Operations)
• Concatenate P3 Logs into single P6 Notebook entry
• Convert Project Activity Codes to GAC Codes, and reassign
errant activities to the proper GAC codes
• Make data fixes to align P3 and P6 logic, according to pre-
defined business rules
• Incorporate cost data from separate application
The Resolution:
*
*
* *
File Folder
Functional Update Folder
• Daily Updates
• Trends
• BCPs
C560 Validation
File (Central)
IN THE BEGINNING: P3.1 SCHEDULE NETWORK PROCESS & CONTROL
Schedule Integration & Production
File Folders
Copy of master, updated daily
• Available to status,
forecast, etc.
• Source of batch
generation
C560 6.1
C560 3.1 MASTER
Central
Scheduling
IPTs
File Folders
Copy of master,
updated daily
ENG
CONST
PROC SU 2
3
4
1
*
*
* *
C560 Validation
File (Central) C560 6.1
C560 3.1 MASTER
Central
Scheduling
ENG
CONST
PROC SU 2
3
4
1 “PARALLEL OPERATION”
P3.1 – P6.1
• Direct updates, no conversion
• All P3 data matched 1/1 with P6
• Corrects as it updates
• Inter-project tie creation
• Log-note updated in sequence
• TIME SAVINGS During Validation Period
Schedule Integration & Production
• siP6 Quality Checker
– Validates inputs within customer-defined rules set
– Runs on demand, or automatically
– siBCP Baseline Change Proposal Refresher
– Constant sync of master schedule with change proposals
– Field-level selection of data to sync
– Changes are approved, then updated back to master schedule
automatically
Helper applications Quality
Control
P6 Master P6 Working
P6 Master
The Results…
• Smooth, clean, and quick migration/upgrade
– 16 hours to 4 hours, data is validated along the way
• Parallel processing
• Integration of data from other sources
• Rapid implementation of BCPs
• Enhanced reporting and decision support
• Automated processing and distribution
The Benefits…
• It’s time to move up
• Validate, change, and correct as you upgrade
• Include multiple sources of data (cost, etc.)
• Run in parallel; sync up P3 and P6 on the fly
• Retain all your P3-level reporting; even enhance it
• Achieve more than just a migration
– Enhanced enterprise solution with buy-in from everyone
P6 P3 ETL
External Sources
Summary
Further details are available:
– Knowledge Relay: Steve Mauss, steven.mauss@knowledgerelay.com
Thank You!