Leveraging P6 and Unifier combined strengths - Oracle Primavera P6 Collaborate 14
Transcript of Leveraging P6 and Unifier combined strengths - Oracle Primavera P6 Collaborate 14
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Leveraging P6 and Unifier Combined Strengths
Prepared by: Dennis D. Lane, PMP Principal Consultant Accelerated PM LLC
Exploring the Situations and Environments where P6 and Unifier Provide a Beneficial Combined Effect
Session ID#: 15456
About the Presenters
■ Dennis Lane ▪ Career dedicated to Project, Program, and Portfolio Project
Management- 35 years and continuing for many more ▪ Creating Effective PM Systems for Organizations and People ▪ PMP #226 (1987- second time exam was ever administered) ▪ Planned, Agile, Critical Chain among other methods ▪ Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Accelerated PM LLC
■ Lelon Ginn ▪ Career Naval Officer, focused on Project and Program
Management ▪ Seven years with Accelerated PM, LLC, specializing in EPPM
Implementations and Process Development
Some of the things about Unifier that intrigue me as a traditional P6 user
■ Unifier’s Building Blocks Provide Tremendous Potential
▪ Shell Concept can be applied to model many business organizations- Determines Structure for Business and Projects
▪ Business Process & Workflow- Very Capable and Adaptable
▪ Document Control and Flow with AutoVue
▪ Integration ready with other business systems (Web Services)
▪ Flexibility on Cash and Cost Side
Current Positioning of the Products in the Oracle Literature
■ Capital Planning ■ Cost Management ■ Project Delivery
Management
■ Project Portfolios ■ Prioritizing ■ Planning ■ Scheduling ■ Resource Utilization ■ Resource Capacity
Management ■ Evaluating Progress and
Critical Work ■ Risk Management
Unifier P6
Perspective for Exploring the Benefits ■ Strong Business Background (Practitioner)
▪ Establishing Repeatable and Reliable Project Management for Large Companies (since 1990’s and continuing)
■ Early Adopter- PMP #226 (1st 0.04% of PMP’s)
■ Vision plus Process, People, Tools and Knowledge
■ Tools should Serve the Business Processes
Perspective for Exploring the Benefits (Cont’d) ■ Implemented EPPM before P6 existed
▪ Became advocate of P6 (P3e/TeamPlay) in 2000
▪ 1st Architecture that truly looked capable of Enterprise Level PM
■ Successful Implementation Experiences with P6; not 100%
■ Spent Several Months with Unifier Experts Implementing a Combined Unifier/P6 Deployment for a Specific Client in 2013
■ Other Clients with P6 & Unifier Underway
Sense of Competition between Loyalists
■ We’ve Been Competitors in the Past
■ P6 Emerged as the Market Leader in EPPM since 2000
■ Skire (now Primavera Unifier) Commanded Attention 2011-12
■ Acquired by Oracle in July 2012; Placed within PGBU
■ Both Products are Quite Good, but are Very Different
■ Combined Capabilities Exceed Either Product Alone - When Jointly Implemented
▪ Lead Product Depends on How Business Wants to Operate
Sense of Opportunity from the Top
Unifier-biased ▪ Initiate Projects* ▪ Capital Planning* ▪ Capital Funding* ▪ Change Management* ▪ Manage and Operate
Facilities ▪ Cost Control*
* Can be performed well in either product
P6-biased ▪ Manage Resources and
Capacities* ▪ Manage Risks* ▪ Prioritize Projects* ▪ Plan and Schedule* ▪ Scope Completion*
Deliver a Comprehensive Enterprise Project Portfolio Management Platform throughout entire Life Cycle
Structure/Orientation of Products
■ Business Processes ■ Actionable Workflows ■ Document Management and
Storage ■ Forms ■ Tasks (Actions) ■ Due Dates ■ Cost Sheets ■ Schedule Sheets ■ Concept of Shells ■ Data Definition allows
unlimited attribute and data fields
■ EPS ■ OBS ■ Projects ■ WBS ■ Activities & Steps
▪ Durations, Logic, Units
■ Resource Assignments ▪ Cost Account Codes
■ Risks and Issues ■ Codes and User Defined ■ BPM and Webcenter Content
or SharePoint
Unifier P6
The ‘Feel’ of Products
■ Significantly tailored and configured per company
■ Requirements gathered through “User Stories” and roles of users to do what needs to be done
■ Architecture varies based on how the Shells are configured
■ Unifier has a less mature look and feel with respect to P6 ▪ Much newer product in
marketplace; makes sense
■ Easy to see Companies’ Projects, Business Units, Resources, Workload, Costs, Schedule
■ CPM- Logically oriented activities with durations, units/time, and units
■ Structure is “repeatable” from company to company ▪ You know what to expect
■ Less Flexible than Unifier; but quite adaptable
Unifier P6
The Users and Roles for the Products
■ Once configured, Users become familiar with their part of the project world
■ Users are inside browser with standard look and feel- Left, Right Top, Right Bottom
■ Drill in to get to the place for operating day-to-day tasks
■ Users basically address what they need to on the project ▪ Helps move work along
■ Unifier brings what is important now to the surface
■ Data is built by templates (or manually)-tuned by Master Planners and Schedulers (Super Users)
■ The update process and reschedule is a significant event on a periodic cycle
■ Revised latest plans are product of Updates
■ Scope Changes are handled through baseline changes to plans
Unifier P6
Complexity of Situation
■ Unifier User Interface not as advanced as P6
■ Both Products Roll-up and Summarize Data for Executives, but differently
■ Both Products Provide significant Project Data, but focus differently on how things are done
Complexity of Situation
■ P6 uses BPM, Webcenter Content, and BIP as primary support tools
■ P6 under major transition toward web for users ▪ Product development ahead of user transition
■ Both Products are Integration-friendly and use web services
■ Unifier’s workflow and business process engine quite strong and flexible to support a multitude of business needs
Establishing a Strategy
Knowing Your Business Objectives Understanding How the Tools Fit Together Setting Realistic Expectations
Knowing Your Business Objectives ■ What is your business case for using EPPM?
■ Where is your company in the Current Level of Maturity?
■ What Problems are Being Solved?
■ What Opportunities are being Seized? Gains?
■ Considering a Phased or Release-Based Approach?
■ Sometimes a Major and Quick Transition is Best
■ Is the Business Case well Understood and Justified?
■ Tradeoffs between P6, Unifier, or Combined
Strategy to Address Business Needs ■ How are the products best implemented together?
▪ Using P6 as Lead and Support with Unifier?
— Work plans, Resource-Loaded Schedules, Intuitive Enterprise Look
— Workflow, Contract Management, Documentation via Unifier
▪ Using Unifier as Lead and Support with P6?
— Maximize use of integration with other systems, workflow, business processes and document management
— May diminish many advantages of P6 and use very limited functionality
Strategy to Address Business Needs ■ How are the products best implemented together? (Cont’d)
▪ Balance the two?
— Difficult business challenge to plan implementation
▪ Don’t mix them?
— Missing major opportunities to leverage the two
▪ Further Develop a more Unified Product that combines best of both and fills any gaps
Example of an Implementation Experience ■ Company was Capital Projects Oriented in Utility Industry
■ Current Level of Maturity ▪ Getting the job done but business volume increasing
▪ MS Project for Scheduling; Multiple Systems and Some Non-centralized Homemade Databases and Reports
■ Unifier Lead; P6 in Supporting Role
Example of an Implementation Experience (Cont’d) ■ Gathered Business Needs and Requirements
▪ Financial Management and Cash Flow Projections in Unifier driven by dates maintained and Updated in P6 schedules
▪ Top Priority: Integrating Cost (Unifier) to Schedule (P6)
■ Observation: Felt like we were leaving a tremendous amount of P6 Capability untapped; but it was just Phase 1 ▪ P6-good visibility to the Company’s Projects and Structure
▪ Simplistic use of the scheduling and resource planning
Example of #2 Implementation Experience ■ Company operates on Annual Budgets
■ Current Level of Maturity ▪ Getting the job done; business volume increasing
▪ OPM3 Level is Low
■ Unifier Implemented prior to P6
■ Long Range Potential Gain is Significant
■ More to follow
Key Drivers for Solution Architecture
■ What kind of project environment exists in my company
■ Do I oversee a set of projects and funding used to outsource most of the work?
■ Do I execute the project work with combined internal and external resources?
■ Do we work to a plan that needs visibility or just collaborate through work flowing through the organization via tasks and approvals?
■ What happens if a project overruns? Will we even know it?
■ Do we make or lose money based on project performance?
■ What is sacrificed in Capital Projects if we slip or finish over or under budget?
■ Is the company’s work construction- or facilities-related? Are the projects capital investments or primary revenue generators?
Reducing the Complexity of Situation and/or Broaden the Goals ■ Using P6 as Lead and Support with Unifier ■ Using Unifier as Lead and Support with P6 ■ Balance the two? ■ Don’t mix them? ■ Look Ahead at Possibilities as the Products Advance Together
Examples Favoring P6 as Lead Product ■ Projects are large and complex and depend on meeting
schedule through effective resource utilization
■ Work is performed using internal resources that contribute to the product of the projects
■ Change Management and Baseline Change Control are required internally or by your client
■ Costs are derived from Resource Hours and Material Expenditures; Some subcontracting, but not entire project
Examples Favoring P6 as Lead Product (Cont’d) ■ Project Manager is well defined and accountable
■ Work is Performed in a Matrix Organization
■ Work Breakdown Structure is a normal term
■ Control Accounts are used; Variance Reporting is Required
■ The Project is Unique for the Company with Major Consequences or Benefits
■ A Detailed Work Plan and Schedule are used frequently to communicate work to the team
Examples Favoring Unifier as Lead Product
■ Projects are Capital Expenses with Annual Budgets that Govern ▪ Scope is Freely Pushed Into and Out of the Project
— Depending on how other projects are spending cash
■ Work is performed using mostly External Resources; Our Leverage with the Team is mainly through Contracts
■ Change Management and RFI’s are frequent and must be addressed to expedite the project
Examples Favoring Unifier as Lead Product
■ Costs are derived from invoices and commitments; Internal costs are relatively small compared to the size of the overall project
■ Project Manager is passive and tracks progress indirectly
■ Complex Cash Flow Situations based on information from other business Systems
Both Products are Quite Robust and Integrate well with Other Business Systems ■ EPPM like structure
▪ Hierarchical and Rolls Up
■ Grouping, Sorting, and Filtering
■ Excellent data structures for BI Publisher and Analytical Reporting
■ Data Fields Configurable
■ Integrate through web services and mapping tools
■ Workflow, Approvals, Routing ▪ Email updates
▪ Mobile Apps
▪ Web based products
Having ONE Place to Work? or Do We Transition between portals/apps? ■ Who uses what? Jumping around between systems feels
awkward. ■ Roles and Participation
▪ Hands on contributors may settle into one side or the other for most of their day-to-day work
▪ Executives or Program Managers may need to access information in both systems, viewed according to need
Oracle is Mapping the Two Products- Many Decisions ■ Point-to-Point Approach for Integration
▪ Likely not sufficient and leads to complexity in many cases
■ Hub and Spoke
■ SOA (Services Oriented Architecture)
■ Primavera Gateway
■ Recommend Attending Primavera Roadmap Sessions on P6, Unifier, Primavera Integrations ▪ Beyond Scope of this Session
Activities in P6 with CBS Code from Unifier Cost Breakdown Code defined in Unifier
Job Services- Send Data to Unifier from P6
The WBS and the CBS (work-scope and cost)
■ The concept of P6 (and Project Management in general) for WBS is somewhat universal
■ Unifier’s CBS is one connecting point and the two do not serve the same purpose in many cases ▪ Caution in this area is advised from a practitioner’s perspective
▪ Currently, Cost Codes in Unifier map to Activities in P6
Examples of How We Might Interrelate across the Products ■ Project or WBS in P6
▪ Show me all of the PO’s and Line Items by a level in the Work Breakdown Structure
▪ Tell me whether invoices were submitted, approved, paid, etc.
■ Across Projects ▪ Show me all of the Contracts or PO’s that a Responsible Person
(OBS in P6) has in an Open status
■ Earned Value for Contractor that serves Multiple Projects
■ Show me the resource histogram for a group along with the workflow item history and length of time to cycle
Examples of How We Might Interrelate across the Products (Cont’d) ■ Create a Business Process with Workflow that iteratively
builds a schedule for a complex project in P6 (through the Control Accounts, WBS or Work Packages)
■ Provide a comprehensive Multi-Project Status report that derives info from P6, Unifier, Analytics, and BI Publisher ▪ How our business segment is performing plus plans ahead
■ Control a Project Document such as Baseline Change Log and relate it to the work-plan changes in P6 as approved
■ Show all of the Projects in our business being managed by Agile PM and display the stages (Sprint #, etc.)
Examples of How We Might Interrelate across the Products- continued ■ Show the Resource Usage across the Agile Projects (or
filtered subset)
■ What are the top 10 risks that our company is currently monitoring across the Portfolio of Projects; Show the risk management actions that have occurred on these items
■ How many Major Projects have NOT used the Company Standard Risk Assessment Process
■ Which groups do not plan their work very well?
■ Let’s look at the action items and minutes from the last meeting, while we discuss the critical path on the schedule ▪ Who modified these minutes from the last meeting?
Knowing Where Your Business Fits ■ Either System, P6 or Unifier, is significant Investment & ROI
■ Should Our Business Take Smaller Steps? ▪ Combining the tools can be done sequentially, but requires a
strategy up front
■ Back to the Business Purpose and Business Case
■ Lead or Follow Trend?
■ Star Wars: Yoda- “Do or Do Not, there is No Try”
Knowing What is Realistic to Expect
■ Involving experts from the beginning
■ Objectivity and timely, but informed, decisions
■ Even with the supporting expertise, how fast can our business change? ▪ We are often asked for aggressive schedules in implementing
EPPM Systems
▪ More appropriately, How Fast Can Your Business Transition?
Knowing What is Realistic to Expect (Cont’d) ■ Recommend Using a Strategy, Plan, and Measure Success
Along the Way ▪ Often Bad News is Good in the Early Stages
— You don’t want to wait to find out where problems exists
▪ Management Decisions Always Lie in the Future
■ Once You Make the Transition, Likely Have a Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Summary
■ Unifier Adds Robust Capital Project Management
■ Unifier Adds Strong Contract Management Capabilities ▪ Surpasses capabilities of PCM with ease
■ Oracle Primavera Roadmaps
■ Oracle Leads in Technology Development ▪ Since Primavera Acquired; Challenging to Keep Up!
■ User Community Feedback and Suggestions
Conclusion ■ Endeavor to understand the best way to leverage the two
products: intended to have succinct answers by now ▪ 35 years in enterprise project management in many arenas
▪ In depth P6 applied knowledge, including technical side
▪ Immersed in Unifier/P6 Implementation
▪ Deep Dive into Unifier
▪ More than a year in understanding the combined scenario
Conclusion (continued) ■ In reality, more new questions than answers at this point
■ However, we trust in the power of creativity and capability in the significant Business and User Communities
■ Oracle has one of the Strongest Product Development Teams in the World; The Product Roadmaps are in Tune with Where We Need to Go. We are confident of a leveraged solution to surpasses either product alone for complex businesses
Contact Info
■ Accelerated PM LLC ▪ Platinum Partner Specialized in EPPM
— Implementation, Training, Project Controls, and Technical Services; APM serves across all industries
▪ POC: Mike Tippet- [email protected] 847.893.6779
■ Dennis Lane- [email protected] ▪ Managing Partner 260.633.0945
■ Lelon Ginn- [email protected]
▪ Sr. Implementation Consultant 940.368.4553