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Primavera is not User’s Friendly tools, Ms project is..

14 replies [Last post]
Wed, 2005-08-24 00:28
ulysses garcia
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It is very sad to say that a lot of planners are much confused in using the primavera software and consuming their most time and effort in mastering the tools wherein fact, the important issues in project management has been forgotten. examples...

1. Do the activity sequence you made are realistic
2. Do site people understand the schedule
3. Do you have enough site experience before bieng a planner
3. Do you control accomplishment and activities on site as it is scheduled
4. Do you have enough time to communicate to the people doing the job
5. Do you have a reasonable resources to do the work

My point here is . why not we directly contact the primavera software company to improve thier tools and to make it simplier and users friendly.
If you have some hardship to use primavera why not you change your tools in microsoft project? Some famous companies were already shifting to Ms Project for some reasons.. it is users friendly tools and practicable to used.

any comments please..

Reagards, ]

ULY
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Replies

Tue, 2005-08-30 09:32
#1
Sean Magee
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ulysses

Having used both packages on larger projects I have found that P3 wins hands down every time. Yes P3 can be time consuming sometimes but time spent learning the package is time well spent. Far too many times I receive on my desk MSP projects from people proclaiming to use is correctly.
When you look further into the detail provided by them the package is being used to produce barchart with very little thought or effort being put into it. Planning can be very under valued with people thinking the the production of a barchart is as far as it goes. The ease of use that MSP offers is no more than window dressing.
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Tue, 2005-08-30 08:43
#2
Bill Guthrie
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Amen roland, well said. this should cut the thread.

cheers bill
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Tue, 2005-08-30 08:09
#3
Rolyn Jalea
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hi uly,

it seems you have a hard time in using P3. i have read in one of the threads that you are saying that P3 needs improvement... IMO you yourself has a problem, not the software, I agree with you in saying that P3 is not as user freindly as MS Project. But as a planner, I believe that you must use the best possible tool in the market today (i.e. as long as your company can buy it). Yes, MS Project is very user friendly, but my question is, are you satisfied with the outcome of your programme? Can you create multi-report with flexibility? Just as a basis, right now I am working with more than 50,000 activities with 7 sub-projects. We have 20 sub-contractors which gives us their reports twice a month for our update. Then every month end, I have to prepare monthly valuation using report writer as our top sheet. now tell me, can you do this with MSP with ease? With P3, all you need is give your sub-contractor P3 Post Office to update, then that’s it, when they return it to you, you can load it directly to your system and within few minutes you can generate your report. I know it very hard to learn & master P3, but if you are interested enough you can master that in time.

cheers!!!

Rolyn
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Mon, 2005-08-29 01:31
#4
Se de Leon
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Hi Uly,

User friendly?

It’s a very subjective. Being a surgeon is quite a difficult job. But a doctor who studies and practice his stuff very well, operates a patient very easily because he knows his job.

It’s the same thing with softwares. Learn P3 first then go back to this thread then prove your point that MS Project is better than P3. It’s very unfair comparing two things if you don’t know what the other can do or can not do.

Sigfred
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Sun, 2005-08-28 04:09
#5
Shahzad Munawar
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Although P3 have some deficiencies but anyhow, more powerful planning tool than MS.
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Sun, 2005-08-28 02:22
#6
Charleston-Joseph...
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Uly,

I hope you know how to play chess. In chess, players think when they move a piece. They make look ahead scenarios (sometime 10 moves advance with different combination) and they are flexible in planning the next move, after evaluating the opponent movement of pieces. In mid-game, they pause an re-evaluated their positions and at this stage, they know how the game will end.

It is the same with Primavera. You will not experience this if you only have three months of Primavera experience and quit using Primavera.

On the other hand, if you dont play chess, then the above is meaningless to you.

My experience with Primavera is rewarding since I was able to connect with the game of chess, my favorite game. In conclusion, Primavera is a user friendly tools for chess lovers while other software .... no comment.

The above is only my opinion based on my experience.

Cheers

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Sat, 2005-08-27 06:02
#7
Bill Guthrie
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ulysses

Your statement has zit credibility.

Try to manage a 10k activity schedule with multi contractors and multi areas in msp (mighty sorry program) and see how long you last.

Primavera is a tool for the Masters, who after learning it use it as a tool, to successifully manage complex projects.

MSP is a mickey mouse program thats good for small high level stuff, like a engineering overview, etc. or building a house, provided its not too large.

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Sat, 2005-08-27 05:35
#8
Sunil Kumar
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Trust all the senior planners take a note of Ulyses’s comments have their recruitments done accordingly rather than going into some strange P3 questionaires where the tools will be rarely used while programming....
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Thu, 2005-08-25 05:41
#9
Raj Maurya
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I agree with Charlston. If you ask with experienced planner who knows/inderstands about project complexity and it’s analysis to meet the target, most of then prefers Primavera(P3). MSP can also be used up to some extent in case Management force to use.
There are some limitation with P3 in editing and not very good looking report but it gives desired result better than MSP.
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Thu, 2005-08-25 01:13
#10
Charleston-Joseph...
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Hello,

MSP is easy to use and because it is easy you feel comfortable that you have done the best ever planning in your life.

But in the long run, you will be constraint by MSP limitation. At the end of the day you will start to look for software that give meaning to planning.

On the other hand, P3 needs serious thinking in the way you defnine Work breakdown straacture, Activity Codes, Activity ID,etc. During the development stage of the schedule, you decide what effectove view you want your project management to look into, how to define your cost accounts, resources, what reports you want to generate etc, etc,

There is alway a reason behind every steps you made in P3. And that reason will help you reach your goal with regards to your schedule and as a professional planner.

In the long run, the initial hardship you invest in developiing schedule using P3 will be worth it since you will have a schedule that will be easy to manage at the same time you will have a schedule that is giving you reliable information.

I might not be able to express the true advantage of P3, the point is the short term gain in using MSP is a disadvantage in the long run and you will come to know that MSP is not really a user friendly tools.

Cheers, there is still time to switch back to P3
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Wed, 2005-08-24 23:50
#11
Zhang Haixiang
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If you say P3 batch is not user friendly, I agree.
For P3 and MS-project, both of them are user friendly.
You think it is not good,because you don’t know how to use it
May be it’s easy to learn the basic function of MSP than P3.
But for advanced functions,both of them take time to learn.

a lot of MSP users just use it as a tool to draw bar chart.
Do they really understand fixed unit/fixed work/effect driven...,how to update progress, how to use resource, how to use date constrain, resource pool,sub-poject, status date ... all these take time to learn and practice

diffrent projects may use different scheduling tools, some time excel, some time P3... open plan ..., to be a good planner,why not try them

to be honest,MSP and P3 are all good scheduling tool,but i like P3.
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Wed, 2005-08-24 04:56
#12
Roberto Jr Bustos
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Hi, just want u to know that i respect your view on the matter.

Actually, all depends on the output you’re getting from the two software. Which output can help you most or which can give you something to based your decision.

P3 and MSP have only one objective, to help us execute the project thru network diagrams. By this, even if the project is not yet starting, you can already see the probable result after execution.

Based on my observation, working on a small to medium scale programme, both can be the same.

The only difference is if you started working with more that 50,000 activities with numerous subprojects. (In fact P3 can only show us 32000 activities in one filter).

For me, P3 have the clear edge in managing the layouts, filters, how you organize your activites, etc. Or shall we say, it is very flexible, you can change the orders of organizations.

That is just on the layouts. As you go on the resource management, report generation, monitoring actuals and productivities, etc; you will slowly see the difference.

You cant tell the difference unless you tried using both at the deepest extent of programming and managing.

My recommendation is try to understand and appreciate P3’s functions, dont let P3 try to understand us. Later on, you’ll see the big difference:)

Hope you’ll try, I assure you, you’ll see which will satisfy your needs. Peace brother!!!
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Wed, 2005-08-24 01:49
#13
Raja Izat Raja Ib...
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Hi,
This I my opinion,
1.Everything that what I use could help, I call "User Friendly".
2.Planner could not forgotten all 5 project management that u stated ... unless he/she very new or from other type career / industries.
3.regarding some famous company going to use MSP... not relevan at all....
i.Maybe because difficult to find P3 user
ii.P3 very costly.
iii.the company try to compare MSP vs P3 or to use for small project.

regards

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Wed, 2005-08-24 01:25
#14
Steve Craine
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Hi Uly

Primavera have working / user groups setup all over the globe, why not join one of those to air your views and concerns. Most people have a personal preference as to which tool they prefer to work with, myself I think its a "horse`s for cources rule of thumb" and really depends on the kind of project your working on. Try to use a few of the planning tools that are on the market. It all builds up your experience and skill and hopefully the the amount of money you get for your skills.
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