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Custom Data Item

8 replies [Last post]
Mon, 2006-09-18 13:27
Mohamed Thabet
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Hey Folks,

Am using Primavera since 4 years but still i dont know whats so special about CUSTOM DATA.

Anyone can tell me few examples of data where its best to use the Custom Data instead of Activity Codes, & why

Cheers,

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Replies

Wed, 2009-05-13 15:10
#1
mimoune djouallah
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Groups: Petro-Chem / Oil & Gas, Spider Project Team
mohamed, thank very much
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Wed, 2006-09-20 05:17
#2
John Lawson
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Joined: 6 Oct 2004
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Hi Mohamed

Nothing new about no drawing list - we have exactly the same problem on my current job, makes life very dificult, but that is life.

Regards

John
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Wed, 2006-09-20 05:06
#3
Mohamed Thabet
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Well John,

This is the same way am doin my programs, i just hate it when i have to change my program so often (adding new approval milestones ..etc) cos our engineering dept. head is not good enough to prepare a drawings list prior to start the job even if it was subject to revise.


Cheers Buddy
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Wed, 2006-09-20 04:08
#4
John Lawson
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Hi Mohamed,

Rather than just coding up the Custom Data Items.

I think I would use the technique of adding activities that highlight what has caused your delays and tie them into the logic, i.e. "Drawing final Issued without holds etc" , "RFI issued" etc.

So hopefully when these activities are built into your network and you scheduled, the effect will be to push your end date / milestones etc. You will also hopefully be able to see the effect they are having on your S’curve / Histograms etc.

If these activies don’t push the end date, then rather than go for a "delay", it may be worth considering trying for "disruption". I have found in the past some clients will fight a "delay" claim, but will quite happily discuss / agree costs etc for "disruption".

Regards

John
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Tue, 2006-09-19 07:36
#5
Mohamed Thabet
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Hey John,

I guess your point is: To better monitor the impact of the shop drawings / RFI’s etc we supposed to record the number of the document as per the tracking list spreadsheet & whenever we have a delay in approval (which is calculated based on the contract lag between submission & reply) we just filter the activities affected by that delay.

If thats the case, what if these activities were not a part of the crtitical path (they have positive TF even more than the delay of its shop drawing approval) but still it will be a reason for a delay of the whole project due to my resource leveling (delay of these activities will cause a resource overload somewhere else)

Whats the best way to claim that & prove it to the consultant / Client (as you know they always consider a delay from their side on an activity with a positive TF is not considered a delay for the whole project)

What am i supposed to print out & submit to them to prove my point ?
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Tue, 2006-09-19 05:29
#6
John Lawson
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Hi

I agree with Muhammd’s comments and add the following:

The Custon Data fields can be very useful in P3.

I use them to store general information such as CTR’s, Drawing Number, Orig. Manhours, Budget Costs, Target Dates etc.

You can "Filter" on them, but you cannot "Organize" using them.

As their as only be eight fields for activites and same for Costs, they need to be used sparingly.

Try checking out the P3 Help for more details.

(Note: the Custom Data Fields as access using: Data\Custom Data Item\)

Regards

John
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Tue, 2006-09-19 05:27
#7
Mohamed Thabet
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Hia Hashim,

well yea, using planned start & planned Finish as Target dates is usefull when you come to filter certain time period according to baseline plan.

But my concern is based on your experience working with custom data & using them to claim a certain delay in approvals from consultant / client, will it be helpfull to load drawing schedule / Procurement schedule / change orders list for each activity with expected / actual date submitted & expected / actual date approved on your program instead of having milestone for each step of approvals which is totally unclear when you start to prepare your program (i.e. Shop drawing list is not yet prepared by Design, you dont know for sure which set of activities will be dependant on the same drawing approval)

Am so confused, cos the way am working is to make a bar for shop drawing approvals for each trade / area (i.e. shop drawing approval for Block work Lev. 35) which consumes alot of time & effort & still not accurate when you apply SS lag as one shop drawing which is not approved out of 30 shop drawings for that group might hold all of the activities on site, so you might have that bar 90% completed but still you cant proceed with works on site, vice-versa you might have that bar of shop drawing approval 5% completed & you can proceed on site.

My way is not so efficient when it comes for Extension of time, you cant prove that due to the delay of the approval of one shop drawing out of 20 shop drawings set for 30 days, you had 30 days of actual delay on site.

Please advice

Cheers,



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Mon, 2006-09-18 23:22
#8
Hashim Muhammud
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hi Mohamed,

I think the name Custom Data itself explain for what it is. It is for the end user, to use it for any of the custom purposes. Its like any other data you have for each activities (OD, TF). But this one is made by you, and you can decide the type of data to be stored (dates, numbers, text). Once you made it u can assign it through the table view or through the appropriate form. Also you can use global change for the purpose. (check primavera help to explore more)

Now, one of the practical examples i found is, suppose you have a schedule with a target attached to it. You want to filter a one month look ahead as per the target ealry start and target early finish (not with the current dates). If you see in the filter box, you will not find target early start or target early finish. So, what we can do is to make two new custom data items namely PLST & PLFN (one as a start date and another as a finish date). Using global change u can assign the target early start to PLST and target early finish to PLFN. Now, u can get these values in the filter box, so u can do the mentioned filter.

NOTE: Please note that the above mentioned custom datas may be already created for you by primavera, because i found them coming by default in P3.

cheers
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