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Primavera 5 to 6 upgrade

8 replies [Last post]
Wed, 2007-12-05 09:23
James Shimmon
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All,
Would appreciate if someone could tell me the main advantages/additonal features and the disadvantages if there are any of using Primavera 6 as opposed to 5. We work on a Citrix networked server running v5 and are looking at getting a standalone server, was wondering if we should go for v6 on the standalone our keep with v5.
Cheers

Shimmo
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Replies

Mon, 2007-12-10 07:38
#1
Gordon Blair
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to a certain degree, it’ll be Primavera covering themselves.

They don’t want people calling to complain about a 3 hour wait to schedule the programme, so they give a beefy spec to ensure those that are running big jobs will have either a) a quick enough system to handle the calcs, or b) a below-spec system - not Primavera’s fault.

This is quite a common balancing act, often down to negaotiation between marketing and the geeks... Marketing want the spec as low as possible, so as not to scare off potential punters, the geeks want it as high as possible for the reasons given in para 2.
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Mon, 2007-12-10 05:03
#2
Dieter Wambach
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Groups: Petro-Chem / Oil & Gas, TILOS
Sorry Paul
I didn’t properly read your first line.
We upgraded to P6 mid of September and since then are working in a productive environment with the configuration described before. For us there is no need to change it.
This might be different if your projects exceed 50,000 activities.
Regards
Dieter
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Mon, 2007-12-10 04:51
#3
Paul Harris
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They are not my technical requirements they are Primavera’s. I am only reading what is written on page 16 of the Primavera Administration Guide. I am quite happy to email you a copy of this page, but the text below is a cut and paste from this guide.

I also think that many people would like to know what Primavera 6.0 will actually run on and it would be great is other people could share their experiences when running on lower specs than the recommended.

Paul E Harris
Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia
Planning and Scheduling Training Manual & Book Publishers & Consulting
www.eh.com.au
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Mon, 2007-12-10 04:42
#4
Dieter Wambach
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Groups: Petro-Chem / Oil & Gas, TILOS
Hi Paul
For one item I can’t follow your technical requirements. We have PC with 1.86GHz which is absolutely sufficient.´
More important for my impression is memory: As MS SQL-server is very demanding for memory we equipped all PC with 2GB. Even more important seems a good graphic card. Otherwise scrolling - especially with relationships displayed - becomes very slow for bigger projects.
Regards
Dieter
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Mon, 2007-12-10 04:24
#5
James Shimmon
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Cheers Paul,
Wasn’t aware of the very high PC tech spec needed. I don’t think our business case for V6 would get the go ahead if we also tell them we all need new PC’s!!

Shimmo
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Thu, 2007-12-06 08:30
#6
Paul Harris
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Ensure your hardware and operating system will run it. Check page 16 of the Primavera Version 6.0 Administration Manual, these requirements are quite high:

Supported Platforms for Primavera Client modules (Project Management, Methodology Management, Primavera’s Web Application)
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional (SP4)
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional (SP2)
- Microsoft Windows Vista Business Edition
- Citrix Presentation Server 4
The Software Development Kit (SDK) can be installed on any Windows 2003 (SP1 or SP2), Windows Vista Business Edition or Windows XP (SP2) computer. System requirements will vary depending on the requirements of the module that uses the SDK to integrate with Primavera databases.

Minimum Client ConfigurationsF or clients running the Project Management and Methodology Management modules
- 1 x 2.8 GHz or higher Intel processor (most new average laptops are 1.6 to 1.9)
- 1 GB of available RAM or more (that probably means you need 2 installed depending what else you are running at the same time)
- If installing standalone modules, 575 MB of available hard-disk space for supporting software, including .NET and SQL Server 2005 Express with Advanced Services (SP2). If upgrading from a prior release, an additional 40MB of available hard-disk space per module.
- If installing the Project Management module, 185 MB of additional hard-disk space
- If installing the Methodology Management module, 45 MB of additional hard-disk space
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 (SP2) or 7
- TCP/IP network protocol

There is a big difference between the new functions available in the client server version and the web access.

Paul E Harris
Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia
Planning and Scheduling Training Manual & Book Publishers & Consulting
www.eh.com.au
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Wed, 2007-12-05 09:54
#7
James Shimmon
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Cheers pal, pretty comprehensive list, will show it to the powers that be.
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Wed, 2007-12-05 09:50
#8
Johny Kesserwany
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Joined: 18 Sep 2007
Posts: 118
Groups: Civil Engineering
As per Primavera, P6 Top New Features:

Scheduling
►Future period bucket planning
►Display or suppress grouping band totals
►Narrow & wide setting for grouping bands
►Search in pop-up dialogs (Easy to use)
►Type-ahead in dropdowns (Easy to use)
►New options for saving screens & layouts (Easy to use)

•Expand and collapse
•Adjust row heights
•Box positions & zoom factor in chart views

►Project specific layouts and filters (Easy to use)
►Filters saved & exported with layouts (Easy to use)
►Improved Copy Project (Easy to use)

•Baselines
•Layouts
•Filters
►Reflection (Improved What If Analysis) (Easy to use)
•Retain baselines
•Retain timesheets

►Import and export project includes project specific layouts, filters and baselines (Easy to use) Post 6.0
►Granular import security maintains global dictionaries (Easy to use)
►Approval of activity status changes made by team members
Web Project Management
►New user interface & navigation (Easy to use)
•Import from Excel, schedule and baseline support
►Interactive web based Gantt chart
•Drag and drop activities
•Draw relationships
•Adjust durations
•Inline data entry

►Add, delete, and modify WBS
►Automatic date and duration calculations
►Progress Spotlight (Easy to use)
►Interactive columns

•Select columns to be displayed
•Adjust column widths
•Change column order
►Grouping of activities
•Group by activity
•Format band
►Interactive timescale
•Customize display intervals
•Auto size to see entire duration of project (Easy to use)
•Snap to see current activity (Easy to use)

►Basic bar formatting
►Customize filters
►Save views
►Easy to print
►Create new projects quickly (Easy to use)
Subcontractor Management
►New web user interface & navigation (Easy to use)
►Ability to update activity status for approval by planner
►Resource calendar portlets (Easy to use)
►Bookmark most recently visited pages (Easy to use)

Portfolio and Program Management
►New user interface & navigation (Easy to use)
►Subscription-based graphical dashboards available

•Multiple dashboards
•New graphics
•Advanced printing support

►Multiple portfolio scorecards & views
►Publish scorecards & graphics to dashboards
►40+ new stoplight indicators (Easy to use)
►Create new projects using Excel-like interface
►View portfolio/program level cost worksheet summary data from Contract Manager
►Side by side comparison of portfolios
►What-if scenario modelling

•Save, recall, and share scenarios (Easy to use)
•Waterline analysis & optimization
•Resource capacity analysis with interactive Gantt chart
►Export to Excel
Resource Management
►Top down planning of resources & roles
►Plan at all levels of the WBS
►Excel-like formatting and data entry (Easy to use)

•Cut, copy, and paste
•Fill-over functionality
•Configurable spreadsheet columns

►Organize by resource or role team
►Assign by percentage (%)
►Assign projects directly to resources or roles
►Rollup data live to the portfolio level
►Automatic summarization of resource planning data
Timesheets
►ADA Section 508 compliance for timesheets
►Save user settings for timesheets (Easy to use)
►Enhanced search in timesheets (Easy to use)
►Assign to a new activity & add to the opened timesheet in one step (Easy to use)
►Expose the ‘Assigned By’ and ‘Assigned Date’ fields in timesheets
►View activities from inactive projects in timesheets
►Preference to view completed assignments (Easy to use)
Contract Management
►MS SQL Server 2005 support
►Oracle 10G support
►Option to manage changes using formal change management process or individually for quick approval
►Ability to create user & assign security template through XML API
►Upgradeto InfoMaker 10.5
►Better quality of printed reports using PDF reporting
Reporting & Analytics
►Operational data store for "day to day" reporting
►Star Schema for business intelligence
►Works with any third party reporting tool
►Trends analysis with periodic historical snapshots
►Uses Primavera role-based security
►Platform independent (Oracle, SQL)
►Supports local languages
Administration
►Configure web user interface (Easy to use)
►Configure tabs and functions displayed (Easy to use)

•Select tabs
•Select functions
•Assign to users
•Lock down views or provide override

►Limit number of baselines copied with a project
►Additional timesheets project preferences
►Allow resources to assign themselves to activities
►Allow resources to modify their own resource assignment dates
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