I think suspend/resume is there for a reason. It is used during updating of programs, such as when late deliveries occur, which stops a certain activity, Should there be simular problems occuring in the same activity, either a log can be recorded, or the activity can be allocated its own calendar, showing the disruptions as non-working periods. In normal terms, it is not likely that more than one such disruption should occur, but it happens occasionally and therfore for the purpose of good recording of events, we have calendars, logs, etc. UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM AND WORK OUT THE SOLUTION WITH THE TOOLS AT HAND.
There are several reasons why the Suspend/Resume option is less useful than plain old splitting the activity. Speaking of my experience with this feature using P3,
1) you can only Resume once. How may issues like weather do you see where it stops raining and never starts again? Life is complex and a single Suspend/Resume per activity is often not enough.
2) You cannot properly use Suspend in the ‘future’. Setting a projected Suspend date past the current data date will cause P3 to act as if the Suspend is currently underway. No one seems to notice this fault and most continue to use it in this condition.
Anything that you can do with Suspend/Resume, you can do more simply and with better explanation by splitting an activity into its multiple parts when the delay is encountered or planned.
As a Primavera PAR, I have a whole industry waiting for suspend/resume! So much of the work done here in the Offshore Oil and Gas sector is weather sensitive. We do not know when the weather window will close, so we cannot break an activity into two parts when we prepare the plan. I have the Beta of V5 - it works!
However, Suspend/Resume option is helpful in tracking activities and identify suspension/resume dates and reasons for delays. This option helps in forensic planning and contractual matters specially if the consented and agreed upon schedule is not detailed and broken down to lower levels. Furthermore, each feature in Primavera is created to have a certain role and help the Planner in managing his program. Why not use this feature if it exists and why going to another "clever" alternative which is not always exhaustive.
Let’s be honest here. Suspend/Resume never worked the way we wanted it to in P3. Let’s not hold our breath for it being any better in P3e/c. A FAR superior alternative to Suspend/Resume is to break the activity into two parts; “Dig Ditch 0-123 m. until Obstruction Encountered” and “Repair LPG Pipe & Dig Ditch 123-450 m.” is much better than Suspend/Resume. Don’t wait for a poor feature when your brain is still available. Good luck!
Spider Project is most functional and powerful professional project management software.
The first SP version was launched in 1993 and since then it has been constantly improved. Today is used in 34 countries though most Spider Project customers are in Russia. Spider Project offers numerous unique functional features and is the only PM software that optimizes resource, cost, and material constrained schedules and budgets for projects and portfolios.
The unique features of Spider Project include Quantity Based Scheduling, Conditional Scheduling, Skill Scheduling, Optimal Resource, Cost and Material Leveling, Resource Critical Path Calculation, Cash and Material Flows Calculation and Management, Trend Analysis, Advanced Risk Simulation and Analysis, Calculation of Success Probability Trends, Calculation and Management of required Project Time and Cost Buffers, Application of Corporate Norms, Management of many Parallel Budgets, Multiple WBS and many others.
Spider Project was and is used for management of many large scale programs in Russia, including $51bln construction program for 2014 Winter Olympic Games preparation.
The application areas where Spider Project is successfully used include Aerospace, Banking, Construction, Defense, Energy, Engineering, Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Metallurgy, Mining, Oil & Gas, Railways, Retail, Shipbuilding, Software Development, Telecommunications, Utilities, etc.
P6-Auditor - Display information from Primavera P6 audit tables in a user-friendly format
Unifier-Archiver - Extract and archive important documents and attachments from Primavera Unifier
Unifier-Loader - Load data into and out of Unifier via Excel
PCM-Loader - Import data into Primavera Contract Management with flexible and secure, template-driven Excel spreadsheets
PCM-Archiver - Extract and archive important documents and attachments from Primavera Contract Management
PCM-Unifier Migrator - Automatically transfer live and historical data from Primavera Contract Management to Primavera Unifier with ease
Create Radically Better Construction Schedules with ALICE Technologies
Use the power of AI to create construction schedules that reduce risk while cutting costs and build time. With ALICE, develop the ideal schedule during preconstruction -- or recover projects that are off schedule and over budget.
I think suspend/resume is there for a reason. It is used during updating of programs, such as when late deliveries occur, which stops a certain activity, Should there be simular problems occuring in the same activity, either a log can be recorded, or the activity can be allocated its own calendar, showing the disruptions as non-working periods. In normal terms, it is not likely that more than one such disruption should occur, but it happens occasionally and therfore for the purpose of good recording of events, we have calendars, logs, etc. UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM AND WORK OUT THE SOLUTION WITH THE TOOLS AT HAND.
Regards
There are several reasons why the Suspend/Resume option is less useful than plain old splitting the activity. Speaking of my experience with this feature using P3,
1) you can only Resume once. How may issues like weather do you see where it stops raining and never starts again? Life is complex and a single Suspend/Resume per activity is often not enough.
2) You cannot properly use Suspend in the ‘future’. Setting a projected Suspend date past the current data date will cause P3 to act as if the Suspend is currently underway. No one seems to notice this fault and most continue to use it in this condition.
Anything that you can do with Suspend/Resume, you can do more simply and with better explanation by splitting an activity into its multiple parts when the delay is encountered or planned.
I think Rons solution is right in one way, If you expect something is going to happen but for unforseen situations suspend dates option is required.
As a Primavera PAR, I have a whole industry waiting for suspend/resume! So much of the work done here in the Offshore Oil and Gas sector is weather sensitive. We do not know when the weather window will close, so we cannot break an activity into two parts when we prepare the plan. I have the Beta of V5 - it works!
However, Suspend/Resume option is helpful in tracking activities and identify suspension/resume dates and reasons for delays. This option helps in forensic planning and contractual matters specially if the consented and agreed upon schedule is not detailed and broken down to lower levels. Furthermore, each feature in Primavera is created to have a certain role and help the Planner in managing his program. Why not use this feature if it exists and why going to another "clever" alternative which is not always exhaustive.
With all my respects and regards,
J. Daniel
Let’s be honest here. Suspend/Resume never worked the way we wanted it to in P3. Let’s not hold our breath for it being any better in P3e/c. A FAR superior alternative to Suspend/Resume is to break the activity into two parts; “Dig Ditch 0-123 m. until Obstruction Encountered” and “Repair LPG Pipe & Dig Ditch 123-450 m.” is much better than Suspend/Resume. Don’t wait for a poor feature when your brain is still available. Good luck!
Until version 5, all you can do is use an actvity specific calendar
Suspend and resume dates are in version 5, which is scheduled to be available in July 2005.
Regards,
Bill