1. VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Information and Technology IT Workforce Development (ITWD) in collaboration with Product Development

2. Welcome and Introduction VA Primavera Team: Mairye Bates IT Specialist / OIT PD/Open Source, Configuration & Tools Management Division Charlene Murray IT Specialist / OIT PD/Open Source, Configuration & Tools Management Division Slide 3 of 45 VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones

3. Training Objectives Understand Activity Types Understand Duration Types Understand Percent Complete Types Learn how these types impact project schedules Slide 4 of 45 VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones

4. Training Overview Audience −Project managers and planners who need to create project plans Prerequisites −Understand how to connect and launch VA Primavera P6 Project Management −Licensed user of Project Management −VA Primavera P6: Resource Attributes and Assigning Resources training VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 4 of 45

5. ACTIVITIES AND MILESTONES: ACTIVITY TYPES ACTIVITIES AND MILESTONES: ACTIVITY TYPES Section 1: VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 5 of 45

6. Activity Types There are six (6) Activity Types: 1.Finish Milestone 2.Level of Effort 3.Resource Dependent 4.Start Milestone 5.Task Dependent 6.WBS Summary VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 6 of 45

7. Activity Types VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 7 of 45 Activity Details toggle button General tab

8. Milestone Overview VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 8 of 45 Activity Type

9. Start and Finish Milestones VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Start MilestoneFinish Milestone Milestones have zero duration and units, and do not have any resources assigned for work Used to mark the beginning of a phase or to indicate project deliverables Used to mark the completion of a phase or deliverable A Primary Resource may be assigned to a Milestone for reporting responsibilities, but the Milestone activity will not appear on the resource’s timesheet, or on any reports relating to times Slide 9 of 45

10. Level of Effort Level of Effort (LOE) –Generally spans the entire project –Used for ongoing activities whose duration is based on the duration of other activities –All LOE activities should be placed in a single WBS for Earned Value computations VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 10 of 45

11. Task Dependent Task Dependent (TD) –Used when the work needs to be done in a given time frame, regardless of the assigned resources’ availability –Most frequent choice VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 11 of 45

12. Resource Dependent Resource Dependent (RD) –Used when multiple resources are assigned to the same activity and the individual calendars will dictate when the work is done –Requires resource calendars VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 12 of 45

13. Which One To Use? VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Activity Type Task Dependent (TD) best when: Resource Dependent (RD) best when: Scheduled according to the activity’s calendar Scheduled according to the resources’ assigned calendars Multiple resources work together on one activity Several resources are assigned to the same activity, but may work separately Resource calendars are not maintained If resource calendars are not maintained, this is ineffective Slide 13 of 45

14. WBS Summary This activity type is intended to indicate that the activity’s duration is dependent on the activities assigned to a single WBS A Level Of Effort (LOE) activity based on other activities in the same WBS VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 14 of 45

15. ACTIVITIES AND MILESTONES: CHOOSING THE ACTIVITY OR MILESTONE TYPE Section 2: VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 15 of 45

16. Choosing Activity Type – Question 1 What Activity Type? Q1: Does this activity represent effort or not? If not, then activity is a Milestone Does the activity mark the beginning of a phase or is it required to begin the next activity? If yes, then it is a Start Milestone If no, then it is a Finish Milestone If the activity represents effort, then move on to the next question VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 16 of 45

17. Choosing Activity Type - Question 2 VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones What Activity Type? Q2: Is the period of time over for the activity determined by the amount of work or by the length of other activities? If by the length of other activities, then the activity is Level of Effort. If by the length of other activities completely within one WBS, then the activity is a WBS Summary. If it’s determined by the amount of work to be accomplished, then move on to the next question Slide 17 of 45

18. VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones What Activity Type? Q3: Is the activity’s schedule determined by resource availability and are resource calendars maintained? Yes If both responses are yes, then the activity is Resource Dependent. No If no, then the activity is Task Dependent (recommended setting) Choosing Activity Type - Question 3 Slide 18 of 45

19. ACTIVITIES AND MILESTONES: DURATION DEFINITIONS ACTIVITIES AND MILESTONES: DURATION DEFINITIONS Section 3: VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 19 of 45

20. Duration Duration – The duration of an activity is the period of time over which the activity will take place and is usually expressed as days (d) VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones **Duration does not indicate how many units of work must be expended to accomplish the activity Slide 20 of 45

21. Units VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Units – Units, sometimes called Labor Units, are the number of labor hours or effort involved in completing the activity and are usually expressed as hours (h) **Units do not indicate period of time over which the work must be accomplished on an activity Slide 21 of 45

22. Units/Time VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Units/Time – Units/Time (U/T) is the rate of work that a resource is assigned to an activity. It’s usually expressed as hours per day (h/d) **Units/Time is not available until a resource has been assigned Slide 22 of 45

23. ACTIVITIES AND MILESTONES: DURATION TYPES Section 4: VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 23 of 45

24. Schedule Calculations VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 24 of 45 Scheduling Formulas Example Units ÷ U/T = Duration 30 hours ÷ 3 h/d = 10 days Duration x U/T = Units 4 days x 2 h/d = 8 hours Units/Duration = U/T 10 hours/2 days = 5 h/d

25. Duration Types VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Duration Type Slide 25 of 45 General Tab

26. Duration Types The Duration Type depends on the function of the activity and the calendar that should be used for the activity during scheduling –There are four Duration Types: 1.Fixed Duration and Units 2.Fixed Duration and Units/Time 3.Fixed Units 4.Fixed Units/Time VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 26 of 45

27. Duration Types – Fixed Units VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Fixed Units The activity will take a fixed number of units of effort, or labor hours to complete Adding more resources will shorten the duration Note: Fixed Units is a recommended setting Slide 27 of 45

28. Duration Type – Fixed Units Example Units (fixed) Number of Resources Duration (calculated) 20 hoursOne person at 5 h/d4 days 20 hoursTwo people at 5 h/d2 days VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 28 of 45

29. Duration Types – Fixed Duration and Units VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Fixed Duration and Units It is necessary to adjust resource workloads (units/time) without changing the duration or overall units planned Note: Fixed Duration and Units is a recommended setting Slide 29 of 45

30. Duration Type – Fixed Duration and Units Example Duration (fixed) Units (fixed) Resource U/T (calculated) 2 weeks80 hoursTwo people at 4 h/d 2 weeks80 hoursOne person at 8 h/d VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 30 of 45

31. Duration Types – Fixed Units/Time VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Fixed Units/Time The activity has fixed resource availability Note: Fixed Units/Time is not recommended for use after project actuals are applied Slide 31 of 45

32. Duration Type – Fixed Units/Time Example Units/Time (fixed) Duration (can change) Units (can change) 2 h/d4 days (set)8 hours (calculated) 2 h/d2 days (calculated)16 hours (set) VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 32 of 45

33. Duration Types – Fixed Duration and Units/Time VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Fixed Duration and Units/Time The activity’s duration is set by the nature of the activity Adding more resources will not shorten the duration Note: Fixed Duration and Units/Time is not recommended for use after project actuals are applied Slide 33 of 45

34. Duration Type – Fixed Duration and Units/Time Example Duration (fixed) Units/Time per resource (fixed) Units (can change) 6 days2 h/dOne person: 12 hours 6 days2 h/dTwo people: 24 hours VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 34 of 45

35. ACTIVITIES AND MILESTONES: DURATION, UNITS AND UNITS/TIME RELATIONSHIPS Section 5: VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 35 of 45

36. Entering Activity Information Slide 36 of 45 Labor Units Duration Planned Units/Time VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones

37. Entering Activity Information Activity or Duration Type Set As Fixed UnitsPlanned Labor Units Fixed Duration and Units Planned Duration or Planned Labor Units Fixed Duration and Units/Time Planned Duration Fixed Units/TimePlanned Duration or Planned Labor Units Level of EffortPlanned Units/Time (after resources are assigned, on the Resources tab) VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 37 of 45

38. How Duration Type Affects Resources’ Planned Work on an Activity Duration Type Constant value Schedule Calculates Fixed Units/TimeUnitsDuration Fixed Duration and Units/TimeDurationUnits Fixed UnitsUnitsDuration (Either) Fixed Duration & UnitsDurationUnits (or) Fixed Duration & UnitsUnitsDuration VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 38 of 45

39. ACTIVITIES AND MILESTONES: PERCENT COMPLETE TYPES Section 6: VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 39 of 45

40. Percent Complete Types VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 40 of 45 Duration %Physical %Units % Percent complete is determined by how much time has passed Percent complete is determined by checking off steps which have a weighted value Percent complete is determined by measuring the units completed against the planned units Recommended method for Earned Value Percent Complete Types: Measure the progress of an activity

41. ACTIVITIES AND MILESTONES: SETTING DEFAULT VALUES Section 7: VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Slide 41 of 45

42. Setting Defaults Activity Type = Task Dependent Slide 42 of 45 Percent Complete Type = Units Duration Type = Fixed Units VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones Suggested settings

43. Activities and Milestones – User Support Email Primavera2@va.gov Slide 43 of 45 VA Primavera P6: Activities and Milestones