Step 1: Create a project |
Step 2: Develop the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) |
Step 3: Add activities |
Step 4: Modify activity dates and durations |
Step 5: Add relationships |
Step 6: Schedule the project |
Step 7: Save an initial baseline |
Step 8: Create Activity Views |
Step 9: Use Progress Spotlight to update activities |
Tips and Tricks for: Assigning the same resource or role to multiple activities |
Step 1: Create a new project.
For more details, see Create a new project.
Step 2: Develop the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
If you will not be using a WBS, skip to Step 3 to add activities.
First, display a WBS view.
See a sample Activity View in Step 8.
Then, add WBS elements.
Save the child or sibling WBS elements you add.
For more details, see Add, edit, or delete WBS elements.
Step 3: Add activities
Step 4: Modify activity dates and durations
You can either edit the appropriate Activity Table data cells or drag Gantt bars to specify dates and durations for activities.
Edit dates and durations in the Activity Table
Drag bars to change a Start or Finish date
Tip: Because the calendar for the activity is not applied until you save, a date you specify may change slightly if it occurs during calendar non-worktime. The timescale background is shaded to indicate non-worktime based on the project global default calendar. Setting the timescale to Week/Day enhances the visibility of shaded non-worktime so you can more easily consider its effect as you make changes in the Gantt chart. To change the timescale increments, right-click in the timescale heading.
Drag bars to add a Start On or After constraint
Step 5: Add relationships
You can automatically add Start-to-Finish relationships to a group of activities you select or you can specify relationships between activity pairs, one at time.
Automatically link a group of activities
Specify individual relationships
Use trace logic
For more information, see Add, edit, or delete activity relationships.
Step 6: Schedule the project
Now that you have added activities, estimated duration and date requirements, and defined the logical sequence of work through relationships, you are ready to calculate an initial project schedule.
P6 Web Access uses the Critical Path Method to schedule project dates based on activity durations and relationships. Once the project is scheduled, you can determine which activities are most important to manage for the success of your project. Specifically, scheduling identifies activities that are have zero or negative float in their schedule dates. Such activities are considered critical because they must start and finish precisely on time or they will jeopardize timely completion of the project. Because critical activities control project duration, together they comprise one or more sequences of activities referred to as a critical path.
For more information, see What are critical path activities? and Schedule a project.
Step 7: Save an initial baseline
After you schedule, you will likely need to adjust some activity duration estimates or relationships to manage the schedule according to the requirements for your project.
Once you have satisfied the project requirements, you're ready to save a baseline of your project plan. Essentially, a baseline is a copy, or static snapshot, against which you can evaluate your project's progress.
Once the project is underway, data from the baseline you select can be compared against current project data.
You must have the required security privilege to select the Project Baseline, which is a single, shared and consistent metric against which all project team members can evaluate progress. If you have access to the Projects > Baselines page, you can select a Primary Baseline, which applies only to your view of the project data; each team member can choose the primary baseline that matches their requirements. For more information, see Baselines Overview.
Step 8: Create Activity Views
An Activity View is simply the display of a specific set of project information presented in a particular visual layout, or format, on the Projects > Activities page. You can create and save an unlimited number of Activity Views to display the project data you choose. You can share Activity Views with other P6 Web Access users and you can print them.
Sample Activity View
Step 9: Using Progress Spotlight to update activities
Once your project is underway, you’ll report progress on activities to keep the schedule up to date. So that you can more easily update status, the Progress Spotlight feature helps you quickly locate and navigate among all activities that should have progressed during a specific time period. This time period is defined by the smallest increment of the current timescale since the Data Date. For example, if the current timescale is set to Month/Week, Progress Spotlight highlights all activities that should have progressed during the week since the Data Date. You can drag the end point of the highlighted area to extend or compress the time period.
For more information, see Record activity progress.
Tips
- If you set your timescale so that the smaller time increment matches your regular update interval, you won’t need to adjust the highlight time period because Progress Spotlight will already be set to highlight the activities you need to focus on. If you commonly vary your timescale when viewing data, you might create an Activity View specifically for updating.
- To communicate with team members who report activity status, you could create and share Activity Views that are customized to present only the activities they are responsible for updating during the reporting timeframe.
- If you want to automatically calculate progress for some activities, include the auto-compute actuals column in the view so you can easily turn this option on as needed for specific activities. See Calculate progress automatically for more information.
Additional Tips and Tricks for:
Assigning the same resources or roles to multiple activities:
Editing an activity's resource and role assignments:
Adding activity steps: