Seasons Greetings from Gaea Global!
As 2011 winds down, we would like to take this opportunity to convey our best wishes, and share some of our customer stories in the coming week.

2011 has been a banner year for Gaea Global. We have continued to expand our practice globally, grow our strategic partnerships and expand our talent pool aggressively.

We appreciate all the support from our customers, prospects, partners & well-wishers!

Thanks!

Gaea Global Technologies

Resource Curves:

What is Resource Curves?

Resource Curves are functionality which helps to spread unit/Cost tied up to an activity across activity’s specific time-period.

What are the Resource Curve Types?

Primavera Client by default provides set of Curve Types like

1. Linear
2. Back-Loaded
3. Triangular
4. Trapezoidal
5. Triangular Increase/Decrease Curves
6. Double Peak, etc…

And few more curves as default type where users can choose any type and see how the unit/cost is spread along.

Based on the curve definitions, here is a sample query by a client as follows:

Issue:

“I have used almost all types of curve definitions and found most of them sounds really useful. But few curves cannot be used at real time monitoring like “Double Peak” because of its Curve distribution. Now i want to know if there is some method which will allow me to create my own curve and manage my distribution something like this- When 50% work is done 50% amount will be released/Spend and remaining upon completion(an imaginary case). Is this possible in primavera?

For the above query, the answer is yes it is possible in primavera for user to create his own curves and manage his own distribution values across.

Solution:

Navigate to Enterprise ->Resource Curves:

After Creating the curves Click Modify to adjust distribution params. For the client issue, we need to have a curve something like this.

Where 50% is distributed during half way work and remaining units/cost  at end of activity.

Apply Actual:

Timesheet Module:
What is apply Actual?
Apply actual is an automated service which will update the actual of a schedule automatically. Apply actual can be used in various scenarios depending on requirements.

Where is Apply actual mostly used?
Apply actual is mostly used when “timesheet module/Progress Reporter” is used where actual units/hours updated by employees needs to be synchronized to current schedule.
Example:
Let’s imagine an activity named “Installation of BPC suite” planned for 5 days and have a resource “X” tied to it. Here resource X is identified as primary resource and has access to “Timesheet module”. Now if update of this activity is only via timesheet where resource X logins in to timesheet module and fills only actual hours, does he need to come back to schedule and update the same units where he is tied up?
Here comes “Apply Actual” logic:
If resource X fills his unit of work for 3 days (1st day- 4 hours: 2nd day- 5 hrs: 3rd day -7 hrs) , and submits timesheet for that week. In primavera client we can just navigate to Tools ->apply actual and apply actual as on 3 rd day >>>>>Now you will see actual from time sheet module gets synchronized to current schedule automatically.
What if i don’t use apply actual?
In the above scenario if apply actual is not used, then proper “At completion Units” will not be reported for current period and “Resource utilization Graph” in web produces unrealistic units.

Note: If user is exposed to “Timesheet module” then “Auto computes actual” option is automatically greyed out. So administrators have to explicitly run the service manually or through scheduled job services.

Auto compute Actuals:

Auto compute actual and “Apply actual” are closely related in primavera. While creating a resource if “Auto compute actual” option is checked, and actual is applied as on some data date units will get updated automatically.

Example:

Define a resource with auto compute actual option.

Tie this resource to an activity:

To Note:

Now observe the planned start and finish for task 3, it is from 2^nd Nov to 8^th Nov and it is not started activity. Look at resource actual unit it is still the same 40 units as budgeted since activity is not started.

Now if Tools ->Actual is done after some 3 days from planned start ( i.e on 6^th Nov) .Then

After applying actual automatically schedule is started and unit is updated, which may lead a wrong picture if really that activity might not have started.

Note: Auto compute actual should also be unchecked while defining resources to avoid scenarios like above.

I recently received an email from one “Project management Professional” pertaining to original duration field in Primavera. The query is as follows:

I have an activity named “Survey Works”, “Substructure levelling”, “Installation of Rocker”, “Steel lining concrete” etc. Now my basic query is for each of the activity specific calendars has been fixed like one below:

Survey Works – Standard work calendar (8*5) (5 days working with 8 hr fixed time period).

Substructure Works – Standard work calendar (8*5) (5 days working with 8 hr fixed time period).

Installation of Rocker – 22 hrs work calendar for 7 days

Lining Concrete – 18 hrs work calendar for 7 days

1.    When i start in fixing original duration, relationships for these activities and then schedule, why activities assigned with 22 hrs calendar stops at specified period at 5 PM and escalates to next day. Logically if i specify “1 day” the activity should start from 8AM (first day) and should end at 8 AM next day taking 22 hrs working period. But for me if I specify 1 day as duration and schedule activity starts at “8AM” and stops at “5 PM” . If I change manually from “8AM” to next day “8AM” >>>>>>>>>Surprising , Duration is not set at 1 day, now showing 3 days. How can this happen?

    2.       Now if i change my duration to let’s say from 10 days to 12 days, Why does   not my remaining duration does not gets synchronized with original duration(means still my remaining is 10 days, i expect that it should change to 12 days). Is it a bug with product?

With respect to the above query, solution was given and it worked:

For query 1 the reason why all the activities are ending at fixed time period is because Time -period properties is set for default timing in primavera web. Check this in Primavera-web.

After logging in to primavera web application navigate to -> Administer ->Application settings:

After Application settings window is open -> click time period and check this setting.

Try this 100% this will work.

For query2:

In Primavera client navigate to project window click on calculation tab and check the option named “Link Budget and At completion for Not started Activities” and try.

I gave a presentation to a wide audience on ” Effective Product Portfolio Management” for New Product Development this morning. I covered the following

a. Short Introduction to Gaea Global – Who we are?

b. Elucidated the problem of Effective Product Portfolio Management and how Oracle Agile and Oracle Primavera provide a compelling solution specifically in the NPD space.

c. Showed how existing ‘Product’ based projects modeled in Agile can be brought into  a Primavera portfolio for determining the best products to rollout to the market in the most effective way with a context on project, resource and portfolio management using Gaea’s Agile Primavera Connector

d. Demonstrated how the project initiation process need not be isolated only as a project in Primavera but can be commingled with a product lifecycle footprint or a product record in Agile  using the connector.

Please do reach out to me if you have any further questions but this space of effective product portfolio management holistically as a project portfolio is exciting and challenging across industries.

The Oracle stack in addition to their best-of-breed PLM and EPPM products in my opinion will provide organizations to see benefit of effective product portfolio management and help them make informed decisions on their product mix and maximize their revenues.

Sury Balasubramanian

Co-Founder, Gaea Global Technologies

San Mateo, CA

I recently received an email query from one of my colleagues to explain a particular business problem regarding activity updates in Primavera P6. Read on…

Let me know the best way of approach to update the activities with following requirement.

1. Activity to be updated as per units completed. Nothing else to be updated

For ex: I have an activity named ABC of 10 day duration of 100 units.
Now I want to update the actual units completed=50units on the 6th day of my activity. (Actual duration = 6 days for completion of 50units).
Is there any possibility that the finish dates will move accordingly. Will the total duration be updated to 12 days, as 6days were taken to complete 50units of the work (activity % complete=50%).

My response was as follows:

We have different activity types “Task Dependent” and Resource Dependent” which can be used for any activity based on our reporting convenience.

In your case lets first lets analyze Task Dependent activity.

What does this do when FIXED Duration and Units is used?

If out of 100, 50 units are completed as on 6th day then in Task Dependent you have to manually update saying how much is Remaining duration. And if you do so Primavera can tell that you have to work in a rate of 12 hr/dy to complete remaining 50 units.

If its Fixed Duration and Units/TIME then system reports that in remaining 4 days you can only do 40 units(taking 10hr/day) and this will fill in At completion Units.

If the task is Resource Dependent – what happens?

If out of 100 units if you  have compeleted 50 units then system will update remaining duration as 5 days (applying data date on 6th day).

Primavera says that based on units you have progressed and you need these extra days to work at fixed output period to complete the task.

Note: Always remember in any activity type , you cannot expect “Original Duration ” to be altered. Only the Remaining or At completion which will be changed.

Also if you use “Task Dependent”  Remaining Duration will never be changed whatever logic you apply. If you use “Resource Dependent”, however, yes it changes your RD based on actual units.

If you have comments or can elaborate more on this, please send me an email or post it to the blog to continue this discussion forward.

Duration Calculation for Resource Dependent Activities:

Generic queries before analyzing Resource Dependent activities

1. What does “Resource Dependent” Activity type in Primavera mean?

Ans: It schedules the activity based on “Resource calendars” assigned

1. Where can i use “Resource Dependent” Type?

Ans: Where my activity is entirely dependent on my resource list added or in other words if my “At completion rate” is decided by actual resource reporting then Resource dependent need to be used.

1. What will be the impact on my schedule when “Resource Dependent is used?

Ans: Depends what duration type is associated either “Fixed Units” or “Fixed units/Time”

1. Does “Resource Dependent” change my “Remaining duration” based on units update?

Ans: Yes, it changes.

1. Can i associate duration type others than “Fixed units” of “Fixed units/Time” to “Resource Depend Activity”.

Ans: No, if still the association happens,”Remaining rate” or “At completion” will be blank – will not recalculate.

Remaining Duration calculation with Resource Dependent

With Resource dependent activity type always the calculate the duration % or how Remaining duration is achieved is trickiest.

 It is calculated based on Formula:

Remaining Duration = Remaining Units / Units Per time

Let’s analyze this with an example where for an activity with duration of 25 days there are multiple resources used. Each resource has individual budgeted Units/time, and has type as “Resource Dependent “– Fixed Units. Note in my case both activity calendar and resource calendar are same.

Now let’s start updating the actual units and see how remaining duration is changed each time when units is updated.

How has the 25 days on the remaining duration has changed to 8.33 days?

Ans:

For Scaling and Mucking resource with Budgeted Units “105” now we updated with “70” hence remaining is 35. Same logic is applied to all resources in the screen. Now based on formula

Remaining duration (RD) = Remaining Units / Units per Time => 30 /4.2 => 8.33 .

But think of this calculation is based on weighted logic:

RD for scaling and mucking = 8.33 days (from formula)

RD for Defuming = 2.5/0.5 =5 days

RD for Drilling = 2.5/2.7 = 0.87 days

From this logic it takes the activity needs 8.33 units to complete the task. The same logic is applied to all resources and computation is carried in same way.

Now Remaining duration (RD) for Scaling = 15/4.2 =3.57 days

RD for Defuming is = 2.5/0.5 = 5 days

RD for Drilling = 2.5/2.7 = 0.87 days

Hence in this scenario it will take 5 days to complete the task and gives accurate at completion dates and unit forecast.

If you have any questions on the above, please refer to Bharath Subramanian, Certified Implementation Specialist, Gaea Global Technologies

Resource Leveling 101

What is Resource leveling?

Resource leveling is a method to flatten the schedule when resources are over allocated. One of the most common approach why leveling is applied is to find that resources are not over extended on activities.

There are two ways to perform resource leveling:

Approach 1: If a resource X is fit in to Task A and Task B for same progress period , then resource X has definitely over extend working hours more than fixed capacity. In this scenario if resource leveling is applied then default way leveling will be performed is impacting the Schedule Finish Dates.
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In my last post, I summarized the OTM-WMS integration and what it means for WMS. In this post I will outline some best practices when using OTM with Oracle WMS, what you need to watch out for and how to get the most from your WMS and OTM investments.

The integration point for shipping itinerary is absolutely critical as that drives the entire execution flow in WMS. Here are some things to watch out for:
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Oracle Transportation Management (OTM) has been rated very highly by analysts and customers alike. If you recall, OTM is the re-branding of the transportation planning product G-Log that Oracle acquired in 2005. Shortly after the acquisition, Oracle announced the integration of the G-Log product line with Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.10 release. The integration since then has been updated for subsequent E-Business suite releases and covers all entities required for integrating OTM with E-Business suite such as:

• Master Date: Items, Locations, etc. This is a one-way interface since the idea is that EBS will be the source of truth for master data. It’s a “Push