What Is Primavera P6?

Oracle Primavera P6 is a project, program and portfolio management tool that is used for planning, managing and executing your project work. It is designed to handle large and small projects in a number of diverse industries, such as construction, manufacturing, energy, and IT. It’s been doing so for more than 30 years in projects across the globe.

Primavera P6 can trace its origins to 1983 when it was first established under the name Primavera Systems. In the next 15 years, it would rapidly gain in popularity. By the late 90’s, advancements in server technology drove the company to split Primavera systems into two versions of the software: a desktop application (which is preferred by contractors, suppliers and manufacturing companies) and a web-based enterprise option.

In 2008, Primavera Systems was bought out by Oracle, which then developed the tool into the version that is used today.

The modern incarnation sells itself as a tool to increase your efficiency when planning, which reduces the risk of schedule overruns. One way it purports to do this is by providing visibility into the work, so potential bottlenecks can be identified and resolved before they cause delays. It claims to work on projects of all sizes.

Who Uses Primavera P6?

P6 is used by project managers who are in charge of delivering a project, program or portfolio of projects.

It’s not only used by project managers, though. Any project professional can benefit from P6, such as engineers, schedulers and others who are instrumental in planning, management and reporting on the project. Whoever uses the software, it is usually recommended that they take a training course. The tool is built to help manage complex projects and therefore using it can be complicated as well.

Primavera P6 Features

Let’s zoom in closer on Primavera P6. First, it’s a tool that works on an enterprise structure. That means it goes from the highest level of management down the line of project members. In terms of the key features, they are as follows.

• Timelines: A traditional gantt chart to schedule tasks on a bar graph
• Risk Management: Identify, track and resolve risks before they become issues
• Information Dashboard: A dashboard to track key project metrics
• Reporting & Analytics: Ability to generate status reports for stakeholders
• Resource Analysis & Allocation: Keep track and reallocate resources as needed
• Calendar & Activity Views: View project tasks set over a calendar view
• Portfolio & Program Management: Able to manage multiple projects in a program or portfolio at once
• Contract Management: Manage multiple projects, get info from database fast
• Scheduling Alerts: Keep the project on track by always knowing what’s due when